Guns

On Thursday, the CBS Evening News seized on the deadly shooting of two local news reporters in Roanoke, Virginia to promote the idea that gun control should be treated like “a public health issue” akin to seat belts, airbags, and anti-smoking campaigns. In a tease early on in the program, fill-in anchor Maurice DuBois explained that “[s]ome public health officials say gun violence, just like car…

Two weeks ago, cable and broadcast giant Comcast announced that its NBCUniversal unit would invest $200 million in Vox Communications, thereby "creating a partnership to help the television giant better connect with younger audiences." Based on what follows and far more examples than one could hope to cite in a single post, Comcast should consider asking for their money back. Apparently trying…

On Thursday's CNN Newsroom, during coverage of the shooting deaths of two journalists in Virginia by a disgruntled former co-worker, CNN anchor Carol Costello declared that "it just makes me angry" that, in the aftermath of such high-profile shootings, "nothing is ever done" to try to prevent future shootings because of people who "hide behind their old, tired arguments." About an hour later,…

CNN anchors on Wednesday night hit two Republican presidential candidates on the subject of gun control, wondering if Tuesday's horrific shooting in Roanoke, Virginia has prompted them to rethink their positions. Talking to Ben Carson, Don Lemon demanded: "After you watch a crime like this, does it make you question at all the role of guns in our society?" 

Both ABC's Good Morning America and CBS This Morning on Thursday used the shooting death of two journalists in Roanoke, Virginia to highlight gun control. GMA co-host Robin Roberts talked to the boyfriend of slain reporter Alison Parker and lectured, "...When something like this happens, the conversation turns to gun control." 

Viewers looking forward to the season finale of Mr. Robot on USA Network last night were disappointed to find a rerun of last week’s episode. The network postponed the final episode until next week because “The previously filmed season finale of Mr. Robot contains a graphic scene similar in nature to today’s tragic events in Virginia,” it said in a statement. So the Mr. Robot season ender…

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof quickly found something else to blame for the killing of two journalists besides the actual killer: America's gun culture, while glossing over the killer's mental disturbance. Kristof is notorious for using tragedies for political gain, like he did after the Boston Marathon bombing, and after the 2011 assassinations in Tuscon.

Quentin Tarantino: Dumb as a post or incredibly dishonest? Both? The “pornographer of violence” (Chuck Scarborough’s term) takes umbrage when asked about the impact of violent films and TV on society. “Obviously, I don't think one has to do with the other,” he once sputtered when pressed on the issue. “Obviously, the issue is gun control and mental health.”

MSNBC host Chris Matthews kicked off his roundtable segment on Tuesday's Hardball by denouncing Ted Cruz's amusing "machine gun bacon" video for conservative media outlet IJReview.com. Unfortunately for Matthews, no one else on his panel was as stuck in the mud, agreeing among themselves it was a clever viral video to put out in the midst of a crowded primary campaign.

An online magazine has made a terrific case in favor of the right to bear arms. Was it an NRA publication? Nope. Perhaps one of the conservative magazines such as National Review or American Spectator? Nope. The magazine was actually Slate. Slate? Yes, liberal Slate magazine has published an article making one of the strongest cases in favor of the right of citizens to bear arms that I have seen…

Carol Costello took great offense to an ad from Ted Cruz showing the Texas senator humorously cooking bacon on a machine gun. Tuesday on CNN Newsroom, the host argued “we no longer respect our weapons. We forget that guns can actually kill.” Costello lamented “America’s cavalier attitude toward guns” and thought Cruz’s ad may have crossed the line. 

On Tuesday, the “Big Three” network morning shows all went to bat for comedian Amy Schumer and helped promote her call for greater gun control in the wake of a shooting at a Louisiana movie theater during a showing of her movie Trainwreck. Today co-host Savannah Guthrie praised Schumer’s “emotional plea in the wake of that deadly theater shooting in Louisiana...This is a very public call for…

On Friday's NBC Nightly News, Lester Holt badgered former Florida Governor Jeb Bush on the issues of race and racism. Holt underlined how "12 percent of African-Americans, 25 percent of Latinos have a favorable view of the Republican Party," and asked, "Is it a perception problem, or is this party fundamentally out of touch – tone-deaf – to minority communities?" He later played up how Bush "…

“The blue-collar white males who make up the GOP base” are between a rock and a hard place, suggests The Washington Monthly's David Atkins. The Republican party doesn’t represent their economic interests, but “their inherent racism, sexism and distrust of government” won’t allow them to vote Democratic. As a result, argued Atkins in a Sunday post, they’re waging an ideological “insurgent war,”…