USNews Highlights Conspiracy Theory On 'Elite' 'Secretive' Christians

Eat your heart out Lyndon LaRouche. The Trilateral Commission is so 1970s. It's really "The Fellowship" that's really running the world according to religion professor Jeff Sharlet in his new book "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power." Despite being a fanciful yet unsubstantiated conspiracy theory, U.S. News & World Report dignified Sharlet's take on a little-…
Ken Shepherd

CNN’s Yellin: Press ‘Under Enormous Pressure’ From Execs Before

CNN congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin, during a segment on Wednesday’s "Anderson Cooper 360," accused her former bosses -- presumably those at MSNBC, where she worked prior to joining ABC in July 2003 -- of pressuring her to run positive stories about the Bush administration before the invasion of Iraq: "When the lead-up to the war began, the press corps was under enormous pressure from…
Matthew Balan

CBS’s Schieffer: McClellan Makes ‘Very Serious Allegations

On Thursday’s CBS "Early Show" co-host Maggie Rodriguez talked to "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer about the political fallout of Scott McClellan’s Bush-bashing memoir: "The White House is essentially dismissing McClellan's book as sour grapes from a disgruntled employee who was let go early...What do you make of all this?" Schieffer replied by declaring that: " Well, it generally happens in…
Kyle Drennen

Time Mag: Is McCain 'Ready for Prime Time

Team Obama: Ready for Prime Time? Aides who were lobbyists, preachers who are controversial, a murky message. Can Obama get back on course?Wow, who in the MSM wrote that story? No one. I simply replaced McCain with Obama in the front page teaser for a May 29 article by Time magazine's Michael Scherer.We need not belabor Obama's "murky message" and controversial preachers. And we've previously…
Ken Shepherd

Left-leaning Journalism Group Admits McCain Gets Worse Media Treatment

Over the course of this presidential campaign, we've released a number of studies showing how the Democratic presidential candidates have received softer coverage compared to Republicans, it's refreshing to see however, when a left-leaning journalism foundation admits the truth as the Project for Excellence in Journalism did in a comprehensive study released today: If campaigns for president are…
Matthew Sheffield

CNN’s Costello: ‘Tell-All’ Books on Bush Point to ‘Suppressed

CNN correspondent Carol Costello, covering the reaction to McClellan’s new "tell-all" book about the Bush administration on Thursday’s "American Morning," added some liberal-leaning psychoanalysis to the obligatory quotes from current and former administration officials and a clip from Rush Limbaugh. "Unflattering kiss and tells about the Bush administration are a dime a dozen. Spilling the beans…
Matthew Balan

'Mika, I Know In Your Heart You're For Barack Obama

Lanny Davis let one of the world's worst-kept secrets out of the bag this morning: Mika Brzezinski's a Barack backer. But the Morning Joe host [in Joe Scarborough's absence] insisted on "taking issue" with the incontestable, and yet again cited her family's political diversity as a would-be shield against Davis's assertion.Davis, former special counsel to Bill Clinton and die-hard defender of…
Mark Finkelstein

CNN's Lou Dobbs: 'When Does George Bush Leave Office

Yesterday's edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight included a report from Kitty Pilgrim on product recalls from China and the administration's efforts to reduce importation of unsafe products. "Bush administration officials are going through the charade of tougher enforcement with few results," according to correspondent Pilgrim. Using the term "charade" prepared viewers for where this segment was…
Mike Bates

First Quarter GDP Growth Up Higher Than Originally Thought

May 27: Paul R. La Monica for CNN Money reporting on Warren Buffett's belief that "we are already in a recession." Notice the lede: NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It's getting harder and harder to deny that the economy is in recession.May 29: The federal government releases an upward revision of the first quarter GDP growth. The ever-pessimistic AP reporter Martin Crutsinger grudgingly admitted that…
Ken Shepherd

Open Thread

NB Staff

Despite Media, Buffett Recession Obsessions, 1Q Growth Revised Up

Matching predictions from Reuters and Bloomberg, the government's Bureau of Economic Analysis told us this morning that the economy grew at an upwardly-revised annualized rate of 0.9%. As I've said frequently, this is nowhere near acceptable. But it sure as heck isn't a recession.Initial reaction to the news by the Associated Press's Jeannine Aversa was unfortunately predictable (bolds are mine…
Tom Blumer

NPR Indicts Limbaugh, Beck, Cavuto For Anti-Hillary Sexism

Tim Graham

Vieira Punts on Possible McClellan-Soros Connection

Was George Soros behind the publication of Scott McClellan's book? Meredith Vieira had the perfect opportunity this morning to find out—but chose to punt. The Today co-anchor certainly had the time: her much-touted exclusive interview with the author of What Happened ranged over the show's first two half-hours. But even when McClellan himself put the issue on the table—citing his publisher by…
Mark Finkelstein

Media Ran Charges Israeli Troops Killed Boy, Ignore Evidence Israel In

When France 2 TV helped stoke a new wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Western sentiment and violence by presenting the world footage it claimed to show the Israeli military targeting and killing a Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Dura, a scene that has been invoked by Osama bin Laden and many other terrorists and suicide bombers, the American news media also ran the story, showing the footage numerous…
Brad Wilmouth