Media Bias Debate

Yesterday the Tea Party Patriots announced that they will be hosting a policy summit in Phoenix, Arizona, in February. Newsweek's Ben Adler, no fan of the Tea Party movement, seized upon the occasion to smear the entire state of Arizona. "The Tea Party Patriots call Phoenix 'the great southwestern city, born from the ruins of a former civilization, now the rebirth place of American culture…

In his January 4 article, "Why Journalists Aren't Standing Up for WikiLeaks," Newsweek's Ben Adler offers three reasons, the first of which is quite risible given the media's persistent advocacy for ObamaCare in the year past: So why are American journalists hesitant to speak up for Assange? There are essentially three reasons.   1. Refusal to engage in advocacy: American…

In his report on the escalating dispute between the State of Texas and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, one thing you cannot accuse Ramit Plushnick-Masti of the Associated Press of being is a master of understatement. He claims that "Both sides and conservation groups agree the battle has put the health of Texas residents and the environment at risk." Really? The only problem is that…

From the New York Times on Thursday, in an item put together with the help of a half-dozen Times reporters ("Inaction and Delays by New York as Storm Bore Down"; bold is mine): ... Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, said the problems late Sunday (during the initial stages of the Northeast's post-Christmas snowstorm -- Ed.) underscored how the city could…

A brief January 1 item from the Associated Press's Barry Massey on the inauguration of Susana Martinez ("Martinez becomes NM gov as new year starts") began as follows: Republican Susana Martinez has claimed her place in history as New Mexico's first female governor, taking office with the start of the new year. If it weren't for the "place in history" part, I might have blown right by it…

The dictionary says that a rumor is: - a story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts. - gossip; hearsay The dictionaries in use at the offices of the New York Times must include the following backup definition: "Any set of facts and/or allegations reported by the New York Post." After yesterday's blockbuster report ("Sanitation Department's slow…

Today, New York Post reporters delivered a bombshell story addressing why New York City's snow cleanup performance has been so poor: Sanitation Department's slow snow cleanup was a budget protest   Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts -- a disastrous move that turned…

Not that it's a big surprise, but it seems that the answer to "How do we spin Christmas shopping season?" at the New York Times depends on which party occupies the Oval Office in Washington. Monday, The Times's Stephanie Clifford, with the help of two other reporters, blew the holiday sales horn. Here are the first few paragraphs of her report, entitled "Retail Sales Rebound, Beating…

Former MSNBC journalist David Shuster, who used his position as a supposedly straight-forward journalist to slam "nutty," far-right" conservatives, will return to the airwaves Wednesday night, guest hosting the Jim Bohannon radio show. Shuster was "suspended indefinitely" on April 06, 2010 after it was revealed that he was shooting a pilot for CNN, despite still being under contract at MSNBC…

When the legislators and good-government people who drafted the law requiring the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit and render an opinion on the financial statements of the federal government as a whole and the major departments within it, they must have known that early-year results would not be very pleasant. But I also suspect that they thought the shame of being exposed as…

To those who have spent time following new reports emanating from the Associated Press, it's not exactly a secret that many of the alleged journalists who work there are having difficulty with the idea that there will be a new Republican majority in the House during the next two years. A further annoyance is that many members of that majority, especially the newer ones, hold sensible,…

Larry King wanted the last laugh from his testy interview with former Miss California Carrie Prejean, and got it Sunday in an interview with CNN's Howard Kurtz. Kurtz hosted King Sunday on "Reliable Sources" to showcase memorable interviews from 25 years of "Larry King Live." One of the interviews was King's clash with Carrie Prejean from November, 2009. As NewsBusters then reported, King…

A Christmas Eve report from Ian James at the Associated Press on developments in Venezuela caused me to go to the dictionary to make sure my understanding of the word "bold" is correct. In context, here are the two most relevant definitions of the word found at dictionary.com: (first listing) "not hesitating or fearful in the face of actual or possible danger or rebuff; courageous and…

In its reports about the U.S. homebuilding industry and new home sales, the Associated Press has gotten lazy and/or deliberately deceptive. In doing so, it is giving readers, listeners and viewers at its subscribing outlets a completely incorrect impression that the industry and market are getting off the mat after recently being in their worst shape, in their words, "in 47 years." After…