The Two Faces of Michael Kinsley on Government Secrets
During the Pentagon Papers controversy over the release of Vietnam-related military and other documents in 1971, if a columnist had written that "the private companies that own newspapers, and their employees, should not have the final say over the release of government secrets, and a free pass to make them public with no legal consequences," and that "that decision must ultimately be made by…
Column: NYTimes Guilty of Fuzzy Math in Service of Anti-Capital Punish
The New York Times has been touting a study purporting to show that 4 percent of death row inmates have been "falsely convicted." "Falsely convicted" is not "innocent." But after being processed through the lawyer-to-journalist telephone game, "insignificant procedural errors" quickly becomes "27 guys didn't do it!"
What the study actually shows is that those sentenced to death are more…
NY Times' Democrat Helper Carl Hulse Regurgitates Simplistic Attack An
On Thursday, New York Times congressional reporter Carl Hulse, long a reliable mouthpiece for Democrats, spelled out some handy tips for the Democrats as they struggle to retain seats in the Republican-held House of Representatives, under the headline "Democrats Seek Issues to Lure Midterm Votes After Races Buoy G.O.P.," a headline considerably more balanced than Hulse's actual story, which…
Joe Garcia (D-Fla.): 'We've Proved Communism Works
One would think that Florida Democratic Congressman Joe Garcia can only get so many free passes from the national press before they'll have to acknowledge his serious problems. We'll see.
Back in January, the Associated Press and the rest of the national establishment media managed to limit their coverage of the arrest and ultimate guilty plea of Garcia's chief of staff for illegally plotting…
Press Ignores How Judicial Watch Had to Go to Court to Force Obama Adm
During the Obama administration, the Associated Press has annually gone through the motions of noting its lack of transparency in responding to Freedom of Information Act requests. In March, its coverage of 2013 FOIA results led with the following sentence: "The Obama administration more often than ever censored government files or outright denied access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom…
NY Times Thinks (Hopes?) El Niño Floods, Landslides Will 'Re-Energize
Hooray for havoc? The New York Times's new Upshot project got unusual prime print placement for its Tuesday story predicting – hoping? -- that disasters accompanying the upcoming weather event El Nino could boost prospects for climate change legislation. It will "probably increase global temperatures, perhaps to the highest levels ever...offering vindication to maligned climate models and re-…
NYT's David Carr: Dean Baquet Threatened to Resign If Abramson Stayed
Last night (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I pointed to the track record of Dean Baquet, who has ascended to the hallowed perch of executive editor at the New York Times, and observed that "someone who has clearly been a troubling and disruptive presence is now in charge."
Two incidents spanning seven years support my contention. The first occurred in 2006 at the Los Angeles Times, where…
In Lionizing NYT's Baquet, Press Ignore Childish Insubordination Which
At the Politico, concerning Dean Baquet, the new Executive Editor at the New York Times, Dylan Byers wonders: "How will ... (he) handle the necessary digital transformation facing 'All the news that’s fit to print.'?" The better question is: How will he handle the financial constraints Times management will almost inevitably have to impose on a stagnant if not shrinking newsroom operation?
To…
NY Times Publisher Issues Statement: Jill Abramson Firing Was Due to H
Via Mediaite, we learned New York Times publisher Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr. issued a new statement Saturday on the controversy over the dumping of executive editor Jill Abramson. He said the issue wasn’t pay, but Abramson’s management style causing a loss of “the support of her masthead colleagues.”
“Equal pay for women is an important issue in our country — one that The New York Times…
NY Times Reporter Says Even Hillary's Fans Are 'Flailing' In Attempt t
Via The Right Scoop, we noticed that young New York Times reporter Nicholas Confessore – a veteran of the liberal opinion journal The Washington Monthly – thinks Hillary Clinton has a resume problem on her way to the White House, and it’s not Benghazi, exactly.
On MSNBC’s Jansing & Co. Friday, he said “I actually think that the real thing they have to overcome, the question everyone’s…
NYT's Weisman Hints at Hypocrisy of Alleged 'Common-Man Conservatives
Reporter Jonathan Weisman looked very hard to find hypocrisy among Tea Party candidates in his Saturday New York Times story "Ivy League Degrees, Elite Consulting Jobs, and Now Tea Party Candidacies."
The online subhead hinted at it: "Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Tom Cotton of Arkansas are running for the Senate as common-man conservatives but share high-flying pedigrees." Weisman's article is…
NYTimes Innovates By Interviewing … Fabio
The Jill Abramson firing continues to gain wide attention in media circles. Buzzfeed released an exclusive story linking it to a 96-page internal memo about innovation. That memo showed the Times willing to consult with at least 354 people inside and outside the organization.
Along with one highly unusual choice – actor/model Fabio. Fabio, that’s right, Fabio. The Italian actor known to many…
Following Abramson's Ouster, Another NYT Alum Concedes Bias: 'One of t
Although NewsBusters has documented The New York Times’s commitment to pushing a liberal agenda for years, it took a discrimination scandal inside the paper itself for the MSNBC network to air a liberal journalist admitting what everyone already knows but liberals are loath to confess: The Times has a left-of-center tilt, despite its dogged persistence in claiming to be objective.
On the May…
Abramson Firing: Did NY Times Forget to Read Its 90 Pieces on Equal Pa
Is “The Gray Lady” that way because the sexist owners of The New York Times won’t pay her enough for a proper dye job? This and other delightfully schadenfreude-alicious questions are worth pondering now that the paper has “unexpectedly” fired executive editor Jill Abramson on May 14.
Abramson stepped into that role on September 2011, becoming the first female executive edtior at the Times,…
