Specific examples of biased news coverage

As if the obvious needs to be laid out even more clearly, this page presents several more examples of what I've been discussing on the other Media Bias pages. The news media sometimes show bias when they don't report current events.  Another nearby page on this site has a long list of examples of suppressed news topics. There are also examples of media bias on the Hurricane Katrina page. Most recently, the press showed undeniable favoritism toward Barack Obama in the 2008 election cycle, and now, even after President Obama has been elected and sworn in, the favoritism continues. A recent example of liberal outrage against conservative commentary can be found here. The LA Times Refuses To Report Honestly on Costs of Climate Law.  Why can't the LA Times be fair about the costs of AB 32, California's global warming law?  Last week, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office found that the "net jobs impact" of AB 32 is "likely to be negative."  No surprises there — AB 32 is designed to raise the price of energy, and expensive energy hinders economic growth.  The LA Times, however, was unconvinced. You Lie!  MSNBC Lets Dem's False 45,000 'Uninsurance Deaths' Go Unchallenged.  Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, for one, does not want blood on his hands from 45,000 Americans who allegedly die every year due to lack of health insurance.  And MSNBC's Alex Witt, for one, doesn't think it worth questioning the veracity of that number. Media Ignore Boy Scouts' 100th Anniversary in Favor of Pro-Gay Agenda.  In the media's eyes, the Boy Scouts of America are on par with bubble wrap — unimportant, disposable and something largely ignored unless someone wants to stomp on them. Homosexual Activist Group Honors 'Outstanding' CNN for 'Excellence'.  CNN received two awards on March 13 from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) during its annual GLAAD Media Awards. CNN Documentary Depicts Sex Change as a 'Medical Necessity ... Done to Preserve Life'.  CNN dished out a heavy dose of liberal bias last night [3/15/2010] with its two-hour long documentary "Her Name Was Steven." As ACORN Agrees to Leave Ohio, AP Writer Despicably Plays the Race Card.  The Associated Press seems to have two unwritten rules on how and when to write stories about leftist controversies and setbacks:  Rule Number 1 — Do little or nothing with the story until you can figure out a way to make center-right critics or victors look like the bad guys.  Rule Number 2 — If you're thinking about covering the story any other way, refer to Rule Number 1. Software Turns Your Cell Phone Against You.  Malicious software for cell phones could pose a greater risk for consumer's personal and financial well-being than computer viruses, say scientists from Rutgers University.  The scientists have made a particularly resilient malware, known as a rootkit, that can turn a cell phone's microphone, GPS and battery against the phone's owner. The Editor says... That's odd.  Up until now, anyone who developed a rootkit was called a hacker by the mainstream news media.  Why, in this case, are they being called scientists? Krugman:  Rangel's Ethics Scandal Has No National Signficance.  Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman says Congressman Charles Rangel's (D-N.Y.) ethics scandal has absolutely no national significance.  As the Roundtable segment of ABC's "This Week" turned to new revelations concerning the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Sunday, the New York Times columnist was all by himself in making the case that Rangel hasn't really done anything wrong. The Real Tea Party Story:  Community Builders vs. Community Organizers.  In less than a year, the MSM has gone from ignoring Tea Parties to mocking and insulting their participants to grudging coverage with ridiculing overtones.  Finally it has arrived at giving wide attention to the movement, albeit grudgingly and ungraciously.  A once-highly esteemed fourth estate, they have become talking-head dilettantes on a mission to save the disgruntled masses from democracy itself. Texas and the Textbook Alamo:  [Scroll down slowly]  In the article "Darwin Foes Add Warming to Targets," the New York Times warns against conservatives and white evangelicals who dare to disbelieve the man-made global warming theory.  The article lambasts states introducing legislation to promote "critical thinking" on evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning."  That same article refers to scientists who embrace intelligent design as "deniers of evolution."  The author states emphatically "for mainstream scientists, there is no credible challenge to evolutionary theory," and then adds, "There is wide agreement among scientists that global warming is occurring and that human activities are probably driving it."  Really? NBC's Castro-Driven Journalism:  In June 2007, Castro's Stalinist regime held a "tourism fair" in Havana to kick off an ambitious plan to boost the Cuban military's tourist booty.  By some peculiar coincidence, NBC's "Today Show" decided to broadcast from Havana that very week.  Amidst smiling, clapping, dancing tourists, Matt Lauer and Andrea Mitchell advised viewers on how to legally vacation in Cuba. Pelosi Says She's Running Most Ethical Congress Ever, Media Mum.  During a Friday [2/26/2010] press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she was running the most ethical Congress ever. ... Despite the absurdity of this remark, CNSNews.com and Fox News were by themselves amongst major press outlets in finding it newsworthy. NBC's Brian Williams Ignores Rangel Corruption Charges.  After the Democrats regained control of the House in 2006, Nancy Pelosi promised NBC's Brian Williams that she would "drain the swamp" and "turn this Congress into the most honest and open Congress in history."  So when news broke that a House Ethics committee found that long time New York Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel accepted corporate money for trips to the Carribean one would think Williams would be all over the story — he wasn't. The Internet and the Agora:  [Scroll down]  Maureen Dowd and Ellen Goodman could be pinups for journalistic agnotology, other variants of false narrative.  Miss Dowd recently accused a congressman of calling the President a "boy" with no proof other than innuendo.  The false narrative here is the belief that those who criticize black politicians are bigots.  Ellen Goodman in a notorious column equated those who question some of the "junk science" associated with global warming to "holocaust deniers."  These ladies illustrate the lack of fair play and racist doublethink that has come to characterize many traditional newsrooms. AP:  Bill Ayers A 'Former' Radical.  At age 50, Bill Ayers called himself a "radical" and a "communist."  As recently as 2001, Ayers had himself photographed for a magazine story trampling an American flag.  But that's not good enough for the Associated Press.  In an article today [2/23/2010], AP describes Ayers as a "former radical." Did someone mention Bill Ayers? It's All the Tea Party's Fault.  Last Thursday [2/18/2010], a disturbed pilot flew a small plane into an Austin, Texas, office complex that contained an Internal Revenue Service office. ... This nutball had deadly grudges that transcended partisan lines.  But within minutes of the story breaking, a furious left-wing blogger at the popular Daily Kos website — where countless Democratic leaders have guest-posted — fumed:  "Teabagger terrorist attack on IRS building."  The article immediately cast blame on the anti-tax Tea Party movement. FNC's Goldberg Slams MSM for Double Standard Connecting Violent Acts to Conservatives.  On Monday's The O'Reilly Factor on FNC, host Bill O'Reilly brought aboard FNC analyst Bernard Goldberg to discuss the mainstream media double standard in linking violence by individuals who express right-wing sentiments to conservatives while ignoring the political sentiments of left-wing individuals who commit violence. The New York Times Should Terminate Character Assassin Zernike.  As Big Journalism readers know, a New York Times reporter accused a speaker at CPAC of using "racial tones" and "racial stereotypes."  I was that speaker. Media Ignored Left-Wing Tone of Netroots Nation in 2009.  While the national media dig through CPAC 2010 material for anything potentially embarrassing to fling at conservatives, their actions highlight a stark example of the blatant double standard applied to controversial speakers.  Back in 2009, the Netroots Nation Convention took place in Pittsburgh just before the G20 summit.  Even though it hosted a number of far-left agendas, the media stuck to popular, mainstream subjects in their coverage. Bill Maher:  Tea Party Protesters Just a Bunch of Stupid Cultists.  The left's comedic mud-slingers have been working overtime lately. Bill Maher injected his latest bit of invective Friday [2/19/2010] when he labeled the Tea Party movement a "cult" and hurled epithets at major conservative figures.  Angry that Americans would dare object to his particular brand of ultra-liberal politics, Maher has recieved a bit of press lately for his unending stream of hatred for anyone who disagrees with him. What's in Morning Joe's coffee?  When Scarborough proudly proclaims that "I have been bashing my party more than the Democratic Party because I want to make sure that I am fair and down the middle," conservatives scratch their heads in disbelief.  How does "bashing" your party make you "fair"?  Joe, meet Non Sequitur.  That's Scarborough's problem.  He bashes everyone and then whines when anyone complains. Matthews' Southern Poverty Guest Ties Stack To 'Radical Right'.  Liberal TV show host?  Want to guarantee that the post-Stack finger will be pointed at conservatives?  Choose as your sole guest on the subject someone from the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center.  That's precisely what Chris Matthews did this evening [2/18/2010], with utterly predictable results. Palin vs. Edwards, a case study in media bias.  No one can confuse me for someone who is an enthusiastic supporter of Sarah Palin. ... Nonetheless, there is little question that Palin has been treated unfairly by the press, at least in comparison to other politicians.  And no comparison best illustrates the double standard the media has with Palin than how they treated another former vice-presidential nominee, Sen. John Edwards. Lobbyists putting in billable hours live on MSNBC.  The Nation has a fact-filled and interesting piece (via Reason) on lobbyists and consultants who go on TV as if they were disinterested experts, and advance positions that help their clients.  My favorite part deals with the AIG shills who stuck up for the administration's bailouts. Olbermann:  Limbaugh and Palin Trying To 'Kill Us All' With Global Warming Disinformation.  Keith Olbermann Wednesday [2/10/2010] claimed that conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin are trying to kill us all by disinforming the public about the dangers of global warming. Brokaw's Bad Memory:  Impeachment Was 'Initiated' Against Clinton.  We're not looking to give Bill Clinton a hard time on a day when he's undergone heart surgery.  But our forbearance doesn't extend to Tom Brokaw when he misstates history ... Can you imagine the MSM field day if, say, Sarah Palin had so bungled an important fact from recent American history? Bill Press:  If I Paid Palin's Speaking Fee 'I'd Want My Money Back'.  The predictable media attacks on Sarah Palin were all over the television dial after her keynote speech to the National Tea Party convention Saturday, and talk radio host Bill Press more than lived down to what one would expect from such a liberal shill. CNN:  Don't Blame Harry Reid — Most White People Are Racist.  After working days to deny that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said something patently racist, the media realized the story wouldn't die, and have now begun looking for fresh angles that can mitigate the damage. Media malpractice on display.  Few stories elicit as much distorted coverage as the annual Pro-Life March in Washington. Statement from James O'Keefe:  It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story.  MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent "gag order."  The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I "broke in" to an office which is open to the public.  The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me.  And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. ABC Devotes Over 60 Minutes to John Edwards, Avoids Labeling Him a Democrat.  Since Friday, ABC has devoted 60 minutes and 23 seconds to interviews covering the most salacious details of John Edwards' sex scandal.  Yet, the network's anchors have refrained from referring to him as a Democrat.  20/20 on Friday spent the entire hour talking to Andrew Young, a former top Edwards aide who allegedly holds a sex tape involving the politician.  The D-word was never used by reporter Bob Woodruff. Murderous Alabama professor 'far-left political extremist who was obsessed' with Obama.  A few days ago, liberal blogs trumpeted banner headlines about a Massachusetts man who was charged with stockpiling weapons.  It seems he was a Tea Party activist and a Sarah Palin fan.  Naturally, this confirms the left's suspicion that all conservative activists are violent anti-government terrorists.  Well, I wonder what those same bloggers will make of this tidbit in today's Boston Herald about Amy Bishop, the Alabama professor who recently went on a shooting rampage killing three people. Maher Strikes Again:  Americans 'Not Bright Enough to Really Understand the Issues'.  Either Bill Maher was doing his best effort to impersonate Mel Brooks as King Louis XVI in "History in the World, Part I" or he has a complete and utter disregard for the intellectual competency of the American people. Homosexual Media Target Christians.  The Washington Post editorial page has joined lesbian MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow in blasting the government of Uganda for considering a law to protect children from homosexual predators and the dangerous public health impact of the homosexual lifestyle.  Despite its moderate views on some foreign policy issues, the Post has always come down firmly on the side of making homosexuality into a special right that should be protected and even glorified by governmental institutions.  Now it wants to impose that view on Uganda's mostly Christian population. Ed Schultz:  I'd cheat to keep Brown from winning.  Brian Maloney captured MSNBC's ED Schultz making a startling remark on his radio show yesterday about supporting voter fraud in Massachusetts, so Scott Brown would lose. Ed Schultz: 'If I lived in Massachusetts I'd Vote 10 Times...'.  The panic on the left concerning Tuesday's special senatorial election is getting palpable, for on Friday [1/15/2010], MSNBC's Ed Schultz said on his radio program that he would try to vote ten times if he lived in Massachusetts. MSNBC's Shuster Wonders If Massachusetts Voters Have Lost Their Minds.  Teasing coverage on tomorrow's Massachusetts special election to fill its vacant Senate seat, MSNBC's David Shuster avoided any pretense of objectivity as he opened the 10 a.m. EST hour of the network's news coverage with the question:  "Has Democratic-leaning Massachusetts lost its mind?!" MSNBC to Massachusetts:  Drop dead!  Watching coverage of the Massachusetts senatorial election Tuesday night [1/19/2010], I wondered if MSNBC was getting ready to cut off its cable signal to the state.  Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, positively enraged that Massachusetts dared to elect a Republican, delivered two hours of nonstop bilious rage toward the state's voters, calling them "irrational" and "teabaggers," engaged in "a total divorce from reality," and hinting that they're vicious racists to boot. Caulkers, Clunkers, and Coakley:  [Scroll down]  MSNBC, doing its part to help get out the vote for Coakley, ran a streaming headline at the bottom of the screen on election day which said that Brown supports "waterboarding."  Apparently, ignorant viewers were supposed to see that, gasp, and then rush to the polls.  It didn't seem to occur to MSNBC's hosts that what they considered grim warnings about Brown — if he wins, ObamaCare dies, they said repeatedly — would serve instead as open invitations to vote for him. The Tangled Web of Green: Manufacturing a Public Scare.  In addition to the "incestuous" relationship among some scientists, there seems to be an "incestuous" relationship between newspapers and environmental activists claiming to be health experts.  Consider that the "health advocates" quoted in the December 29 Journal-Sentinel article by almost-Pulitzer Prize winner Meg Kissinger are Janet Nudelman of the Breast Cancer Fund and Alex Formuzis.  The Breast Cancer Fund's agenda, despite its name, is environmental issues. Economic Rebound?  What Economic Rebound?  An AP writer's year-end wrap-up epitomizes 2009's biased reporting on the economy. Chris Matthews Calls Saul Alinsky One Of His Heroes.  Chris Matthews on Tuesday [12/22/2009] called "Rules for Radicals" author Saul Alinsky one of his heroes.  This admission came only five days after the "Hardball" host proudly admitted on the air that he was a liberal. Chris Matthews Admits He Hearts Saul Alinksy.  Ever since Obama's installation into the White House, left wingers feel free to tout their radicalism.  It's as if they spent years trying to at least create the illusion of sanity and dropped all pretense the moment Obama was sworn in as Community Organizer in Chief.  Just five days after affirming on air that he is a liberal, MSNBC host Chris Matthews exclaimed that radical community organizer Saul Alinsky is one of his heroes. Why Won't the Mainstream Media Cover Planned Parenthood Honestly?  I wonder how many taxpayers know that their dollars are funding black genocide and supporting statutory rape.  That sounds awfully harsh, doesn't it and yet how can one explain what goes on behind the closed doors of a PP clinic? What I Saw At the Napolitano "Revolution".  [Scroll down]  Oh, my — how does America's liberal media explain it all away?  One of the most extraordinary accounts of this chaos was served up by Washington Post columnist David Broder.  In the aftermath of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's sweep-it-under-the-rug "the system worked" analysis of the Christmas day attack, Broder published a column on January 1 explaining her terrific handling of the crisis. Not PC enough to work for the AP.  Uh oh.  The Associated Press (AP), which has become so politically correct that according to James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal they have assigned 11 reporters to fact check the 432 pages of Sarah Palin's book.  This means each reporter has 39.3 pages to authenticate.  But they only assigned 2 investigative reporters to drill through the 4,064 pages of the multi Obamacare bills giving each reporter 2,032 pages to study. Media Downplays Palin Crowds.  Former Alaska Gov. continues to attract large crowds on her nationwide book tour but the mainstream media prefers to lowball the numbers. Editor and Publisher's unethical ACORN defense.  On Monday [11/23/2009], Editor and Publisher published a lengthy piece — "Have the Media 'Falsely Framed' ACORN?" Written by Christopher R. Martin and Peter Dreier, it's a shameless defense of the corrupt left-wing advocacy group. A Tale of Two Leaks:  NYT Bashed Palin, But Won't Touch ClimateGate.  The ClimateGate email leak has demonstrated in full force a glaring double standard in the mainstream media's coverage of leaked information.  Too often, liberal media outlets jump at the chance to damage conservative figures by publishing sensitive information, but refuse to publish such information if it discredits or hinders the left's efforts. NYT's Friedman on ClimateGate.  [Thomas] Friedman has been hoping for some sort of forced action on global warming for several years now.  On ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 9, 2006, he boldly announced his preference for the future of U.S. energy policy.  "Charlie, if they [Iran] cut off oil and oil went to $100 a barrel — that would make my day, because the sooner we go to $100 a barrel, the sooner we're going to have everyone in America driving a plug-in hybrid car fueled by corn and ethanol," Friedman said. Did someone mention ClimateGate? How The Media Have Mangled The Pro-Life Story.  This past year, I found myself chief chronicler of the two of the year's most important stories involving the pro-life movement.  One was the inspiring saga of the 2009 March For Life, the largest in its 36-year history.  The second was the dispiriting saga of the recently murdered late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller.  What the two stories have in common is that each was consciously and completely mistold by the major media. Why Newsweek is the Punch Line.  Newsweek lost almost $20 million in the first quarter of this year; in response, [editor Jon] Meacham said that he would attempt to cut readership in order to increase profits.  His plan involved "discouraging renewals," ostensibly by creating a magazine so far to the left that no rational human being could take it seriously, and "targeting a more highbrow audience" (the term "highbrow" being used in the loosest possible sense). Fort Hood Horror.  Horror spread quickly across America as the story unfolded:  An Army psychiatrist went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas, killing 13 and wounding 30.  But as more information emerged, clearly pointing to an act of terrorism, many in the "news" media simply chose not to report news. Maddow:  Murder of Abortion Doctor 'Terrorism' — But Not Ft. Hood Massacre by Jihadist.  Rachel Maddow wants you to stop referring to Nidal Hasan as a terrorist.  Please.  You know what short fuses they have. More about the incident at Fort Hood. More about Pro-Islam Bias in the Media. Now the AP Does It.  Via Kathryn Lopez at NRO, I see that the AP is out with a horribly biased story, not even listed as analysis (and therefore by definition treated as "straight news"), that tries to downplay GOP success IN ADVANCE of tomorrow's elections, so that if Republicans or conservatives win, the media can treat it all as no big deal. The Left-Wing Country Club.  Very curious editing error at the Guardian today.  In an otherwise comprehensive list of all previous Nobel Peace Prize winners, Britain's leading liberal newspaper managed to leave out all three Israeli recipients. Nine Big Stories the Mainstream Media Missed in 2009.  If you only followed the mainstream media, you might have missed some of the biggest stories of the year.  Here's a list of the top nine stories the mainstream media ignored in the past year. Washington Post Admits to Bogus Quote.  Veteran Washington Post reporter Daryl Fears, part of a two-person writer team, unmistakably wrote that filmmaker John O'Keefe had "said" he "targeted" ACORN, the advocacy group, for his candid-camera expose, because it registered voters to defeat Republicans.  O'Keefe said no such thing.  It was a non-quote made out of whole cloth by reporter Fears, and published as fact on Sept. 17.  Making the falsehood exponentially worse, the Post story then was retailed worldwide by the Associated Press. Anita Dunn — Pots and Kettles.  On April 16, 2000, viewers of CBS' 60 Minutes saw Dan Rather interviewing Elian Gonzalez' father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. ... Here's what America didn't see:  "Most of the questions Dan Rather was asking Elian's father during that 60 Minutes interview were being handed to him by Gregory Craig," recalls Pedro Porro, who served as Rather's in-studio translator during the taping of the famous interview. From CNN:  'Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh... communism still can win'.  Reporter Carol Costello had a report on CNN's "American Morning" Friday [10/2/2009] asking whether the time was ripe for a third party in the United States.  That's certainly an interesting topic, and one well worth featuring in a news report, but what was really interesting was that the third party Costello chose to feature was communism.  That seems to tell us more about CNN than about American politics. Podesta spends Soros' money stupidly.  Every journalism inquiry from the mainstream media continues to focus on the successful operation that exposed ACORN, not on ACORN itself, as if there is no evidence to sift through or common traits to be found in the videos.  Why is the story about journalistic process rather than institutional corruption? A Biased Media at Work.  [Scroll down]  The minimal coverage of the Pouillon murder included references to Pouillon as an "anti-abortion protestor" who practiced "in-your-face" protests against abortion and carried photographs of bloody fetuses.  Absent from the stories were any balancing phrases, such as a "tireless crusade to save the lives of innocent babies."  Instead, the coverage was characterized by thinly veiled disdain for Pouillon's commitment to a pro-life agenda.  Further, pro-life groups did not use Jim Pouillon's death as an opportunity to score political points and attack liberals and abortion advocates.  By contrast, when late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller was shot to death in Wichita, media coverage was extensive and liberal political groups used the death as an opportunity for conservative bashing. Dan Quayle:  Evidence of a Double Standard.  Whenever I'm in a debate regarding left-wing media bias, I find it useful to mention the treatment of Vice President Dan Quayle as opposed to the treatment of Vice Presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden by members of the Fourth Estate.  While Gore made statements that bordered on the absurd — he claimed he created the Internet — the liberal establishment even now heaps praise and accolades upon him, including an Academy Award for his documentary on global warming. Did someone mention Al Gore? Taking It To The Streets.  When Americans have to turn to the foreign press for truthful reports of the size of popular protests in Washington, it's time to wonder:  Are we dominated by "state-run media"? ACORN story fells the big oaks of mainstream media.  If there's one story that's had it all in the past week it's the series of undercover reporting stings that have uncovered the true nature of ACORN — the Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now.  It's got sex, misuse of taxpayer funds, the condoning of illegal activity by officials and connections to Barack Obama. Democrats Run Away From ACORN.  Democrats in Congress are abandoning an embattled community organizing group after Republicans stepped up attacks on the liberal-leaning ACORN and the federal funding it receives. Bias alert: Liberal leaning?  As if ACORN isn't all the way out on the fringes of the political left? The Liberal Media's Favorite "Republican":  The demonstrators were mostly against Big Government, but many banners and signs on display during the 9-12 march and rally in Washington, D.C. expressed disgust with liberal media bias.  One of the harshest was, "Mainstream media:  communists or puppets?"  Another said, "Why are the watchdogs White House lapdogs?"  One of the most direct, equating liberal news outlets to state-run media, was "AP, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC = Pravda."  Still another said simply, "Shame on Mainstream Media!" False reports about guns.  Countless newspapers and television networks — from CBS to MSNBC — have misreported that conservative protesters are threatening President Obama with guns at public events.  It hasn't happened. Van Jones — unfit for print.  The [New York] Times continues to treat communism as a cute campus peccadillo like pot smoking or nude streaking.  A Times think piece (Sept. 9) worried that [Van] Jones' fall was "swift and personal."  Being a communist is personal but being the pregnant teen daughter of a vice presidential candidate is public business? The End of America's Experiment With Royalty.  [Scroll down]  This was the work initially of the patriarch, Joseph Kennedy, a self-made millionaire, hyper-ambitious for his sons, who manipulated the media with aplomb.  Joseph Kennedy invited himself to the apartment of Henry Luce, the proprietor of Time and Life, to watch the coverage of his son's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention in 1960.  He also arranged to have a new car parked in the driveway of Arthur Krock, Washington bureau chief of The New York Times.  The result was fabulous media coverage not just of the candidate but of the extended Kennedy family, as well. NPR Ombud:  NPR Was Big on Ted Kennedy Stories, But Not on Chappaquiddick.  National Public Radio ombudsman Alicia Shepard isn't afraid to raise questions of liberal bias occasionally.  Her latest column is titled "Too Much Kennedy."  She reports NPR offered 53 stories on Ted Kennedy's death in the first five days (August 26-30), "But on that first day, in the 23 on-air stories, only one mentioned the name Mary Jo Kopechne and 5 mentioned Chappaquiddick."  When they did, it was passed over gently... Is the Washington Post trying to 'Macaca' Bob McDonnell?  In the 2006 campaign season the Washington Post ran more than a dozen front-page stories on Senator George Allen's reference, at an August 11 campaign stop almost 400 miles from Washington, to an opposition campaign staffer as "Macaca." ... Now there's a campaign on for governor of Virginia, and the news editors of the Post seem to be using their front page once again to defeat the Republican candidate, Bob McDonnell, and elect Democrat Creigh Deeds. When Post Editors Attack:  The Washington Post's behavior lately goes so far beyond mere bias that it looks like a caricature cooked up by a comedian or saboteur.  The paper's bid to fix the Virginia gubernatorial election is right out of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. ... It would be funny if it were not such a serious breach of journalistic ethics. Update: The Post's campaign to 'Macaca' McDonnell takes a new tack.  Today's front page story by Amy Gardner and its placement by Post editors on the front page is one of the most flagrant examples of electioneering by a paper's news pages that I have ever seen.  "Scrutiny Spreads to '03 McDonnell Remarks," the headline proclaims. Mourning Dead People Who [Stink].  When [Ronald Reagan] died, the media made sure to cover "both sides of the story" and even sadder, they genuinely seemed dumbfounded at the fact that so many people were seriously mourning the man.  They had spent such a long time painting him as an evil warmonger that they didn't even realize how diametrically opposed they were to the mainstream American opinion.  The media's ignorance of America's Conservative roots are only surpassed by Barack Obama's incapability of grasping Ted Kennedy's "50 years in public office" as a perversion of the founding fathers intent for our government. Hypocrisy Flashback:  Media Liberals Saluted Anti-Bush Dissent.  With the Obama administration and their friends in the media denouncing the sometimes loud dissent that liberals are facing in town hall meetings on health care, it's worth recalling how some of those same journalists celebrated the anti-Bush dissenters and denounced what they claimed was the Republican administration's attempts to stifle dissent. Dodd Cleared of Wrongdoing — Times Suddenly Remembers He's a Democrat.  Now that Sen. Chris Dodd, liberal Democrat of Connecticut, has been cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee of wrongdoing, has the [New York] Times decided it's safe to identify him as a Democrat again? MSNBC: The Place for Made-Up Numbers of Uninsured Women.  As the media get more desperate, as they see the national popularity for the government takeover of medicine they favor continue to tank, they get more desperate — and so do their claims.  [Angela] Burt-Murray's whopper is the "very real issue" of 64 million women who have allegedly lost their insurance due to their losing their jobs.  Statistically, that would mean that there are also roughly 64 million men without health insurance (unless Ms. Burt-Murray is claiming the scourge of uninsurance to be exclusively a women's issue, which would be a whole other area of bizarreness). ABC Tries to Tie Health Care Town Hall Protesters to Hate Groups.  ABC News correspondent Brian Ross tried to connect the health care town hall protesters to hate groups on Friday's [8/14/2009] GMA.  Ross cited the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose left-wing political affiliation he omitted, and used two sound bites from the SPLC's Mark Potok, who hyped that President Obama supposedly "triggered fears among ... white people ... that they are somehow losing their country." Town Hall Outrage?  Media cooperated in disruptions at GOP events.  [Scroll down slowly]  Activists again used their sympathizers in the media to disrupt the 2008 Republican convention, using press credentials multiple times.  At least one witness said MSNBC was specifically identified as the source of the media pass.  On another occasion, a newspaper reporter said she was, conveniently, in the bathroom when a protester, using a pass with her name on it, disrupted an RNC session on abortion.  It is, perhaps, possible that the passes were used without the reporter's — or, in the other instance, MSNBC's — prior knowledge; Code Pink has been accused of forging credentials, even stealing identities.  But Code Pink has specifically admitted to using media credentials from "friends of friends" to disrupt Republican events. CNN Uses Pro-Communist American to Tout Cuban Health Care.  There's something deeply wrong with journalism that scrutinizes and criticizes the institutions of free and successful nations, but produces puff pieces on the supposed achievements of totalitarian dictatorships.  On Thursday [8/6/2009], CNN aired a piece of communist party propaganda about how Cuba could serve as "a model for health care reform" in the United States, complete with an authoritative sound bite from an American medical expert, identified only as someone "who's lived and worked in Cuba for decades." MSNBC's O'Donnell Performs Possibly the Worst Interview in History.  Is it a requirement at MSNBC that program hosts interrupt conservative guests whenever possible thereby preventing anyone other than liberals to make a point?  Such certainly appeared to be the case Thursday evening when Lawrence O'Donnell filled in on "The Ed Show" and treated his guest, Peter Schiff, more poorly and unprofessionally than just about anything I've ever witnessed. Times touts economic momentum, recovery; in 1992, not so much.  The Times hasn't always been so optimistic when it comes to one-tenth-of-a-point declines in the unemployment rate.  On this very day in 1992, in the midst of the presidential campaign between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, the government also reported that the unemployment rate ticked downward by one tenth of a point, and the Times' treatment was far more restrained. Media Ignore Democrat Astroturfing at Pelosi Event.  As media members fell all over themselves last week calling town hall meeting protesters part of an angry mob financed by conservative organizations, they were totally disinterested in evidence of astroturfing by Democrats at an event attended by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali.). Nets Take Turns Failing to ID Convicted Democrat William Jefferson.  On Thursday [8/6/2009], all three network morning news programs reported the conviction of former Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson on bribery charges, but only NBC's Today identified him as a Democrat.  CBS's Early Show and ABC's Good Morning America simply referred to him as a "former congressman." Did someone mention former congressman William J. Jefferson? Cynthia Tucker:  45-65% Of Townhall Protesters Are Racists.  Are you opposed to ObamaCare?  Willing to attend a town hall to express your disapproval?  Odds are good you're a racist.  Just ask Cynthia Tucker ... As Clay Waters has noted, Paul Krugman alleges that racist motives are at the heart of the town hall protests against ObamaCare.  On this evening's Hardball, Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was willing to get specific, estimating that "45 to 65%" of the protesters are motivated by racism. Did someone mention town hall meetings? The New York Times Profiles Sonia Sotomayor's 'Rich Experience'.  I made the mistake this morning of reading a front-page profile of Sonia Sotomayor in the New York Times.  If that information alone isn't enough to prove I should have known better, this was the headline... MSNBC:  Opposition to Sotomayor = "Smearing" the Nominee.  On his Countdown program last night a sneering Keith Olbermann, whose modus operandi is to use well-rehearsed sneers and ad hominem derision as substitutes for facts, summarily dismissed "the Republican talking point of 'judicial activism'" vis á vis the Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor. No wonder black America doesn't have a clue.  While flipping through the channels with my remote, I stopped on the movie "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" on BET (Black Entertainment Television).  Excellent movie.  During a commercial break, they gave a news update.  An announcer said, "They tried to get the Bronx kid, Sonia Sotomayor, but she beat them."  There was not one mention of Sotomayor's controversial racist statements.  Thus, ill-informed black viewers who don't follow the news closely are led to conclude that those "evil racist white Republicans" are at it again trying to block a person of color. New York Times Misleads in Editorial on Census and ACORN.  An entirely justified concern that some Americans have is that ACORN is actively involved in the 2010 census planning process (including hiring decisions) and that the Obama administration lied about it.  This was proven in the document dump ably engineered by Tegan Millspaw of Judicial Watch.  Of course the NYT ignores this issue altogether. Did someone mention ACORN?  ... and the Census?  ... and the New York Times? "Almost Entirely White and Irritable Crowd" of "Angry" Obama-Care Protesters.  After years of mainstreaming and idealizing anti-war protesters and marches supporting illegal immigrants as "grandmothers with canes, parents with children in strollers," dissent against a president's policies is no longer cool in Timesland.  The [New York] Times finds the newest batch of protesters against Obama health care to be "angry," "irritable" crowds of whites taking marching orders from conservative talk radio and web sites. Hondouras and Chavez: What the centralized media is not telling you.  The "coup" in the Central American nation of Honduras is the first major blow to the Marxist expansion sponsored by Hugo Chavez, but the American people are to a great extent being kept in the dark by the centralized news media.  The Associated Press, upon which most news outlets in the United States depend, appears to be slanting its reporting to support the pro-Chavez version of events in Honduras. A 'coup' in Honduras?  Nonsense.  Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth.  The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and much of the media have condemned the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this past weekend as a coup d'état.  That is nonsense.  In fact, what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of law. Honduras Outraged by Obama-Chavez Alliance.  I continue to receive messages from Honduran citizens upset at the international media for their distorted coverage of the situation in the Central American country.  The people support the ouster of Manuel "Mel" Zelaya, who is considered a puppet of Venezuelan Communist ruler Hugo Chavez.  They are mystified that an American president would want to return this Chavez puppet to power in Honduras. Helen Thomas Cited for Honest Reporting?  Even with the Marxist influence in President Obama's background — and even with the reluctance to raise his voice against bloodthirsty tyrants such as Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — even with all of that, trust Helen Thomas to find Obama too hard-line with America's enemies and too easy-going with America's friends. Legal Expert Says Sotomayor Aims to 'Annihilate' Losing Side in Cases.  Imagine, if you will, an expert on the federal judiciary told a Washington Post reporter a few years ago during the Sam Alito nomination that the conservative jurist took "a kind of carpet-bombing" approach to the law, showing a determination "not to just defeat the other side, but to annihilate it" when rendering his opinions from the bench.  It's hard to image that being buried deep in an article on the jurist.  But of course the nominee in question isn't Alito, it's President Obama's pick of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace outgoing liberal Justice David Souter. Night Before Key Vote, Networks Remain Silent on Cap-and-Trade.  A House vote on Waxman-Markey's American Clean Energy & Security Act to cap-and-trade emissions was imminent June 26.  Some Republicans have called the bill "the largest tax increase in American history," but despite the enormous burden to taxpayers the three major networks failed to cover the bill the night before. CBS Slams Exxon for Not Drilling More.  After all the media hand-wringing the past few months over imploding financial institutions, they might praise ExxonMobil for taking care of it shareholders first and keeping ample reserve funds, rather than running on risky investments and toxic assets.  "Consumer advocate" Dan Weiss closed the story saying, "Big oil is swimming in profits with money drained from the pockets of American families."  CBS mentioned he was a senior fellow at the "Center For American Progress" yet neglected to mention that it is an avowedly liberal think tank.  The founder of CFAP is former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta. When Are Gay Rights Groups 'Far-Left'?  When They Criticize Obama.  During the Bush administration, do you recall the MSM ever describing a gay rights group such as the Human Rights Campaign as "far-left"?  Neither do I.  To the contrary, such organizations were sympathetically portrayed as proponents of mainstream values.  But let such groups criticize Pres. Obama and — what do you know? — the MSM suddenly decides they're "far-left." The New York Times May Want To Poll This Question.  It seems every day there is another example of media deception in America.  With the Fourth of July approaching, it is well worth remembering why the Founding Fathers gave the press special privileges.  They wanted journalists to report honestly, to give the folks accurate, unbiased information so they could make informed decisions about who should hold power. Two Killers, One Bias.  Amid the press coverage and consternation about the murder of veteran abortionist George Tiller in Kansas, the media and President Obama seemingly missed another news item.  Or at least they didn't emphasize it much:  The man suspected of murdering one military recruiter and wounding another in Little Rock, Ark., was an Islamic jihadist.  The two cases are interesting for what they reveal not only about the media and its hero in the White House but also about their unspoken ideological goals. Is NPR Skipping Over the Murder of Private William Long?  Just like audio offered on the National Public Radio website, NPR transcripts in Nexis do not include top-of-the-hour newscasts.  But a quick Nexis search finds there is no mention of the Monday shooting of Private William Long at a Little Rock recruiting station by a Muslim convert. ... Meanwhile, Nexis lists NPR has aired seven full stories or interview segments on the Sunday shooting of late-term abortionist George Tiller. So, you want to compare hate crimes.  On a Sunday morning in Wichita, Kan., a man is murdered while attending church.  The killing is immediately labeled a "hate crime" and an act of "domestic terrorism."  The news media is outraged.  Television networks act as if the man was a martyr, and the story is front-page news in every newspaper in the country. ... The next day, in Little Rock, Ark., two young men are shot down by a lone gunman.  One of them dies.  For the most part, the public knows nothing about this shooting because the news media don't report the story.  They are too busy covering every possible aspect of the first murder. ... And no one calls it a hate crime. Armed and Extreme, but Buried in Briefs.  The Tiller assassination garnered three stories, an editorial and a column (mine) over the following two days, and a week later a front-page story, whereas The Chronicle ran two national briefs about the military-recruiter attack, on Page A5 one day, and Page A6 the next.  Other media underplayed the domestic terrorist attack as well.  For me, the reason is pretty obvious:  Stories that reinforce journalists' political beliefs rate the front page or top of their newscasts; stories that do not are not considered big news. Jon Stewart:  Socialism Is Awesome.  Last night's [4/22/2009] agenda on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart was:  Socialism is awesome!  As more and more Americans worry about the growth of government in their lives here in the U.S., the Daily Show travelled to Sweden to put those worries to rest.  They wanted to show us that we should embrace Socialism rather than fear it.  Well, by playing fast and loose with the facts, as usual, we fear even one person believed their nonsense. A Conspiracy of Euphemism.  The eight a.m. NPR news update today included word of the fatal shooting of one soldier and the wounding of another outside an army recruiting station in Arkansas.  The news reader, Nora Raum, outlined the incident and stated that the shooting appeared to have "religious motivations."  She did not name the suspect, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, or tell NPR listeners what those religious motivations might be.  In other words, it could have been a radical Unitarian who gunned down the soldiers, or possibly a violent Presbyterian. Flashback: Nets Were Quick to Tag Alito and Roberts as 'Ultra' and 'Hardline' 'Conservatives'.  Network anchors and reporters didn't hesitate to apply strong ideological labels (not just quoting others) to President Bush's two Supreme Court nominees, John Roberts and Samuel Alito.  Will they be as willing to tag President Obama's nominee, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, as "staunch," and "hardline" and "ultra" liberal, or at least as "very liberal"? CBS Decides Sotomayor No Liberal: 'Can't Be Easily Defined by Political Labels'.  "Pundits usually label judges as either liberal or conservative, but that won't be easy with Judge Sotomayor," Katie Couric propounded in setting up a piece from Wyatt Andrews, who concluded:  "President Obama, then, has found a judge with 17 years experience but no clear ideology on discrimination, gay rights, or abortion and who can't be easily defined by political labels."  At least not by the CBS newscast, which back in 2005 asserted Roberts would move "the court further to the right" and fretted over the Alito pick "tilting the Supreme Court in a solidly conservative direction for years to come." When Reporters Rise For The President.  Some people noticed that many reporters rose from their seats last Friday [5/1/2009] when President Obama unexpectedly entered the White House briefing room, but the same courtesy was not always extended in the past when President Bush would make an appearance.  Comparison videos were even posted on YouTube. Double Standard.  Tiller's suspected murderer, Scott Roeder, is white, Christian, anti-government and anti-abortion.  The alleged gunman in the military recruitment center attack, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, is black, a Muslim convert, anti-military and anti-American.  Both crimes are despicable acts of domestic terrorism.  The disparate treatment of the two brutal cases by both the White House and the media is striking. Let them drink tea.  Forget media bias.  That's just slanting the news.  The liberal press judges stories before investigating them.  That's prejudice, which sums up how the anti-tax tea parties were covered this week. MSM's Tea Party Cognitive Dissonance.  In all my years of watching news coverage in America, I don't believe I have ever witnessed more condescending, amateurish, purely politicized reporting than what just transpired among the liberal MSM covering America's Tax Day Tea Parties.  The Tea Parties represented a very significant news event. Newsweek Celebrates Christianity's Decline.  Ever anxious to create controversy, Newsweek, in its April 13 cover story, has proclaimed "the decline and fall of Christian America."  The number of Americans who consider themselves Christians has fallen 10 percentage points in two decades, Newsweek's Jon Meacham reported with scantily-disguised glee.  "Our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago," Meacham wrote.  "I think this is a good thing..." The End of Newsweek?  Newsweek greeted the coming of Easter with a black cover, and the headline "The Decline and Fall of Christian America," spelled out in red in the shape of a cross.  Inside, it was more declarative:  "The End of Christian America."  Why?  Because they found that the percentage of self-identified Christians had fallen 10 points since 1990.  OK, then let's compare.  How much has Newsweek's circulation fallen since 1990? MSNBC's Sole Purpose Is to Remind Viewers Why They Should Hate Republicans.  Moments ago, I saw a promo for Chris Matthews, in which the announcer asked, "Is the Right sucking the wind out of the GOP?"  Matthews contemplated running for Senate as a Democrat.  He worked for Tip O'Neill.  It's not like the host has an interest in the future success of the Republican party.  So why is he so obsessed with the health of the party he disagrees with? Memo to Capitalists: Be Very Afraid.  Lately, MSNBC's Chris Matthews has been on a childish tear, taunting Republicans to admit their belief in the biblical account of the Creation.  Someone ought to ask this paragon of smug self-satisfaction why, if he's so brilliant, he unquestioningly echoes the demagogic hyperbole of global warming fanatics hellbent on destroying the economic system responsible for producing unprecedented prosperity in the advanced industrialized world. CNN's Susan Roesgen:  Taking Hackery to New Heights.  This video with CNN anchor Susan Roesgen is pretty unreal.  She attends the Chicago tea party, picks some wacko out of the crowd and tries to argue with him about whether Obama's a fascist (and even then the guy with the ridiculous Obama-as-Hitler sign comes off more willing to engage in discussion than her), then she talks to a guy who seems perfectly reasonable and rudely cuts him off multiple times.  She then attacks Fox News, ranting that the crowd is anti-CNN and says that the tea party is not "family viewing." Shortly thereafter... Avoiding Criticism: CNN Shuts Down Anti-Tea Party Reporter's Email Address.  So, we are all well aware of the so-called "reporter" from CNN, Susan Roesgen whose on-air haranguing of those she was ostensibly reporting on made obvious her anti-Republican bias.  Well, for the past day Americans have been emailing her to let her know how they feel about her unprofessional attitude.  Apparently, CNN does not appreciate hearing from its viewers, though, because all of a sudden anyone that sends an email to Roesgen's CNN email address will have it returned as address unknown! Time Mag Photographer Works as Both a 'Journalist' AND Team Obama Employee?  Time Magazine has employed a photographer named Callie Shell that has apparently been doing double duty as both a "journalist" AND a member of team Obama, taking pictures subsequently sent out as official White House photos.  How is it that we can have someone thinking that bias cannot be presumed when that same person is working for both a news agency and at the same time for the subject of that news? Excuse Me, Your Leftism is Showing.  On March 2nd there was a demonstration in Washington D.C.  It was billed as the largest demonstration for green power/global warming awareness/stop dirty coal/let's all go live in a tepee, ever held.  It was attended by — are you ready for the number? — 2,500 people.  That was the largest one ever!  This demonstration was covered by every major television and news service.  No station or alleged newspaper gave any coverage to opposing opinions.  Ironically there was a blizzard that day another fact which, to the best of my knowledge, was not noted by any major news outlet. Review of a new documentary... Media Malpractice:  How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted.  In journalistic terms it's called a "tick-tock."  This is when the media crafts a news story that takes you behind the scenes of an event and breaks down, piece by linear piece, the individual acts which led up to that event.  With "Media Malpractice:  How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted," director John Ziegler turns the art of the tick-tock around and aims it, with damning effect, squarely at the news media.  The result is not a documentary, at least not for anyone who believes in truth, fairness or journalistic integrity — the result is a horror film. ABC News Shocker:  The 'All Time Dumb Quotes' Are All From Republicans.  Looks like ABC News is starting out 2009 with a partisan bang.  On its main page, ABC News is hosting a slide show featuring what it is calling the "All Time Dumb Quotes." ... There are six political quotes five by Republicans and one by Tina Fey making fun of a Republican (Palin, naturally), yet there are no "All Time Dumb Quotes" from any Democrats.  Not a one.  Apparently ABC doesn't think there's ever been a dumb Democrat? Camelost.  It is, perhaps, fitting that, as metropolitan newspapers fade from the scene, the Boston Globe should remind us why this is happening by producing not one but two hagiographies of Edward Kennedy. ... Now that his days in office are numbered, the cliché machine has anointed him the "last lion," the last of a vanishing breed, the last giant to stalk the corridors of the Senate, we shall not see his like again, and so on.  Oh, please.  The last time this phrase was employed in a book title, by the late William Manchester, the subject was Winston Churchill.  Surely the Globe isn't drawing a comparison? CNN Sells Obama T-Shirts, Propagandizing for The One.  Remember the days when news agencies claimed they were the fourth estate? Remember when they claimed to be "objective" and pretended at being separate from the controlling power in Washington D.C.?  Apparently that whole claim has proven somewhat chimeric if the several stories we've detailed this week are any indication.  And now, to add to the gathering evidence that the Old Media are actively joining Team Obama and the political left, comes CNN to hawk a new line of Obama T-Shirts.  So much for being objective. How the News Became Propaganda.  The never-ending campaign of President Barack Obama finds a cornerstone in 24-hour television network CNN.  CNN, home of Wolf Blitzer and Larry King Live among other talking heads, now leads the Newsfront Cult called Obamamania.  While the viewers of most television networks watch the news, CNN viewers "wear the news". All Obama, all the time... D.C. Station Dumps Its Failing Liberal 'Obama 1260' Talk Format.  Liberals may want to insist on the "Fairness Doctrine" as a business strategy, since liberal talk is barely moving the ratings needle.  The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reported Monday that "President Obama may be riding high in Washington, but OBAMA 1260 is not.  The area's only progressive talk station is changing formats, dropping such syndicated liberal hosts as Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller and Bill Press in favor of financial news, starting next week." Newsweek Partners with Money-Losing Liberal Radio Network Air America.  Newsweek has decided to enter into a business deal with Air America. ... Air America has taken in at least $8 million from George Soros's Democracy Alliance, and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2006. The Editor says... Call me old-fashioned if you will, but partner is not a verb. GMA Manages Not To Mention Why Richardson Went.  In its opening half-hour, Good Morning America found time to tell us — twice — that President-elect Obama choked up with emotion as he viewed his packed-up old home.  But somehow ABC never got around to mentioning that a possible pay-to-play scheme was behind Bill Richardson's bye-bye as Commerce Secretary nominee. Media Giddy Over Attack on U.S. President.  The name:  Muntadhar al-Zeidi — a new hero to many in the Muslim world.  President Bush — in a surprise, end-of-term visit to Iraq — held a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.  Al-Zeidi, an Iraqi "reporter," shouted, "This is your farewell kiss, you dog," and threw a shoe at Bush.  The reporter quickly threw a second.  The shoes missed their target only because an agile President Bush managed to duck.  And with his typical self-deprecating humor, he later joked, "It was a size 10." The psychopathology of Bush hatred.  The Bush hatred we are seeing in the media today belongs in the long catalogue of human psychopathology — not rational behavior.  The latest version is the shoe-throwing incident in Iraq. ... But our media harbor such bitter hatred for him that they turned a potential bomb-throwing incident — by one of their own — into a joke, just another reason to sneer at the President. Only 26 days left for Bush-bashing.  With only 26 days left to harangue, mock and bash President Bush, some of our colleagues in the media aren't wasting a day.  Bashing ex-presidents, except for the ex-presidents with shrill prominent wives, isn't nearly as much fun as bashing while he's still the real thing. As liberals take power, loony media Left behind.  The Seattle paper will cease publication in March unless a buyer is found.  Even though it can't pay its bills, the Post-Intelligencer should have been inducted into the left-wing hall of fame after its publisher told the FBI to buzz off when the agency asked for media help in locating two possible terror suspects. Media Fiddle While America Burns.  Bloomberg News, one of the few news organizations seriously examining the role of the Federal Reserve in the financial meltdown, now puts the cost of the various bailouts and other federal schemes to "save" the financial system at an incredible $7.7 trillion.  And there is no reason to believe that the bailouts are at an end.  At the end of it all, America could be reduced to the status of banana republic, without the ability to pay to import bananas. Times Watch Quotes of Note 2008 — The NYT's Worst Quotes of the Year.  The New York Times's embrace of Barack Obama's candidacy, and its fervent defense of him against John McCain's "racist" and unfair attacks, made 2008 a particularly bias-packed year for the paper. Cinderella vs. the Barracuda:  Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post has devoted two columns in as many weeks to this "fairy tale" scenario in which [Caroline] Kennedy, our "tragic national princess," is finally rewarded — for her years of quiet dignity, selflessly avoiding scandal and the paparazzi — with the Senate seat that once belonged to her uncle Bobby.  What's astounding about the normally sensible Marcus' case for "the Cinderella Kennedy" (New York magazine's phrase) is that she doesn't really make one, at least not on the merits.  Marcus doesn't even bother.  It's all schoolgirl gushing. Sweet on Caroline.  One sign the liberal news media live in a plastic Manhattan bubble is their undying ardor for the Kennedy Myth, best known by that public-relations construct "Camelot."  Instead of a president and First Lady, they believe, we had the King and Queen of Glamour. Matthews: My Job Is To Make Obama Presidency a Success.  Just in time for the new James Bond movie, Chris Matthews has earned himself a new moniker:  Odd Job.  Matthews says he sees his job as a journalist as doing everything he can to make the Obama presidency a success. How to Survive Media Bias.  [Scroll down]  Michelle Bachmann learned her lesson the hard way.  The Minnesota mother of five, foster mom of 23 and tax lawyer serves as a member of the House of Representatives.  But she almost lost her bid for re-election, and the reason is MSNBC, a network that's become a playground of the rabid left. CBS's 'Lifelong Republican' for Obama Is An ACLU Member.  On Monday's [11/3/2008] CBS Early Show ... Colorado Springs City Council member Jan Martin described herself as a "lifelong Republican" explained:  "I think we are at a place and a point in time where hope and unity are two things that this country needs more than anything."  The only problem is that Jan Martin was similarly touted by the New York Times in early October, at which point, NewsBusters' P.J. Gladnick discovered that she was a member of the Colorado Springs chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and Colorado's Gay and Lesbian Fund. Associated Prevaricators:  A recent Associated Press story so thoroughly twisted the English language to present the opposite of reality, Bill Clinton might be writing its headlines. … This is not reporting:  it is news manipulation designed to massage public opinion about the war.  It is an important reminder of the ever-present filter through which Americans receive their news. Newspapers Censor Their Way to Oblivion.  This campaign season The Kansas City Star passed on a parcel of the nation's most eye-popping stories.  Incredibly, at least five of those stories flared up in the Star's home state, Missouri.  As the reader might guess, all five stories reflected unfavorably on Democratic candidates.  This is nothing new.  What is new is that by censoring such stories the Star has continued to show its indifference to the majority of its potential customers even as it struggles to stay afloat. With Gas Prices Down Brokaw Wants To Tax Them To $4 A Gallon.  If you needed any more proof that liberal media members don't [care] about the state of the economy or the American people, and instead just want to raise taxes, you got it Sunday when Tom Brokaw advocated gas prices, which have plummeted recently, be kept at $4 a gallon with government keeping the added cost. Democrat Governor Arrested!  [Scroll down]  Let's do a little survey of where in their stories certain well-known press outlets mentioned that Gov. [Blagojevich] is a DEMOCRAT:   — Home Town Paper Chicago Tribune — 5th graf.   — Associated Press — 4th graf.   — New York Times — 2nd graf.   — Washington Post — never. Not once. In a 2,500 word story the Washington Post never thought it might be important, interesting, or even amusing to note that Gov. B is a Democrat.  If Govenor Blutarsky had been a Republican that fact would have appeared in the headline. Conflicting news reports about the same story: The subject of evolution being taught in public schools is covered on another nearby page, but this is a rather surprising example of an incident being reported as a victory for evolutionists by some news outlets (in viewpoint 1), and as a victory for creationists in others (in viewpoint 2). Viewpoint 1: Texas scraps school anti-evolution requirements.  The Texas Board of Education has scrapped a 20-year-old requirement that public school students discuss the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolution, the Associated Press and other news outlets report.  But the board, in what some in the media viewed as a compromise, did vote to encourage students to scrutinize "all sides" of scientific theories, the Houston Chronicle reports.) Evolution 'weaknesses' won't be taught in Texas schools.  A last-ditch effort by social conservatives to require that Texas teachers cover the "weaknesses" in the theory of evolution in science classes was rejected by the State Board of Education Thursday in a split vote.  Board members deadlocked 7-7 on a motion to restore a long-time curriculum rule that "strengths and weaknesses" of all scientific theories — notably Charles Darwin's theory of evolution — be taught in science classes and covered in textbooks for those subjects. Evolution moves to head of class in Texas schools.  The State Board of Education gave a nearly final nod to new science curriculum standards Thursday [3/26/2009] that would change a long-standing Texas tradition over how schoolchildren learn about evolution.  The tentative vote — a final one is expected today — will mean that teachers and students no longer will be expected to discuss the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolution and the theory about the origin of life developed by Charles Darwin 150 years ago. Conservatives lose another battle over evolution.  Social conservatives lost another skirmish over evolution Friday when the State Board of Education stripped two provisions from proposed science standards that would have raised questions about key principles of the theory of evolution. Viewpoint 2: Victory!  Science Wins Over Censorship in Texas!  After a fierce battle on how science will be taught in Texas, the State Board of Education voted today to include wording that guarantees children will have the chance to learn and examine all sides of scientific theories.  It looked like we had lost yesterday when the board voted to strike out the requirement that students learn about the "strengths and weaknesses" of all scientific theories, including evolution.  However, we believe today's final vote, which includes the words "critique" and "examining all sides of scientific evidence," came as a result from your persistent prayers, calls and emails.  We believe this language is just as strong. Science education issue finally settled in Texas.  The Texas State Board of Education has decided overwhelmingly to keep the teaching of scientific strengths and weaknesses, but under a different name.  By a vote of 13-to-2, the Board decided to replace strengths and weakness with the language "examining all sides of science." State Board of Education approves new science curriculum.  Much of the debate over the new curriculum has centered on whether the keep the term "strengths and weaknesses."  The approved curriculum replaces that controversial term with "analyze, evaluate and critique." Conservatives get evolution win.  A day after failing to uphold a 20-year-old requirement that Texas public high school students evaluate the "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific theories, including evolution, the State Board of Education on Friday morning [3/27/2009] ratified new standards requiring biology students to "analyze, evaluate and critique" scientific theories. State Board of Education approves new science curriculum.  Texas' school children will continue to be given instructional options for questioning the relationship between man and his natural origin.  Last minute amendments helped the The State Board of education approve a new science curriculum Friday. Setting the Record Straight on Science:  Correcting Some Misleading Media Reports.  The media coverage of Friday's victory for critical discussion of Science and rejection of Censorship has been all over the map, and I don't just mean the fact that this story was covered by media outlets all over the country.  I mean that if you read more than one report, you might think that Texas Freedom Network and their band of thought police strict Evolutionists from California (Eugenie Scott) and other places got what they wanted.  Absolutely not. Another example of conflicting viewpoints: Viewpoint 1: Well into August... Ice choking the Northwest Passage.  Warmist doctrine has it that the Northwest passage (through Arctic waters to reach the North Pacific from the North Atlantic) should be clear sailing anytime now.  In fact, according to the Ottawa Citizen:  "...the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center is predicting another near-record meltdown by the end of this year's summer thaw."  Unfortunately for them, reality is not cooperating. Viewpoint 2: Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat.  The Arctic Ocean has given up tens of thousands more square miles of ice on Sunday [8/9/2009] in a relentless summer of melt, with scientists watching through satellite eyes for a possible record low polar ice cap. The Editor says... Attention AP writers:  Vast expanses of Arctic ice always melt in the summer heat. Sarah Palin subsection Readers of a page like this probably fall into on of two categories:  Either you're sick of hearing about Governor Palin, or you're disgusted by the news media's treatment of her during the last half of 2008.  This subsection could have easily filled a page of its own, but I'll keep it brief. The Media Plan to Destroy Palin.  A Rasmussen poll found that 51 percent of the people believe that reporters are trying to "hurt" Palin.  Twenty-four percent said the stories made them more likely to vote for McCain. The backlash has begun. Leftist media sire hypocrisy.  When the story first broke that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards had cheated on his cancer-stricken wife and sired a baby with a bimbo on his campaign payroll, The New York Times refused to run it.  But when the news hit that not the president, not the vice president but the daughter of the vice-presidential nominee is pregnant, the Times ran five — count 'em, five — stories about it.  In one day. Smut-hunting NY Times Limbo Dancing in Alaska.  The New York Times is proving "how low it can go".  The NY Times is dispatching a group of its top "investigative journalists", fanning them across the State of Alaska looking for dirt on [Sarah] Palin and Republicans in a desperate bid to take the wheels off of John McCain's little red wagon. Spinning Into Orbit.  [Governor] Palin, of course, knows all about [media bias].  Obama-linked blogs like the Daily Kos invent charges out of whole cloth, like the time one claimed Palin wasn't the mother of her own baby.  The media reported that as news.  Meanwhile, ad agency personnel linked to the Obama campaign faked charges in videos that Palin belonged to an Alaska secessionist group.  The media picked that up too. … The more we observe media bias in action, the more we're amazed by its new ways of distorting and concealing news. The Media's Vendetta Against Palin:  To be sure, the media tried to take out George W. Bush.  His reelection was so abhorrent to the New York-Washington media axis that one member, CBS News, put obviously phony documents on the air to defeat him.  Bush was never a movement conservative.  He is not creating a new generation of young conservatives.  But Palin can be. Palin, Cloward, Piven and Kafka.  The 18 ethics charges filed since [Sarah Palin] rose to prominence in Republican circles might be the first time the left has successfully used the Cloward-Piven Strategy to stop an individual politician on the national level.  For those who do not know, the strategy was developed in the late 1960s by two sociologists at Columbia.  In a nutshell it seeks to "hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse". The castigation of Brit Hume Brit Hume offered some free advice to Tiger Woods on a Sunday talk show [1/3/2010] and was pounced upon by leftist commentators all over the country east and west coasts. If You Can Find a Better Deal, Take It!  Someone mentioned Christianity on television recently and liberals reacted with their usual howls of rage and blinking incomprehension. ... [Brit] Hume's words, being 100 percent factually correct, sent liberals into a tizzy of sputtering rage, once again illustrating liberals' copious ignorance of Christianity. Throwing Brit Hume to the lions.  If there were doubt that much of the media is hostile to traditional faith, especially traditional Christianity, that doubt has been drowned in the wake of a vicious verbal assault on Fox News analyst Brit Hume.  Histrionic fulminations against Mr. Hume's inoffensive expression of faith expose an ugly strain of anti-religious bigotry that is spreading inside this country's liberal establishment. The Soul of Tiger Woods.  The first rule of dinner-table conversation is no hot talk about politics or religion.  Apparently, there's a rule regarding the discussion of religion during political talk shows, too. What Obama Could Learn from Brit Hume.  Tiger [Woods] would likely benefit from the advice of a decent man.  Brit Hume is characterized by those from the left and right as one of the most principled individuals to ever work in network news.  Yet when you consider his circumstances, his position, and how lost he genuinely is, President Obama would benefit equally if not more than Tiger by turning to the person of Jesus Christ. The Crucifixion of Brit Hume.  Nothing makes the left lose its collective noodle like an open proclamation of Christian faith.  You don't see it when Muslims proselytize in government schools; the ACLU doesn't sue when Wiccans share their witchy ways; militant "gay" activists don't picket Buddhist temples with bullhorns while inhabitants grasp at Zen.  No, there's something about Christianity that just drives 'em nuts.  Always has.  Always will. Brit Hume, Tiger Woods and Buddha.  My colleague Brit Hume has aroused the ire of some secularists, as well as some Buddhists, by advising Tiger Woods to seek redemption through Christianity in place of his mother's religion, Buddhism. ... Almost immediately, the far left began mocking Hume as a religious fanatic. Bravo to Brit Hume:  Why Faith Is Not a Private Matter.  While pleasantly surprised, I knew that Hume was going to take heat for straying outside the Box of Tolerance, which is about the size of Get Smart's Cone of Silence.  And the reaction came promptly. Obama's Publicists:  Have the feeling Barack Obama gets more favorable coverage than John McCain?  It's not just a perception, it's a reality, according to yet another study confirming media bias.  The right-of-center sector of the blogosphere has for months maintained that the mainstream media are "in the tank" for Obama.  The observant bloggers were right. The Media, Ahab Levin and Moby Bush.  We've seen a lot in this campaign cycle, but the media hit a new low with the ABC Sunday love-fest between Hillary Clinton and George Stephanopoulous.  For an entire hour, we were treated to an infomercial for the Clinton campaign.  It's a perfect example of how the political activists who pose as journalists have seized control of the media battlefield.  ABC News is now Hillary Clinton's most committed superdelegate. … Still loyal to Hillary, ABC chose to stage a one-candidate debate Sunday morning hosted by a former Clinton White House staffer. Journalist Sympathizes With Illegal Immigrants.  A reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Nazario started her career at the Wall Street Journal two decades ago.  Her book, Enrique's Journey, recounts the perils faced by a young Honduran boy traveling north on the "train of death" to reunite with his illegal immigrant mother in the United States. … During her Commencement speech at Messiah College, Nazario carefully omitted any mention of these persons' legal status, referring to them instead "immigrants," "migrants," or, simply, women and children seeking a better life in the United States. Magazine Madness:  Al Gore is a victim of media bias and advocates of low taxes are "crackpots."  These are two of the counterfactual theses advanced in major magazines this week. Editor Defends Use of CodePink Members in 'Independent' Focus Group.  A Detroit Free Press editor expressed regret Monday [9/8/2008] that left-wing and anti-war activists were included in a focus group of so-called independent voters the newspaper interviewed during the political conventions, but said he didn't see the harm in having a "radical leftist or two" in the group. Seeking More Viewers, MSNBC Turns Left.  With the promotion of Rachel Maddow, the Air America radio host, to a prime-time television spot this week, the longtime third-place cable news network MSNBC cemented its identity as a channel for a liberal audience.  But is that what advertisers want it to be? Republicans Jeer, Protest NBC News.  About a year into MSNBC's strategy of refashioning itself into the network for Bush haters, some consequences are starting to emerge for the cable channel and its corporate parent NBC. Nine Worst Business Stories of the Last 50 Years -- [#9] Food Lion.  Food Lion was at the time the fastest growing grocery store chain in the nation, having implemented a revolutionary business model based on wholesale purchasing and distribution to its stores.  But [Diane] Sawyer accused the company of being so driven by profits that it neglected health concerns in order to sell tainted meat. The Media Descend to a New Low.  Time's Mark Halperin has posted an advance copy of the cover of US Weekly magazine, the tabloid published by Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner.  That cover shows a smiling Sarah Palin, holding her youngest son Trig.  The screaming headline:  "Babies, Lies and Scandal:  John McCain's Vice President."  Wenner has contributed $5300 to Obama's campaign since 2007.  The cover was sent to select news organizations by Mark Neschis, the head of corporate communications for Wenner Media and former director of television in the Clinton White House. Oprah exhibits unmitigated bias Sarah Palin on Oprah Winfrey Show?  Oprah "Adamantly Against It".  Now that Sarah Palin has stepped onto the political scene and could become the country's first female vice president, will Oprah interview her?  Oprah Winfrey, the talk show host queen who outwardly supports Senator Barack Hussein Obama, apparently doesn't want Palin on her show, despite numerous viewer requests. Is Oprah Biased?  Host Won't Interview Palin.  She may have let Tom Cruise jump all over her couch, but Oprah Winfrey says that Sarah Palin can't even sit on it.  At least not until after the presidential election, that is. Storm as Oprah says no to Palin interview.  Oprah Winfrey, America's favourite daytime TV star, has refused to have Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a guest on her talk show.  Winfrey, a prominent supporter of Democratic nominee Barack Obama, has been facing pressure from conservative commentators and pundits who say that Palin would be a perfect interview for her female-heavy audience. Oprah Says No to Palin, and Gets an Earful.  Oprah Winfrey has said she will not interview Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the hottest political star in the firmament, and the decision is drawing negative reviews from many fans of the doyenne of daytime television.  A group of Republican women in Florida has announced a boycott of Ms. Winfrey's television show and called for cancellations of subscriptions to her magazine, "O: The Oprah Magazine." Florida Republican Women Officially Boycott Oprah.  On September 6, the Florida Federation of Republican Women called for a boycott of the Oprah Winfrey Show based upon Ms. Winfrey's refusal to have Governor Sarah Palin as a guest on Oprah until after the election, according to Linda Ivell, President of the FFRW. NYT's Court Reporter Says Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a Centrist.  The New York Times sent veteran Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse into retirement in grand style on Sunday, turning over to her the front page of the Week in Review for "2,691 Decisions," a title marking the number of court cases she had covered during her tenure.  Unmentioned were her off-the-clock denunciations of conservatives, such as her infamous speech at Harvard in June 2006 when she tore into the Bush administration.  What was included:  Her clear belief that the world is a better place with Anthony Kennedy on the Court and Robert Bork not. How to Lie With Statistics:  With apologies to Darrel Huff and his famous book of the same title, today's papers provide a wonderful demonstration of how the mainstream press — in this case, The New York Times, can use real statistics to justify politically spun conclusions. McCain vs. Obama:  The Snoozer in Nashville.  "This was the worst-moderated debate in the history of presidential debates," one McCain campaign insider told me just moments after John McCain and Barack Obama left the stage at Belmont University in Nashville.  "The audience and the American people should feel robbed — that the one opportunity they had to ask questions of the presidential candidates was taken from them by Tom Brokaw." NBC's Brokaw Asks No Questions on Iraq, Immigration, Abortion or Same-Sex Marriage.  The pretext of the debate was that the questions would come from a "townhall" audience and from Americans all across the nation sending in questions via the Internet.  All issues would be inbounds.  Ultimately, however, all questions were screened and chosen by NBC's Brokaw, who kept the focus almost exclusively on the economy and foreign policy. Some people have to be told.  The editor-at-large of newspaper industry trade publication Editor & Publisher upbraids reporters at the political conventions for failing to stand when the National Anthem is played at the start of each night's session. Jeremiah Wright's Controversial AIDS Charge.  [Jeremiah] Wright isn't the first public figure to repeat the claim that AIDS is a U.S. weapon to kill people.  The claim that AIDS was manufactured by the United States was reported by CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather on a March 30, 1987, broadcast.  Rather was widely criticized for playing into a Soviet KGB disinformation campaign.  The charge had appeared in a number of Soviet and Third World publications before Rather picked it up. Convicted Ex-Governor to Speak at Democrat Convention.  Convicted Alabama Governor Don Siegelman will speak at the Democrat National Convention.  What would the media say if a GOP convention speaker was out on bond?  The uproar would be tremendous. TV One plans to cover Obama — but not McCain.  TV One will cover the Democratic National Convention because — and only because — the party's nominee is black.  And yet, oddly enough, some of the people who will be involved in that coverage took umbrage at the suggestion that the cable/satellite network is, um, covering the Democratic National Convention only because the nominee is Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.  "Yes, Sen. Obama running for president is a huge deal at TV One, as it is in the African-American community," said Johnathan Rodgers, the CEO of the network that, in his words, "targets African-American adults." [Will TV One also cover Cynthia McKinney's campaign? Williams Tosses Softballs to Obama, Empathizes Over Elitist Image.  Brian Williams, who slobbered over Barack Obama in their last interview in early January, did so again in a Thursday [5/8/2008] session excerpted on the NBC Nightly News.  Williams didn't pose a single challenging question nor mention Jeremiah Wright in any of the ten questions aired. 'I Hate to Keep Being in the Position of Defending Obama, But...'  Weeks before Linda Douglass announced she would be jumping aboard the Barack Obama presidential campaign as a senior strategist, the former CBS News and ABC News Washington correspondent was already aiding the Obama campaign. Barack Clinton Obama.  [Scroll down slowly]  Reality is now shattering the myth.  Obama turns out to be a Chicago politician — highly ambitious, extremely talented, and neither untainted nor uncompromised.  Maybe it's time for the national media, many of whom (like Newsweek and MSNBC, for starters) are enraptured by Obama, to acquaint themselves with the real man.  Is that too much to ask when selecting our next president? MSOBAMA.  It is not a compliment to human nature to say that there is something within us that is sometimes drawn to watching — for a limited period of time, anyway — the comically deranged on display.  Which brings me to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. MSNBC's Doomed "Experiment":  Outside of special events coverage, MSNBC's executives haven't really seen the light about how their Obamaholics Unanimous lineup is bad for ratings.  Even as they yank Matthews and Olbermann away from the anchor desk, MSNBC's adding hard-left Air America radio host Rachel Maddow to consolidate the "progressive" carpet-bombing after dark.  They think they're the Genius Channel. Newt Destroys Joy's Argument.  Appearing on the April 29 edition of "The View," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich proved his intellectual superiority to Joy Behar punching holes in her very shallow debate points.  Also, in discussing the ongoing Reverend Wright controversy, Whoopi Goldberg placed Billy Graham in league with Wright and Louis Farrakhan. Liars' Round-Up:  The facts about your security are being torn to shreds by activist liars.  And they think that you're too stupid to know the difference.  Let's lay out the worst current examples of media make-believe and election-year truth-trashing. Wright Speaks for the Left.  The Rev. Wright's decision to allow himself to be interviewed by Bill Moyers was, from his perspective, an excellent one.  It is difficult to imagine a less challenging, more fawning, interview.  How bad was it?  Given that one of the most egregious of the Rev. Wright's statements was his charge that the American government developed the AIDS virus and inflicted it on black Americans, one assumed that the first major reporter to interview Wright since the comments were made public would ask him about it.  Not Bill Moyers. Who Needs Friends Like the Rev. Wright?  What is Jeremiah Wright doing?  That's easy.  He's helping himself.  Trying to save his reputation.  Smiling for the cameras.  What can Barack Obama do about it?  Not much.  The only thing worse than Wright speaking out is the respect with which he is treated when he does.  In numerous reports, Wright is being described as one of the leading African-American pastors in the country. Salon Editor:  Most Press Members 'Hate Hillary Clinton'.  "I was struck when I got to Iowa and New Hampshire in January by how our media colleagues were just swooning over Barack Obama.  That is not too strong a word.  They were swooning.  I was at a speech, I remember it, I will write about it some day, in Manchester, and every, the biggest names in our business were there, and they were, they could repeat some of his speech lines to one another.  It was like a Bruce Springsteen concert where the fans sing along." Some Media Forgetting to Mention Party Affiliation of Detroit's Embattled Mayor?  Thursday [8/7/2008], when the Associated Press reported that he had been imprisoned for violating terms of his bond in his perjury case, the AP failed to mention his party affiliation.  Kilpatrick is a Democrat. Monkey business on the Edwards story?  As a member in good standing of the mainstream media, I generally tend to be skeptical of those in the blogosphere who accuse us of liberal bias.  But they sure seem to have a point with this John Edwards story. Blagojevich-Rezko:  Chicago Station Doesn't Name Party in TV Report.  The feds seem to be closing in on Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich — and at least one Chicago television station seems determined to minimize exposure not only of his party affiliation, but of others who have received tainted campaign contributions. CNN Doesn't Mention Pro-Union Guest Was Union VP.  Author's former job explains her adoration of unions, but she is unopposed on 'Your $$$$$.' CNN:  'Cheap' Corn Should Be Taxed to Fight Obesity.  Medical correspondent presents tax on products with corn syrup as a convoluted solution to obesity and to 'offset' price of corn, ignoring that the price is already at an 11-year high. Is CNN Pushing Kids to Ask For a Salary for First Lady Michelle?  CNN has a segment that they call "CNN Student News" that is supposed to highlight the news of the day for the kiddie set.  Pursuant to that, in a December 15 segment, CNN floats a question asking if Michelle Obama (or any First Lady) should get a government salary just for being First Lady? The Editor says... This brings up a series of questions:  First of all, is CNN engaging in journalism or activism?  Second, isn't it obvious that Michelle Obama knew before campaigning that the position of "first lady" was an honor -- not a job? Election questions no one ever asks:  After each debate, some network would convene a focus group of undecided voters who then preened over their lofty status.  Pollster Frank Luntz, CNN's Soledad O'Brien or some other enabler would gush over how fascinating it was to talk to "real people." ... [But] These people are undecided because they don't do their homework.  CNN profiled an undecided voter from Nebraska the day before the election who said he is "definitely pro-life" and a single-issue voter on abortion.  But, according to CNN, he was still trying to figure out which candidate was pro-life.  Um, really?  Don't strain yourself trying to figure that one out. (See also CNN's obvious bias in favor of Hillary Clinton.) Bill Maher, Bigot.  Last week, a few days before Pope Benedict XVI's visit to America, TV talk show host Bill Maher went on a profanity-laden tirade against the Pope and the Catholic Church.  On his HBO Real Time program, Maher claimed that the Pope "used to be a Nazi," and called the Catholic Church a "child-abusing religious cult" and "the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia." Barnum & Bailey & CNN.  We're not talking about the candidates here, but about the shamelessly high-pressure pitch machine that has replaced the Cable News Network's once smart and reliable campaign coverage.  Was there ever a better backdrop than Las Vegas for the traveling wreck of a journalistic carnival that CNN's political journalism has become? Jesse Helms and Mangled Manners:  When Helms announced his retirement from the Senate in 2001, the media elite made their own distaste very clear.  "He was so wonderfully odious," declared top Newsweek editor Evan Thomas.  "He was very comforting to the east coast media establishment to know that there was an evil guy out there that you could really fear." ABC and NBC, But Not CBS, Note Passing of Conservative Icon Hyde.  While ABC and NBC noted [Congressman Henry Hyde's] death, at age 83, on their Thursday evening [11/29/2007] newscasts, and even managed to avoid any pejorative ideological labeling, the CBS Evening News ignored Hyde. ABC Gushed Over Edwards 30th Wedding Anniversary; Ignores Bush's.  ABC's Good Morning America, which aired two gushing profiles this summer on the 30th anniversary of John and Elizabeth Edwards, has found no time to air a similar story on the 30th anniversary of George and Laura Bush. The McCain Mutiny:  "No other modern politician has received as much favorable press as John McCain has in the past decade," write (plainly irritated) David Brock and Paul Waldman in "Free Ride:  John McCain and the Media."  "The rules are simply different for McCain."  Boy, are they.  Though he flip-flops and prevaricates like any politician, McCain all but has the phrase "straight talker" tattooed on his skull-plate.  A lifetime Beltway insider and third-generation naval officer with an heiress wife and an heiress mother is still referred to, without irony, as a "Man of the People." Media Try to Coronate McCain.  It is presumptuous, of course, for the Post or any other media outlet or personality to assume that McCain will be the nominee.  There is still a fierce battle going on.  In the February 9 Washington State caucuses, to take one example, McCain reportedly got 26 percent, Mike Huckabee got 24 percent, and Ron Paul received 21 percent.  The Huckabee campaign says that there were "obvious irregularities" in the counting of the votes and that Huckabee may still win if all of the votes are counted.  It is also still possible that the Republican convention could be deadlocked among the candidates. But then, after McCain was sure to get the nomination... NBC's Ann Curry:  John McCain is Old, He's 71.  Did I Mention He's 71?  The "Today" show's Ann Curry interviewed Cindy McCain on Thursday morning [5/8/2008] and got her to promise that the McCain campaign won't go negative.  However Curry, herself, repeatedly pressed a point that is sure to be part of a, not-so-quiet, whisper campaign against the Arizona Senator this fall — that he's too old to be President. Let's Get Journalists To Report The Truth About The 'Pregnant Man'.  Thomas Beatie has gained worldwide attention for allegedly being the first "pregnant man."  Mainstream media outlets are reporting Beatie's story as if were fact and referring to her as "he" instead of accurately reporting that Beatie is really a woman.  Thomas Beatie is actually Tracy Lagondino who lived in Hawaii with her lesbian girlfriend Nancy.  Lagondino and her girlfriend were lesbian activists who lobbied for "gay marriage" in that state.  They are now transgender activists working to redefine what it means to be married, to be male or female and to be parents. NBC Nightly News Finally Calls Spitzer 'Democratic Governor'.  On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, substitute NBC Nightly News anchor Ann Curry and reporter Mike Taibbi failed to identify disgraced outgoing New York Governor Eliot Spitzer as a Democrat, but on Thursday night [3/13/2008] Curry finally informed NBC viewers of the party affiliation — a fact network journalists always consider relevant when a Republican gets caught in scandalous behavior. Eliot's Mess:  [Scroll down] If you rely on the media, you may not even know it's a Democratic scandal.  They are once again practicing the infuriating art of dropping the party label out of their reporting.  As the story broke, ABC and NBC couldn't even mention the word "Democrat" in their Spitzer stories.  ABC put a "D" next to Spitzer's name on a screen graphic.  NBC couldn't even do that. The First Affirmative Action Candidate.  To the adoring eyes of the liberal mass media, Obama is the closest expression of a rock star, if not a "black messiah."  While every white candidate is scrutinized and criticized, Obama remains "beyond criticism."  Had any white candidate, with less than three years experience in the national arena declared himself a candidate for the presidency, especially at the tender age of 46, he/she would have been ridiculed.  The media's collective white guilt with its derivative of "political correctness," does not seek articulation on policy or substance from Obama. Less Tingling, More Reporting.  We have come a long way since Chris Matthews told us his leg was "tingling" when he listened to Barack Obama.  Well, sure, the liberal punditocracy is still playing defense for Obama … But more and more you see the MSM sharing tidbits of information that show him to be less than the Gandhi-like figure he originally was made out to be. Guess He Liked It.  So much for "Hardball" — MSNBC host Chris Matthews calls Barack Obama's speech on race "worthy of Abraham Lincoln," "the best speech ever given on race," and "one of the great speeches in American history." Let's Play Hardball.  Conservatives in Pennsylvania loaded their rhetorical muskets last week as reports circulated that Chris Matthews — Mr. Spittle himself — might run for Senate in Pennsylvania in 2010.  Mr. Matthews is the commentator on the Peoples Republic of MSNBC who famously informed his viewers of the thrill running up his leg when listening to President-elect Barack Obama's disingenuous speech about race.  This was way too much information for many of us. Obamaholics Unanimous.  Now that Barack Obama is closing in on the Democratic nomination, some are wondering whether the media will be tougher in their coverage.  There's a better question:  is it possible to be any softer?  The media writ large have been sounding like they're covering a messiah more than a man.  So was Hillary Clinton right to complain that Barack Obama has been more celebrated rather than vetted? To the Washington Post, Bill Clinton is a Man of Character.  In a front-page article Friday, the Washington Post provided redundant reminders of why many people no longer trust the Mainstream Media to give them fair political coverage.  In bending over backwards to portray Bill Clinton in the best possible light, the Post story seems to prove that the media doesn't understand what constitutes good character. Move On, Obama.  There's one little three-syllable word that has been left out of most of the Democratic primary coverage on the TV:  "liberal."  We're constantly told by anchors and reporters how the Republican contenders are fighting over the "conservative" vote and who's more "conservative," and that's true.  But exactly the same fight is taking place on the left side, with the Clintons trying to suggest Barack Obama's not sufficiently liberal…. Chelsea and the kid gloves.  I must be woefully misaligned with family values or linguistically tone deaf to be so deeply offended by MSNBC's suspension of Emmy award-winning Washington correspondent David Shuster.  His crime:  uttering a word no one liked. … If "pimped" is offensive enough to get a commentator suspended, where was the famous delay button?  And where — most importantly — is due process?  The union members who waved their signs behind Hillary Clinton might ask how she feels about an employee getting suspended, fired, demoted or down-sized for uttering one cheeky word. Conservatives Laugh at Media Bias.  If Vice President Richard Cheney died, more people would live.  Bill Clinton sounds like Jesus in the Temple.  And the Republican Party caused the near-deathly stroke of Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota.  Each year, the Media Research Center issues awards for the worst examples of bias in a nation full of outrageously leftist media.  The awards, due out any day now, are a signal service to all who care about fairness in reporting. Media myths about the Jena 6:  The outside media made sure everyone knew the basics.  There's just one problem:  The media got most of the basics wrong.  In fact, I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism.  Myths replaced facts, and journalists abdicated their solemn duty to investigate every claim because they were seduced by a powerfully appealing but false narrative of racial injustice. Academic Dirty Linen Revealed in California Law School Case.  Unsurprisingly, the way the controversy has been played in the press follows the usual left wing narrative of brave liberals threatened by troglodytes of the right, but beating back the forces of darkness.  McCarthyism redux.  And who can blame the libs from casting themselves as heroes? Media Avoid Linking Democratic Party With NJ Scandals.  New Jersey = Corruption.  That is the conclusion when reading news stories about the latest round of criminal charges involving public officials in the Garden State, according to political scientists and media analysts.  However, the political scandals that continue to beset New Jersey have not translated into negative press coverage for the Democratic Party, which has been disproportionately affected by the corruption charges and arrests. Bush's 'Wins May Cost Him' — News or Wishful Thinking?  The top headline in Saturday's ashington Post underlines the tendency for display bias by practicing future-tense journalism. … Why can't the newspapers simply report what has already happened, and not bog down the reader with their own biased impressions of what could or should happen next?  Why must reporters always get out a crystal ball and wear a silly fortune-teller's hat? Media glow on Jane Fonda ignores her treason.  Here is one Vietnam veteran who is bothered far more by how the media portray her than by Fonda herself.  Now that the threat of communism is gone, the Cold War stand against it is sometimes ridiculed, likened to looking for boogeymen under the bed.  Fonda's own affinity for communism is brushed aside as paranoid rubbish.  But it shouldn't be.  Among those who protested the Vietnam War were many honorable, patriotic and faithful citizens.  Fonda was not one of them. 2007:  A Loony-Left Year.  Left-wing lunacy was pretty common in 2007.  Rosie O'Donnell talked her way off ABC's "The View" by spewing "655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead.  Who are the terrorists?"  Rosie had company on that set.  Her co-host Joy Behar seriously claimed that Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson's brain hemorrhage could be a Republican conspiracy:  "Is there such a thing as a man-made stroke? … I know what this party is capable of." Hoist by Their Own Petard.  For the past 20 years, the Media Research Center has been compiling its list of notable quotables.  The quotes, from prominent members of the mainstream news media, provide a clear window into the leftist mindset that pervades most of America's large news organizations. McCain spokesman John King of CNN:  I'm asking this question literally, not rhetorically:  if McCain's actual Press Secretary (rather than one of his many de facto ones in the press corps) had conducted this "interview," how would it have been any different?  Maybe they would have at least tried to pretend the questions were a little more probing, less adulating, just for the sake of appearances if not basic dignity. Media Canonizes McCain While Slandering Romney.  The media manipulation inflicted on both sides during this primary season has been premeditated, dangerous, and outrageous.  That two of the most far-left "news" organizations in the country would get together to draft a prejudiced question designed to illicit a preordained response in time to use it against Romney just before the critical Florida primary, demonstrates that they not only have no shame, but could care less who objects to their calculated tactics. Questions about Carville and CNN.  There are very few political analysts more closely associated with the Clintons than James Carville, who was a key adviser to Mr. Clinton in the 1992 campaign.  So it's no surprise that Mr. Carville's appearance on a round table after last night's CNN-sponsored Democratic debate is arousing some morning-after controversy.  "Would it kill CNN to disclose that James Carville is a partisan Clinton supporter when talking about the presidential race?" wrote Daily Kos. Wolf Blitzer is No Tim Russert.  Judging by the reaction to Thursday night's CNN debate, everything seems to be falling into place for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign for president.  After flirting with subjecting her to some scrutiny, the media seem to be coming to the conclusion that her nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate is inevitable. Ugly Clinton Rising.  If Hillary Clinton becomes president — get ready for everything we hated about our government to come springing back to life.  CNN's Wolf Blitzer's less than robustly honest form of debate engineering reminded us of the old idea that when it came to being bought and sold in favor of the Clinton's — CNN's brand was head and shoulders above the crowd. A Clinton Friend's Role Sets Off Intense Criticism of CNN.  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton prepared for a battle with her Democratic rivals at the CNN-sponsored debate on Thursday night [11/15/2007].  She did not have much to fear from the postdebate round table.  Among the experts trotted out by CNN to comment was James Carville, a Democratic strategist and CNN commentator who is also a close friend of Mrs. Clinton and a contributor to her campaign. CBS Cooks the Books on Vet Suicide Numbers.  The headline is sensational:  "Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans" says CBS News. … But a deeper look at the numbers reveals something even more surprising; the suicide rate for vets is only slightly higher than it is for all males, both vet and nonvet, in the US. Newsweek Scribe 'Deeply Uneasy' with 'Religious Believers'.  On Saturday's Religion page in The Washington Post [12/15/2007], they highlighted the typical secular liberal reporter in his natural habitat — tremendously skeptical of letting religious people play a role in public policy. Shock:  Journalist Backs Mrs. Clinton!  The Boston Globe reports — are you sitting down? — that former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson, now a professor of journalism at Emerson College, endorsed Hillary Clinton for president: … "I anchored for 15 years, and I defy anyone to have determined my political feelings from that," she said.  Well, some people certainly tried…. Hsu's Your Daddy.  Any other candidate would be a victim of the 24-hour news cycle. But Senator Clinton gradually renounced the funds in a crafty fashion.  The first funds — Hsu's direct contributions — were renounced at around 6:30 PM on August 29, shortly after the evening news had begun.  Then, on September 10, Clinton announced the return of around $850,000 in bundled donations.  She did this on the day of the Petraeus report, the eve of 9-11 celebrations, and again, at 6:40 in the evening, virtually ensuring that the story got minimal press coverage. Honoring Hillary For Media Manipulation.  There is absolutely no doubt that liberals really do think of the Clintons in rock-star terms, and the "objective" media have not merely treated them that way with a long-running assembly line of dazzled profiles and shoe-polishing interviews. … No one should deny that if our political press decided to drop the syrup bottle and press the Clintons on their scandals, or their politics of personal destruction, or their leftist policy prescriptions, they would look like a lot less impressive — and a lot less inevitable. Agenda Journalism:  A Tale Of Two Papers.  Every now and then, one has the opportunity to read the original story from one newspaper and the edited version carried by another newspaper.  This can lead to responses ranging from amusement to outrage.  Such was the case with a story that originally appeared in The New York Times and which the Houston Chronicle extensively edited for its print edition. Prescription For Bias:  Networks Downplay Drug Costs, Treat Medicine as an Entitlement.  The Business & Media Institute (BMI) has found a recurring network news bias against the pharmaceutical industry, treating drugs as an entitlement rather than an expensive-to-create product, refusing to credit and often ignoring entirely the companies that made the medicine. ... BMI looked at 132 stories on prescription or over-the-counter drugs from the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts between January 1 and Sept. 30, 2006. ... The broadcast networks mentioned costs to consumers or drug company revenues 11 times more often than they mentioned drug development costs. ABC Fails to Wonder Why Canadian Mom Forced to U.S. to Give Birth.  On Wednesday's Good Morning America [8/22/2007], co-host Chris Cuomo completely glossed over the health care implications of a Canadian mother forced to give birth in the United States, not her own nation, to identical quadruplets. The Liberal Suicide Pact.  It seems we weren't the only one to notice that the New York Times buried news of a foiled terror plot against John F. Kennedy International Airport on page 37. … Every time law-enforcement authorities announce that they have stopped a terror plan, we hear Daley-like pooh-poohing from the left:  The plot wasn't really that serious, it was nowhere near being carried out, the suspects were just a bunch of losers, that sort of thing. NBC Promotes Bogus Russian Claim to North Pole.  On the NBC Nightly News on Monday night [8/13/2007], Brian Williams introduced a story about Russian claims to the North Pole that featured an image of what viewers were led to believe was a small Russian submarine under the polar ice.  The image originally appeared on the Russian television channel Rossiya.  But the image was not of a Russian sub under the Pole.  It shows a min-sub at the scene of the wreckage of the Titanic. Time Magazine's Anti-Republican Bigotry.  Joe Klein of Time demonstrates why the media are more unpopular than the President they despise.  Klein has smeared secure-borders advocate Rep. Tom Tancredo, calling him anti-immigrant, while insinuating that the Republican Party as a whole is prejudiced.  This is as cold and calculating as the media practice of referring to illegal aliens as "undocumented workers."  It is deceptive rhetoric designed to manipulate news media consumers and confuse people about the real issues. Chuck Schumer's Media:  Sen. Charles Schumer is a legendary pursuer of television cameras.  But look at the way the national media are covering Schumer's heavy-breathing pursuit to make Attorney General Alberto Gonzales cry uncle and resign.  It makes you wonder just how hard Schumer has to work to get press attention.  The media appear Schumer-owned and operated.  One interview really captures how the press acts more like a Democratic goon squad than nonpartisan observers of the national scene. CNN's Double Time for Democrats:  CNN hosted three presidential debates last week, two for the Democrats and one for the Republicans.  Democratic candidates were awarded twice as much airtime in a three-day period.  CNN has its work cut out for it if it wants to be seen as impartial in the upcoming presidential election. MSNBC Confirms Liberal Media Bias.  An unusual source -- MSNBC -- has provided the latest documentation of the liberal bias in the mainstream media.  It came in the form of a Bill Dedman article on its website looking at journalists who have given money in recent years to federal candidates, political parties, or political action committees. NBC's Donation to Al Gore:  This coming Saturday, July 7, NBC Universal will devote a record 75 hours of coverage to Al Gore's "Live Earth:  The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis," to raise awareness about the alleged global warming "crisis" as defined by Gore.  The coverage will air on seven NBC Universal-owned programs, and Today news anchor Ann Curry will host coverage during NBC's primetime. Al Gore And NBC:  Birds Of A Feather.  Was what Al Gore called "the largest global entertainment event in all of human history" also the largest in-kind political contribution?  And where's the Fairness Doctrine when you need it? Planet of the Apes Redux:  Are Darwin and God mutually exclusive?  Like little boys called to the front of the class for public humiliation, Huckabee, Tancredo and Brownback immediately became targets of ridicule by the educated elite who, though Darwinists all, were presented with a contradiction:  If Darwin was right, how did these knuckle-draggers make it to the presidential campaign podium? Poor Planned Parenthood?  As much as liberals decry major corporations that act as if they're above the law, there's always quiet when the subject is Planned Parenthood, America's No. 1 corporate provider of abortions. … This is one corporation the media hold in the highest regard. They're not "merchants of death." That would be the tobacco companies, or gun manufacturers, or hamburger joints. These are the heroic "providers" of "a woman's right to choose." Undercover double standards.  Where are the muckraking champions when you need them?  Intrepid Lila Rose has learned the hard way:  Not all undercover journalists are equal. John Edwards Charged $55,000 to Speak About Poverty, Media Mum.  If a Republican presidential candidate like Rudy Giuliani or John McCain charged a $55,000 fee to speak at a major university about poverty, would the media be all over it like white on rice? A Mormon first?  For once, the media aren't so thrilled by a "first."  Usually being the first African-American, woman, Latino or anything else to run for a major office gives a campaign a frisson of excitement in the press.  Such pioneering campaigns are said to hold important lessons about the tolerance of the American public.  But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney represents the first "first" that has elicited a lukewarm reaction from the media. Scant Coverage of Brutal Crime Called 'Journalistic Malpractice'.  The national news media demonstrates a double standard in covering "hate crimes," as evidenced by the lack of attention given to the murder of a white couple in Tennessee last January, a conservative columnist charged on Monday.  However, a media analyst responded that a crime is not necessarily a hate crime simply because the victims are white and those accused of perpetrating it are black. Falwell gone, evangelical movement alive and well.  The Rev. Jerry Falwell's passing seems to have traumatized the mainstream liberal press.  Absent in its coverage of the event is even the normal pretense of objectivity. … According to Time and others, the edge is disappearing and more evangelicals are buying into the so-called "progressive" agenda.  Now remember that "progressive" is today's code word for "liberal."  Suggesting that this increasingly defines today's evangelicals tells us more about the wishful hallucinations of left-wing journalists than reality. Why Are They Lying About Ron Paul?  In a desperate attempt to make Rudy Giuliani out to be the hero of Tuesday night's debate, Fox News is continuing to attack Texas Congressman Ron Paul for something he did not say.  In the latest installment of this campaign, John Gibson of Fox News says that Paul "suggested that the U.S. actually had a hand in the [9/11] terrorist attacks."  No, what he said was that U.S. foreign policy was a reason why Osama bin Laden attacked America.  This is a fact. Liberals demean blacks again.  The recent release of census figures divided by race, with the eye-catching datum that 100 million Americans now are racial "minorities", has revealed a host of assumptions on the part of liberal journalists. … But a new mental habit by the so-called progressives is emerging that is even more noteworthy:  the treatment of blacks as some sort of endangered species in various cities. Hillary's Shill At CBS:  With Rather's retirement last year, CBS Evening News lost its big Clinton fan to sit in front of the cameras.  With former first lady Hillary now running for president, however, the network has decided to place one behind the cameras instead as executive producer. … CBS "Evening News" has become third in the network ratings since infotainer Katie Couric arrived as hostess.  For some reason, CBS thinks having a bosom buddy of the Clintons turn it into a nightly commercial for Hillary's presidential campaign is the solution. ABC Gushes:  Clintons Are 'Masters at Turning Bad News Into Good'.  In early October, ABC reporter Kate Snow sprang to the defense of Senator Hillary Clinton's much maligned laugh.  On Thursday's Good Morning America [10/25/2007], the correspondent marveled over Bill Clinton's successes and also how his wife is able to make turning 60-years-old a good thing.  While an ABC graphic wondered if the Democratic power couple are "masters of spin," Snow gushed:  "The Clintons have always been masters at turning bad news into good." Media Are Key to Hillary Victory.  Another Hillary Clinton connection to the phony media "watchdog" group Media Matters has surfaced.  Susie Tompkins Buell, a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, put $300,000 into the group through her Susie Tompkins Buell Foundation.  Interestingly, while Tompkins Buell was swelling the bank account of Media Matters, which largely functions as a Hillary Clinton front group, her foundation was also putting $100,000 into The White House Project, an organization dedicated to promoting the election of a woman to the U.S. presidency.  And we all know who that is. All quiet on Hillary's plantation.  With [Al] Sharpton proudly looking on, [Hillary Rodham Clinton] threw the race card on the table with a big, noisy thwack.  "When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about." … Had Trent Lott uttered those words last week about Democrats, today he'd be unhappily retired in Mississippi.  But it was Hillary attacking Republicans, so the news coverage was very, very different. Humanizing Hillary, Canonizing Chelsea.  Reporters are tripping over themselves to convince us how likable and human [Hillary Clinton] is — strong and yet nurturing.  It's the same playbook the media used for Al Gore and John Kerry, both just as stiff, robotic and unlikable then as Hillary is now.  So they're portraying Hillary not only as strong and invincible, but also as warm as a down comforter and as sweet as Mrs. Butterworth. Bus story cries out for some perspective.  It seems a white guy was attacked by a group of black people on a bus in Wauwatosa two weeks ago.  The Wauwatosa police decided to seek charges including a hate-crime enhancer against one suspect because most of the people on the bus were African-American and someone reportedly used a racial slur.  Some folks have jumped on the Great Bus Hate Crime story as the latest example of rampant black-against-white hate crime in Milwaukee that goes largely unreported because of liberal media bias. There's more to be said about Hate Crimes. Superior Stem Cells Shunned By Media.  Each year there are stunning breakthroughs with adult stem cells, and 2007 has already brought its first.  Adult stem cells cure and treat more than 70 diseases and are involved in almost 1,300 human clinical trials.  Scientists also keep discovering that adult stem cells are capable of creating a wider variety of mature cells. ... This has caused great consternation on the part of those seeking increased taxpayer embryonic stem cell funds.  The reason is that there are currently no practical applications for this type of cell. Culture of lying:  This saga is important for a number of reasons. ... It again exposed an unholy alliance between liberal politicians and the leftist big media who are quick to attack someone whose policies and party they don't like, but rarely correct errors of their own making, or investigate bogus charges when they help the policies and party the media prefer. BBC pays £200,000 to 'cover up report on anti-Israel bias'.  The BBC has been accused of "shameful hypocrisy" over its decision to spend £200,000 blocking a freedom of information request about its reporting in the Middle East. 40th Anniversary of Liberty Attack.  This past June 8 marked the 40th anniversary of the attack on the USS Liberty by the air and naval forces of the state of Israel, resulting in the deaths of 34 American servicemen and a cover-up that has been maintained throughout the entire period. In remembrance of the day that — for many — will always be a day that will live in infamy, the Liberty Veterans Association (LVA) organized a reunion that included several ceremonies marking the event. Why Roe vs. Wade is Losing Ground:  Did you notice the decrease in news coverage of this year's March for Life in Washington DC last week?  I tuned in to local and cable channels every day looking for news on the March for Life events I knew were being held in the nation's capitol for the 34th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.  But I could find little coverage.  The same thing was true for print news.  Why?  Because of the mainstream media's liberal bias, many would say.  And I would agree with that. NBC and the Cancer Vaccine that Isn't.  Even in the title of the story, "Cancer Vaccine Controversy," NBC gets it wrong.  Gardasil is a vaccine for HPV, not cancer, though HPV is one of the leading causes of cervical cancer.  But NBC used the words "cancer" and "cervical cancer" six times in just under two minutes.  Conversely the words "sexually transmitted virus" and "promiscuity" were only used one time each. ABC World News Uses Scary Footage to Push Hate Crimes Bill.  Want to use a news story to influence a House vote on a hate crimes bill?  On the eve of the vote, lead with a close-up of skinheads presenting a Nazi salute.  Run some scary shots of the Ku Klux Klan.  It's a visceral, one-two punch.  You don't need to mention any legislation; you just need to paint a picture of out-of-control hate in need of a government solution.  That's just the manipulative trick that ABC News' World News with Charles Gibson played during its May 2 broadcast. Media's Warning This Memorial Day:  Step Away from the Grill.  Journalists constantly attack the foods Americans eat and the companies that make them … Reporters hype food dangers, complaining about the obesity "epidemic" and bringing on "consumer" experts who try to scare viewers from eating just about everything.  They also rarely include any comments from the very companies or industries they attack. CBS doesn't air special report on President Ford.  Unlike its network rivals, CBS News did not break into its programming for a special report on former President Ford's death, instead running a printed "crawl" at the bottom of the screen with the news. Gerald Ford and Media Historians:  The passing of President Gerald Ford drew a dignified, even warm farewell from the national press.  There was near-consensus that he would be remembered for his decency and the risk he took, pardoning Richard Nixon from Watergate prosecutions in an effort to heal the nation.  It is proper that the press is kind today.  It ought to be remembered, however, that the press was not of this opinion when Ford took office. Media erroneously label Ford as oaf-in-chief.  Republican leaders get pigeon-holed by Washington's liberal media establishment as either evil schemers (Nixon, Gingrich) or idiot bumblers (Reagan, Bush 43).  Gerald Ford got the idiot moniker, to the ever-grateful cartoonist community — but it was an unlikely label for the ex-college football star. Bush's 'Omission' of Katrina Treated as Scandalous.  A night after CNN anchors fretted about how Katrina and the recovering Gulf region were "thunderously missing" from President Bush's State of the Union address, CBS and NBC picked up the cause. Bob Schieffer Plays Patty-Cake With Ray Nagin on "Face the Nation".  There was nothing, first and foremost on the journalist's plate, about Nagin's wild exaggerations about a death toll of 10,000 and the rampant rape and murder he and his top cops gave to the national media.  There was no question asking Nagin about his utter failure to order a mandatory evacuation until the last minute.  There was no question asking Nagin about his failure to evacuate citizens by city bus or Amtrak train.  There was no question asking Nagin about race-baiting and finger-pointing at FEMA and Team Bush. Importing Socialists:  It's funny how the conclusion of an election can completely alter media reportage.  The day after the Democrat Public Relations Arm (DPRA) — euphemistically known as the "mainstream media" — got its party elected, they actually started broaching a couple of real issues.  Such as amnesty for illegal aliens. … Why wasn't the DPRA telling you about this before the election? … If you look at the groups that constitute 85 percent of legal immigrants and virtually all illegal ones — those of Third World ancestry — you'll see that they supported the DPRA's candidates by overwhelming margins. 'GMA' Discourages Enforcement of Immigration Laws.  The shortage of labor has some low-skill employers in a bind.  According to "Good Morning America" co-host Diane Sawyer, you can thank U.S. immigration officials for doing their job and cracking down on illegal border crossers. The Media's Double Standard on Race.  In November 2005, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) had the audacity to hold a fundraiser for her Democratic colleague Sen. Robert Byrd — a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and a stalwart opponent of landmark civil rights legislation — at the home of civil rights pioneer Frederick Douglas.  Suffice it to say, had Clinton and Byrd had an "R" next to their names, it's likely that this act of very questionable judgment would not have been ignored by the mainstream media. Media Gaga For ObamaRama.  In order to squeeze out every last possible drop of free publicity, Obama noted that his formal declaration of running will not come until Feb. 10, in Springfield, Ill., home of Abraham Lincoln.  Everyone plays up the impending rivalry between the two candidates everyone assumes as frontrunners — Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. CNN's Roberts:  Obama's $162,100 Senate salary 'modest'.  Only a network anchor could think that earning nearly four times the median household income is "modest."  That was CNN "American Morning" anchor John Roberts' take on Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) annual salary of $162,100.  He also called the Obama family incomes of "$470,000 up to $1.4 million" "pretty modest" during the May 17 report.  Roberts used the word "modest" three different times to depict some part of Obama's financial life. CNN Disguises Left-Wing Activist as Everyday Mom.  On Thursday's American Morning [12/21/2006], CNN correspondent Dan Lothian reported on the controversy over a new Christian video game that, according to co-host Soledad O'Brien, "critics say" encourages "hate and religious intolerance."  Who are these critics?  Well, if you believe CNN, they are simply parents and concerned citizens.  In reality, the experts are actually committed left-wing activists. Target-Rich Environment:  As we launch our Conservative Renaissance, we are blessed.  By the Democrats and their media masterminds.  By doing what comes naturally (and compulsively) they refuel our engines and goad our pit crews and drivers to greater speeds.  The 527 Media won't let the libs pretend to be moderates, and the environment created by their internal conflicts will be one in which the Conservative Coalition can regain itself.  We should thank them.  For starters, thank you, New York Times. Dirty Trick from the New York Times.  In a last-minute dirty trick before the election, The New York Times took a story and twisted it in such a way as to damage the Bush Administration.  This will go down as a case study of media bias intended to sway votes. Bergergate, &c.  Call me a right-wing paranoid — it's been done before! — but I think that, if Sandy Berger were a conservative Republican, the story of his criminality would be a really, really big deal.  Bear in mind that the man was national security adviser. … If Berger were a Republican, the word "Nixonian" would be making a big, big comeback — at a minimum. The media's dark role:  Nov. 7 needs to be remembered for something even Republicans don't have the stomach to address at the moment:  that the remnants of objectivity in the mainstream media were all but exterminated by some on the left.  A chilling and ominous development that played some role in the Democratic wave that is still splashing around the red states.  Make no mistake.  Along with the multitude of Republican gaffes, and the hard work of the Democrats, there can be no doubt that the left-of-center mainstream media helped to manufacture this election victory for the Democratic Party. Meredith Vieira Bemoans 'Same Old President Bush'.  The longer President Bush refuses to completely accept the Iraq Study Group's recommendations the more irked NBC's Tim Russert and Meredith Vieira seem to get. Disgraceful Media Coverage of Sen. Tim Johnson's Medical Condition:  Ladies and Gentlemen, let's drop the partisanship for a second and recognize that the media coverage of Sen. Tim Johnson's (D-SD) sudden illness has been nothing but disgraceful. ABC's Joy Behar Wonders If Sen. Johnson's Illness Is a Republican Conspiracy.  Well, it certainly didn't take long for a member of the media to suggest that there's some kind of conspiracy involved with Sen. Tim Johnson's (D-SD) medical condition.  On Thursday's "The View," co-host Joy Behar questioned, "Is there such a thing as a man made stroke?  In other words, did someone do this to him?" Murtha Scandal Time Arrives.  The oohs and aahs began last November.  "All of Washington listened," announced CBS's Bob Schieffer, since "on military matters, no Democrat in Congress is more influential."  Murtha's words "followed President Bush halfway around the world," boasted NBC anchor Brian Williams.  CNN's Bill Schneider declared Murtha's withdrawal mantra as the "Political Play of the Week," suggesting it might turn out to be a tipping point just as delicious as Walter Cronkite's call to get out of a "stalemate" in Vietnam. Schieffer Forwards Canard about McCain.  CBS's Bob Schieffer, on Sunday's Face the Nation, resurrected the media canard that John McCain's support of the Iraq war is what cost him the frontrunner status in the Republican presidential contest. Time's insular take on Hillary:  Hillary Rodham Clinton is featured in a flattering black-and-white photo on the cover of Time magazine this week — the 10th cover story for Hillary Clinton since she appeared on the national scene hitched to Bill Clinton's wagon in 1992. … If you think the whole thing reads like an internal memo at a Democratic club, you're not mistaken.  In more than 4,000 words, there's not a single conservative or Republican detractor — not one — quoted. Hillary may have to hide her brothers.  Mrs. Clinton's brothers may yet play a role in her pursuit of the presidency.  And she is indeed already in pursuit, if Time magazine's cover article this week is to be believed. … Time magazine wants to help.  This is the tenth Time cover she's been on.  Even Princess Diana didn't receive such royal treatment. Jonah Goldberg's Column Is Curiously Redacted.  What this newspaper did to Goldberg's column in the editing process is a case study in how editorial people omit cogent information that might clash with their own political views.  Another reason, if one were to speculate on why the clever editing, is that liberal gatekeepers seek to protect their fellow liberals, and their megaphone, mainstream media, from bright, coherent conservative criticism. Journalistic hysteria, Year 19.  Each year for the past 19, I've served as a judge for the Media Research Center's awards for the year's worst journalistic outbursts.  The winners will be announced later this month, and on my ballot MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Newsweek's Eleanor Clift are two of the leading candidates.  Olbermann said on Sept. 11, at the site of the World Trade Center, "Who has left this hole in the ground?  We have not forgotten, Mr. President.  You have.  May this country forgive you." The Truth, John Kerry, and The New York Times.  Now as then, the New York Times acts as if the issues involved were between Kerry's latest representations of his record and the "unsubstantiated" charges of the Swift Boat group.  The Times used the term "unsubstantiated" more than twenty times during its election coverage and continues to make no discernable effort to examine any of the charges in detail. Under the Influence of Liberalism.  I find it interesting that, in today's maniacal media world, conservatives are taken to task for every syllable they utter, but liberals are given a pass.  A GOP gaffe will be replayed ad nauseam on news broadcasts, news magazine programs, and comedy shows.  Then, it may get a second round of play on liberal talk radio and ripped-from-the-headlines TV dramas.  But when a liberal makes a rhetorical blunder, he or she is excused because, after all, he or she really didn't mean to say it.  The guilty party is too erudite or too compassionate for the remark to be taken at face-value. Democratic Win "A Good Thing".  The media pour on the bias during the last days of Campaign '06:  ABC's Sam Donaldson says he expects victorious Democrats to "delve into every nook and cranny of the Republican administration for the last six years. … It's a good thing," while Time's Joe Klein embarrassingly gushes over liberal Senator Barack Obama, writing that "Obama seemed the political equivalent of a rainbow — a sudden preternatural event inspiring awe and ecstasy." Time Magazine Gets Caught Lying.  Would an editor who had never visited the scene of a photograph deliberately contradict the photographer's account of events?  Is it possible that someone would change a caption that ends up incorrectly describing what took place?  Moreover, would a prominent media outlet accept the claims of a terrorist organization over that of its own photographer? Judge's order reveals FEMA aid shortcomings.  Those still receiving aid were most dependent before Katrina, mostly single mothers on welfare, while the rest are back on their feet, said Ronald D. Utt, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank. … "A lot of people have simply found it easier to stay where they are, which are probably places of greater opportunity than New Orleans." The Editor says... The story above is loaded with political bias:  The question is whether FEMA is dishing out taxpayers' money fast enough, to people who have no intention of paying it back.  On one side of the argument, the article cites "anti-poverty advocates", and on the other side are "Bush administration defenders" at "a conservative think-tank".  As if the conservatives are in favor of poverty. CBS Spins Good News into Bad to Influence Voters.  This is typical of how the liberal media operate, especially going into an election.  They take extremely good news — unemployment at a low national rate of 4.4% — and focus on one angle of the story that can be spun in a negative way, in this case, the conditions of minimum wage workers. Washington Post Ignores Canadian Censorship In "War on Christians" Reporting.  Both Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank and religion reporter Alan Cooperman covered the "War on Christians" conference Tuesday [3/28/2006], but neither touched on one trend in Canada that American evangelicals are warning against:  "hate crime" laws that make speech condemning homosexuality illegal. The barrier method works.  A Monday story by the Reuters news service should be required reading for anyone opposed to illegal immigration:  "Experts see U.S. border fence plan as impractical" is a stunning example of the intellectual dishonesty of Big Media and apologists for illegal aliens.  And surely the most stunning, how oblivious both seem to be about it. New Study:  TV Networks Have Pounded Bush for Five Years.  For nearly all of his presidency, George W. Bush has been on the receiving end of mainly negative — sometimes highly negative — coverage from the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts, according to a new report from the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA), a nonpartisan research group. Bush Exposes Liberal Bias of NBC's Lauer.  On NBC's Today, co-host Matt Lauer pushed President Bush about Iraq with loaded questions and, as a result, allowed the President to expose Lauer's liberal bias as a journalist. Anti-War Marcher Vieira Joins NBC's Today.  On Wednesday, Meredith Vieira will replace Katie Couric as co-host of NBC's Today show.  In 2004, Vieira declared that the "entire pretext for war" was "built on lies" and she marched in an anti-war protest. Media Should Go After Criminals.  In my opinion, some of the best shows on television involve hunting down criminals.  "America's Most Wanted" on Fox led the way.  But [Howard] Kurtz, on his CNN "Reliable Sources" show, asked, "Should NBC be cooperating so closely with law enforcement?"  What followed was a discussion, not a debate, in which all three panelists … found fault with what NBC was doing. $2 Trillion on Foreign Aid.  "After fifty years and more than $2 trillion in aid, the West has strikingly little to show for its efforts in alleviating poverty."  This was the blurb advertising an April 25 event at the American Enterprise Institute entitled, "Why Foreign Aid Has Failed-And How to Fix It."  However, the Los Angeles Times on April 13 ran an editorial accusing the U.S. of being stingy in dispersing foreign aid.  For the Times, $2 trillion still isn't enough. Meredith Vieira, anchor/protester.  Meredith Vieira came on the air on August 30, 2004, the Monday of the Republican convention, and declared — no, boasted — she had marched in an anti-Bush, anti-war protest in New York, a protest designed to ruin any political benefit for the GOP.  NBC News is now hiring her to replace Katie Couric as co-host of "Today," and NBC's going to hand her an eight-figure salary each year to bring her leftist biases along with her, replacing Katie in more ways than one. CNN Promotes Bush Assassination Flick — for Free.  CNN's American Morning devoted four minutes of air time, and free advertising, to a faux documentary that includes a digitally created assassination of George W. Bush.  The network, which has refused to air commercials for the controversial Death of a President movie, instead featured the film's director on the Friday edition of its morning show. Falun Gong Protester:  CNN Censored Me.  The Falun Gong protester whose shrill outcries disrupted President Bush's White House reception for Communist China's leader Hu Jintao said Thursday [5/4/2006] that she was told not to discuss Beijing's gruesome practice of organ harvesting during a recent TV interview because it would disturb viewers during the dinner hour. Hillary's political faith and the press.  Can someone please explain why Hillary and Bill Clinton always get a pass from the secular left when they invoke God in their public discourse?  Why is Dan Quayle ridiculed for championing family values while Hillary is glorified as a dutiful disciple of evangelist John Wesley? … Aren't we witnessing a glaring double standard here?  When the Clintons brandish the Bible, where is Maureen Dowd to warn of an impending theocracy? Dictator's Anti-Americanism Neglected by Media, Study Says.  Higher oil prices generate more media attacks on oil companies and their executives, but the anti-American behavior and alleged human rights violations of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez receive much less critical coverage from network news, according to a free market group dedicated to challenging media misconceptions about free enterprise. A Thieving Dictator Only U.S. Media Could Love.  Despite his threat to American business interests, Hugo Chavez is still the 'friendly' darling of the network news. Pro-military mom silenced by mainstream media.  A grieving mother of a soldier killed in Iraq wants to voice her opinion.  She has a message about the war in Iraq and feels the American people need to hear what she has to say. … Her message is exactly opposite of the over-exposed message of the well-known protesting mom. Character assassination, media-style.  Gasoline prices are rising, which means it's time for a new round of hysterical media stories about that dastardly oil industry, its obscene profits, and its nefarious ways.  Now the media are at it again, but with a different target.  They've turned their guns on Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens. Black History Month — and the Black Heroes it Ignores.  Malcolm X didn't mince words.  "I'm not an American!" he sputtered, "America is a nightmare!  America practices slavery!  The white man is the common enemy!"  Naturally, Time Magazine heralded him during Black History Month. Matt Lauer sets his audience up for ignorance.  The mainstream media positioned this story as a teacher who was disciplined, because, after listening to the president's State of the Union speech, he said Bush sounds a lot like Hitler.  Unfortunately, the mainstream media failed to report the fact that on February 1st, while addressing his high school geography class, Jay Bennish sounded a lot like Osama Bin Laden. More about the Jay Bennish incident can be found here. Will the Miracle Baby Change the Abortion Debate?  Is "Hurricane Amillia" about to blow the abortion village down?  Not if the media can help it. ... ABC World News Tonight was the only broadcast news outlet to make the connection between Amillia's gestational age and laws governing abortion.  The vast majority of the 21 broadcast stories that ran about Amillia last week merely dealt with the baby's homecoming. CNN Analyst Won't Say "Partial Birth Abortion".  On the February 21 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, substitute host John King discussed the issue with legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.  The term "partial birth" was referred to only twice in the segment by King, who made sure to note that it was a term used by "critics" of the procedure. Media Myths and examples of bias in the coverage of the abortion issue. Abortion Rates Drop, Bias Doesn't.  In reporting the good — nay GREAT — news that the number of abortions performed annually has continued to decline in America, The Washington Post couldn't refrain from infusing the Page One story with liberal bias.  Reporter Rob Stein put the statistics up front in the story (the abortion rate dropped 9 percent from 2000 to 2005, and hit the lowest absolute number since 1976), before mentioning that the numbers come from the Guttmacher Institute.  He failed to report that institute is a research arm of Planned Parenthood and an abortion rights advocate. Wal-Mart:  Always Under Attack.  Always.  When journalists start referring to "the retailing behemoth," a "giant" or a business that "destroys other companies," it's time for another Wal-Mart story. An imperial presidency?  You have to wonder where the likes of Jonathan Alter were when Bill Clinton openly flouted the rule of law.  Was he not seeking to become a law unto himself?  How about Hillary's penchant for secrecy and her frequent flights from accountability?  What about Bill's "unilateral" bombings of Iraq and Serbia?  No, it's not expansions of executive power that bother the left, but when they occur under a Republican presidency. The tennis tempest at ABC:  The subject was the ethics of judicial travel.  As investigative reporter Brian Ross explained in the middle of the piece, "Justices at all ends of the political spectrum take plenty of these trips to lots of nice places, all paid for by somebody else."  But this was no expose on justices "at all ends of the political spectrum."  It was a shameless hit piece on conservatives, complete with hidden-camera cheap shots. Probing ABC's Scalia probe:  There's no shortage of historic and gripping Supreme Court stories for journalists to report on these days.  Why, then, does ABC News' "Nightline" care where Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was the night Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in?  It cares because it mistakenly thinks it has caught him in a "judicial junket." MRC Study:  Evening News Shows Claim NSA Spies on "Americans," Not "Terrorists".  Over at www.mrc.org, we've just posted a new study of how ABC, CBS and NBC have covered the NSA surveillance story.  It's just as awful as you expected — most network stories were framed around the idea that the program is probably illegal and a shocking violation of Americans' civil liberties. Sometimes in Polling, It's All in the Question.  What does the public think about the Bush administration's wiretapping program?  It depends on how you ask the question.  A half dozen polls on the issue have turned up different conclusions, and a key distinction appears to be the way pollsters identify the people who might have their emails and phone calls monitored as part of an effort to fight terrorism.  Recent poll questions have referred to "suspected terrorists," "people in the United States" and "American citizens." More information about domestic spying can be found here. "Today" show's Lauer calls Alito "ultra-conservative".  If Lauer calls Alito an "ultra-conservative," does he ever use the term "ultra-liberal"?  The liberal ADA — Americans For Democratic Action — scores members of Congress from 0 to 100, with 100 meaning most liberal. … Under the ADA rating, for example, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., receives an ADA rating of 100; Sen. Kennedy scores a 100; and Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., rates a 100.  Would Lauer refer to them as "ultra-liberals"? Media Swallows Kennedys' Arrogant Presumption.  Are we done worshipping the Kennedys yet?  And what do you mean by "we"?  That was quite a spectacle — the commentariat gushing superlatives over the alleged power of Ted and Caroline to deliver liberals to Barack Obama.  Half the electorate wasn't even born when the sainted John F. Kennedy was assassinated — and few have any idea who Ethel is.  Though the Kennedy brand is in steep decline, the wave of conformist opinion still thinks this endorsement is very big. The Editor says... Mary Jo Kopechne is unavailable for comment.  If Ted Kennedy was a man of integrity, he would have resigned from the Senate in 1969. MRSA Outbreak Among 'Gays' — Let the Whitewash Begin.  You can't help but feel a little sorry for Amanda Beck.  She's a reporter from Reuters who was among the first to cover a new study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, which warns about an outbreak of a virulent, drug-resistant, and potentially deadly strain of Staph infection afflicting certain segments of the homosexual community. … Here's where Amanda went wrong.  She objectively provided scientific information to the public which cast "high risk" homosexual conduct in a negative light. The Gay Propaganda Machine:  In a blatant violation of journalistic ethics, Time magazine assigned a homosexual reporter, John Cloud, to write the recent Time cover story on homosexual teenagers but did not disclose his conflict of interest to its readers. Homosexuals in the military:  It seems virtually every story written or soundbite uttered involves supporting the ability of homosexual men and women to serve openly in the armed services, but remarkably few discuss the alternative point of view.  Such an important issue ought not be decided based on such an out-of-balance ratio. New Anchor's Record of Liberal Advocacy:  Tomorrow, Ted Koppel signs off after 25 years as Nightline anchor. … But while the characters change, expect the spin to remain the same. ABC promotes George Stephanopoulos.  ABC News has appointed "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos as its chief Washington correspondent, adding duties to his weekly job at the helm of the Sunday morning political talk show.  [Mr. Stephanopoulos was an adviser to President Clinton before joining ABC News.] Old Media News In The Tank.  Chris Matthews was a speech writer for Jimmy Carter and, later, a top aide to Tip O'Neill.  Brian Williams dropped out of college to become an intern in the Carter administration.  George Stephanopoulos was Bill Clinton's communications director.  When they put together a "roundtable" it tends to resemble a groupthink séance. TV Station Apologizes to Schwarzenegger.  A television station apologized to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday [11/04/2005] after discovering that several Democratic activists were in its audience for a voter forum. … The Republican governor was peppered with questions with a partisan slant during Thursday's broadcast, and at one point a man in the audience tried to shout him down. [Liberals are apparently unable to engage in a rational debate.  When they begin to lose an argument, they just start shouting.] They're Terrorists.  "I know it when I see it" was the famous response by a U.S. Supreme Court justice to the vexed problem of defining pornography.  Terrorism may be no less difficult to define, but the wanton killing of schoolchildren, of mourners at a funeral, or workers at their desks in skyscrapers surely fits the know-it-when-I-see-it definition.  The media, however, generally shies away from the word terrorist, preferring euphemisms. CNN:  'Be nice to Fidel'.  So how does an American news giant tell its on air talent to handle Fidel Castro's resignation?  By glossing over the truth of the tyrant's reign and pimping "social progress" under his brutal regime:  In a memo to CNN anchors, CNN brass laid down the line that should be taken when talking about the resignation. The U.S. Media's Decades of Cheering Castro's Communism:  Castro's communist regime has executed hundreds of political opponents and driven tens of thousands more into exile; hundreds of dissidents today languish in Cuban prisons. ... Yet liberals in the U.S. media — who have rightly condemned such abuses when perpetrated by dictators such as Chile's Augusto Pinochet — inexplicably remain enchanted with Castro and his socialist revolution.  For more than half a century, positive profiles of Castro have appeared in U.S. papers. CBS Comes to Castro's Aid.  CBS's 60 Minutes has run a segment on Elian Gonzalez, five years after the Clinton administration sent him back to the communist prison island.  He had come to America as a refugee, without his father, who was back in Cuba and under pressure from the communist regime to demand him back.  The Clinton administration complied, seizing the little boy at the point of a gun.  It made a mockery of America's reputation as a free society open to refugees fleeing persecution. Nets Obscure Earle's Partisan Affiliation; CBS Didn't With Starr.  The CBS Evening News, which described Ken Starr as the "Republican" independent counsel, on Wednesday night [9/28/2005] went out of its way to avoid alerting viewers to how Ronnie Earle, the Texas county prosecutor behind the indictment of Tom DeLay, is a Democrat.  Anchor Bob Schieffer twice described DeLay not by his title as House Majority Leader, but as the "House Republican Leader." CNN Awards $100,000 To National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association.  Pamela Strother, NLGJA Executive Director, said "This unprecedented gift from CNN is a milestone for NLGJA as the largest single gift from a news media company to the organization." TV's trouble with religion:  For an industry that claims to reflect reality, the results are not good.  Religion is virtually ignored, and when covered, more often than not it's attacked. USA Today Caught Altering Condi Photo.  USA Today has been caught altering a photograph of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in order to make her look more sinister. … This is another reminder that we must cast a skeptical eye to anything published about conservatives in the national media. The Democrats' own history with race.  For decades, it has been a template of the major media that Republicans are the party of racism.  It repeats uncritically any charges of Republican racism, no matter how unfounded.  Democrats, on the other hand, are always given a pass whenever they commit racist offenses.  Even a cursory review, however, will show that the media template is totally contrary to history. Pacifist Hatfield supports Iraq war.  Last week, former Oregon governor and senator Mark Hatfield, now 82, announced his strong support for the American effort in Iraq. Firefighters Versus the Media.  One of the biggest stories of the presidential campaign is being ignored by the major media.  It's how the president of the firefighters union engineered an endorsement of John Kerry for president without asking his members about it.  It turns out most of the members of the union are Republicans who support Bush. There go those "controversial Catholics" again.  You'd think Katie Couric would aspire to be an anchorwoman for all the American people now that CBS appears to be wooing her for the Throne of Rather.  So why did she have to be so rough on Thomas Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, for being a Catholic? Wilson Discredited, Networks Silent.  All three of the broadcast networks treated Joe Wilson like a rock star when he was bashing the Bush administration and its case for war against Saddam Hussein.  But ABC, CBS and NBC haven't bothered to inform viewers that Friday's [7/9/2004] Senate Intelligence committee report showed how Wilson's own claims were false. Tit for Tet:  Abu Ghraib is the new Tet offensive.  By lying about the Tet offensive during the Vietnam War, the media managed to persuade Americans we were losing the war, which demoralized the nation and caused us to lose the war.  And people say reporters are lazy. The Lies of Tet:  Media misreporting of Tet passed into our collective memory.  That picture gave antiwar activism an unwarranted credibility that persists today in Congress, and in the media reaction to the war in Iraq.  The Tet experience provides a narrative model for those who wish to see all U.S. military successes — such as the Petraeus surge — minimized and glossed over.  In truth, the war in Vietnam was lost on the propaganda front, in great measure due to the press's pervasive misreporting of the clear U.S. victory at Tet as a defeat. Media's Selective Outrage, by the Numbers:  To the casual observer, the situation in Iraq is bleak, the Iraqi people don't really want democracy, and the only worthwhile story is the brutality and intimidation of Iraqi prisoners.  To the "casual observer" of the mainstream media, that is. Judging from Iraq, the United Nations is no solution.  Media pundits can't understand why all the negative news coming out of Iraq doesn't produce poll results that show Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., defeating President George W. Bush.  That's probably because Kerry's solution to the Iraq problem is to turn over its management to the United Nations. The news media and Nick Berg:  For those who still doubt that ideology guides most of the world's major news media, the reporting of the Islamic ritual murder of Nick Berg provided textbook examples of an almost universally leftist bias.  News media have essentially become propaganda organs for anti-Americanism. Beirut, Waco or Oklahoma City?  Tom Brokaw called the event "an evil act".  But Tom never even suggested that there were evil actions of government in Waco. Painfully unaware:  Fetal-pain expert testifies on the "excruciating" partial-birth procedure as the government defends its ban against the industry's lawsuit.  But as the trial produces sensational testimony, the courtroom remains virtually journalist-free. Criminalizing business:  part II.  A recent column in the San Francisco Chronicle vividly illustrates the anti-business mindset of many Californians.  It dealt with the fact that Wal-Mart lost a referendum to allow the retailer to put a store in Inglewood, California.  According to the Chronicle columnist, Wal-Mart was "trying to bully its way into another targeted community."  Putting an issue to a vote is called "bullying" when business does it, and the community where it wants to locate is called a "target." USA Today's Deceptive Backgrounder.  The online resource distorts fundamental historical events essential to understanding the day-to-day news. Could you repeat that, please?  After waiting months to question President Bush at a full-dress press conference, why did these reporters get up one after another and ask the same question? Bait-and-switch media:  My first inkling of how fundamentally ill-informed some of even the big names on television are came back in 1981, when I was interviewed on "Meet the Press."  Back in those days, the interviews were done by a panel of reporters.  Their questions and comments revealed incredible ignorance.  The reporters in turn were incredulous when I said that Social Security was financially unsound.  Now, 23 years later, everybody knows that. New York Times' Bush Smear Campaign:  On Saturday [4/10/2004], the New York Times — adhering to the P.T. Barnum school of journalism — screamed on its front page that President Bush was warned "that supporters of Osama bin Laden planned an attack within the United States with explosives and wanted to hijack airplanes." Spain:  a media flip-flop.  Don't think that presidential candidates are the only political players who can be accused of flip-flops.  Take a look at how the media elite have spun the election in Spain. Tenet Says No Improper Influence, CBS Ignores It.  CIA Director George Tenet specifically denied that the Bush administration improperly influenced intelligence on Iraq in a speech at Georgetown University.  CBS News ignored the comments but ABC, NBC and Fox News all reported them. Move on?  Let's not.  The radical haters at MoveOn.Org have used their Internet space to show ads comparing President Bush to Adolf Hitler, and the media, so quick to condemn any negative ads produced by Republicans, are giving them a free ride. The Playboy philosophy at 50:  For the past weeks, the media have been gaga over the 50th anniversary of Playboy magazine and the "Playboy philosophy," whose guru, Hugh Hefner, began to mainstream pornography and de-couple sex from a committed marital relationship. The Truth and Mr. and Ms. Clinton:  Does the media treatment of former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton suggest a bias?  Please, let us not engage in reckless, unfair, and cynical speculation. First kids:  The mainstream media chooses to portray our country's First Children either negatively or positively, depending on the political party of their parents, the President and First Lady. Something Fishy at AFP:  An AFP photographer uses a wide-angle lens to exaggerate his picture, and the AFP caption omits essential context. CNN planted question at debate, student says.  While covering a debate of Democratic presidential candidates, CNN planted a question in order to make the debate appear more "lighthearted." Sponsor Pulls Ad from CBS News After Homeschoolers' Complaints.  At least one sponsor temporarily withdrew advertising from the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, after advocates of homeschooling complained about last week's two-part report on the "dark side" of the "largely unregulated" home school movement. Media reporting from Iraq is one-sided and flawed.  If you rely on newspapers and TV networks for your news, chances are you have no idea that the controversial performance of Western reporters in Iraq is emerging as a big issue.  The mainstream media have virtually ignored the stunning charges made by John Burns, the New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter. True Grit:  A man named Greg Packer "...is apparently the entire media's designated "man on the street" for all articles ever written.  He has appeared in news stories more than 100 times as a random member of the public." Greg Packer Is the 'Man on the Street'.  While Packer says "honesty is very important to me," he does admit that about 5% of the time, "I'm making stuff up to get in the paper."  A Boston newspaper, for example, quoted him as saying he had a ticket for the 1999 baseball All-Star Game there when he really didn't.  "At times the media can be gullible, but they have to take people at their word," he explains. Related article: The Times' Designated Man in the Street:  When the New York Times needs to find a man in the street to interview they never have to look very far - they have one on tap suitable for every occasion. Katie Couric:  "Hopefully" Saddam Made It to Syria:  Is perky "Today" show host Katie Couric actually rooting for Saddam Hussein to survive the U.S. military's repeated attempts to take him out? CNN Exec Admits Covering Up "Maniac" Saddam's Atrocities:  Here's another fascinating item we'll dedicate to Jacques Chirac, Nancy Pelosi and the other humiliated appeasement activists:  A CNN big is admitting his network covered up the atrocities of Saddam Hussein. A Double Standard at CNN:  The double standard at CNN is:  when those on the right do something it is fishy and needs an expose.  When the same thing is done on the left, it is just "the given." The Castro News Network:  To many Cuban Americans, CNN is the "Castro News Network" - an organization that lends legitimacy to a corrupt regime and sneers at the exile community in Miami. Fidel Castro's Dupes:  In Castro's Cuba, it is a crime to meet to discuss the economy, to write letters to the government, to report on political developments, to speak to international reporters, to advocate human rights, to visit friends or relatives outside your local area of residence without government permission. Castro's Cult of Sycophants:  Celebrities, journalists, and other illuminati have long gushed with admiration for Cuba's communist despot. Media Mangle:  Sometimes the mainstream media gets it so wrong we have to call them on it.  (Numerous articles) Pro-Marxist Slant Pushed at ABC, Retired Correspondent Claims.  Having kept quiet for 14 years, a former ABC News correspondent has gone public for the first time with allegations that network anchorman Peter Jennings manipulated news scripts during the 1980s in order to praise the Marxist-backed Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Let the Recriminations Begin!  If the past is any indication, no one on the left is likely to own up to being so horrendously wrong about Operation Iraqi Freedom.  That's why it's up those of us who have supported the war all along to point it out for them. Where Helen Thomas's heart lies:  Shame, shame, shame on Helen Thomas.  The crusty ex-journalist turned White House heckler had only one thing on her mind when her favorite news stations, al Jazeera and Iraqi state TV, repeatedly broadcast those chilling pictures of scared American POWs and gleeful Iraqi soldiers hovering over dead American soldiers…. Major Media Ignores Polls, Rallies Showing Support for War Effort.  Patriotic citizens in the tens of thousands have already attended rallies to support the troops, but the liberal media has demonstrated a preference for ignoring them and instead portraying sparsely attended anti-war rallies as the sentiment of most Americans. The Viet Cong Admiration Society retreats.  As American servicemen swept through Iraq, securing oil fields, rescuing POWs, risking their own lives to protect Iraqi civilians, Peter Arnett went on Iraqi television — the propaganda arm of the enemy — to proclaim that the Americans' "war plan has failed." Administration adults vs. media snipers:  Sorry, but I'm compelled to talk about the media war critics again. I won't quit fairly criticizing them until they quit unfairly and dishonestly criticizing the American war effort. Time Retracts Anti-Bush Racial Smear:  Sorry, Democrats, but your entire platform of racial demagoguery is blowing up in your faces by alienating voters. How the Liberal Media Are Preparing For the Tax Wars:  Despite commentators who have spent the days since November's elections accusing the media of being too conservative (really), there has been no let-up in the establishment media's prevailing liberal bias, especially when it comes to the issue of high taxes.  Liberals believe government is an engine for positive social change, so it's always better for bureaucratic do-gooders to have as much money as possible. Winona and the Wichita massacre:  The press seem to be more interested in a rich shoplifter than the mass murders. The Biased Sniper Aftermath:  The suspects — caught with the smoking rifle — were John Muhammad, a 41-year-old black man with affections for the Nation of Islam (not to mention al-Qaeda) and John Lee Malvo, a 17-year-old black male Jamaican in the U.S. illegally.  In both print and broadcast, the national media avoided the controversial labels of "Farrakhan fan" and "illegal alien."  They were an "Army veteran" and "a teenager," the Gulf War sharpshooter and his Jamaican ward.  Most ridiculously, the Miami Herald cast Mr. Muhammad as "an 'all-American' veteran of the Gulf War." The Rush From Judgment:  Like many people, it crossed my mind early in the Beltway Sniper case that this might be a terrorist attack.  I reserved judgment, realizing — unlike the armchair experts who flocked to fill airtime on cable news channels -- that I did not know all of the facts available to the police.  But the moment I heard the suspect's name, John Muhammad, the conclusion was obvious.  These killings were motivated by a version of the same Islamic ideology that has inspired mass murder around the globe. Fidel, The Dictator-Celebrity:  Journalism is never more amoral than when dictators are the mandatory "get" for a news puff piece.  For the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the network anchors were all scrambling to get an interview with Fidel Castro, the dictator-celebrity.  Which network superstar would get the first opportunity to reward the communists for their exclusive by lauding the achievements of the glorious revolution? Analysis: Phil Donahue Owes an Apology.  As the mysterious sniper was rampaging, Donahue went on his MSNBC program with a look of smugness and glee to say, and I'm paraphrasing, "You're not going to like to hear this, but this is a white guy." (As it turned out, the suspects are black.) Donahue's irresponsible mutterings are racial stereotyping, and that is wrong. Leftist Media Try to Blame Military for Sniper Suspect:  It figures: The left-wing media establishment is downplaying and even ignoring sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad's pro-terrorist sympathies and ties to radical Islam, the anti-American left and Louis Farrakhan — and is trying to blame the U.S. military. The Media's Messed Up Priorities in News Coverage:  On August 12, more than 700 mourners from across the country gathered to mark the tragic murder of Kris Eggle -- a 28-year-old National Park Service ranger who was gunned down near the U.S.-Mexico border last week.  Not a single national network or cable news station mentioned the memorial service or the outrageous circumstances of Eggle's death. A person of interest:  The American media functions primarily as a pimp for government.  The liberal media will blast conservative Republicans but never the government.  …Consequently, every prosecutor with a high-profile case relies on the media to pressure the target into a plea bargain. Larry Klayman:  Bias Exhibit A:  Life if full of surprises.  Here's one.  Who ever imagined that Larry Klayman would be the darling of National Public Radio? Correction of Errors:  It would take a revolution at the New York Times, the Washington Post and the TV networks to get them to tell their readers and viewers that they had deceived them about the dangers of DDT, global warming, nuclear power and the ozone hole. Special subsection about Vice-President Cheney's hunting accident: This incident showed the country a great deal about news media priorities, sensationalism and unmitigated political bias. The people in the Washington news media are not accustomed to being ignored.  They can't stand being left in the dark, even for a few hours, when something happens that falls into the scope of their supposed "right to know".  They also don't understand how responsible adults can spend the day using shotguns to kill birds as a means of social interaction.  That's why this story raised such a furor in the media, and why the media insists on passing the furor on to you. Why weren't we informed?  Isn't it obvious?  One particularly eager journalist asked, "Under Texas law, is this kind of accidental shooting a possible criminal offense?"  The transcript does not indicate whether he was rubbing his hands together at the time. Why did Cheney go to the Fox network?  This incident became a perfect storm for all that the mainstream media dislikes about the Bush administration — tax cuts, the war, his alleged secrecy, tax cuts, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, the Katrina response, tax cuts, Justices Alito and Roberts, his home state of Texas (where they have the death penalty), tax cuts, his walk, his pronunciation of the word "nuclear," and tax cuts. Cast of Characters:  Part IV.  Remember how the media carried on for weeks about Vice President Cheney's hunting accident?  How a Time magazine reporter had a temper tantrum at a White House press briefing because the news wasn't released soon enough — as if this hunting accident had any significance for the nation, beyond those in the media who were frustrated at being deprived of a Sunday talk show feeding frenzy? Old media shame:  I see the vice president as an honorable, forthright gentleman who places the nation's best interests above his own.  Others prefer to believe he would sell out his own mother to line his pockets with oil-slicked greenbacks.  The Old Media, of course, fall into the latter category. Spoiled brat media:  The accidental shooting of Harry Whittington, while he was on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney, has nothing to do with government policy or the Vice President's official duties but the mainstream media have gone ballistic over it nevertheless. The buckshot heard round the world.  Vice President Cheney shot a friend of his — Harry Whittington — with buckshot in a bird hunting accident.  While his friend was bleeding on the ground, Cheney failed to call the Washington press corps first.  Instead he was worried about Harry Whittington bleeding on the ground and taking care of him, and then contacting Harry's wife and adult kids before the story got out on the wire service. [Attention gun-hating news writers:  It was BIRD shot.  Buckshot would have killed the old man.] The media's Cheney hunt.  What really shocked people was the way our Cheney-hating press corps went crazy with it.  The Big Three networks aired 34 stories in the first 48 hours of evening and morning newscasts.  They treated this not as a mishap, and then a punchline, but as a brewing national scandal. A Hunter's Take on Cheney's Mistake.  Hey hysterical media chum suckers, if you want to obsess about a gun (or guns) in South Texas, why don't you travel a little further southwest from Corpus Christi to Laredo where U.S. authorities just snatched ready-to-detonate IEDs, materials for making 33 more, military style grenades, 26 grenade triggers, large quantities of AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles, 1280 rounds of ammo, silencers, machine gun assembly kits, 300 primers, bullet proof vests, police scanners, sniper scopes, narcotics and cash from Mexican dope dealers? Killer Cheney.  This commentator rations himself to only one prediction every 15 years.  Mine now is that there is going to be a devastating backlash in the months and years ahead in the matter of Cheney and the quail shoot. News magazines overdo Cheney-gate.  Texas lawyer Harry Whittington getting peppered by Cheney was a cover story in both magazines.  White House lawyer Vince Foster shooting himself dead in 1993 was not. Washington Post Still on Bush Twins Beer Patrol:  The prestige press continues to cover anonymous accounts of the drinking habits of President Bush's daughters, while ignoring actual photos snapped recently showing Chelsea Clinton so drunk that she had to be carried out of a London nightclub. The case against James Riady:  The media has failed to report the real extent of Riady's crimes and how light the punishment is. In Washington, Hindsight is 20/400:  In this context, the current media fetish over "What did Bush know and when did he know it?" back on 9/11 shows neither a left-wing nor a right-wing bias.  Instead, it merely dramatizes the existence of an empty-headed media culture in which our intellectuals and leaders have simply run out of ideas. Thinking The Unthinkable About Bush:  The media should investigate and report on the seriously flawed intelligence apparatus that could have, and possibly should have prevented 9/11 from happening.  But to suggest, to hint that the President (Bush or Clinton, doesn't matter) allowed it to happen is an outrage of the highest order. Is PBS Making You Sick?  The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the taxpayer-subsidized PBS television is suffering from serious ratings problems.  Perhaps the problem lies with the fact that PBS leadership wants to preach a creed, rather than serve its viewers.  But the public doesn't want a lecture; they want entertainment as well as balanced and intellectually challenging news programming. The Taxpayer-Funded Dogma of PBS:  American taxpayers have long subsidized the indoctrination efforts of the "Public Broadcasting Service" (PBS) via various combinations of historical revisionism, moral relativism, anti-Christian humanism, and pseudo-scientific evolutionism. The rise of religious radio:  A Variety magazine editorial lambasted Christian radio as "strident."  "It is, like, nuts," complained one NPR general manager to The New York Times.  What's nuts is for the publicly subsidized radio chieftains to lament the unfairness of hardball private competition while they continue to draw on taxpayer funds to fight back. Media Deem Reporter Far More Important Than Missionary:  Has anyone noticed how the media have given many, many times more attention to Daniel Pearl than to Martin Burnham? The media's immigration blunders:  "ILLEGAL ALIEN QUESTIONED IN CHANDRA LEVY CASE."  Did you miss that headline in the news last week?  Well, that's because no one ran it. What is the New York Times Promoting?  "Personnel is policy" is an old axiom in politics. It also applies to the world of journalism, as evidenced by recent developments at The New York Times, which has been trending even further left with recent appointments.  First, the Times promoted crusading liberal editorial page editor Howell Raines, who once publicly mourned that "the Reagan years oppressed me," to editor-in-chief.  Now, Richard Berke, the paper's national political correspondent since 1993, is being promoted to Washington editor, the number-two job in a bureau of more than 50 people. If They Only had a Brain:  The Hard-Left adheres to their liberal pacifist ideology even in matters of life and death.  Our country is in a battle to the death with fanatical terrorists, and for a while, the Hard-Left was silent because they knew that if they openly criticized the president and his administration during a time of war, they would be toast.  That is, until last week when a fairly impressive strike was launched against the presidency of George W. Bush, covered with the fingerprints of the Hard-Left.  Key information was "leaked" and fingers pointed at the FBI. Objective Journalism?  Not!  There's just something about Ashcroft, as fine a gentleman to serve in Washington as we've seen in many quadrennia, that PC journalists can't handle. Media abandon Zimbabweans:  Although conditions in Zimbabwe continue to deteriorate — with ongoing seizures of white-owned farms, state-sanctioned murder and harassment, and a dangerous famine — the misery has failed to gain the attention of the establishment Western media, leaving many inside the nation feeling hopeless and abandoned. Blacks take over farms as whites flee police:  At least 20 white farmers were rounded up and flung into police cells across Zimbabwe as hundreds of new black farmers, the beneficiaries of recently-appropriated white-owned land, celebrated their new opportunities. Media Silent on Pipe Bomber's Leftism:  The same media establishment that is quick to label right-wing extremists refuses to call admitted pipe bomber Luke John Helder a left-wing extremist.  Helder, an art student from Minneosta who plays in a punk rock band, sent a rambling letter to the University of Wisconsin student newspaper expressing his radical environmental views and wish to legalize marijuana. ABC's Terry Moran Distorts Armey's Remarks:  Terry Moran, the ABC White House correspondent noted for his unpleasantly juvenile manner at press briefings, charged that GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey echoed former Yugoslav president and indicted war criminal Slobodan Milosevic in calling for ethnic cleansing of Palestinians – something Armey never said. CNN Runs "Propaganda" for Castro:  Cable News Network, the only American television news organization with a full-time bureau in Cuba, has "allowed itself to become just another component of Fidel Castro's propaganda machine," instead of "exposing the totalitarian regime that runs Cuba," Media Research Center charged in a report released Thursday [5/9/2002]. Distrust of Media Threatens Freedoms:  Houston-based true-crime writer Vanessa Leggett's record 140 days, and counting, detainment as the longest-jailed journalist in US history has brought forth no shortage of support or editorials from media organizations.  But, the true crime is not necessarily Leggett's lengthy detention, but the media's selective outrage in protecting their own. Bush Drug Bust Makes Big News; Not So Clinton Rehab Report:  The media are having a field day with the drug bust of 24-year-old Noelle Bush, daughter of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose attempt to fake a tranquilizer prescription catapulted her to the top of the news Tuesday [1/29/2002].  But when the last name is Clinton – as it was when the ex-president's brother, Roger, checked himself into Arizona's Cottonwood de Tuscon drug rehab clinic in July – the media feeding frenzy never quite materializes. TV as Ministry of Truth:  The controversy over anti-drug messages on TV shows could only happen in a government-controlled medium. "No Spin Zone": O'Reilly Tackles Jesse Jackson.  For years and years, Jesse Jackson has not only gotten a pass from the mainstream media, he's been all but deified by them.  This in spite of the Rev. Jackson's propensity to pop up wherever there's an opportunity for him to capitalize on some well-publicized tragedy, disaster or anything else he can transform into a publicity platform for himself.  The phoniness of his publicity stunts, though obvious, is studiously ignored by his legion of supporters in the liberal media. Would "Deep Throat" Play a Second Time?  Enron failed early in Bush's administration.  The mistakes and shenanigans that brought down the company occurred during the Clinton administration.  The cooked books happened before President Bush was elected.  But facts don't matter to a news media that serve as the propaganda arm for the Democratic Party.  True to form, The Washington Post on Jan. 24 gave an entire page to a "primer" on Enron.  Under the section "Political Interactions," the propaganda organ listed only Republicans.  New!   Deep Throat and Watergate:  Time to Come Clean.  Deep Throat may not exist and Woodward and Bernstein may have been lying to us for all these years.  In other words, Woodward and Bernstein may be far from ethical journalists who deliberately lie to their readers.  Yet the liberal media has made these characters into folk heroes?  Why? Enron, Round 1:  Bush:  Let's be clear about one thing:  Bush has two enemies, Democrats and the press.  They both desperately want a major scandal.  Democrats have been hurt by September 11 and its aftershocks.  Suddenly they're confronted by an enormously popular Republican president, who now owns the national security, economic, and education issues. Book Reveals How P.C. Media Are "Coloring the News":  Bernard Goldberg's runaway best-selling book, "Bias," exposed the leftist slant of the network news corporations.  Now William McGowan's "Coloring the News: How Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism" delivers another punishing body blow to the shocking manipulation of the news by the ultra-liberal U.S. media establishment. Accuracy in Media:  Imagine the outcry if a newspaper editor permitted a Catholic priest to revise — before publication – a reporter's story about a pro-life rally.  Or if a columnist called in a tobacco executive to edit an article about the hazards of smoking.  Or if a publisher gave an advertiser the opportunity to rework a piece about his industry.  A loud chorus of media critics would condemn the miscreants.  The journalist would almost certainly be fired. Hillary the Hypocrite:  School Choice for Chelsea, But Not for America's Low-Income Children:  Hillary says vouchers don't improve student achievement.  She's wrong.  Hillary says vouchers don't help the kids who need help the most.  She's wrong.  Hillary says vouchers don't help improve the public schools.  She's wrong.  Hillary says vouchers don't help racial integration.  She's wrong.  Consistently wrong, which is what makes Hillary dangerous.  She spouts the Left's disinformation so very effectively and without criticism from the mainstream media! Media Bigs Suddenly Bristling Over White House "Enemies List":  For the past eight years, most reporters stayed obediently silent while Clinton operatives succeeded in curbing coverage of inconvenient witnesses, potentially explosive investigative reports and assorted administration whistleblowers – obligingly deep-sixing one scandal bombshell after another.  But now, the Bush White House's decision to blacklist Talk magazine over its so-called satire of the Bush daughters' underage drinking brouhaha has got some journalists wringing their hands over what they say is a Nixon-like "enemies list." Jenna vs. Roger: Media Doubled Coverage on Bush Drink Charge:  In the last six months, reporters gave underage drinking allegations against first daughter Jenna Bush more than twice the coverage received by former first brother Roger Clinton, who on Tuesday plea-bargained his February drunken driving arrest down to a reckless driving charge. Review of "Staying Tuned: A Life in Journalism", by Daniel Schorr.  There is a delicious irony to his book, one that this winner of countless electronic journalism awards probably doesn't appreciate.  These pages typify the low level of understanding and analysis that too often dominate the journalism industry. State-controlled media:  The biggest threat to freedom in America or any society is and always is from government.  Don't forget that. Hillary Feature Reeks Of Bias:  An article appeared in the July 10 edition of USA Today that simply oozed with undisguised and unprofessional partiality for the New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Hillary's "village" is bombed:  The largest study ever found a correlation between day care and aggressive, defiant and disobedient behavior in children, hallmarks of school shootings.  Conservatives have long believed day care isn't good for children, and have advocated restructuring taxes so that it won't take two incomes to support a family.  The liberal media immediately circled its wagons to protect the agenda of greater governmental control of child rearing.  TV anchors Rather and Jennings interviewed liberal spokesmen without identifying their political cast; their solution was basically to spend more and get more government involvement. Uniformity of opinion amidst freedom:  In the freest press on earth, humanity is reported in terms of its usefulness to US power. Back to the Media Bias Page Back to the Home page

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