MSNBC Anchor Touts Weiner's 'Transparency,' Dismisses 'Stupid' Scandal
MSNBC's Thomas Roberts spun furiously for Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) Thursday, dismissing the Twitter controversy as a sideshow undeserving of the media's attention.
"He's being pretty transparent," opined the daytime anchor, turning to Republican strategist Joe Watkins. "Joe, wouldn't you agree?"
After Watkins agreed but suggested Weiner's refusal to clarify whether he is the man in the…
AP's Lame Excuse for Consumer Confidence Dive: It Missed Post-May 18 G
Warning: The following cop-out explanation by Associated Press Retail Writer Mae Anderson will make many readers' heads hurt. Knowledge that she found an economist willing to support it may cause migraines.
Consumer confidence as reported by The Conference Board fell to 60.8 in May from 66.0 in April -- "unexpectedly," of course, as the headline for Ms. Anderson's article indicates.
But…
ABC, NBC Spotlight Growing Weiner Photo Scandal; CBS Punts
ABC's GMA and NBC's Today on Wednesday both did due diligence on the Rep. Anthony Weiner brouhaha surrounding a lewd photo posted on his Twitter site. ABC's Jonathan Karl noted how Weiner didn't give "the most convincing press conference" in response to the controversy. NBC's Meredith Vieira highlighted how "people are wondering why he is being so defensive." But CBS's Early Show didn't even…
NPR Wholeheartedly Endorses Women Freezing Eggs; Fails to Disclose Ris
On Tuesday's Morning Edition, NPR's Jennifer Ludden all but acted as an proponent of egg donation and freezing to preserve women's fertility, but failed to acknowledge the dangers associated with the donation process, ranging from negative psychological effects to kidney failure and death. Ludden barely touched on other risks to the procedures, such as using them to permit women over 50 become…
Stuck in the Past? WaPo Champions Poet of the 'Beautiful Revolution' o
Why must The Washington Post promote communists with more ardor than they could muster for any American Republican? Tuesday’s front page of the Post oozed: “‘El Padre,’ still preaching.” The subject was Ernesto Cardenal, a defrocked Catholic priest and the culture minister of the Sandinista dictatorship in Nicaragua in the 1980s. Surrounding a huge photo on the front of the Style section was…
New York Times Ignores Sen. Reid's Patriot Act Hypocrisy, Embraces the
New York Times legal reporter Charlie Savage’s two stories on libertarian Sen. Rand Paul holding up extending sections of the Patriot Act ignored the huge hypocrisy of the act’s newest vocal defender, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The paper also demonstrated a new-found comfort on the part of the Times for the act, which it excoriated during the Bush years.
Reid attacked…
Media Mash: Ed Schultz 'Slut' Comment Edition
Liberal radio host Ed Schultz's May 23rd attack on conservative talker Laura Ingraham as a "slut" was "reprehensible" and "could not have been more vile," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told viewers of the May 26 "Hannity."
That said, Bozell added, he should be commended for owning up to his transgression and offering a "man's apology" Wednesday night on his MSNBC "Ed Show" program.
Taylor's Tall Tale: AP Reporter 'Forgets' At Least 19 Senate Dems Prai
In the course of a story ("Senate votes down controversial House budget") from all appearances designed to make House Republicans look like quixotic time-wasters while minimizing presidential embarrassment, the Associated Press's Andrew Taylor fabricated the following:
GOP senators immediately forced a vote on President Barack Obama's February budget proposal, which opened to chilly…
AP's Rugaber Doesn't Like DOL's Lack of Excuses for Rise in Initial Un
It would appear, according to the Associated Press's Christopher Rugaber, that something unusual had to explain why initial unemployment claims as reported by Uncle Sam's Department of Labor rose to a seasonally adjusted 424,000 during the week ended May 21 when they were expected to decline. In previous weeks, poor performances have been explained by DOL spokespersons as due to the unusually…
New York Times's Ethan Bronner Dead Wrong on 'Failure' of Netanyahu's
New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner inaccurately portrayed on Thursday how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was greeted on his return to Israel after a lively visit to America, which included a tense meeting with President Obama and a triumphant speech to Congress. Examining the trip solely from the angle of Netanyahu's refusal to offer territorty concessions in the…
CBS Omits Party ID of Blagojevich, Emanuel in Trial Brief; ABC, NBC Pu
CBS's Jeff Glor failed to mention the Democratic Party affiliation of Rod Blagojevich, as well as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., during a news brief on Wednesday's Early Show. Glor's report was the only mention on the Big Three network morning shows of the former Illinois governor's lawyers calling the former Obama aide and the congressman to testify in his retrial for…
Name That Party: AP Fails to Tag Nearly Indicted John Edwards as a Dem
UPDATE: As seen here, the very earliest AP reports appear to have identified Edwards as a Democrat (the age of the item may not correspond with when the AP subscriber actually received it), but the latest ones, including this item found at AP's home site (as of 12:59 p.m.), do not. UPDATE 2: A mixed bag -- The 6:55 p.m. report from the same AP reporters (pic here) notes that Edwards was the "…
Time's Feifei Sun Scours Photos to Tally Worth of Mrs. Gingrich's Blin
Time magazine's Feifei Sun took the media obsession with Newt Gingrich's half-million dollar credit line at Tiffany & Co. and cranked it up to 11.
In a May 24 NewsFeed blog post, Sun accounted for $87,500 of the expenditures by scouring photos of Callista Gingrich and tabulating the value of her bling.
New York Times Touts 'Rich History,' Surging Online Presence of the Co
Conservatives may have it rough in the pages of the New York Times, but U.S. Communists can count on favorable, critic-free publicity, with Times reporters even employing Communist lingo like "the proletariat." The latest: Joseph Berger’s Monday metro story, "Workers of the World, Please See Our Web Site." The original online headline was less cheeky but more slanted: "Leftist Parties in New…
