Latest Blogs

This is the fifth year I have looked into how the media treats these two topics: The use of “Christmas shopping season” vs. “holiday shopping season” (note how the AP photo at right uses “holiday” and not “shopping,” even though there is a C-C-, Chr-Chr-Christmas tree in the picture). The frequency of Christmas and holiday layoff references. I have done three sets of simple Google News…

On Tuesday's edition of Good Morning America, Elizabeth Vargas was joined by former Bush pollster Matt Dowd and Democrat strategist James Carville.  Astonishing though it may seem, Carville was not the left-most member of the panel.Carville and Dowd were there to provide commentary on the Obama administration's response to the attempted Undi-Bomber attack.  Dowd agreed with Carville's assessment…

On CNN's American Morning today, anchor John Roberts talked with correspondent Jim Acosta about "the politics" of terrorism.  Part of the exchange:ACOSTA: There is plenty punting going on in Washington, John. Hearings on the Detroit scare are planned for early next month, and the top Republican on that committee has already said there should have been a big red flag next to the suspect's name,…

Quite the culture war on Morning Joe today . . . The combatants were Pat Buchanan and Spencer Ackerman of the lefty Washington Independent. The topic was the treatment of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab.  Buchanan wanted the budding terrorist classified as an enemy combatant in order to extract the maximum amount of information from him. Ackerman, in ACLU mode, favored having young Umar tried in…

Joy Behar expressed confusion about the success of Sarah Palin's book because, according to the CNN Headline News/ABC talk show host, a lot of the former governor's "base doesn't even read." Behar slammed Palin, as well as Glenn Beck, Carrie Prejean and other conservatives  during her "look back at 2009" edition of the "Joy Behar Show" that re-aired over Christmas weekend. An "…

If there was ever a textbook example of kissing up to a host in a television interview, Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., gave a demonstration on MSNBC's "The Ed Show." During the Dec. 28 broadcast, Moran, who represents a district that is just a stone's throw away from the U.S. Capitol, encouraged "The Ed Show" host Ed Schultz to keep pushing for the public option as part of health care reform, even…

Virginia Democrat claims White House pays 'much more attention' to MSNBC than Fox News and encourages 'Ed Show' host to pressure for public option.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's assertion that "the system worked" has drawn the ire of conservatives. Do you agree with Jonah Goldberg that she should be fired, and if so, who should take her place?

Graphic depictions have negative effect on ticket sales and award show accolades.

On CNN Newsroom today, anchor Rick Sanchez talked about terrorism with Octavia Nasr, CNN senior editor for Arab Affairs:SANCHEZ: And good, good, good, good, good, good. You see, this is a point that I'm trying to make, Octavia.The terrorists weren't in Iraq. We know that now. There was really a small band of them along with the mujahedeen which became al Qaeda in Afghanistan, as we know. But we…