Military
LATimes Brooks Thinks Russia/Georgia War is Funny
August 22nd, 2008 8:39 AM
The L.A. Times' Rosa Brooks has done it again, taken a serious subject and made an uninformed romp of it. One wonders how the old Georgian lady seen in news photos standing wounded among the ruins of her apartment building, or the Georgian Mother running down the street, infant in her arms, trying to escape Russian tanks might feel about the humor with which Brooks brings to bear upon their…
Mitchell Also Circulated Obama's Conspiracy Theory Over Cancelled Troo
August 18th, 2008 6:07 AM
Andrea Mitchell's floating of the Obama-camp accusation that John McCain cheated by overhearing Obama's responses at the Saddleback forum, as NewsBuster D.S. Hube reported, isn't the first time the NBC correspondent has made herself propagator-in-chief of Obama's conspiracy theories. As NewsBuster Noel Sheppard has noted, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis has now written NBC to protest Mitchell…
AP, As Usual, Botches Its Monthly Report on the US Deficit
August 12th, 2008 10:00 PM
Last month, it was the Associated Press's Jeannine Aversa's turn to mishandle the reporting on Uncle Sam's Monthly Treasury Statement on the government's receipts, spending, and deficit. Aversa's usual specialty is hallucinating over "blizzards of pink slips" and "jobs vanishing into thin air" when she does her "report," aka her downbeat propaganda piece, on the government's monthly jobs release…
The NYT on Convicted Terror-Helper Hamdan's 'Impish Sense of Humor
August 11th, 2008 8:24 PM
Editor's Note: This post originated on our sister publication TimesWatch.org.New York Times terror-trial reporter William Glaberson filed a "news analysis" Sunday on the war crimes conviction of Salim Hamdan, the Guantanamo Bay detainee recently convicted of providing material support to terror by serving as driver and bodyguard to Osama bin Laden. But "A Conviction, but a System Still on Trial…
NYT Can't Wait: 'Deadly U.S. Milestone' of 500 Deaths in Afghanistan
August 7th, 2008 3:16 PM
Editor's Note: This originally appeared on our sister publication TimesWatch.org.The New York Times's front-page report Thursday marking the 500th death in Afghanistan (most but not all in combat) tracks through the same muddy ruts as the paper's previous four stories marking each 1,000 fatality mark in Iraq. It's taken almost seven years of combat in Afghanistan to reach the plateau of 500, …
How Does Politico Justify This Photo Choice
July 28th, 2008 9:41 PM
Update: An NB reader contacted Mike Allen, author of the article, to complain about the photo choice. Allen indicated he was unaware of, and not involved in, the photo selection. The accompaning photo was subsequently changed to one of the condemned solider.Of all the millions of photos of George W. Bush, that displayed here is the one Politico.com chose to accompany its story, Bush Approves…
'He Has a Little Bit of an Arrogant Streak in Him. He Does
July 28th, 2008 5:58 PM
Between now and Election Day, we're sure to see—and chronicle at NB—plenty of MSM sycophancy for Barack Obama. But between the thrills going up assorted media legs, evidence is emerging that some in the media are beginning to assess the Dem candidate in a clearer light. Take for example, Gabriel Sherman's piece at the New Republic which as its title—End of the Affair—suggests, has as its thesis…
CBS ‘Early Show’: ‘Nasty’ McCain Ad Shows ‘Gloves Are Off
July 28th, 2008 12:38 PM
At the top of Monday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Russ Mitchell teased a segment about a new McCain campaign ad criticizing Barack Obama for not visiting wounded American soldiers in Germany: "...it is 99 days until election day and John McCain this weekend took off the gloves off with an ad criticizing Barack Obama for among other things, going to the gym while on his trip overseas last week."…
AP's 'US Now Winning Iraq War' Analysis Getting Light Exposure
July 27th, 2008 10:16 AM
Robert Burns and Robert H. Reid created quite a stir in the blogosphere yesterday with their dispatch from Baghdad, "Analysis: US now winning Iraq war that seemed lost." NewsBusters colleague Noel Sheppard accurately called it a "stop the presses" story, and ended his post with an important perspective that you really must read if you haven't already. Now that the story has had one overnight news…
A Week with No US Troop Deaths In Iraq
July 26th, 2008 10:54 AM
On July 16, Andrew Malcolm at the Los Angeles Times's Top of the Ticket Blog wrote the following (bold is mine): When President Bush ordered the surge in January 2007, (Barack) Obama said: "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse," a position he maintained throughout 2007. This year he…
NYT Complaint: Not Enough Photos Of Mutilated American Soldiers in Thi
July 26th, 2008 5:18 AM
** Now With Update... A Soldier Speaks **
The New York Times is miffed. They aren't happy that there has been a dearth of news photos showing dead American soldiers in the war in Iraq. The Times is lamenting that there have been "4,000 U.S. Combat Deaths, and Just a Handful of Images," so more carnage and death is their druthers. Well, more American dead, anyway. They aren't interested in the…
Mitchell: 'Scuttlebutt' Says McCain Sabotaged Obama Military Hospital
July 25th, 2008 7:27 AM
Are reporters in the business of reporting fact or rumor? Andrea Mitchell, for one, doesn't scruple to circulate "scuttlebutt" that if true would be deeply damaging to John McCain. Barack Obama's cancellation of plans to visit injured military members at bases in Germany has drawn considerable attention and criticism. On today's Morning Joe, Mitchell passed along an Obama-campaign inspired…
Wilson Waxes Wexler/Matthews Double-Team
July 24th, 2008 6:57 PM
The screencap captures it nicely: Heather Wilson, smiling. Robert Wexler, mouth agape. On this afternoon's Hardball, the feisty, brilliant GOP representative from New Mexico took on the duo of the combative congressman from Florida and host Chris Matthews, and walked away a winner. The subject was Obama's Berlin speech, and by extension his presidential qualifications.You'll find excerpts…