Bloomberg's Unchallenging Obama Interview: No Mention of Cratering Col
Maybe reporters Brian Faler or Nicholas Johnston at Bloomberg asked Barack Obama some really challenging questions when they had a chance to interview the President at the White House. Maybe they even did some basic fact-checking. If so, there's precious little evidence of either in their June 16 report.They allowed the president to blame most of the current year's deficit on George W. Bush. They…
'Apparent' or 'Clear'? AFP Waters Down Iranian Diplomat's Statement On
Question: How do you water down the possible significance of a statement by an Iranian diplomat?Answer: Wait for an AFP journalist to revise a previous raw report.A short unbylined dispatch from the wire service reported that the diplomat "apparently misspoke" when he said that Iran has "the right to a nuclear weapon" not long after the incident occurred. (Dictionary.com tells us that "Used…
Why ABC Goes OBC on Health Care: Follow the Presidential Campaign Mone
Earlier today, Julia A. Seymour of the Media Research Center's Business & Media Institute (BMI) pointed to a fact-check done by her group showing that "from January 20 to June 16 those quoted in health care stories on ABC's morning and evening news shows favored ObamaCare by a 3-to-1 margin (55 supporters to 18 critics)."You think that margin is bad; wait until you see the ratio at ABC of…
The Devil In The Details: LA Times Ignores Substance, Attacks U.S. Gun
The L.A. Times is parsing math.If you were to not read Josh Meyer’s June 17 article very carefully, you might think that 90 percent of the weapons recovered from Mexican cartel raids originated in the United States:The report by the congressional Government Accountability Office, the first federal assessment of the issue, offered blistering conclusions that will probably influence the debate over…
When Are Gay Rights Groups 'Far-Left'? When They Criticize Obama
During the Bush administration, do you recall the MSM ever describing a gay rights group such as the Human Rights Campaign as "far-left"? Neither do I. To the contrary, such organizations were sympathetically portrayed as proponents of mainstream values.But let such groups criticize Pres. Obama and—what do you know?—the MSM suddenly decides they're "far-left." That's Joe Solomnese, head of the…
Media Helps Obama Admin. Take Credit for Twitter's Iran Coverage
Some attention has been paid to the fact that the microblogging service Twitter had decided to push off its scheduled maintenance Tuesday morning as the situation in Iran became steadily more embroiled in conflict. As it happened, Twitter was a major source of information coming out of that repressed society as news was happening. Twitter had, though, scheduled a few hours down time just when…
AP Slips Bush Derangement Syndrome Into Farrow Death Notice
Mia Farrow's brother, artist Patrick Farrow, committed suicide Tuesday, June 16. As expected, on the following day the Associated Press released a wire story about the incident. But, the odd thing about the short recount of the Farrows's lives and the account of the discovery of Patrick's lifeless body is that that the AP found some reason to slip in an attack on George W. Bush into the story.…
During Healthcare 'Special' ABC Refuses Paid Ads That Oppose Obamacare
So, not only is ABC not planning to include opposing voices to President Obama's health care proposals during its special presentation next week -- though ABC does claim "those in the audience" will ask questions of the president -- it is refusing to even allow groups that oppose Obamacare to purchase paid-for advertisements to air during the healthcare special. Rick Scott, chairman of…
MSNBC's Ratigan Shows How Journalism Should Work
Journalists, take note: Dylan Ratigan should be your model.Despite working for MSNBC, Ratigan has shown a hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners interview style that is quickly gaining him the reputation for being the toughest interview on television. It isn’t often that an MSNBC host can claim to be tough on both sides of the political aisle, but the former CNBC correspondent could probably do it with a…
Mika Brzezinski: Liberal Reporters Should Be 'Brave Enough to Reveal t
According to MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough, the traditionally left-of-center co-host and daughter of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mika Brzezinski has had an awakening about the political leanings of the mainstream media. Mika Brzezinski appeared with Scarborough at the Borders bookstore in Falls Church, Va. on June 16 to help him promote his book, "The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism…
Time's Joe Klein: Ahmadinejad Supporters Like Bush's Base Voters, Mous
In the midst of his June 16 Swampland blog screed leveled against the "unhinged" Sen. John McCain for his criticism of President Obama's low-key response to the Iranian election, Time magazine's Joe Klein [shown in file photo at right] also worked in a comparison of hardliner Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's support base with former U.S. President George W. Bush's core supporters:It is not…
ABC to Air Obama Health Special, Former ABC Staffer Runs Health Commun
ABC has made the unprecedented move of giving prime-time programing air time to President Barack Obama for a health care reform special to be aired next week. Perhaps it is not too surprising that Obama has landed himself some prime viewing time on ABC. After all, former ABC News correspondent Linda Douglass is now the Director of Communications for the Obama White House Office of Health Reform.…
Name That Party: Dem Scandal, No Party Mention/GOP Scandal, Party Ment
And now another episode of Name That Party where the news customer reads a story and tries his darndest to discern from what party a scandal plagued politician hails. We have many times said that one of the main rules of the Name That Party parlor game is that if the Old Media is talking about a troubled Democrat, often times the pol's party is either not mentioned at all or is buried way down in…
