Censorship

This afternoon, Matt Balan at NewsBusters covered Tony Barber's disgraceful evening (London Time) column at the Financial Times. In the wake of the terrorist attack at the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo which killed 12, Barber argued that "some common sense would be useful at publications such as Charlie Hebdo, and Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten." In other words, after sifting out the…

Correction: This post originally referred to Variety as the publication involved. It was Vanity Fair, and the text below has been corrected to reflect that. At the Daily Beast on Tuesday, Vicky Ward, who profiled Jeffrey Epstein for Vanity Fair Magazine in early 2003, revealed that she and Graydon Carter, the publication's editor, were aware of and had specific details about the convicted…

Let's imagine a white Congressman saying that when he served in Vietnam, he was never moved at the sight of a dead U.S. soldier unless he was white. His career would be over, and deservedly so, within about five minutes of his statement. If he was a conservative or a Republican, even if he resigned instantly and was roundly and unanimously condemned by his colleagues, the press would remind us of…

Janet Murguia, president of the liberal National Council for La Raza, took credit for Lou Dobbs's departure from CNN during a Monday interview on C-SPAN's Q&A program, and repeated a six-year-old charge that the host directed "hate speech" against Hispanics and immigrants. Murguia claimed that Dobbs forwarded a "negative mindset – but more than anything else, a pejorative mindset" about…

What follows is an object lesson in why year-end best, worst and other lists shouldn't be published until the year actually ends. A Kwanzaa "parade" was held in Los Angeles yesterday. In reporting on the event, CBS Los Angeles published a work of fiction (saved here for future reference, fair use and discussion purposes) which absolutely belongs on any 2014 list of most embarrassing moments in…

Establishment press reporting has all too often been about perpetuating a narrative, even long after it has been proven false, than conveying facts and truth. Anyone arguing that 2014 has been one of the worst years ever for this growing trend won't get an argument here. An Associated Press poll about the top stories of the year got responses from 85 editors at subscribing AP outlets. Although…

Conservative columnist George Will appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss the Sony hacking scandal and the fate of liberalism in America. Speaking during a panel discussion, Will argued that Sony’s decision to pull the Interview was “self-censorship” and “there are two great citadels of American liberalism unchallenged in America, Hollywood and college campuses.”

In case you missed it, censorship of ideas that do not adhere to liberal orthodoxy is happening at the University of Michigan. The PC police have struck once again. A Muslim student, Omar Mahmood, wrote a satirical piece titled "Do the Left Thing" for the conservative Michigan Review mocking social justice fads like trigger warnings and micro-aggressions, but also political correctness in general…

Dictionary.com defines "glib" as "readily fluent, often thoughtlessly, superficially, or insincerely so." Jonathan Gruber's apology at his Tuesday congressional hearing included that word. The word, especially the "superficial" element of its definition, applies to how the establishment press covered the hearing. With only rare exceptions, it excluded any mention of what has accurately been…

Tuesday afternoon, Kyle Drennen at NewsBusters observed that the Big Three networks "Appear Finished With Gruber Coverage," and that their Tuesday morning shows had no coverage of the de facto Obamacare architect and his congressional appearance. One factor likely influencing the nets' posture is how original news sources like the Associated Press and the nation's largest dailies have managed to…

Two recent items in the Washington Post support my contention that the establishment press is currently doing more than anyone besides Lena Dunham and "Jackie," both of whom have been irrefutably exposed as rape story fabulists, to cause victims of sexual assault to be reluctant to come forward (Note: That's not to say that the two women haven't been victims of sexual assault, "only" that the…

Nearly six years into Barack Obama's presidency, it's still George W. Bush's fault. Early Wednesday morning, Julie Pace at the Associated Press proved yet again why it is more than appropriate to characterize the wire service where she works as the Administration's Press. The headline at Pace's story tells us that poor President Barack Obama still has to confront the "Bush legacy," and is still…

New York Post columnist, legitimate constitutional scholar and health policy expert Betsy McCaughey broke news about the Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare, in her Tuesday evening column. The Post should send the Associated Press, the New York Times and other establishment press outlets which have yet to report what she found the bill for her work. In the midst of the Obama administration's pre-…

A week ago, New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson put up a Facebook post reacting to events in Ferguson, Missouri. It has generated an astonishing 825,000 likes and 458,000 shares as of 1 PM ET today. As will be seen later, CNN's print report on Watson's post by Steve Almasy treated the player's references to sin, Jesus Christ, and the Gospel as if they were potentially toxic.…