NewsBusters Archive

When news broke that IRS agents were abusively targeting conservative groups particularly the Tea Party, it looked at as if this was an Obama administration scandal that would stick. Even reporters like NBC’s Andrea Mitchell counted it as among the “most outrageous excesses I’ve seen.” Obama sycophant Chris Matthews predicted it could be worth “five or 10 points” for Republicans in the next midterm elections. Even the New York Times editorial board proclaimed: “The IRS Audits Are Condemned.”

The Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) news networks actually jumped to cover the story, filling their evening and morning shows with a total of 96 stories in the first two weeks (May 10 through May 23) of coverage. But after those two strong weeks, the broadcast networks lost interest in the scandal, and the coverage slowed to a crawl -- just 31 stories in the subsequent weeks (May 24 through June 12). This week, the networks have run only one story (June 11 on ABC’s Good Morning America) on the IRS scandal.

Chris Matthews on Wednesday took his smearing of conservatives to a new level, comparing Ted Cruz to the Nazi-sympathizing, World War II-era Father Charles Coughlin. After playing a montage of the Republican senator, Matthews sneered, "I think [Cruz] fits in the tradition of Father Coughlin and McCarthy and, of course, maybe to a lesser extent, Pat Buchanan and, of course, [Bill] O'Reilly." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Lumping all these men together, the Hardball anchor generalized, "These guys are hard right-wing guys. They look a lot alike. They have what we call the black Irish look to them." According to Urban Dictionary, black Irish is someone with "dark hair and olive skin." The liberal Matthews is quite sensitive on issues of race, so how is such talk acceptable?

Left-wing radio host Mike Malloy is often one of the most unhinged voices over the airwaves, but once in a great while he reveals a limited capacity for perception. This is one of those times.

On his show last night, Malloy was talking with a caller when Sen. Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, was mentioned. Franken and Malloy once worked at the now-defunct Air America Radio network before Air America fired Malloy in 2006 and Franken left to run for Senate in Minnesota the following year. (Audio after the jump)

Karen Finney recently began her new gig as an MSNBC weekend anchor, but on Sunday’s Weekends with Alex Witt, she got a little nostalgic for one of her old jobs.

Appearing as the subject of Witt’s "Office Politics" segment, Finney continued the liberal media tradition of making the GOP the focus of the current Obama administration scandals.  “[Republicans] clearly think that they can ride this to the midterm elections on this sort of culture of coverup,” she huffed. [Video below the break. MP3 audio here.]

The latest State Department scandal, involving a possible cover-up of sexual misconduct by an ambassador and security officials, was only newsworthy enough to merit one full report each on ABC and NBC's morning and evening newscasts before the two networks moved on. NBC led Tuesday's Today with the "damaging documents" concerning the "possibly illegal...behavior", but ignored it the following morning. NBC Nightly News hasn't even touched the story yet.

ABC arrived late to covering the allegations on Tuesday's World News, but Good Morning America has yet to mention the issue as of Wednesday. CBS broke their scoop on the scandal on Monday's CBS This Morning, and covered it as well on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Many in the mainstream believe that the Republican Party is an elitist organization of the affluent while Democrats represent the party of the people.  If that ever were true, it certainly hasn’t been for many years.  Yet the myth persists.

A recent example is The Chicago Tribune, which last week on its Web site headlined “Wealthy Bruce Rauner announces for Republican governor race.”  Yesterday, The Trib went with “Bill Daley to explore run for Illinois governor.”

OpenSecrets.org determined that in 2010 Daley’s “average net worth was an estimated $28.7 million.”  It doesn’t appear that throwing a benefit for him will be necessary any time soon.  Yet his prosperity isn’t even referenced by The Tribune.  Only rich Republicans are newsworthy there.  

When you’re faced with bullying, then clearly you should be obscene and crass. That’s what HuffPo suggested in their coverage of an anti-bullying campaign called “The New F Word,” a photo campaign using pictures of celebrities flipping the bird in response to bullying.

HuffPo’s “Gay Voices” hailed the obscene photo campaign as “groundbreaking,” and gave a sample slideshow and links to support the project or buy tickets to its fundraising concert. The photo campaign includes such famous faces as Tim Gunn, Adam Lambert, Frenchie Davis, Carmen Electra, LeAnn Rimes, Lance Bass, and Aubrey O'Day--all posing for the camera with the infamous obscene gesture.

HGTV, the cable channel devoted to home remodeling and interior design, apologized today for a feature on its website that recommended the use of an American flag as a tablecloth for Independence Day celebrations.

“Drape a large American flag over the table as a bright and festive table runner,” HGTV advised. “Use a nylon flag so spills can be easily wiped off and the flag can later be hung with pride on a flag pole.”

You can tell that members of the liberal media are uncomfortable that a southern state legislature is finally reflecting the conservative values of its electorate. For the first time in over a century, the GOP in North Carolina controls both chambers of the state legislature as well as the governorship, a feat that has the left-leaning staff at The New York Times extremely nervous and uncomfortable.

Take for example a story in the June 12 edition of the paper which highlights how “Weekly protests challenge conservative shift in state politics.” In a 26-paragraph piece, Times writer Kim Severson sympathizes with liberal protestors and relies heavily on anti-GOP quotes while including only two quotes from Republicans.