HLN (formerly CNN Headline News)

Wednesday was one of the biggest news days of the year with more information coming out about Amanda Berry's captor, the Jodi Arias verdict, and the Benghazi Congressional hearings.

Despite this, MSNBC came in last amongst the four major cable news channels.

With all the buzz surrounding Jeff Zucker taking over the reins at CNN, it appears to be sister station HLN making a ratings move.

In the week ended April 12, HLN - formerly known as CNN Headline News - bested both CNN and MSNBC in total viewers and in the all important demographic aged 25 to 54.

What does Pope Benedict XVI’s retirement mean to the media? Pushing for a liberal pontiff – according to HLN’s Kyra Phillips.

Phillips interviewed Anthea Butler, Graduate Chair in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, on the topic during HLN’s “Raising America,” which airs daily to “look at the news the way parents do.”

To paraphrase the estimable Yogi Berra - it’s like deja vu all over, and over, and over, and over again.

The Jurassic Press media is enraptured with a certain story.

In their third Presidential debate analysis, the Jurassic Press Media last night and thus far this morning have failed utterly in their role as fact checker and record-corrector - at least when it comes to what President Barack Obama had to say. 

As but one glaring example, there were the President’s absurd assertions regarding the auto bailout and China.

The Jurassic Press was in full-throated ObamaChorus mode in reporting on General Motors (GM)’s allegedly strong June sales.

Very few failed to receive the sheet music.

On CNN's sister network HLN, when you don’t know how to answer an interview question, bash the Catholic Church - you’ll have your anti-Catholic bigotry promoted by CNN. In an interview with HLN’s Dr. Drew featured on CNN.com, stripper Joslyn Jones claimed that “most stuff that goes on at church” is “dirtier than what goes on in strip clubs.”

When challenged by Dr. Drew about the drug use and trauma history common among strippers, Jones deflected the question, bizarrely arguing: “It’s definitely very common, but it’s actually like, um, like I always try to use the analogy. You know, you look at the Catholic Church. How much nonsense and debauchery, and disrespect, and really underground, you know, seedy stuff goes on, that’s, the Catholic Church, you’re supposed to go to Church and everybody’s like oh I go to Church and I’m all prim and proper, sweet – it’s not really like that. Most stuff that goes on at church is dirtier than what goes on in strip clubs.” 

Al Gore's Current TV is quickly becoming the place where liberal commentators that fail go where they truly belong - somewhere virtually no one will ever see them.

In a press release published by TVNewser, it was revealed the next addition to Gore's deliciously irrelevant network is Joy Behar who just in November was canned by HLN for horrid ratings:

The media crusade to redefine marriage has taken a radical turn. Media outlets have put a spotlight on the narcissistic practice of “self-marriage,” in which a person marries himself or herself in a formal ceremony.

CNN’s sister network HLN provocatively titled a June 1 piece “Is self-marriage for you?” The HLN piece cited several examples of people who have “taken vows of self-marriage as a way of contractually binding themselves to matrimonial values,” quoting psychologist Brian Powell: “It doesn’t surprise me that people who live alone want some type of acknowledgment from others that this is a reasonable choice.”  

Former Saturday Night Live star Jon Lovitz is learning the hard way that despite liberals' claims to love humor and comedy, they can't stand it when their own side is being criticized. The liberal comic is facing a huge amount of criticism on Twitter for taking exception to President Obama's continual assertions that wealthy Americans don't pay a "fair" amount of taxes.

While Lovitz has been bashed on Twitter, he clearly wasn't expecting to be accused of making some sort of violent threat against Obama. And yet that's exactly what happened last night on the HLN show Dr. Drew where the host, Drew Pinsky, seemed to genuinely believe that. Lovitz was clearly taken back by such a bizarre assertion, making for some very awkward television before a producer rescued Pinsky from embarrassment. Video and transcript below.

Appearing as a guest on Tuesday's Joy Behar Show on HLN, after complaining about Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's proposal to provide school children with work experience and the chance to earn money in their schools, Whoopi Goldberg joined host Behar in asserting that it was "racist" for Gingrich to speak of preventing children from becoming "pimps and prostitutes and drug dealers."

Goldberg began by ranting about the absence of people who "want to see the country do better." Goldberg:

Rosie O'Donnell, possibly one of the most uninformed people to ever be given a television program, actually ridiculed the intellectual capacity of Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich Thursday.

Appearing with fellow brainiac Joy Behar on the HLN program thankfully in its final shows, O'Donnell called the former Speaker of the House a "joke" saying, "Perhaps he should read a history book" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Some members of the liberal media commemorated Rep. Barney Frank's (D-Mass.) retirement announcement by replaying his testy response to a CNSNews.com reporter about homosexuals showering with straight men in the military. Of course, they included their own eulogies about how much the liberal congressman would be missed.

A nostalgic Martin Bashir expressed his sadness at Frank's departure on his Monday MSNBC show, touting "one of the greatest hits from a man who championed the poor and oppressed, Barney Frank. He'll be sorely missed." He then played the CNSNews.com clip. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

On Tuesday's Joy Behar Show, the host humorously asked Ann Coulter if her show being canceled was a "vast right-wing conspiracy."

Without skipping a beat, the conservative author said, "No, I think it is a vast Casey Anthony conspiracy" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary):

With the news that the liberal Joy Behar's HLN show will end next month, the Media Research Center compiled a "best of Behar" list from its own archives. The liberal prime-time host was one who could never be accused of holding back her smears against conservatives, and repeatedly teed-up her liberal guests to bash Republicans.

Behar, who is also the co-host of ABC's The View, mostly interviewed entertainment and celebrity figures but was never at a loss for bringing liberal politics to the fore in those interviews. She embarked on many a crusade against social conservatives and any who opposed her passionate support for the GLBT cause.

Here are some of the best examples of Behar's bigotry:
 

HLN's Joy Behar condemned Clarence Thomas as "demonic" on her Monday night show, saying that he was "in trouble with his wife" and in danger of impeachment.

"Talk about demonic, Clarence Thomas is demonic," she insisted to conservative guest Ann Coulter. The two were in the middle of a lengthy and heated spat. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

As many conservatives are aware, Human Events has a list of the Top Ten Most Obnoxious Hollywood Liberals.

On Tuesday's The Joy Behar Show, the host - who coincidentally is on this list herself - informed her guest Martin Sheen that he and his son Charlie are as well (video follows with transcript and commentary):

In a "Joy Behar Show" segment scheduled to be aired on HLN Friday, singer Harry Belafonte attacked Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in potentially the most disgraceful manner of any media member to date.

While his host and others on the set laughed, Belafonte called Cain "a bad apple" that was "so denied intelligence...I don’t think prayers were created for him" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters has been reporting, America's oh so tolerant media have for months been attacking New Jersey governor Chris Christie about his weight.

On Monday's "Joy Behar Show," the host asked her rather corpulent guest Michael Moore, "Do you think the country will tolerate a fat president?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

While CNN gave two tough interviews to Palin-bashing author Joe McGinniss, HLN's Joy Behar joked around with him on her Wednesday show. She referenced his newest tome on Sarah Palin and her family, full of nasty gossip and rumors, and jokingly asked "What, do you have a death wish, Joe?"

In the previous segment, Behar had made fun of Rush Limbaugh's past drug abuse in her interview with Levi Johnston. "Your mother was selling Oxycontin?" she asked Johnston. "What's she – what's up with that? Does she know Rush Limbaugh?"

HLN's Joy Behar and guest Rachael Ray fawned over former President Bill Clinton on Monday. "They don't just hand out those Rhodes scholarships for presidencies," remarked the Food Network's Ray, who also called Clinton "incredibly charming" and "so honest with people."

Behar was especially enamored with Clinton. "I find him extremely sexy, don't you?" the HLN host asked Ray, adding that Clinton was "brilliant." She even compared his presidency with Reagan's.

"I think people are going to look back on his presidency the way they look at St. Ronald Reagan," Behar raved. "They'll say St. Bill Clinton eventually. Because he had his problems during his administration, but in retrospect he did a great job.

In the days leading up to Hurricane Irene's march through the Northeast,  journalists repeatedly suggested that the storm was yet more evidence of climate change.

"The scale of Hurricane Irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change?" asked the New York Times' Justin Gillis in his August 28 piece.

HLN guest host Don Lemon asked scientist Bill Nye on Wednesday if the storm was proof of climate change. Nye answered that it was "consistent with all the predictions of climate change models" and added that the United States is behind the times in taking action on climate change. "There's no other developed world country that isn't very concerned about climate change," Nye asserted, and ABC's weatherman Sam Champion agreed.

[Video below the break.]

Substitute hosting on HLN's The Joy Behar Show, on Tuesday, CNN's Don Lemon prodded Jay Bakker, the son of televangelist Jim Bakker, to accuse Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann of exploiting fears of Christians as he claimed that the GOP presidential hopefuls were: "playing to a group of people who deal a lot with fear and using fear to control folks."

The dismissive Bakker then asserted: "I feel like they've kind of hijacked Christianity," and added that he thinks the Perrys and Bachmanns were advancing "fairy tales" that global warming doesn't exist and claimed they wanted to "ignore" science.

(video after the jump)

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter had a lively discussion with HLN's Joy Behar Thurday as she discussed her new book "Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America."

After her host claimed the Republican Party has made a saint out of Ronald Reagan, Coulter countered, "Liberals would drink Obama's bathwater" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CNN anchor Don Lemon grabbed headlines over the weekend with his Twitter announcement that he is gay. On Monday his co-workers provided plenty of time for him on two separate shows to share his story and his own views on the gay-rights issue, and showered him with support. As if that wasn't enough, he asked them in turn to do the same for others "who choose to come out."

"I really appreciate all the support, and I hope you continue to support not only me, but other people who choose to come out," Lemon told afternoon Newsroom host Brooke Baldwin. In the past, Lemon has himself provided a podium for gay rights activists to makes themselves heard, though he claims objectivity on the issue.

(Video after the break.)