Michelle Malkin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the model and television host with a similar name, see Michele Merkin.
 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)
Michelle Malkin

Born October 20, 1970 (1970-10-20) (age 37)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Occupation Author, syndicated columnist, television personality and blogger
Spouse Jesse Malkin
Website
Michelle Malkin, Hot Air

Michelle Malkin (née Maglalang) (born October 20, 1970) is an American conservative columnist, blogger, author, and political commentator. She has made frequent guest appearances on national syndicated radio programs and on television networks such as MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and C-SPAN. In addition to her written blog, she posts regular video blogs. Her weekly syndicated column appears in nearly 200 newspapers and websites.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Malkin was born in Philadelphia to Filipino parents, Dr. Apolo and Rafaela Maglalang, in 1970.[2] Her parents had immigrated to the United States earlier that year.[2] Her father, a doctor, had entered the United States on a work visa.[2] Her maternal grandfather fought under General Douglas MacArthur.[3] She grew up in Absecon, New Jersey,[4] and attended Holy Spirit High School.[2] She graduated from Oberlin College, which she describes as a "radically left-wing, liberal arts college."[5] In 1993, she married Jesse Malkin, a Rhodes Scholar. As of 2004 Jesse, a former economist for the RAND Corporation[6] stays home and raises their two children.[7]

[edit] Career

Malkin began her career at the Los Angeles Daily News, working as a columnist from 1992 to 1994. In 1996, she moved to Seattle, Washington, where she wrote columns for The Seattle Times. She became a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate in 1999.[8] [9] She also has been a frequent commentator for FOX News Channel and has guest-hosted The O'Reilly Factor.

In June 2004 she launched a political blog which quickly became a popular conservative blog, at most times residing among the top five conservative political blogs.[10] After initially allowing reader comments, she disabled them, attributing her decision to an intolerable level of obscene and racist comments.[11] A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described Malkin as one of the five "best-read national conservative bloggers."[12] In June 2007, she revamped the blog, moving it to Wordpress and a larger server.[13] With the new redesign, subscribed readers can once again post comments, but only if they registered before 5 p.m. on June 22, 2007.[14]

Malkin's blog occasionally highlights investigative reports from other sites, most notably an investigation into financial irregularities at Air America Radio.[15] She is frequently used as an example of the blurred line between bloggers and reporters, given such investigations and her widely distributed columns and appearances on multiple media outlets.

Her first book, Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces, was published in 2002 and was a New York Times bestseller.

In 2004, she wrote In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror, defending Japanese American internment by the United States Government during World War II. She related the theme to the contemporary War on Terrorism, taking some heat from Asian American civil rights organizations who had been uniformly opposed to this historical policy. The "Historians' Committee for Fairness," a group of professors, condemned the book for not having undergone peer review and argued that its central thesis is false.[16] An attempt to ban the book from the Manzanar relocation center National Historic Site failed.[17]

Malkin's third book, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild was released in October 2005.

[edit] Hot Air website

On April 24, 2006, Hot Air, a "conservative Internet broadcast network" went into operation, with Malkin as founder/CEO.[18] Other staffers include "Allahpundit" and Bryan Preston. The latter was replaced by Ed Morrissey on February 25, 2008.[19]

After Hot Air's first year of operation, Malkin wrote:

“ [T]hanks to all of you for making the first year of Hot Air a phenomenal success. ... One of the primary goals in starting this site was to give you content and analysis you can’t get anywhere else on a daily basis–both on the blog and in our original video features. Another chief goal: having fun. ”

[20]

After Malkin criticized hip hop artist Akon for "degrading women" in a Vent episode, Akon's record label, Universal Music Group, forced YouTube to remove the video by issuing a DMCA takedown notice[21] but backed down[22] after the Electronic Frontier Foundation joined Malkin and Hot Air in contesting the removal as a misuse of copyright law.[23]

[edit] Controversies

 It has been suggested that some of the information in this article's Criticism or Controversy section(s) be merged into other sections to achieve a more neutral presentation. (Discuss)

Bronwyn Lance Chester, an editorial writer at The Virginian-Pilot, stated in November 2004 when the newspaper dropped Malkin's column that Malkin "habitually mistakes shrill for thought-provoking and substitutes screaming for discussion. She’s an Asian Ann Coulter. ... She’s the worst of what’s wrong with punditry today. She adds absolutely nothing to genuine political discourse."[24] Malkin responded "I'm not Asian, I'm American, for goodness' sake. I would take the comparison to Ann Coulter as somewhat of a compliment. I have a lot of respect for Ann Coulter."[25]

Malkin has been criticized for defending the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.[26][27] While promoting her book "In Defense of Internment", Malkin was asked whether she believed internment was "the right thing to do". Malkin responded:

“ Well, I think that, based on the military intelligence and legal assessments at the time, the Roosevelt administration did the best that it could do. ”

[28]

John Tateishi, the executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League issued a media release on August 24, 2004 stating:

“ Michelle Malkin's book In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror is a desperate attempt to impugn the loyalty of Japanese Americans during World War II to justify harsher governmental policies today in the treatment of Arab and Muslim Americans. ”

As a result of the controversy, Hawaiian-based newspaper Midweek dropped her column. Midweek editor, Don Chapman stated:

“ In light of her new book and guest column in the Star-Bulletin justifying the internment of Japanese-American families in WWII, we felt she had become a detriment to our reputation and to our business. ”

[29]

In April 2006, Students Against War, a campus group at University of California, Santa Cruz, staged a protest against the presence of military recruiters on campus, and sent out a press release containing contact details (names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses) of their three-person "ad-hoc press team" for use by reporters. Malkin included these contact details in a blog post criticizing SAW and UCSC.[30] Malkin claims the contact information was originally taken from SAW's own website, but that later SAW had removed the information and had "wiped the info from the cached version."[31] SAW "politely asked"[32] her to remove the contact details; Malkin refused, writing in her blog "I am leaving it up. If you are contacting them, I do not condone death threats or foul language. As for SAW, my message is this: You are responsible for your individual actions. Other individuals are responsible for theirs. Grow up and take responsibility."[30] Malkin noted that none of the three students contacted her with that request, and posted a screenshot from one of several Indymedia websites where the complete press release was still available.[33] After Malkin's post, the three SAW contacts received abusive emails and phone calls, including death threats.[32] Malkin also received hostile e-mails and death threats.[34] Subsequently, people opposed to Malkin published her private home address, phone number, photos of her neighborhood and maps to her house on several websites. Malkin has stated that this forced her to remove one of her children from school and move her family.[35]

In July 2006, Malkin noted that the New York Times had printed photos and other details of the summer homes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, and alleged that "[t]here is a concerted, organized effort to dig up and publicize the private home information of prominent conservatives in the media and blogosphere to intimidate them."[36] Two days later, the Center for American Progress reported that Rumsfeld's office had given permission for the Times story and that the Secret Service said there was no security threat.[37]

Malkin created a "Conservative YouTubers" group at the YouTube website in July 2006.[38] In October 2006, she stated that "[a]nti-jihad YouTube users have reported having their videos yanked and accounts suspended" as a result of a campaign by "members of the Religion of Perpetual Outrage".[39] Later she noted reports that YouTube had failed to remove recruitment videos for street gangs[40] and "jihadi propaganda."[41]

In February 2007, Malkin accused YouTube of double standards after Nick Gisburne, an atheistic YouTuber who had posted videos critical of Christianity without any difficulty, was supposedly suspended for posting material critical of Islam.[42] Gisburne later said that the suspension had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with his use of copyrighted music in one of his videos.[43]

Malkin occasionally posts hate mail she received, which often consists of racist or sexist epithets.[44][45] Malkin says she has been "attacked as an 'Aunt Thomasina and a sellout and a race traitor' by liberals of Asian background"[25]

[edit] The O'Reilly Factor

While filling in for Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor, Malkin interviewed New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz about the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case.[46] When Malkin challenged Shabazz to apologize about the NBPP calling Reade Seligmann a "dead man walking", Shabazz said, "Will you apologize for being a political prostitute for Bill O'Reilly, a white male chauvinist racist, as a woman of color?". In response, Malkin said, "There's only one whore on this split-screen, and it's you, Mr. Shabazz. You should be ashamed of yourself for profiting off of your racial poison." To which Mr. Shabazz replied, "You should be ashamed of yourself for defending and being a spokesman for Bill O'Reilly."[47]

[edit] Jamil Hussein

Main article: Jamil Hussein controversy

Malkin was one of the conservatives who questioned the existence and credibility of Iraqi policeman Jamil Hussein, who has been used as a source by the Associated Press in over 60 news stories about Baghdad. The controversy started in November 2006, when Malkin and others expressed doubt about a "shocking [AP report which] received massive, global coverage"[48] that six Sunni civilians had been burned alive as they left Friday worship services as part of an attack that destroyed several mosques.[49] Edward Wong of The New York Times concluded that subsequent events in Baghdad contradicted the AP's claim that "that six Sunni civilians had been burned to death with kerosene."[50] On 1 January 2007, Eason Jordan wrote that "the AP's handling of this controversy call into question their credibility, integrity, and smarts."[51] On 4 January 2007, the Iraqi Interior Ministry confirmed Jamil Gholaiem Hussein does exist.[52] Malkin responded.[53]

“ As I noted on the 4th, the AP reported that the Ministry of Interior in Iraq has now said a Captain Jamil Hussein does work in the al Khadra police station. I regret the error. But no blogger should apologize for raising legitimate questions about AP's transparency, its reliance on local foreign stringers of dubious origins, and information that sources such as Hussein have provided the AP. ”

Later that month, Malkin visited Baghdad herself. She found the four mosques that AP claimed terrorists had "burned and blew up" still standing. She noted that the AP's only corroborating witness has recanted and that no-one else has found any evidence of the claim about people being burned alive.[54] The Associated Press has not retracted the story about six men being burned alive, but now says that the mosques were not "burned or blown up."[55] No other journalists have been able to speak with Hussein, and the AP has stopped using him as a source.[51]

Those working with Malkin have since quoted sources in Iraq as saying that Jamil Gholaiem Hussein denies being the AP's source, that the Iraqi official quoted by the AP denies saying Hussein existed, and that there is still no evidence of six people being burned alive.[56][57][58]

[edit] Leaving The O'Reilly Factor

On September 1st, 2007, Geraldo Rivera attacked Fox News Channel contributor and substitute host Malkin when he was quoted in a Boston Globe interview as saying:[59]

“ Michelle Malkin is the most vile, hateful commentator I've ever met in my life," he says. "She actually believes that neighbors should start snitching out neighbors, and we should be deporting people. It’s good she’s in D.C. and I’m in NY. I’d spit on her if I saw her. ”

[60]

Rivera would later apologize for his words explaining that he was overcome with emotion at the time.[61] Michelle Malkin stated that she felt that The O'Reilly Factor mishandled the situation, the apology was staged and that she had decided not to return to the show.[62]

[edit] Dunkin' Donuts

Malkin created a stir when she claimed Dunkin' Donuts was sympathizing with terrorists over an advertisement in which Rachael Ray was seen wearing a scarf which Malkin and others claimed to be a keffiyeh.[63] Dunkin' Donuts subsequently pulled the advertisement, issuing the following statement:

“ "In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial." [64] ”

[edit] Viewpoints

Malkin was born to immigrant parents who gave birth to her soon after arriving in the US. She opposes the granting of automatic U.S. citizenship to babies born to illegal aliens, tourists, and temporary workers. Malkin discussed her position on these so called "anchor babies" in a 2003 Jewish World Review column, which ended, "Citizenship is too precious to squander on accidental Americans in Name Only."[65]

She also opposes sanctuary cities, in which local authorities do not enforce immigration law, such as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) or coordinate with agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In light of the August 2007 execution-style murder of three college students in Newark, New Jersey, she has repeated her criticisms of politicians' posture towards sanctuary cities. (The prime suspect in the murders is an illegal immigrant with a history of violent felonies.) In particular, she criticized former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, then a Republican candidate for the 2008 presidential election. She responded to his proposal for a tamper-proof identification card with this comment:

“ What Rudy-come-lately fails to comprehend is that there are already multiple alien tracking databases mandated by federal law [The 1996 law -ed.] that have yet to be fully implemented, integrated and used. ”

She contended that the databases have not been successful because politicians opposed funding them. She further noted that the 1996 immigration law prohibited local governments from barring employees from coordinating with the INS (the predecessor to the ICE).[66] She supports coordination with federal authorities through the use of Section 287(g) of the IIRIRA.[67][68]

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Pitts, Jonathan. "Right at home", The Baltimore Sun, 2008-03-09. Retrieved on 2008-03-21. 
  2. ^ a b c d Michelle Malkin interview re Invasion, Brian Lamb, Booknotes, December 8, 2002
  3. ^ "On Bataan and Balikatan", Jewish World Review, April 6, 2002. Accessed February 15, 2008
  4. ^ "Michelle Malkin of 'The Seattle Times'", The Masthead, Winter 1998. Accessed October 25, 2007. "Malkin, originally from Absecon, New Jersey, is a graduate of Oberlin College."
  5. ^ "Michelle Malkin: as a book author, newspaper columnist, television commentator, and blogger, this young first-generation American has used a pull-no-punches style to criticize U.S. immigration and war-on-terror policies.", The American Enterprise, September 1, 2005. Accessed October 25, 2007. "After graduating from Holy Spirit High School I went to Oberlin College in Ohio, a small, radically left-wing, liberal arts college."
  6. ^ RAND.
  7. ^ America’s broken health insurance system, MichelleMalkin.com, 27 August 2004 ("After my husband quit his job earlier this year (to become a full-time stay-at-home dad).")
  8. ^ Opinion Michelle Malkin (HTML). Creators Syndicate.
  9. ^ Opinion Michelle Malkin (RSS). Creators Syndicate.
  10. ^ Ranking details for Malkin's blog at The Truth Laid Bear
  11. ^ "Comments, Trolls, and the Left's Continued Whore Fixation", MichelleMalkin.com, 8 February 2005
  12. ^ "GOP issues rules to avoid Macaca moments", Carrie Budoff, The Politico, June 13, 2007
  13. ^ "Welcome to the new michellemalkin.com!", 18 June 2007
  14. ^ "Comment registration is open", 21 June 2007, updated 22 June 2007
  15. ^ "Inside Air America: An Investigative Blog Report", Michellemalkin.com, 17 August 2005
  16. ^ "Open Letter to Michelle Malkin" from the "Historians' Committee for Fairness"
  17. ^ "A Book-Banning Dodged--Thank You!", MichelleMalkin.com, 7 May 2005; has links to Malkin's responses to criticisms of In Defense of Internment
  18. ^ "Conservative Internet Broadcast Network Debuts", PRWeb.com, 24 April 2006
  19. ^ "The Road Goes Ever On"
  20. ^ "Hot Air turns One", Michelle Malkin, HotAir.com, 24 April 2007
  21. ^ "Akon's record company abuses DMCA to stifle criticism on YouTube", MichelleMalkin.com, 3 May 2007
  22. ^ "UMG & YouTube retreat over Akon report", MichelleMalkin.com, 14 May 2007
  23. ^ "Malkin Fights Back Against Copyright Law Misuse by Universal Music Group", Electronic Frontier Foundation press release, 9 May 2007
  24. ^ "Virginia Paper Drops Columnist Malkin", Editor and Publisher, 22 November 2004
  25. ^ a b "Malkin: Liberal Bigotry on the Rise", NewsMax.com, 28 November 2004
  26. ^ Reason Magazine - Indefensible Internment.
  27. ^ Media Matters - Michelle Malkin defended WWII internment, racial profiling today; said Mineta's view "clouded" by his internment.
  28. ^ 'Scarborough Country' for August 9 - MSNBC Transcripts - MSNBC.com.
  29. ^ Michelle Malkin » BOOK BUZZ.
  30. ^ a b "Seditious Santa Cruz vs. America", MichelleMalkin.com, 12 April 2006
  31. ^ "More Thuggery from Santa Cruz", MichelleMalkin.com, 17 April 2006
  32. ^ a b "Death Threats and Harassment", UCSC Students Against War, 14 April 2006
  33. ^ The contact details were removed "as per request" after Malkin posted this.
  34. ^ "The Moonbats Strike Back", MichelleMalkin.com, 17 April 2006
  35. ^ "Cyber war over UCSC protest heats up", Santa Cruz Sentinel, 22 April 2006
  36. ^ "When the Left invades our privacy", MichelleMalkin.com, 1 July 2006
  37. ^ "Exclusive: Secret Service says Times article on Cheney, Rumsfeld homes is not a security threat; Rumsfeld's office confirms giving permission for photo of his house", The Horses Mouth blog, Center for American Progress website, 3 July 2006
  38. ^ "Conservative YouTubers", youtube.com
  39. ^ "Banned on YouTube", MichelleMalkin.com, 4 October 2006
  40. ^ "Gangs using YouTube to recruit", MichelleMalkin.com, 13 November 2006
  41. ^ "Fighting jihad at YouTube", MichelleMalkin.com, 6 October 2006
  42. ^ "Dhimmitude at YouTube, again", MichelleMalkin.com, 12 February 2007
  43. ^ "Back on YouTube! This is the how and the why", Gisburne.com, 14 October 2007
  44. ^ "Minority Conservatives And The Sellout Smear", MichelleMalkin.com, 12 January 2005
  45. ^ "Maglalangadingdong this", MichelleMalkin.com, 3 December 2004
  46. ^ "Blame George Washington for misogynist rap! ...Plus: Malik Shabazz impersonates Snoop Dogg", MichelleMalkin.com, 12 April 2007
  47. ^ "New Black Panther Party Leader Calls Michelle Malkin a ‘Political Prostitute’", NewsBusters, 15 April 2007
  48. ^ "The media fog of war", MichelleMalkin.com, 27 November 2006
  49. ^ Shi'ites burn six Sunnis alive in Iraq, Associated Press, November 24, 2006
  50. ^ "Peering Through a Foggy War in Iraq", Tom Zeller Jr., The Lede, The New York Times website, 1 December 2006
  51. ^ a b "The AP's Jamil Hussein Scandal Controversy Will Haunt the AP Until It Does What is Right", Eason Jordan, 1 January 2007
  52. ^ "Iraq threatens arrest of police captain who spoke to media", Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press, 4 January 2007
  53. ^ "Corrections", 6 January 2007
  54. ^ "Destroyed - Not: Lurid AP report on Iraq outrage doesn't check out", Michelle Malkin, New York Post, 21 January 2007
  55. ^ "Sunni Mosques Still Show Damage in Iraq", Associated Press, 31 January 2007
  56. ^ "The latest on Jamil Hussein", Curt, 'Flopping Aces' blog, 11 January 2007
  57. ^ "J-DAMN", Bob Owens, 'Confederate Yankee' blog, 11 January 2007
  58. ^ "The Jamil Hussein Name Game — Iraqi General Weighs In", Bob Owens, Pajamas Media, 15 February 2007
  59. ^ Michelle Malkin » Geraldo Rivera unhinged.
  60. ^ Making waves - The Boston Globe.
  61. ^ Rivera Apologizes for Saying He had Spit on Malkin.
  62. ^ Michelle Malkin » Stiiiiill going.
  63. ^ Michelle Malkin (May 23, 2008), Of donuts and dumb celebrities, michellemalkin.com, <http://michellemalkin.com/2008/05/23/of-donuts-and-dumb-celebrities/>. Retrieved on 29 May 2008 
  64. ^ Dunkin' Donuts yanks Rachael Ray ad - The Boston Globe.
  65. ^ "What makes an American?", Michelle Malkin, Jewish World Review, 4 July 2003
  66. ^ Michelle Malkin, "Sanctuary Nation or Sovereign Nation: It's Your Choice," Cybercast News Service, August 15, 2007
  67. ^ Michelle Malkin » BUSH’S OPEN-BORDERS NOMINEES.
  68. ^ Gee! Let Us Just Enforce 287(g) ... Really! :: MAXINE.

[edit] Books

[edit] External links

Find more about Michelle Malkin on Wikipedia's sister projects:
Dictionary definitions
Textbooks
Quotations
Source texts
Images and media
News stories
Learning resources

[edit] Malkin's sites

[edit] Critiques of Malkin

v • d • e
Michelle Malkin
Books authored
Controversies
Persondata
NAME Malkin, Michelle
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maglalang, Michelle
SHORT DESCRIPTION Author, journalist
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH