AP Hits California Megachurch for Requiring Choir Members to Agree to

March 16th, 2011 2:53 PM
"Megachurch wants choir to sign anti-gay covenant," blared the headline USAToday.com gave a March 16 Associated Press (AP) story today. But the story itself reveals the document in question -- Crystal Cathedral Worship Choir and Worship Team Covenant -- simply states traditional, biblically-based Christian doctrine on marriage and sexual ethics. Here's the offending passage, according to…

Regarding the Truth About Social Security, Krauthammer Reports; Jack L

March 11th, 2011 10:53 PM
Yesterday, Washington Post syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer performed an act of journalism that anyone in the establishment press could have done -- and didn't -- for 17 days. Krauthammer did a masterful job of taking apart Obama White House Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob ("Jack") Lew's ridiculous February 21 defense of Social Security and its alleged irrelevance to…

Mostly Suppressed in AP Pirate Hostage/Murder Stories: Leader's Threat

February 23rd, 2011 11:15 AM
USA Today's Wednesday cover story ("Killings Escalate Piracy Crisis"), has this reference to a quote obtained by the Associated Press: Killing hostages "has now become part of our rules," said a pirate who identified himself as Muse Abdi in a statement to the Associated Press. "From now on, anyone who tries to rescue the hostages in our hands will only collect dead bodies," Abdi said. "It…

USA Today Reporter Gratuitously Slams Tea Party in Story on Civil War

February 17th, 2011 4:03 PM
"The Civil War still divides Americans, especially at a time when some in the Tea Party movement talk of states' rights and secession; when many states are rebelling against federal initiatives such as the health care overhaul; and when America's changing demographics make some nostalgic for a society in which white Christians were more dominant." That's how USA Today's Rick Hampson went out…

USAT's Davidson Drinks Deeply from the Obamanomics Job-'Generation' Ko

February 15th, 2011 11:37 PM
Twice on Monday (here and here), I took serious issue with the opening sentences of two Associated Press stories on Uncle Sam's fiscal situation. First, there was Martin Crutsinger's Sunday stinker, which described the level of spending in President Obama's yet to be released 2012 budget as "$3 trillion-plus," timed so that early morning news readers, radio listeners, and TV viewers would…

USA Today Op-Ed: ‘Obama Is...Wizard of All Things to All People and

February 13th, 2011 10:44 AM
Friday’s USA Today featured an op-ed, “Centrist Obama mustn't sacrifice too much,” from Rich Benjamin, a Senior Fellow at something called “Demos,” who admitted he remains “besotted by President Obama” as he gushed: Obama is...rebooting his operation to what he knows best: wizard of all things to all people and master of warm healing. He is acting as a multi-hued, but blank, canvas upon…

Media Question Whether Santorum's Comments In CNSNews.com Interview Ar

January 20th, 2011 6:58 PM
In an interview with CNSNews.com last week, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) referenced President Obama's African-American heritage last week and "found it remarkable" that he could be pro-abortion. Santorum, later clarifying his comments under media scrutiny, said he meant he is dismayed that a President who "rightfully" fights for civil rights ignores the civil rights of the unborn…

USAT's Neuharth Blames Everyone But the Tucson Killer; MSNBC Response

January 14th, 2011 4:17 PM
On Wednesday (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), in commenting on USA Today's poor decision to quote a paragraph from a New York Times op-ed by former Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) -- a bad decision because Kanjorski's call for "civility" directly contrasts with his call for someone to shoot Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott just a few months ago -- I wrote that USAT Founder Al…

USAT Cites Kanjorski NYT 'Civility' Op-Ed As 'Smart Insight'; Former C

January 12th, 2011 10:25 AM
The folks at USA Today really ought to vet their candidates for the "Et Cetera -- Smart insights on the news of the day" section of the print edition of its editorial page a bit more thoroughly. Wednesday morning's opener in that section (apparently not available online) featured two paragraphs from a New York Times op-ed by former Pennsylvania Congressman Paul Kanjorski, including this final…

AP's New-Home Industry Meme ('Worst in 47 Years') Is Demonstrably Fals

December 27th, 2010 10:11 PM
In its reports about the U.S. homebuilding industry and new home sales, the Associated Press has gotten lazy and/or deliberately deceptive. In doing so, it is giving readers, listeners and viewers at its subscribing outlets a completely incorrect impression that the industry and market are getting off the mat after recently being in their worst shape, in their words, "in 47 years." After…

USAT Builds a False Alternative Reality in Reporting on Housing Market

December 26th, 2010 11:58 PM
2010 will be by far the worst ever in the 48 years records of new home sales have been kept, and there is little if any reason to believe things will get better soon. The news on existing home sales has hardly been better, given the price reductions sellers have had to make to move their homes. Graphics will follow shortly indicating just how bad the market for new and existing homes has been…

Liberal Media Take Exception to American Exceptionalism

December 1st, 2010 10:19 AM
Is America a special nation, chosen by God as “the shining city on the hill?” Do our founding documents, with their explicit invocation of natural rights, set us apart from the rest of the world? Majorities of Americans believe so. Even the liberal Brookings Institution recently published a survey that found 58 percent of citizens believe: “God has granted America a special role in human…

USAT Report on Federal Employees Paid $150k+ Per Year Makes Key Points

November 11th, 2010 12:33 PM
Before critiquing, I should recognize that USA Today, while most of the establishment press has snoozed, has done a very creditable job of exposing the wide differential between federal employee and private-sector pay (Aug. 10, 2010; "Federal workers earning double their private counterparts"), and of identifying the outrageous degree by which salaries in the upper levels of Uncle Sam's empire…

USA Today Reporter Outs Himself As...a Democrat

November 11th, 2010 9:08 AM
In his weekly “The Final Word” column for USA Today, “Out of the closet...well, almost,” features reporter Craig Wilson recalled in Wednesday’s newspaper: “I once knew a gay youth who was bullied. Me.” He soon, however, pivoted to “when I came out to my parents, they were not surprised.” But, “the real trouble came when I told my mother I had become a Democrat.”