Imagine that former Vice President Dick Cheney was set to be honored next month at a Catholic university's commencement ceremony and news came down that another person to be honored at the same ceremony with a different award declined the honor, stating that she felt it inappropriate for the university to honor a man who believes in and furthered the use of torture by condoning waterboarding of enemy combatants.
The press, it's safe to say, would have a field day. But that's not the case with the news of Mary Ann Glendon -- a pro-life Catholic and Harvard professor who is displeased with Notre Dame honoring pro-choice President Barack Obama -- declining to accept the Laetare Award from Notre Dame University.
Yesterday evening NewsBusters Editor-at-Large Brent Baker noted that only NBC's "Nightly News" touched on the story, and that only briefly. This morning, not even NBC's "Today" show mentioned the development in the ongoing commencement speech controversy. Broadcast TV competitors "Good Morning America" and CBS's "The Early Show" ignored the story as well.
For their part, the nation's newspapers generally punted on the story. A search of major newspapers in Nexis yielded only four hits, none of which came from the New York Times or USA Today. The longest story by a newspaper staffer came from Boston Globe's Michael Paulson, clocking in at 829 words and gracing the front page of the paper's metro section.
Wire stories in the Los Angeles Times (page A12) and Washington Post (page A4) and a brief mention in Newsday's "Obama's First 100 Days" digest (page A20) made up the other three hits generated from a Nexis search of April 28 newspapers.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
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Jill Stanek posted this yesterday.
April 28, 2009 - 17:36 ET by sevenIt is a simple and straight forward letter. Of course the media want to twist this into racism.
News
April 29, 2009 - 06:39 ET by kiwikitwith no NEWS! That's why they're worthy of being ignored! People in the know: those who ignore MSM fronts, are making circulations nums drop like rocks.
A liberal who declined an
April 28, 2009 - 17:36 ET by Chris NormanA liberal who declined an award because of objections to a conservative also being honored would be held up by the media as noble, conscientious, and a hero for our times.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
They know that no one cares
April 28, 2009 - 18:44 ET by motherbeltThey know that no one cares about one little lady standing up for principles. What the public really cares about is whether Bo-bama has pooped on the WH carpets yet.
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
ND Commencement 2009
April 28, 2009 - 19:55 ET by svh83Any truth to the rumor that George Tiller will be presenting Obama with his honorary degree at the graduation ceremony?
"I think you'd better call John, 'cause it don't look they're here to deliver...the mail". -NY
How do Democrats win elections?
April 28, 2009 - 22:30 ET by pbthinkerThere is no way the Democrats are a party of ideas. The only thing they know how to do is throw money at things and, if that doesn't work, it's because they didn't throw enough money at it. Many of their politicians are ethically challenged, yet they maintain their positions of power. How is that?
Well, this story is a prime example of how they do it. The press, in this country, refuses to cover the Democrats foibles. If people don't watch Fox News, for the most part, they will never know that Democrats also fail the ethics in office test.
NBC News did cover this story but, as was said in the introduction to the thread, just imagine if Dick Cheney was involved in the same situation (either in or out of office for that matter). It would have been death by a thousand cuts as story after story would come out about it. First would be the interview, on the Today Show, with the individual that refused to show up. Then comes the CNN interview with the family and friends saying that they agreed and were proud of the decision that was made. Then would come the NY Times, with an in-depth report on all the evils of Dick Cheney. Then, all 3 networks, plus CNN and MSNBC would do a report on the ramifications of this and call on the President of the University to apologize for the invitation.
Does anyone disagree with the premise I laid forth? OUr "free press" is morally bankrupt and it's no surprise that no one is seeking them out to keep up with the news of the day. Most people have figured out you can't believe them any more. The election was, from the look of things, the last straw. Fox News is now kicking CNN and MSNBC's ass so bad it's becoming a joke and it could get worse.
Election 2008-God's way of showing us that elections count.
Based Off Of Some Dogmatic Rule Created Five Years Ago...
April 29, 2009 - 00:20 ET by The7SticksI get it that the Catholic Church has always been anti-abortion and whatnot, but the United States branch (USCCB) didn't start enforcing any sort of dogmatic law until five years ago. Before then, Notre Dame gave honorary degrees to Jimmy Carter, who (by the now-five-year-old standards adopted by USCCB), would be considered a violator of their views and would have called for his honorary degree to be rescinded. It's not too late to do so.
Well, what are you waiting for? If you want to set an example about the dogma of the American branch of the Catholic Church, go after Jimmy Carter. If you did that, you would create some legitimacy for the disapproval of having President Obama receiving an honorary degree at Notre Dame. If not, it is just another grand-standing piece of BS that isn't even worth page two or page three or whatever page the National Enquirer prints some story like this.
Naturally the nets didn't
April 29, 2009 - 06:58 ET by SickofLibsNaturally the nets didn't touch this story - they're completely preoccupied gearing up for this greatest of days - the Feast of the 100th Anniversary of the Second Coming.