Trying Too Hard for Balance, FNC Equates Israeli Security Measures Wit
August 14th, 2006 12:11 PM
Last week, I documented here the way CNN leaned over backwards for balance in a story. In the wake of the Seattle Jewish Center shooting, it equated the fear of Jewish-Americans of similar incidents . . . with the fear of Hezbollah supporters of being unfairly accused.Although it wasn't nearly so egregious, Fox News Channel's Anita Vogel [seen here in a file photo] just engaged in some over-…
'Three Texas Men': Today Doesn't Disclose Mackinac Suspects Are Arab-A
August 14th, 2006 7:59 AM
Maruan Awad Muhareb. Adham Abdelhamid Othman. Louai Abdelhamied Othman. Now you know the names of the three men arrested over the weekend, suspected in a plot to blow up the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas. You wouldn't have known either their names or backgrounds had you relied on the Today show this morning for the information. According to the wife of…
Hangin' in the Hamptons? Krugman, Herbert Hum Same Terror-Exploitation
August 14th, 2006 7:29 AM
Were New York Times columnists Paul Krugman and Bob Herbert hangin' in the Hamptons this weekend? Exchanging ideas at a chic cocktail party with ocean views? You might think so, judging by their columns this morning in which they sound such similar themes. Compare Krugman: "The Bush administration and its allies in Congress saw the terrorist threat not as a problem to be solved, but as a…
Rangel: 'Islamofascist' an Insult - 'You Never Called Hitler a Christi
August 11th, 2006 9:47 PM
It doesn't take much to offend liberals' exquisite sensitivities. The latest? Referring to Islamofascists as . . . Islamofascists. Chris Matthews got the ball rolling on this evening's Hardball. But Charlie Rangel upped the ante to the max, managing to impugn Christians and Jews in the bargain. Fortunately, GOP Congressman Dan Lungren had the guts to call Rangel on it.Matthews got things started…
Brian Blogs Back: I Was 'Aggressively Misunderstood
August 11th, 2006 3:37 PM
Apparently stung by criticism of his comments on last night's Hardball, Brian Williams has responded with a clarification at the Daily Nightly, the in-house blog of the NBC Nightly News. In doing so, Williams seems to have coined a new phrase, claiming to have been 'aggressively misunderstood' by his critics.As noted here, on last evening's 7 PM Hardball, Chris Matthews asked Williams about the…
Williams: Like Terrorists, U.S. Special Forces Willing to Go on Suicid
August 10th, 2006 10:01 PM
Brian Williams of "NBC Nightly News" surely intended to praise the heroism and selflessness of our various service people. But he employed at best an awkward, at worst an inappropriate and offensive manner of doing it.On this evening's 7 PM ET edition of Hardball, Chris Matthews mused about the UK-born terrorists whose plot was foiled today:"Here we have maybe 24 people who have lived in London…
UK Airline Bomb Plot: Al-Reuters "Explains It All
August 10th, 2006 3:34 PM
Quick Take: Reuters' initial reaction to the UK airliner bomb plot arrests was to tie it to Tony Blair and Israel's actions in Lebanon. A later story, perhaps in response to blog criticism of the original, added the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as "reasons." Nowhere is the idea that Islamic Jihadism, independent of day-to-day events in the Middle East, is involved. More important, and worse --…
'Today' Displays Dubious Ambulance Photo
August 10th, 2006 8:52 AM
That truth is the first casualty of war has been borne home by the proliferating 'fauxtography' scandal of photographs of the current Middle East crisis doctored or staged so as to portray Israel in the worst possible light. At this point, can we look at any image from the area without a good dose of doubt?Take this morning's report on the Today show. NBC's Richard Engel, in Tyre, Lebanon,…
