Media Bias Debate

In a case of entertainment imitating entertainment, Arron Sorkin -- maker of the faux president series West Wing -- has hinted that he is soon to start development of another one of those behind-the-scenes TV shows, this one to be the goings on with a TV pundit show ala Keith Olbermann's Count Down spectacle on MSNBC. So says Entertainment Weekly this week at least. So, what are we going to be…

Today on CNN Newsroom, anchor Rick Sanchez attacked Senator James Inhofe's (R-OK) assertion that Barack Obama is disarming America.  Joining Sanchez was Jim Arkedis of the Progressive Policy Institute.  Sanchez wanted viewers to believe the PPI is a nonpartisan think tank.  He ran a video of Inhofe denouncing Obama's proposals followed with:SANCHEZ: Cutting and gutting the military budget.Joining…

Is this really what it has come to - columnists lobbying the government for a bailout? Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown University law school professor, wrote in her last column for the Los Angeles Times on April 9 that it is time for a government bailout for journalism because our way of society is reliant on that profession for its survival. "If newspapers become mostly infotainment websites - if…

That Joe Biden and the truth have been distant acquaintances from time to time was recently seen in March (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog) when the Vice President claimed that Louisiana was losing 400 jobs a day. Louisiana at the time was actually gaining jobs.The math-challenged Biden, who infamously said during the presidential campaign that the word “jobs” has three letters, is now making claims…

USA Today's Chuck Raasch has decided that President Obama is a "transformational American leader abroad" and that his America Stinks tour of Europe is a "confirming stamp of that new reality." This effluvia of over indulgent praise heaped on Obama is ubiquitous in the media, we all know, but what makes Raasch's piece egregious is the assumption of historical "truth" that posits that Obama has…

This is just the sort of bias against Sarah Palin and her family that is de rigeur in the Old Media. CBS seemed taken aback in an April 6 report that Governor Sarah Palin could possibly still be relatively popular "despite the negative news" that she has been confronted with of late. But all the "negative news" that CBS is so sure should torpedo Palin is little else but the soap opera of family…

The Associated Press's determination to keep the identity of Democrats in trouble or under investigation hidden is indeed strong and persistent.Its report (as of 11:03 p.m.; a copy is saved here at my web host for future reference) on the launch of an ethics probe into Democrat Jesse Jackson Jr.'s relationship with ousted former Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich, particularly relating to…

Conservatives have debates over whether they should cite Rasmussen poll data because it is too divergent from other surveys. If that's the case, then why accept the new CBS/New York Times poll, which is out of step with other recent polls? Keep in mind, Rasmussen polls "likely voters," where CBS/NYT interviewed "adults." The distinction is critical. The latest CBS/NYT numbers show a very wide 42-…

The University of Maryland -- my alma mater, for full disclosure -- has made national headlines this week with a pirate-themed porn flick originally scheduled for a full-length screening last Saturday at the campus theater. Under pressure from state legislators, campus officials backed down, yet a student group stepped in the gap, pledging to screen the film in a lecture hall yesterday evening.…

When you visit NewsBusters.org and read a report taking the Associated Press to task for its continuous leftward bias, are you reading "stolen" AP content, or are you reading legitimate news? Is criticism of AP's work fair use? What is "fair use," anyway? Could the AP sue critics? These questions might be on the AP's radar if a recent report in The New York Times is any indication. AP is…

At an April 4 news conference in Strasbourg, France (White House transcript here), President Obama referred to a language that doesn't exist (bold is mine; HT to DrewM at Ace of Spades):It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot of -- I don't know what the term is in Austrian -- wheeling and dealing -- and…

For over two and a half months, MSNBC host David Shuster featured a segment called "Hypocrisy Watch" on his program "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" that overwhelmingly singled out conservatives and Republicans as hypocrites, while ignoring Democratic offenders. An analysis by the Media Research Center finds that of the 48 "Hypocrisy Watch" segments, 34 went after conservatives or Republicans. Only…

The hubbub over conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh proclaiming he hoped the policies enacted by President Barack Obama fail has gone on for months. It has drawn scorn and condemnation from voices in the media and on the left.However, one committed and very controversial lefty isn't as up in arms about it as one might have thought he would be. HBO's "Real Time" host Bill Maher told the…

All parties, no matter how rip-roaringly fun, must eventually come to an end. Hardly any of them get a newspaper obituary. But Washington Post's Monica Hesse was on hand to offer a parting toast to the "Guerrilla Queer Bar", wherein gay and lesbian revelers would "invade" a "straight bar" to dance and drink the night away, all in the name of promoting "tolerance" of alternative lifestyles.Alas,…