Latest Blogs

Watching video clips of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the aftermath are well, shocking, even to a media-overstimulated world. It almost needs a disclaimer. “These are not disaster-movie special effects. This is real.” For everyone in public life, the reaction should be one of horror and sorrow. But in recent years, the definition of “public life” has expanded dramatically with the…

Ka-ching! The New York Times announced with fanfare on Saturday that "outed" CIA agent Valerie Plame is cashing in once again. It keeps getting harder to claim that the whole Plame saga wasn't a bonanza of wealth and fame, but the Plame-loving Times is casting it as a blow for feminism. The female spy is always sexy, emerging from the surf in a bikini. Julie Bosman added: "Who better to roll…

On Saturday night, MSNBC host Chris Matthews stepped away from any sense of neutrality by serving as Master of Ceremonies at the 19th Annual Dinner of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which has long agitated for a repeal of any limitations on open homosexuality in the U.S. military. The motto of the dinner is "Making History, Moving Forward" -- not very far from the "Lean Forward"…

The Left's panic concerning the defunding of NPR has become quite comical in recent days. Take for example Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) who took to the House floor Thursday and said, "If my friends on the other side of the aisle want to strip funding from NPR because they believe -- wrongly, in my view -- that NPR is biased, then we should be given the same opportunity" and prevent taxpayer…

John Avlon again attacked conservatives, this time on the gun rights issues, in a Thursday column on CNN.com. Avlon bashed the "bumper sticker policies" and the "reason-free activist crowd" of Second Amendment activists. The Daily Beast writer also invoked Reagan's past support of gun control measures in another attempt to sever today's conservative activists from the former president's legacy…

Most readers here aren't aware that Associated Press reporters began withholding their bylines this week in support of their union's "quality journalism proposals." Participating reporters are refusing to have their name placed on AP stories. It appears to apply to stories datelined in the U.S. and not overseas (as seen here). It is truly a wonder that the world has gone on while AP reporters…

Leading the free world is highly overrated and so last century. Just ask Time's Joe Klein, who is giddy that our European allies and the Arab League took a leading role in setting up a no-fly zone over Libya, some 31 days after Muammar al-Qadhafi started opening fire upon ragtag rebels. From a March 18 entry entitled "Gaddafi Duck" at the magazine's Swampland blog:

After penning a number of stories toeing the Democratic line on a variety of issues, Washington Post reporter Shailagh Murray decided to make it official: the Post announced Friday that she has taken a job in the office of Vice President Joe Biden. Murray marks the 18th journalist to move from a reporting position to a post in Democratic politics or vice versa since President Obama took…

On Friday's Morning Edition, NPR's Mara Liasson conspicuously excluded conservatives who are opposed to "comprehensive" immigration reform proposals, such as those forwarded by former President George W. Bush, during a report on Utah's new and "milder" immigration law. Liasson emphasized the state's "conservative politics," but couldn't find any conservatives who opposed the law. Host Renee…

It really is amazing that anybody takes New York Times columnist Paul Krugman seriously. Consider the following factual misrepresentations in what he wrote Friday:

On Friday the New York Times broke its near-silence on its new digital subscription plan with a front-page story by media reporter Jeremy Peters. As of Monday, March 28, visitors to nytimes.com can read 20 stories a month for free. After that, readers get several pay options, one being a $15-a-month fee for full web access. Print subscribers are unaffected. Peters encapsulated the concerns…

On Thursday the House voted 228-192 to end direct federal funding of NPR, but “Caucus” correspondent Michael Shear on Friday morning dismissed the move as a “distraction” in “NPR Vote One of Many Distractions to Come.” The vote by House Republicans Thursday to strip National Public Radio of much of its federal funding is an early example of the ways in which narrow issues are likely to…

According to Good Morning America host Robin Roberts, reporter Jake Tapper is a "big fan" of South Park. His affection showed on Friday as he interviewed the program's creators, the duo behind a vulgar Broadway play mocking Mormons. At no time during the segment on The Book of Mormon did Tapper feature any on-camera criticism of Parker and Stone. (He simply read a statement at the end of the…

The promises of pie-in-the-sky liberal environmentalists that we can convert to "clean" energy sources and stimulate our economy are based on dubious environmental and economic assumptions, fantastic notions about alternative energy, and a disturbing acceptance of the tyrannies inherent in command-control economies. It would be bad enough if President Obama and his Democratic allies were…