How many times will The New York Times publish a disreputable reporter's work before it learns its lesson?

Perhaps the third time will be the charm. Alexei Barrionuevo has under come under fire for plagiarism on two separate occasions, but the Times printed a story March 27 ("Salmon Virus Indicts Chile's Fishing Methods") by Barrionuevo anyway, prompting a response from the salmon industry.

Barrionuevo quotes Adolfo Flores in his article, identifying him as Port Director of Castro, Chiloe Island. But in a letter to the Times May 2, Eric McErlain, writing on behalf of Salmon of the Americas Inc (an industry group), pointed out major problems with the report.

"In actuality, Mr. Flores is simply a security guard who works for a third party contractor," McErlain wrote. "I've enclosed an English translation of a letter from Patricio Cuello, the general manager of the Port of Puerto Montt, which administers Castro, confirming this."

Yesterday, Gateway Pundit noticed what he called an "Uh-Oh... This wasn't supposed to happen" event for presidential candidate Barack Obama:

An amazing article appeared in the mainstream news today. McClatchy actually reported that Obama's church merges Marxism and Christian Gospel and preaches that the white church in America is the Antichrist because it supported slavery and segregation.

That they did. But how did they headline it, and how many McClatchy newspapers actually ran the story?

Margaret Talev's Thursday, March 20 description of the fundamental doctrines of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) does get right to the point. Talev even goes so far as to question the candidate's motivations for his involvement with the church.

Most importantly, which I why I've bolded the related text, Talev notes that while TUCC's radical and racist philosophies will survive the Rev. Wright's retirement, their continued presence will not deter Obama from continuing to attend:

At NewsBusters we've been noticing the reticence the media are showing in characterizing the Castro Brothers regime in Cuba as a Communist dictatorship. Today's Miami Herald came a bit closer with its February 26 article ("Old-style socialist takes the No. 2 job in Cuba"), although it painted Raul Castro's deputy as a "devout socialist" and results-oriented problem-solver.

Of course, there are "devout socialist" politicians in numerous countries the world over who abide by the results of free and fair elections and respect the rule of law, two things sorely lacking in Cuba.

No matter, the Herald's Frances Robles seemed more interested in painting Raul Castro's number two as though he were Che Guevara with a hearing aid (emphasis mine):

Update 14:16 | Matthew Sheffield. The level of excusing and tip-toeing around the truth about Castro is staggering. As of 2:13 ET when you do a Google News search for "Fidel Castro" you come up with 7,520 results. Add the word dictator after it and you come back with 1,417. That's 81 percent less.

Just a few headlines from major newspapers as Fidel Castro has called it quits as dictator:

• Castro resigns, ending era in Cuba (LATimes.com front page)
• Fidel Castro to step down as Cuba's leader (LATimes.com article)
• Fidel Castro will step down after 50 years at Cuba's helm (Miami Herald)
• Castro resigns presidency (BaltimoreSun.com front page)
• Fidel Castro resigns Cuban presidency (AP article at BaltimoreSun.com)

None of those articles directly referred to Castro as a dictator. Here's how AP's Anita Snow danced around the matter of Fidel's autocracy, conceding that "detractors called him a dictator" while throwing in the favored defense leftists often throw up for Castro (emphasis mine):

Once again, the faux term "gun violence" is used as if the guns themselves are causing said violence, this time in a Miami Herald story. I have to say, this story by David Ovalle is amazing for the near Olympic grade gymnastics it shows as it twists the "tragedies" of death and casualties visited upon a family in the Little Haiti neighborhood into one blamed upon guns. The story starts off trying to make the reader feel sorry for this family that has seen so many of its members killed or catastrophically wounded by firearms. But as one reads on, one finds that this family is filled with drug dealers, murderers and thieves... not much like a hapless family "devastated" by "gun violence" but more like a bunch of criminals that deserve their fate.

After a headline that whines "Gun violence devastates Little Haiti family," we get several paragraphs about how this "devout Christian" family is being murdered one by one.

Here's a story from the Miami Herald that's worth keeping track of for coverage in the larger mainstream media, particularly the networks. I highly doubt this story will be a priority for the MSM, although I'm sure conservative bloggers and perhaps immigration reform activists will make sure the American people become aware of it:

Hundreds of wannabe truckers took a detour on the way to the DMV and got bogus commercial driver's licenses, thanks to an Army National Guard sergeant.

Friday morning, authorities threw up the stop sign.

In a series of early morning raids throughout Miami-Dade County Friday, authorities from federal, state and local agencies arrested five people they say obtained licenses fraudulently. Two others were taken into custody later.

More arrests are coming.

[...]

Previously in NewsBusters, PJ Gladnick and I have blogged about South Florida newspapers, such as the Miami Herald, that have left out disgraced former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne's political affiliation. Jenne is a Democrat, and a gun control-friendly one at that (more on that after the page break).

It appears Jenne's party registration remains under lock and key at the Herald. Here's reporter Wanda J. DeMarzo's short December 6 story on Jenne being sent to a prison camp in Georgia:

Another newspaper in the Sunshine State is failing to cast light on the Democratic Party affiliation of a disgraced former sheriff.

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel did the same thing in September, as NewsBuster P.J. Gladnick reported then. Now it's the Miami Herald's turn. And it's not like there weren't enough reporters working the November 16 story to unearth former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne's Democratic party affiliation. Three other Herald staffers joined writer Jay Weaver in spinning a gauzy story of how, "The powerful, not so powerful support Jenne.":

They ranged from Broward's most politically influential to a rehabilitated crack addict.

They crowded into a federal courtroom Friday morning to speak on behalf of former Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne, who will be sentenced on charges of fraud and income tax evasion.

It appears that Editor & Publisher felt the need to get in front of some really bad news in the newspaper business. In fact, the sampling of numbers reported previews a report that will apparently be worse than others I have tracked (previous posts here, here, and here):

According to industry sources speaking to E&P, daily circulation for reporting papers in the six-month FAS-FAX period ending September is down about 2.5% while Sunday is expected to fall 3.5%. Those types of declines -- in the 2% and 3% range -- have been occurring as far back as the March 2005 period.

It often seems to be the attitude of the MSM to marginalize Republicans as some sort of square alien creatures who are not really hip like the rest of us...meaning Democrats. Such was the assumption of Miami Herald columnist, Beth Reinhard, when she began "My search for cool among Republicans." Her search was inspired by a Sunglass Hut billboard in South Florida that suggests that even Republicans could look hip with the right shades:

The good-looking hipster with the slicked back, slightly mussed hair looks out from his dark shades.

''He's a Republican,'' reads the billboard spotted around South Florida in recent weeks. ``But you don't see that.''

Today, MiamiHerald.com needed to explain a picture appearing in yesterday's newspaper:

A photograph of Bill Clinton and Officer Alan Davis on Page 3B in Monday's local section did not intend to imply that the former president had involvement in a sexual solicitation case against the officer. Davis and Clinton were photographed together when the officer did bomb checks during a visit by Clinton. Davis was arrested Sunday and charged with solicitation and transportation with the purpose of prostitution.

What a sad commentary it is that we have a former president whose reputation is so shabby that a newspaper believes clarification is required.  Still, I can see where it would be necessary whenever Bill Clinton is involved.

For the fifth straight year, America's biggest newspapers (especially the left-leaning ones) have experienced big drops in circulation.

The Audit Bureau of Circulation released its annual numbers today. Among the findings: Two of the three national newspapers (USA Today and the Wall Street Journal) gained circ while the New York Times fell 2 percent on weekdays and nearly three-and-a-half percent on Sundays.

The biggest loser was the Dallas Morning News which was off 14 percent on weekdays and 13 percent on Sundays. The Miami Herald lost 10 percent on Sundays and 5.5 percent on weekdays.

Let's imagine for a moment now what types of stories we'd be hearing about these bad numbers if liberal journalists applied the same standards to themselves as they do to Republican presidents.

Now that you're done laughing, let me say that I don't think that liberal bias is the sole reason for these drops. It's also old thinking. The proof is that some papers like the New York Post and the Indianapolis Star have gained circulation. It can be done in an age of mass alienation from mass media. (h/t Stephen Spruiell)

On his blog Changing Channels, Miami Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin warned that Oprah Winfrey will appear on the Ellen DeGeneres daytime chatfest on Thursday, and it's not exactly an intellectual Clash Of The Titans. He cited this exchange on the presidential race:

Ellen: Hillary and Barack ... That’s very interesting, right?
Oprah: Very interesting.
Ellen: Very interesting.  Anyone that you’re feeling right now?
Oprah: (nodding yes) Um hum.
Ellen: Yeah, you want to say or no?
Oprah: I’m feeling Barack.
Ellen: You’re feeling Barack
Oprah: I’m feeling Barack.
Oprah: I know it’s tough -- the thing about it is, it doesn’t make the other candidate any less.  I’m just feeling Barack.
Ellen: ....I’m really torn because I love him. I really love him.
Oprah: I don’t just love him.  I respect him.

The story: A priest works at a Miami high school as a history teacher and assistant chaplain. Nude photographs of him interacting physically with other men are discovered on the Internet. The priest resigns from his job. Graphic Internet photos are readily available for the media.

In light of the recent media frenzy over Rev. Ted Haggard (5,500 results at Google News), it sounds like everything would be ripe for a story that the media would just love to jump all over. But, curiously, the mainstream media has essentially ignored this story. Why?

The answer may lie in the priest's denomination. Here's the story. You see, Rev. Parry is not a Catholic priest. He's not even a pastor from one of those conservative Evangelical churches. Rev Parry is a priest of the increasingly liberal Episcopal Church in the USA.

In his column on the decline and fall of morality on television this week, Brent Bozell applies scrutiny to the TV critics, a group of people often pushing and shoving the networks to shatter every moral barrier, break through every standard of taste. Showtime has a new series titled "Dexter," featuring actor Michael C. Hall in the title role, slobbered over by the critics for his role as the repressed gay funeral director in HBO's "Six Feet Under." This new show makes a hero out of a sadistic serial killer, because his insatiable desire to kill is channeled into killing other bad guys. During the day, he helps the cops catch other killers by assessing blood spatter patterns. Brent writes "He’s a sociopathic killer-slash-hero, with the emphasis on the slash – he carves his victims up to fit into Hefty bags." Here's more:

As pay-cable pioneers, always pushing the newest disgusting "edge" with an eye on extremely jaded TV critics, Showtime executives feel warm that they have brought more understanding to the world on behalf of the much-maligned serial killer. Said Showtime boss Robert Greenblatt: "This is a complex and fascinating look at serial killers, which, up to this point, have been marginalized and made two-dimensional."

Society has "marginalized" serial killers? Silly me. Here, all along, I thought those folks had done that to themselves.

There's a loose rule in journalism about not running every rumor you hear as hard news without at least making some attempt at checking it out. From the Miami Herald:

Team owners Micky Arison (Heat) and Mark Cuban (Mavs) didn't arrive by limo, helicopter or Range Rover. The millionaires both came by boat and docked on opposite sides of the arena. Cuban's Utopia II is nice enough -- if a bit modest, at 60 feet. Arison's Sirona III is a Shaq-sized monster, well more than 100 feet long. 'I think there's a little bit of boat envy goin' on,'' said Brad Morris, director of operations at the arena. ''I mean, compared to Arison's, Cuban's boat is pretty piddly.'' Morris said he heard Cuban had draped a ''Go Mavs'' banner across the boat earlier in the day and caused such a stir that the police were summoned. Oops. It wasn't there at game time.

From Mark Cuban:

How difficult is it to see what is or isnt right in front you ? Well guess what guys. I dont own a boat. Never have. Never will. I rented one once. Rowed one a couple times. Thats it. My apologies to the real owner of that boat who is getting pestered with helicopters and people trying to corner them.

Oops indeed.