Who Had the Fairer Panel: Meet the Press or Fox News Sunday
April 27th, 2008 2:43 PM
For a moment, let's step away from the commentary, per se, and focus on the commentators. Liberals love to chide Fox News for its alleged conservative bias. So why don't we see, when it comes to being fair and balanced, how this morning's Fox News Sunday panel stacked up against that of its main competitor, Meet the Press?Here are the line-ups—you be the judge.MEET THE PRESS Host–Tim Russert…
Perfect Job for Sheryl Crow: Montgomery County, Md. Jailor
April 25th, 2008 12:58 PM
"Toilet Paper Rationing Proposed for Inmates" read the teaser headline in the sidebar of my Metro section front page for the April 25 Washington Post. "Since when did Sheryl Crow become a jail warden?" I wondered. Much to my chagrin, I found it was not such a green story after all, unless the green we're talking about is the budget for the Montgomery County, Maryland budget:Montgomery County…
Washington Post Faults Catholic Church Teaching for Filipino Poverty
April 21st, 2008 2:22 PM
The day after Pope Benedict XVI departed the U.S. after a six-day visit, Blaine Harden of the Washington Post lamented the Catholic Church’s influence in the Philippines, specifically, the government of Philippines "acceding to Catholic doctrine" by "supporting only what it calls ‘natural’ family planning," rejecting "modern contraception" as part of family planning." Throughout his article,…
MSM Papal Trip Postmortem: Benedict Did 'Better Than Expected
April 21st, 2008 1:59 PM
With Pope Benedict back in Rome, the media are rendering their verdict of the pontiff's U.S. visit. The pontiff did "better than expected" seems to be the verdict coming from secular journalists, who, of course, found that the pontiff bested the low expectations of unnamed "experts." Take the following from Washington Post staffers Michelle Boorstein and Jacqueline L. Salmon (emphasis mine):NEW…
Bill and Hillary's Unfavorable Ratings Skyrocket, Media Mostly Mum
April 20th, 2008 4:46 PM
On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported results of a new poll it undertook with ABC News wherein Hillary Clinton's unfavorable rating skyrocketed to its highest point ever.In the same poll, her husband Bill's unfavorable rating rose above 50 percent for the first time since August 1998 when he was embroiled in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.Although some media outlets other than the Post did…
WaPo Hypes Sen. Boxer Comment, Ignores Bigger Story In Bush Global War
April 17th, 2008 12:44 PM
I already knew Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) wasn't a clear thinker, but I still had to chuckle at her quote in today's Washington Post article on climate change: The president's plan to have America stand by while greenhouse gases reach dangerous levels and threaten America and the world is worse than doing nothing -- it is the height of irresponsibility. What's the difference between "standing…
NYT: Papal Spectators 'Residents, Tourists,' or 'the Simply Curious
April 17th, 2008 12:33 PM
NYT Reported 750K Saw Mandela in 1990; Similar Papal Estimates on Way? It's early in the papal visit, but I have to wonder if Old Media will get into the level of detail found in the New York Times's June 21, 1990 coverage of Nelson Mandela's visit to New York City: The police estimated that 750,000 people saw Mr. Mandela at one point or another - 50,000 in Queens at Kennedy International Airport…
WaPo TV Critic Feels Wednesday's Debate 'Slanted Against Obama
April 17th, 2008 10:11 AM
Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos actually asked some tough questions of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during Wednesday's Democrat presidential debate on ABC.Yet, the Washington Post's television critic Tom Shales wasn't happy about this, and actually felt the event represented "another step downward for network news" wherein the moderators "turned in shoddy, despicable performances."…