Media Business

While many in the liberal media are cheering A&E's decision to suspend Phil Robertson from further filming of the network's Duck Dynasty reality show, MSNBC's Thomas Roberts suggested that the move by the network may not be "enough." In a Facebook post, the openly gay MSNBC Live host posed to his fans the "big question" of the day (screen capture below page break):

Editor's Note: Dan Gainor, MRC's Vice President for Business and Culture addressed the recent suspension of "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson in the following statement to Variety today: TV networks might claim they support free speech, but the suspension of “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson shows that to be an utter lie. They only support free speech they agree with. Foul comments by MSNBC…

As 2013 draws to a close, Fox News Channel continues to dominate cable television news programming, according to Nielsen data through Dec. 8. In an article for Variety, Rick Kissell stated that Fox has averaged 1.774 million viewers in prime time -- down 13 percent from last year's presidential election-driven numbers -- while the Cable News Channel fell 15 percent, and MSNBC lost 29 percent.

"Top journalists from The New York Times, NBC News and CNN acknowledged Wednesday that, generally speaking, the national media has a liberal bias," Politico's media reporter Dylan Byers noted in a December 18 post recapping a Politico Playbook breakfast discussion held earlier on Wednesday morning. More than one panelist opined that it's not just that journalists tend to be liberal on policy…

NewsBusters's parent company the Media Research Center (MRC) proudly announced the Best Notable Quotables of 2013: The 26th Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting earlier this morning, with former MSNBC host Martin Bashir taking home the “Quote of the Year” honor for a disgusting, misogynist rant aimed at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Not only did Bashir’s November 15 quote take the…

Getting a glimpse of the kind of real reporting that can occur on NBC Nightly News when Brian Williams isn't in the anchor chair, on Sunday's edition of the program, weekend anchor Lester Holt informed viewers that "official photo releases" from the Obama administration were "at the center of an escalating battle between the White House and the news media over access and image control." [Listen…

Former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee will soon be joining the world of online news publishing with a new venture called the Huckabee Post. The move comes shortly after the former Republican presidential candidate announced he was ending his nationally syndicated radio show. The announcement was confirmed by Huckabee's son yesterday. Mediaite was the first to report the story, however.

Radio and TV blowhard Ed Schultz decided to take a break from his normal act of ranting against Republicans today by raging against some fellow liberals who had the temerity to criticize him and other MSNBC hosts for declining to publicly take the side of union members in a dispute they're having with the cable channel's parent company, NBC Universal. Schultz, whose shtick is that he is just…

Time's editor Nancy Gibbs -- who, last we checked, was a woman -- announced today that Pope Francis would be honored as the magazine's 2013 Person of the Year. This, of course, is the perfect excuse for the sort of folks who get their knickers twisted over these sorts of things to complain that, yet again, a man was named for the honor. As insult to injury for left-wing feminists, the man in…

As much as people on the left in this country and others rage against Rupert Murdoch and his many creations it is rather remarkable how most American conservatives, even professional political junkies, know or care very little about the man. Beyond missing out on understanding how Murdoch’s life is a textbook case of the power and influence of media on policy, people on the right who aren’t…

To date, NBC/Comcast has made absolutely no apology to its viewers or to Gov. Sarah Palin for Martin Bashir’s vile screed on November 15 suggesting that she should be forced to consume excrement. Even following Bashir’s own apology and subsequent resignation, NBC/Comcast’s top executives have remained completely silent. MSNBC President Phil Griffin offered only public support for Bashir,…

Call it a case of interview envy--in the context of an ongoing feud between two MSNBC hosts. There has been bad blood between Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews for years, as here, here and here.  On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough took the occasion of Chris Matthews' impending interview of President Obama to mock the way Matthews' on-air schedule has shrunk. In a particularly low blow,…

Here’s something I bet you never imagined someone saying on MSNBC: “This [administration] is the most hostile to the media that has been in United States history.” Yet there was syndicated columnist and former CNN correspondent Bob Franken saying so on Saturday’s MSNBC Live (video follows with transcript and commentary):

NB reader Gary Hall reports "It's not unusual to see a fake wrap front page at the LAT's - that's a full page ad that you peel off an throw away. Sometimes it's a half page that's wrapped around."  (Washington Post readers often have a sticker advertisement pasted on the front page.) But Wednesday's Los Angeles Times is dominated by an ad for the Disney cartoon movie "Frozen." This is the…