Latest Blogs
CNN and CNN.com Omit Firing of Middle East Senior Editor Nasr
[Update, 2:22 pm Eastern: CNN.com put up an article on Nasr's "leaving" at 12:31 pm Eastern on Thursday, just before this item went up. H/t: NewsBusters reader johnny dollar.]Both CNN and CNN.com have punted on the firing of Octavia Nasr, the network's senior editor of Middle East affairs, after she mourned the death of Islamist cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, "one of Hezbollah's giants…
Evening News Watch: NBC Trick May Have Enabled Big 3 Nets to Avoid Goi
Last week, Matt Robare at NewsBusters noted the fact that the Big 3 networks' combined year-over-year audience fell by a bit more than 1 million during the second quarter. Last week's showing appears to be to a slight pickup over the previous week, but it may have been much worse. Here, per Media Bistro, is how the the week of June 28 as reported by Nielsen compared to the week of June 21, the…
Dems Inaccurately Claim GOP Blocked Berwick Nomination, Media Happy to
The GOP as the party of obstructionism: it's a tried and true media meme, but very often falls a tad short of the truth. Yet on occasion, even stubborn facts are not enough to dispel such accusations.Some in the media have taken President Obama's recess appointment of Donald Berwick to the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as an occasion to bash purportedly obstructionist…
Morning Shows Devote 52 Minutes to Lindsay Lohan, a Scant 20 Seconds t
Over the span of two days, the network morning shows have given just 20 seconds of coverage to the recess appointment of Donald Berwick, a pro-rationing doctor who will run Medicare. In contrast, Good Morning America, Today and Early Show devoted 52 minutes of coverage to every detail of Lindsay Lohan's sentencing. On Wednesday and Thursday's GMA, ABC hosts discussed Lohan for 14 minutes. CBS's…
Keith Olbermann Calls for Justice Clarence Thomas to Resign
Keith Olbermann on Wednesday called for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign.His complaint?Thomas's wife Virginia runs a political organization called Liberty Central which at this point has not revealed who its donors are. "She is a living, breathing, appearance of a conflict of interest," whined Olbermann during Wednesday's "Countdown.""Either she must reveal the names of her donors…
CNNMoney.com: 'Jobless Claims Slide in Latest Week
This morning CNNMoney.com reports "Jobless claims slide in latest week." The article starts:The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance fell last week, according to a government report released Thursday.There were 454,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended July 3, down 21,000 from an upwardly revised 475,000 in the previous week, the Labor Department…
CBS's Couric to Netanyahu: 'Should You Be More Strongly Advocating' on
In an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric noted President Obama's unpopularity in Israel and pressed Netanyahu to remedy that fact: "To change public opinion in your country, should you be more strongly advocating on his behalf?" Couric preceded that question by citing a recent poll of Israelis, which she seemed perplexed by…
Sarah Palin: 'You Don't Wanna Mess With Conservative Women
In a new video out today, Sarah Palin sent a warning message to big-government liberals: "You thought pitbulls were tough? Well, you don't wanna mess with the Mama Grizzlies!" The video, which celebrates conservative women's activism, was released this morning by Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC. "It seems like it's kind of a mom awakening in the last year and a half," says Palin…
MSNBC's Maddow: U.S. Presence in Afghanistan 'Inherently Corrupting
Happy belated birthday, America, your presence in Afghanistan is "inherently corrupting." That's the message Rachel Maddow gave on her July 6 program.During the Bush administration, the Left often argued that the president had distracted America by engaging in hostilities in Iraq, bleeding resources and attention away from the real war on terror in Afghanistan, which had harbored al Qaeda pre-9…
Wall St. Journal Reporter Cites Smerconish as a Gaffe Expert: Mrs. Oba
Jeffrey Zaslow of The Wall Street Journal reported on political gaffes on Wednesday, and as an expert he brought on Obama-loving former Republican Michael Smerconish. Unsurprisingly, Smerconish bashed Ann Coulter and forgave Michelle Obama as he discussed his "Muzzle Meter" and the severity of scandalous words: We've become a culture that is unforgiving when it comes to poor word choice, says…
Nye Delighted About ClimateGate Exoneration 'Sham'; Calls Skeptics 'Ir
Surprise - a British panel ruled that the scandal known as ClimateGate that supposedly revealed the manipulation of certain data strengthen the case of manmade global warming was much ado about nothing. But, The New York Times in a July 7 story called these findings of an inquiry led by Muir Russell, a retired British civil servant and educator, "a sweeping exoneration" of the ClimateGate…
Conservative Rep. Darrell Issa a 'Nuisance' and 'Pest,' Says NYT's Mar
New York Times political personality profiler Mark Leibovich (pictured right) upholds his reputation as treating Democrats with respect and Republicans with derision in Wednesday‘s front-page profile of Republican Darrell Issa of California, "Darrell Issa Emerges as Obama's Annoyer-in-Chief."Issa's he said-he said claim of a rude middle finger from White House chief Rahm Emanuel somehow reflects…