Jonathan Alter

Conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt featured two liberal journalists on his nightly program this week, and both joined the chorus of media outrage at the Obama administration over the Justice Department’s recent AP probe. Bloomberg View’s Jonathan Alter called Eric Holder’s explanation of the probe “pathetic” and suggested that President Obama should “apologize to journalists” over the scandal, while Michael Shear of the New York Times was frosted by the “absolutely chilling” way that the Obama/Holder DOJ has treated journalists like criminals.

Just last week, Alter fretted over the administration’s scandals with Chris Matthews on Hardball, claiming that White House staffers had “an unhealthy love” for Obama. On Wednesday, Alter blasted the administration for their “especially aggressive” attitude towards reporters, calling the Justice Department’s recent actions “disturbing."

The media hyperventilation over minor budget cuts as a result of sequestration knows no bounds.

On the Martin Bashir show Thursday, MSNBC political strategist Jonathan Alter actually said that people might die as a result (video follows with transcript and commentary):

To normal people, the Fox News Channel is just one cable TV channel among hundreds or thousands on their set-top boxes. To a very tiny minority of Americans, though, FNC is the very apotheosis of evil in America, even “worse than Al Qaeda” as the deranged Keith Olbermann once put it back when he was employed.

For these people, Fox News is something to be not only feared and loathed, it’s also something to make up stories about. The latest lefty to come out with a tall-tale about Fox News is MSNBC contributor and veteran purveyor of conventional group-think Jonathan Alter. The former Newsweek editor claims in an upcoming book that FNC chief Roger Ailes ordered liberal pundit Geraldo Rivera’s microphone silenced during a particularly heated debate last year over the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya:

What better place is there, really, to corner news executives about media bias than the White House Correspondents Association Dinner? That's what Fox News producer Jesse Watters of The O'Reilly Factor had in mind when he headed out with camera and microphone to the "nerd prom" this past Saturday.

Even though there's copious amounts of adult beverages at the WHCA dinner, it seems in vino veritas doesn't hold when it comes to media executives copping to their biases. Some simply denied the obvious while others were visibly agitated at the very premise of the question. [Video below. MP3 audio here.]

On Wednesday's All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC, host Hayes demonstrated his far left views on big government as he called for raising taxes and increasing Social Security benefits even beyond projected spending increases while guest and liberal MSNBC analyst Jonathan Alter was taking a more moderate position that Democrats should agree to restrain unsustainable growth in spending on the program.

After Alter as a guest criticized liberals who oppose changes in Social Security as wanting to "preserve it in amber," adding that "that is not possible," Hayes a bit later in the discussion injected:

It appears with each passing day another member of the media is coming out to share unpleasant treatment at the hands of Barack Obama and Company.

On Thursday, in an appearance on NewsMaxTV's Steve Malzberg Show, former Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter said that in 2008, Robert Gibbs sent him an "abusive email" as a result of an article he wrote about Obama and disinvited him to a dinner the candidate was holding for reporters in Berlin (choppy audio follows with transcript and commentary):

On Thursday's The Ed Show, MSNBC analyst Jonathan Alter -- formerly of Newsweek -- chastised Whole Foods CEO John Mackey for using the word "fascism" criticizing Obamacare, suggesting that he is less "enlightened" than liberal CEOs like Warren Buffett for not realizing that "The only reason that they have been able to be so successful is because they're operating in a country, this country, where they get all kinds of public services..."

Without informing viewers that Whole Foods employs a plan based on high deductibles and "personal savings accounts" to provide health care for all its full-time employees and about 90 percent of employees who work at least 30 hours a week, Alter went on to assert that libertarian-minded CEOs like Mackey "don't get" that they have "certain social responsibilities," and charged that Whole Foods has a "crunchy" and "earthtone ethic" regarding its employees.

As 2012 winds down, it's time to look back at some of the year's most egregious media bias, as documented by the Media Research Center's "Best Notable Quotables of 2012."

Much of what made this year unique was how the so-called "mainstream media" linked arms with the Obama campaign to denigrate and demonize conservatives and Republicans, even those as mild and moderate as GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

Isn't it amusing when liberals allege deceit by Republicans while engaging in it themselves?

Yet another example of this shabby dynamic was on display during last night's Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC when its host and one of her guests, Bloomberg gnome Jonathan Alter, tried their best to buff a gloss on President Obama's mail-it-in debate performance. (video after page break)

NewsBusters is showcasing the most egregious bias the Media Research Center has uncovered over the years — four quotes for each of the 25 years of the MRC, 100 quotes total — all leading up to our big 25th Anniversary Gala on Thursday evening.

Click here for posts recounting the worst of 1988 through 2010. Today, the worst bias of 2011: Paul Krugman calls the anniversary of 9/11 “an occasion for shame;” ABC’s Diane Sawyer fawns over the left-wing “Occupy” movement; and Esquire’s Steven Marche pens a thousand-word Obamagasm worthy of Chris Matthews. [Quotes and video below the jump.]

During MSNBC's live coverage of the Republican National Convention, as Paul Ryan was being discussed, MSNBC political analyst Jonathan Alter -- formerly of Newsweek -- asserted that Congressman Ryan's budget proposals are "cruel." Alter:

Appearing as a guest on Thursday's The Ed Show, MSNBC political analyst Jonathan Alter - formerly of Newsweek - advised the Obama campaign to argue that, if Mitt Romney is elected President, "a lot of people will die" when Obamacare is repealed.

Appearing as a panel member on the Sunday, July 22, Melissa Harris-Perry show, MSNBC political analyst Jonathan Alter - formerly of Newsweek - charged that the NRA has "imposed" a "gag order" that makes politicians afraid to discuss enacting more gun control.

He went on to advise that those who support more gun laws should say to the NRA that "We're not going to let you silence us."

If you're starting to lose Jonathan Alter, reporters at Politico, and other left-leaning outlets, you're starting to get into trouble. Double that if you can't even get Julie Pace at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, to muster more than eight paragraphs relating to a 53-minute speech pre-positioned as a "major address."

Hunter Walker has compiled several less than complimentary tweets at Politicker, including the following: