Reuters
Venezuelan Dictator Threatens to Send CNN Packing for Reporting His Th
February 21st, 2014 12:37 PM
We're not always the biggest fans of CNN, but when they've provoked the ire of a leftist dictator, we have to give props.
Reuters is reporting that Venezuelan despot Nicolas Maduro is threatening to expel CNN reporters from his country for daring to, well, do their jobs and report the news (h/t TV Newser; emphasis mine):
Press Outlets All Over Report on Milk Price Increases While Ignoring L
February 19th, 2014 10:37 PM
According to a USA Today item carried at ABC News, "Sixty percent of adults can't drink milk." In July 2012, the New York Times ran an item entitled, "Got Milk? You Don't Need It." But the last time I checked, everyone uses electricity to some extent.
I'm bringing up these points because, as a friend showed me earlier today, the establishment press has run stories galore in the past several…
Press Coverage of UAW's VW-Chattanooga Loss 'Somehow' Overlooks One 'O
February 15th, 2014 8:21 PM
The three Associated Press reports I've seen on the UAW's failure to win the right to represent hourly workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee — the first two were covered in NewsBusters posts here and here; the wire service's 3:52 p.m. report is here — all mention in one way or another what UAW President Bob King is now calling "unprecedented outside interference" in the…
Update: AP Revision to VW-Chattanooga Story Laments UAW's Loss of 'Pot
February 15th, 2014 11:08 AM
Following revisions to initial stories at the Associated Press, aka the Adminstration's Press, can be a revealing if sometimes tedious exercise.
A case in point is how reporters Tom Krisher and Erik Schelzig, who are both more than likely represented by the News Media Guild in their jobs at the wire service, changed the tone of their second report following the rejection by employees at…
UAW Fails to Organize Tenn. VW Plant; AP Report Calls Loss 'Devastatin
February 15th, 2014 12:50 AM
Late news out of Chattanooga, Tennessee Friday night was that workers at that area's Volkswagen plant rejected representation by the United Auto Workers union.
The opening paragraph at the 11:17 p.m. story filed by Tom Krisher and Erik Schelzig at the Associated Press, both of whom are more than likely members of the News Media Guild, calls the result "devastating." Later paragraphs imply…
As Press Pretends Seasonally Adjusted Figures Are What Happened, Econo
February 8th, 2014 4:11 PM
One of the more annoying aspects of business press reporting is its participants' singular focus on seasonally adjusted data to the exclusion of the underlying figures.
Many reports on the economy at least tag the figures reported as seasonally adjusted; but there seems to be a trend away from doing even that. For example, the Associated Press has routinely labeled weekly initial jobless…
Press Nearly Mum As VW Displaces GM As World's Number Two Automaker
January 31st, 2014 4:58 PM
In yet another negative milestone for the bailouts that supposedly saved the U.S. auto industry — already a hard-to-handle claim given that Chrysler, one of the two beneficiaries, is now 100% owned by an Italian company — Volkswagen has surpassed General Motors as the world's number two automaker behind Toyota.
The reporting on this development has been quite sparse. It's not news at the…
Business Press Notes Increased Consumption in Govt. Report, Ignores Se
January 31st, 2014 3:12 PM
The Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters all focused on the supposedly positive news of increased consumption reported in today's "Personal Income and Outlays" release from the government's Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the process, two of the three ignored a particulary dreadful statistic about disposable income, while the third (Bloomberg) misinterpreted its meaning.
The dire statistic…
Wendy Davis, Whose Rival Is Paraplegic, Issues Statement Saying Oppone
January 21st, 2014 11:30 PM
This is a "Can't Make This Up" item on two levels. The more obvious of the two is an incredibly tone-deaf statement issued by Texas Democratic guberatorial candidate Wendy Davis, whose Republican opponent is paraplegic Greg Abbott, that "I am proud of what I’ve been able to achieve through hard work and perseverance. And I guarantee you that anyone who tries to say otherwise hasn’t walked a day…
Two Reuters Headlines Presume Pope Has Condemned Abortion to Placate
January 13th, 2014 1:42 PM
A few hours ago, the folks at Twitchy.com caught the following headline at Reuters at a story about Pope Francis: "Pope, in nod to conservatives, calls abortion 'horrific.'" At roughly 11:45 Eastern Time, the headline at Philip Pullella's story carried at Yahoo News ventured even further into the unreal: "Pope, after conservatives' criticism, calls abortion "horrific.'"
Phil, the Pope is…
Time, Reuters Refer to 'Martyrs' with Scare Quotes in Stories Noting F
January 8th, 2014 5:15 PM
Apparently to Time magazine and Reuters, using the term "martyr" to refer to a Christian slain for the sake of his or her faith -- often at the hands of "radical Islamists" -- is deserving of scare quotes.
"Deaths of Christian 'Martyrs' Doubled in 2013," reads the top item in the "latest headlines" sidebar at Time.com. Clicking the link takes you to a story by Charlotte Alter at Time.com, who…
Wires Report Feds Will Wing It With Subsidy Payments to Insurers, Megy
December 4th, 2013 11:10 AM
On November 19, Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told a congressional committee that "[W]e still have to build the payment systems to make payments to issuers in January" for those who have enrolled in plans through HealthCare.gov.
On Black Friday, while almost no one was paying attention, Alex Nussbaum at Bloomberg News reported…
Journalists, Networks Decry Obama White House's 'Troubling Precedent
November 21st, 2013 4:03 PM
On Thursday, CBS's Sharyl Attkisson reported on Twitter that the White House Correspondents Association, along with "dozens of associations & media outlets", sent a letter of protest to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. Attkisson outlined in subsequent Tweets that the letter blasted the Obama administration for restricting the access of photojournalists at certain presidential events…
Hurricane Sandy Relief: Networks Attack GOP, But Mention Pork Only
October 29th, 2013 2:10 PM
Striking the Northeast on Oct. 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy tragically devastated communities causing an estimated $50 billion in damages. By the end of January 2013, a relief bill was passed for Sandy aid, after the bill was delayed because of wasteful spending.
House Republicans opposed a pork-ridden $60 billion Senate bill ($10 billion higher than damage estimates) and chose not to vote on it…