NB Staff's blog

Now that the State of the Union speech is over, the chat has ended. Please use this to discuss it or anything else in the news.

According to an analysis by the Media Research Center, the three broadcast networks are using the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI to advance their left-wing social agenda and attack the Catholic Church’s centuries-old doctrine on the priesthood, abortion, and gay marriage. While NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News predictably dwelled on scandals and the Pope’s "conservatism," their anti-Catholic coverage paled in comparison to the disgraceful onslaught on ABC World News. 

"Instead of reporting the historic news of Pope Benedict’s resignation, Diane Sawyer... used the opportunity to bludgeon the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict with every left-wing grievance imaginable. It was a disgusting and deeply offensive assault on the Church," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell complained in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.

"What do you think would [have] happen[ed]... if the media learned, if George Bush announced, that he was having 23 executive orders to limit the authority of Planned Parenthood?" NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell posed to Neil Cavuto on the February 10 edition of his eponymous Fox Business Network program. The media, of course, would be predictably outraged, the Media Research Center president noted, and yet, when President Obama announced his executive orders related to gun control, the media applauded the president for his efforts to go around Congress. "Nobody, but nobody" on ABC, CBS, or NBC have "explored it from the standpoint that [Obama] is usurping power" and treading on a constitutional right.

"Look at the [NLRB] recess appointment[s]," Bozell added, which the president announced early last year and have been since deemed unconstitutional by the unanimous panel of a federal court. "This goes to show the chutzpah of these people." [MP3 audio here; watch the full segment below the page break]

When then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was caught in a sex scandal involving inappropriate instant messages to an underage boy, the media had a field day, using the matter to tar House Republicans at large in the 2006 election cycle, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted in a February 7 appearance on Fox Business Network's "Cavuto." But fast-forward six years to allegations against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and the media snoozed on the story until well after he was reelected.

"Silence! You heard nothing from the media before the election. it was this complete opposite view. In other words, we're not going to cover this if it hurts the Democrats," Bozell noted of the liberal media. [watch the full segment below]

While ultimately only cop-killer Christopher Dorner is responsible for his crimes, the liberal media's deliberate papering over of the left-wing views that inspired him is telling, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted on the February 7 edition of Fox News Channel's Hannity program.

When you read Dorner's manifesto, it's clear that "[y]ou've got a direct association of liberal luminaries with this killer. This in no way is to suggest that" any of them should be held responsible for Dorner's murders, Bozell cautioned, but, that being said, "how in the world do you put that alongside the pattern of these reporters on the Left who have connected the dots to conservatives in previous killings when there was no connection to conservatives?" [watch segment video below page break]

For general discussion and comment...

While liberal media outlets are slamming Al Gore for hypocrisy over selling his cable network to a Middle East oil magnate, one would "have every reason to not just criticize but condemn Al Gore for selling Current TV to Al Jazeera," because of a far greater reason. It is "a radical pro-Islamic enterprise that is regularly promoting anti-Americanism," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox News's Sean Hannity on the January 31 Hannity program.

"Al Jazeera is owned by the emirate of Qatar" which is "openly endorsing and supporting [terrorist networks] Hamas and Hezbollah." In fact, the father of the late Daniel Pearl -- who was murdered by Islamists -- "is calling for a congressional investigation," Bozell noted. In spite of this, "national security has nothing to do" with the liberal media's outrage, "it's the stupid global warming argument!" [watch the full "Media Mash" segment below the page break]

On Monday’s edition of “Martin Bashir,” MSNBC ran footage of the testimony of Neil Heslin, the father of a Sandy Hook victim, in which it appears he is heckled by gun rights activists. MSNBC’s accompanying graphics box read “Mocked and Loaded. Sandy Hook Victim’s Father Heckled by Gun Rights Advocates.” In reality, Heslin was not heckled. He posed a challenge to the audience, and the audience responded. The MSNBC version deliberately cut out Heslin’s challenge to make it appear as though he was interrupted by heckling gun advocates.

"This is not how a legitimate, professional news organization operates," NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell complained in a statement released today. "MSNBC’s relentless anti-gun advocacy is bad enough, but this is downright dishonest. Time and time again NBC News has demonstrated why the American people can’t trust a single thing they say."

As NewsBusters reported, CBS's Steve Kroft told CNN's Piers Morgan Monday that President Obama likes going on 60 Minutes because "he knows that we're not going to play gotcha with him."

On Tuesday, Fox News's Bret Baier quoted NewsBusters associate editor Noel Sheppard's opinion on this matter (video follows with transcript):

On Sunday’s edition of ABC’s The Week, Martha Raddatz managed to conduct a six minute-long interview with Democratic Senator Bob Menendez (N.J.) without asking a single question about an FBI investigation into allegations that he slept with underage prostitutes while in the Dominican Republic. Instead Raddatz lobbed softball questions at Menendez about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s performance during the Benghazi hearings, immigration reform, Chuck Hagel, and the upcoming Senate race in New Jersey.

NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center (MRC) President Brent Bozell reacted:

The liberal media's handling of any conservative political organization is a four-phase process, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Tea Party News Network reporter Scottie Nell Hughes in a recent interview in the MRCTV studio. "It begins by ignoring them, and if you can make them go away that way, you're done," the Media Research Center founder noted. "If that doesn't work, then you go to phase two, which is to ridicule them. And if that doesn't work, you go to phase three, which is try to destroy them. And if that doesn't work, then you're at phase four, where you have to accept the reality that they're there."

Bozell then examined how the coverage by the liberal media evolved along that template. [see full interview below the page break]

"Chris Matthews has it exactly wrong!" NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Sean Hannity on the January 22 "Media Mash" segment, reacting to the Hardball host's effusive praise on Monday for what he insisted was a Lincolnesque inaugural address by the president. "The Gettysburg Address was an attempt at healing the nation's wounds" from the Civil War while "Obama's speech... was a left-wing declaration of war against the conservative movement, so it was the opposite of the Gettysburg Address."

Another telling exchange from MSNBC on Monday was when presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett thanked the crew of MSNBC's Morning Joe for "a good four years with you all," Fox News host Sean Hannity noted. [watch the full segment below the page break]

As most NB readers are aware, today will be the second time that Barack Obama will be sworn in as president of the United States. Are you watching the news today or do you think the media bias will be just too nauseating? Whatever you choose, we will be watching so you do have the option not to.

In his syndicated column, Jonah Goldberg takes to task many of the people who claim to be “fiscally conservative” but in truth are anything but. While there are people who actually are fiscally conservative and socially moderate or liberal, Goldberg makes the point that many liberals try to describe themselves in this way, even though they really do not have any conservative beliefs at all:

For general discussion and comment about the news of the day.

Today's question is "In how many ways can sex columnist/MTV star Dan Savage offend?" In his latest column of "advice," Savage jokes that one kind of sex from behind is useful in mocking the Catholic hierarchy:  It's "known variously as frottage, outercourse, the Princeton Rub, or 'the pearl tramp stamp.' But in Chicago, it's known as 'the Cardinal George.'"

The cardinal is opposing same-sex marriage legislation currently being proposed in Illinois. Last week, Savage answered questions he didn't have time for at a recent event in Madison, Wisconsin, and dismissed Ann Coulter as too much of a hag to be relevant on the gay issues of the day:

For general discussion and comment.