Tim Graham's blog

James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal is harkening back to the hubbub last fall over "Obama phones" handed out to poor voters last fall. It's not an Obama program, per se, but a long-standing initiative of the Federal Communications Commission to provide land-line or cell phones to people who provide a tax return or an Electronic Benefits Transfer card to prove they are low-income Americans.

Lifeline was a $2.19 billion program in 2012. London's Daily Mail is reporting how investigative reporter James O'Keefe is exposing how contractors handed out the free phones and promised not to "judge" when they were told the phones would be sold to buy heroin:

In a study finding that should be completely obvious to anyone who spends an hour with the media, the liberal-leaning Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism has found media coverage “was tilted massively against those who favor traditional marriage.”

Pew’s study of more than 1,000 stories from March 18 to May 12 found what anyone could find. Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple noted the numbers back up the lament from Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage that even Fox News doesn’t want to hear their side of the argument:

It’s official: the Hollywood elite has zero moral authority in attacking sexual abuse of minors that occurred decades ago in the Catholic Church. This weekend, the voters of the Daytime Emmy awards granted three Emmys to Clash, including the trophy for Outstanding Performer In a Children’s Series to Kevin Clash, recently accused of serial sexual pursuit of teenaged boys.

AP reported it, and recycled the claim: “Clash's lawyer has said that related lawsuits filed against the entertainer are without merit.” They quoted no one attacking the Emmy voters or Clash for their lack of morality.

Here’s a headline that stood out in the Sunday Washington Post: “‘M’ or ‘F’? Outdated IDs don’t cover transgender individuals.” It even had the period, for emphasis. This was meant to be a news story on A-5, by AP reporter Lisa Leff, even though it read like a libertine-left pamphlet.

The “outdated” part is an ID that describes a man who “identifies as” female. AP’s Leff constructed a whole story of Transgender Equality lobbying, without a whisper of someone who disapproves, as she tweeted it, that “Transgender activists are racking up wins on one of their biggest issues.”

The website Newsdiffs.com is all about showing people how newspapers update their stories, and add some things, and delete some things.

This was especially interesting in a New York Times story from Friday on Iran, where they found it advantageous to edit out an America-hating Iranian who wished the Times building would burn down:

For many years, the networks have done a sloppy job of comparing "conservatives" around the globe. As the Berlin Wall fell, the "conservatives" became the communists who wanted to keep their grip on power and not give way to democracy. That's hardly comparable to American conservatives.

On Saturday night, CBS News was doing this sloppy dance on the elections in Iran. From London, reporter Elizabeth Palmer declared all the candidates to succeed Ahmadinejad were the Islamist equivalent of the American Tea Party movement:

In the wake of the new leaks about NSA surveillance, the Daily Kos wants the entire War on Terrorism repealed as a vast violation of American civil liberties.

Terrorism, scherrorism, says "Letsgetitdone." We lose many more Americans due to "gun violence" and the "lack of health insurance," so losing 3,000 people on 9/11 is just a smear on the national windshield:

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson – President George W. Bush’s top speechwriter from 2001 to 2006 – was hired by the Post in 2007 because he would be “a different kind of conservative” and "an independent voice." Translation: he would slash other people on the right as dishonest, dishonorable, unpatriotic people. He has not attacked talk-show hosts on MSNBC or other leftists this way.

In his Friday column, Gerson whacked Ron Paul, Rush Limbaugh, and Mark Levin with these harsh attacks. Mark Levin offered NewsBusters his reaction.

The Washington Post raised eyebrows Friday by investigating something the president’s backers would consider lowly “Drudge fodder” – the high costs of Obama’s travel, especially in less developed nations.

The headline was “Presidential travel, kingly sums: Document details staggering logistics of Obama trip to Africa.” Reporters Carol Leonnig and David Nakamura added broad details:

HBO picked up deposed CNN morning host Soledad O’Brien for its monthly show “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” Sports? Soledad? As AP reported, “O'Brien played college rugby, but her experience covering sports is limited.”

Apparently, HBO can’t find enough arrogant liberalism, from Gumbel to Bill Maher. In a statement posted at TVNewser, HBO Sports president Ken Hershman said O’Brien was a “perfect fit” for Gumbel’s show, where "thought-provoking stories" is usually code language for liberal tilt:

It looked bizarre. After CBS broke the State Department scandal on Monday’s “CBS This Morning,” there was nothing on “CBS Evening News.” The New York Post “Page Six” gossips suggested it was “because Pelley and his EP, Pat Shevlin, were peeved” it broke in the morning, not on their show.

“Pelley called Page Six last night to vehemently deny he had a meltdown — then promptly went into a meltdown,” they reported.

Virginia Democrats go to the polls Tuesday to select their nominees for lieutenant governor and attorney general (gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe is unopposed). Turnout will be very low – thanks in part to The Washington Post. Notice of the primary election can’t be found until page B-6.

What are they hiding? Liberal lieutenant governor candidate Ralph Northam’s running TV ads touting his D-rating from the NRA and the heartfelt support of Planned Parenthood boss Cecile Richards. She loved how State Sen. Northam staunchly opposed having a woman look at her baby in an ultrasound before the baby’s killed. In a perfect juxtaposition, the ad runs Cecile’s praise while the screen says “endorsed by The Washington Post”:

On Sunday, New York Times reporter Jennifer Steinhauer explored how the Sunday network interview show producers and politicians “collaborate in a seductive ritual” to book the most powerful guests. But there’s a great sameness on the guest list: Sen. John McCain’s done 60 Sunday shows just since 2010.

Steinhauer says he’s a “dream guest” in part because he “compares members of his own party to deranged fowl” (wacko birds), at least at liberal networks:

In Monday’s New York Times, reporter Amy Chozick explored how the James Rosen leak probe has turned the media debate upside down, with "Conservatives as Defenders of the Media."

“The press -- often the target of allegations of liberal bias by conservative media -- has found an unlikely ally in right-leaning radio and television hosts who have taken to defending the First Amendment with a fire-and-brimstone zeal,” she wrote.

Sunday's Washington Post seemed to arrive about two months late with a dominating front-page story on mourning Newtown parents Mark and Jackie Barden. Much of the Eli Saslow story was a heart-breaking account about the aftermath of their son Daniel's death in the grade-school rampage.

But the Post also wanted to drive home the anger that Newtown did not create a gun-control victory for Obama and the Bardens, as Mark introduced the president on April 17, when Obama called it a "pretty shameful day" that the gun-rights advocates had won. "Gun culture was extreme," Barden thought, and it couldn't be moderated.

All the revelations about the government's anti-terrorism surveillance has the Daily Kosmonauts in a nasty funk. "One Pissed Off Liberal" has fallen off the Hope and Change Wagon. In the midst of rambling about "our gang-rape of the world," OPOL wrote a little manifesto about "Living In Plastic Land."

The Left wanted to believe this was just some kind of Bush dictatorship that would fade away, but now OPOL has decided that America is a land "chock full of crazy a--holes, greedy short-sighted troglodytes with no sense of history." The hippies have lost heart when everyone looks like a Dubya: 

Washington Post columnist (and former reporter) David Ignatius is pushing for a resignation at the center of the Sunday op-ed page. “Attorney General Eric Holder is not up to the task” was the online headline of his column. The newspaper people could only use “A mediocre attorney general.”

It's not the "scandals," said Ignatius. "The problem with Holder is the plain fact that, in the judgment of a wide range of legal colleagues, he has been a mediocre attorney general." At first, Ignatius seemed unhappy because Holder seemed too "conservative" in his choices:

The naked empress of The Washington Post’s “On Faith” page was at it again on Saturday, displaying for everyone that everything she writes is about the worship of secular liberalism and the protection of atheists, gay “pride” activists, and other God-haters who genuflect only to the ACLU.

Like many leftists, Sally Quinn can’t be happy that the gay lobby and corporate America have  turned the formerly reverent Boy Scouts of America into everything “tolerant” and “welcoming” (unless you’re one of those Bible-thumpers). They aren’t all the way there yet. They’re still contemptible until they have gay scoutmasters and atheist scouts. Sure, “little Johnny” can be gay as a teen, but then what?

The loving eulogies for Sen. Frank Lautenberg, heavy on the praise for curbing teenage drinking and in-flight smoking, have obscured just how sleazily he regained office in 2002. Conservatives can easily forget how uninterested the media were in that story, even as it unfolded.

Late in an increasingly competitive race against Republican Doug Forrester in 2002, Torricelli “suddenly withdrew after disclosure of illegal contributions to his campaign by David Chang, a businessman connected to North Korea. Shortly thereafter, the New Jersey Supreme Court  unanimously ruled that the Democratic Party could legally replace Torricelli's name on the ballot” with Lautenberg. Brent Bozell offered the media story:

On Friday night’s Washington Week on PBS, they turned to Susan Rice’s nomination to be National Security Adviser at the 15-minute mark. Host Gwen Ifill and New York Times reporter David Sanger discussed the matter for a little more than six minutes, but when did Benghazi come up?

Answer: twenty seconds before the segment’s end, when Sanger mentioned in passing that Rice and Obama may have had an understanding that she would be Secretary of State, but perhaps “Benghazi and her statements on that derailed that.” The word “false” did not precede “statements.”

Twitchy, among others noticed this odious tweet from Lawrence O’Donnell last night: “Giuliani attacked POTUS last night for Benghazi so I am forced to remind Giuliani how many firefighters were killed on 9/11 because of him.” Fox host Eric Bolling demanded O'Donnell be fired.

But O’Donnell performed a longer version on his Last Word show on MSNBC last night: “And the urban legend, Rudy Giuliani is in the rewrite tonight. He has once again provoked me to remind you how much damage that man did to New York on 9/11.” After he slammed Rudy as an “unwitting accomplice of al-Qaeda’s,” O’Donnell borrowed heavily from a firefighter’s-union TV ad that FactCheck.org flagged for exaggeration back in 2007.

Baltimore Ravens starting center Matt Birk skipped the White House reception for the Super Bowl champs on Wednesday due to his pro-life beliefs, taking special exception to President Obama's recent prayer "God bless Planned Parenthood."

But The Washington Post didn't find that worth reporting. Instead, in Friday's paper, the Post's "Reliable Source" gossip column celebrated former Ravens player Brendan Ayanbadejo, a heterosexual liberal who held a press conference announcing he would be guest editor of an August edition of the gay newspaper The Washington Blade.

The Washington Post on Friday stuck to its practice of keeping oversight hearings off the front page. On A-3, readers would learn Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the Senate, and the new IRS chief was being questioned about lavish spending in the House.

The Post did lead with the data-mining story (perhaps that’s a Bush/Obama scandal, not an Obama scandal), but also carried front-page stories on an openly gay track star at a local high school and a New York Post-like story on “the puzzling case of the pizzeria patio pilferer.”

Politico’s Dylan Byers reports NBC News Capitol Hill reporter Mike Viqueira is leaving the Peacock Network after 15 years to join Al-Jazeera America (the oil money must have been very good).  He joins CNN anchor Ali Velshi as veteran network names at the new venture.

Viqueira will return to the White House beat for the Qatar-owned network. The NBC vet dismissed the thought that AJA would have a “bias,” say, toward Islamists. That would never happen:

The Washington Post played a game of “Hide the Benghazi” in its front-page story on Obama nominating Susan Rice to be the new National Security Adviser. The headline beat around the bush: “Obama signals new approach on national security: A Bigger U.S. Role Abroad. In shuffle, Rice replaces Donilon as adviser.”

Reporter Scott Wilson announced “a major shuffle” and “an ideological shift” (let’s guess toward more humanitarian intervention). But you’d have to wait until paragraph twenty-two for the B-word: