Tim Russert Certifies McClellan Charges: 'This is not Moveon.org

NBC's "Today" show, on Wednesday morning, led with former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's book as Matt Lauer declared it a "bombshell," and Tim Russert built up McClellan's credibility as he trumpeted, "This is not Moveon.org." After a breathless accounting of the "scathing" and "searing" revelations in the McClellan book from David Gregory, Lauer and Russert dismissed Karl Rove's…
Geoffrey Dickens

Open Thread

NB Staff

MRC-TV: Bozell on Oprah's Post-Obama Ratings Plunge; Scott McClellan's

MRC President and NewsBusters Publisher Brent Bozell appeared this morning on the May 28 "Fox & Friends" to discuss the Oprah effect on the 2008 presidential race. It appears the daytime host may be taking a ratings hit from erstwhile loyal viewers chagrined by her backing the Illinois senator, although Obama himself seems to be benefiting from the backing. Also discussed: former Bush press…
NB Staff

'Recount' Film Triggers Repressed 'Memories' of Vote Suppression and F

P.J. Gladnick

Barnicle: Bloggers 'Nitwits Who Think They're Part of News Media

You pathetic little people of the blogosphere. You're nothing more than "nitwits at home with [your] computers" who've deluded yourselves into imagining you're "part of the news media." Just ask Mike Barnicle. The former Boston Globe columnist broke the tough truth to us on today's Morning Joe. WaPo editorial writer Jonathan Capehart was "so glad" to agree.Capehart was in full courtier mode to…
Mark Finkelstein

NPR Overcomes Fox News Aversion in Iraq

Tim Graham

Bozell Column: Barack Potatoe Obama

Imagine that John McCain named a young running mate to campaign with him, and this national rookie suggested America had 58 states, repeatedly used the wrong names for the cities he was visiting, and honored a Memorial Day crowd by acknowledging the "fallen heroes" who were present, somehow alive and standing in the audience. How long would it take for the national media to see another Dan Quayle…
Brent Bozell

Garrison Keillor Mocks Patriotism

I guess out on Lake Blowbegone, patriotism isn't kosher? Keillor just seems, nose in the air, to find all that lowborn patriotism so woefully gauche. At least, one might get that impression by reading the attack penned by Garrison Keillor against the patriotism evinced by the folks who don their red, white and blue, along with their leather jackets and hop on their Hogs to join the long line of…
Warner Todd Huston

ABC 'World News': It 'Makes Sense' to Label McCain 'McSame

Terry Ann Rendon

Any Stick's Good Enough to Beat Abstinence Education

NBC's Nancy Snyderman uses an uptick in teen pregnancy rates to challenge morally based sex ed.
Colleen Raezler

Tennis Pro Harkleroad Poses for Playboy; Reuters Hails 'Glamorous Coup

Article quotes star Serena Williams praising Georgia girl's courage, but cites no critics of pornography.
Julia Seward

Campbell Concurs: Obama Flag Pin Issue 'Nonsensical, Ridiculous

CNN classifies Campbell Brown as an "anchor," but that apparently doesn't prevent her from riding to Barack Obama's defense on a high-profile issue. On this evening's Election Center, Brown seconded a guest's assertion that the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's erstwhile refusal to wear a flag pin was "nonsensical" and "ridiculous."The topic was the matter of Obama's patriotism as a…
Mark Finkelstein

NBC's Hapless Viewers: 'Burgers' Not Ribs, 'Next Year' Only Soup

Catching up with ABC, which in the past couple of weeks has featured complaints from viewers about how higher gas prices mean they can't afford breakfast and a woman who whined that she can “no longer take joy rides on my days off,” NBC Nightly News caught up Tuesday night with its own set of hapless Americans who claimed they are forced to grow their own food, two who went with burgers (!) over…
Brent Baker

Western Media Swallowing Chinese Propaganda Whole

Over the weekend, the London Times gave us a foolish headline for a foolish story. The trumpeting headline read, "A seismic shift in China's relations with West?" This would be momentous news if true of course. But this supposed "seismic shift" was made up of whole cloth, not of any proof of actions by China otherwise. Instead of a story citing a series of decisions given a suitable amount of…
Warner Todd Huston