Joseph Rossell is a staff writer for the Media Research Center's Business division. He received his Master's in International Commerce & Policy in July, 2014, from George Mason University's School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs. He received his Bachelor's in Economics in January 2012, also from George Mason University.

Latest from Joseph Rossell
February 9, 2015, 4:07 PM EST

New analysis has shown that temperature data across large portions of the world were "adjusted" upward by scientists, thus inflating the evidence in favor of climate change.

Temperature readings in South America and the Artic were "systematically" increased by 1 degree Celsius, according to The Telegraph (UK) in a column February 7. The piece looked at analysis by blogger Paul Homewood, who argued that alterations were made by scientists at the Global Historical Climate Network, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the National Climate Data Center, all of which were run by the U.S. government.

February 9, 2015, 3:53 PM EST

It has been nearly three months since President Barack Obama spoke out in favor of Internet regulation, calling for “net neutrality” and a “free and open Internet.” In spite of the massive impact such regulations could have on Americans, the broadcast networks have given the issue short shrift.

Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Tom Wheeler said on February 4 that he backed Obama’s plan to reclassify the Internet as a public utility under the government agency’s Title II authority. FCC commissioner Ajit Pai said in a press release on February 6 that the plan "marks a monumental shift toward government control of the Internet." Even a liberal think tank predicted that these regulations could cost American households $156 in new fees.

February 9, 2015, 3:45 PM EST

Government scientists allegedly increased data by one degree Celsius, but change ‘never plausibly explained.’

February 5, 2015, 4:29 PM EST

Recent coverage is improved, but ABC, CBS, NBC previously kept fears of vaccine link alive for 15 years.

February 5, 2015, 12:03 PM EST

Official claims it would ‘ensure net neutrality,’ while opponents decry ‘power grab.’ 

February 2, 2015, 2:30 PM EST

The dramatic collapse of gas prices is one story the news media didn’t see coming. In fact, as recently as June 2014, network news anchors and reporters were still talking about the prospect of $5 gasoline.

It turns out the media aren’t very good fortune tellers, and when it comes to gas prices they were wrong this time, just as many new outlets had gotten it wrong years earlier.

January 29, 2015, 5:06 PM EST

Mankind really has it in for polar bears, at least according to the left. Liberal media have spent years claiming mankind was killing the cute little man-eating monsters by destroying their homes with global warming.

Now, the liberal eco-blog Grist has announced the latest painful assault on the cuddly environmental icons. The Jan. 27 headline said it all in surprisingly personal detail: "We are literally breaking polar bear penises now."

January 29, 2015, 4:58 PM EST

Eco-blog calls people ‘the worst,’ says chemical pollution ‘a kick in the d**k’ for polar bears.

January 28, 2015, 5:12 PM EST

As a blizzard threatened to bury northeastern U.S. cities with snow, MSNBC blanketed its coverage with connections to man-made climate change.

Repeatedly, the cable network which is part of NBC Universal, tried to link the snowstorm with climate change (a phrase often used synonymously with global warming) in at least five of its shows on Jan. 26. While MSNBC hosts and guests said that "scientists think" climate change could be causing more snow, some actual scientists disagreed. But those views were not represented in those MSNBC discussions.

January 28, 2015, 2:54 PM EST

Only days before USA Today reported that the recent measles outbreak had reached a "critical point," The Washington Post declared that opponents of vaccination were "ruining things for everyone."

Following the recent outbreak of measles at Disneyland, Jason Millman, a reporter for The Washington Post's Wonkblog, called out "the anti-vaccination movement" in a January 22 post, describing them as "over-privileged group of rich people" who "overwhelmingly" voted for Obama. Millman repeated the observation "that you only had to go visit a Whole Foods to find anti-vaxxers."

January 28, 2015, 1:52 PM EST

Parents who say vaccines are ‘harmful’ among ‘most liberal’ Americans.

January 26, 2015, 2:44 PM EST

Just days after Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, introduced a bill to permit oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), President Barack Obama announced his plan to designate millions of acres of ANWR in a way that bans drilling.

Obama announced on January 25 that his administration would seek wilderness status for parts of the ANWR including coastal plains, according to Reuters. Congress would have to approve the designation, which would prohibit oil and gas drilling. Several Alaska legislators, including Murkowski, were upset by the announcement.

January 21, 2015, 4:21 PM EST

Media outlets and politicians often fall for junk science and misleading statistics. This happened recently with alcohol-related death statistics, which The Washington Post exposed as factually incorrect.

Post reporter Glenn Kessler writes the newspaper's Fact Checker column. He debunked the claim that more than 1,800 college students die from "alcohol-related causes" or "alcohol poisoning" every year, in a January 15, piece. In fact, he gave the claim three out of four "Pinocchios" which meant the claim contained a "[s]ignificant factual error and/or obvious contradictions."

January 21, 2015, 2:10 PM EST

During his State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama said he wanted to “simplify” the tax paperwork required for small businesses, but CNBC’s Jim Cramer pointed out that Obamacare is doing just the opposite.

Obama had said during his State of the Union speech on Jan. 20, that a small business owner should be able to file taxes “based on her actual bank statement instead of the number of accountants she can afford.” However, Cramer, co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” said on Jan. 21, that Obama’s very own health insurance initiative had already increased, rather than decreased, the complexity of tax accounting for small businesses.

January 12, 2015, 11:27 AM EST

Four out of five top U.S. newspapers have called for federal gas tax hikes on the editorial page since oil and gas prices began falling significantly June 19, 2014.

In spite of polls that show most Americans oppose it, The Washington PostUSA TodayThe New York Times and the Los Angeles Times newspapers have all published editorials that called for increasing the gas tax.  Gas prices fell from $3.675 on June 19, 2014, to $2.168 on January 9, 2015, according to AAA. The Wall Street Journal was the only publication not to editorialize in favor of higher gas taxes of the five national newspapers.

January 6, 2015, 2:45 PM EST

Drivers in every state except Hawaii are now paying less than $3-per-gallon for regular gasoline on average.

According to AAA, Alaska became the forty-ninth state in which gas prices fell below $3-a-gallon on January 6. On that day, gas dropped to an average $2.999 per gallon in Alaska, as the national average sat at $2.194 nationwide.

January 6, 2015, 12:08 PM EST

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, started creating even more headaches for both employers and employees across the country beginning Jan. 1, 2015.

That was the day Obamacare’s employer mandate went into effect, requiring companies with 100 or more workers to provide health insurance to at least 70 percent of their employees. Mandates for smaller businesses will be introduced in 2016 in addition to increased mandates for larger companies, according to The Washington Post.

January 6, 2015, 11:44 AM EST

Employer mandate ignored by 95 percent of network broadcasts although it will cost businesses, could negatively impact Americans.

January 2, 2015, 1:20 PM EST

Grocery shoppers in California may soon be in for a shock. Egg prices could rise by 40 percent in California because of a new law that went into effect on January 1, 2015.

The law, championed by animal rights advocates, requires farmers selling eggs in California to house their hens in larger structures. This stipulation also applies to eggs brought into the state from other parts of the country. On January 1, CBS “Evening News” called it a “Happy New Year indeed” for chickens in California, but joked that “consumers may be missing the yolk” as egg prices rise.

December 23, 2014, 12:03 PM EST

While low gas prices prompted strong sales last month of trucks and SUVs produced by American automakers, one Los Angeles Times columnist found multiple experts who viewed this as bad news. And his criticism was published online by The Detroit News.

Columnist David Lazarus promoted the views of multiple experts critical of low gas prices. One claimed those prices were actually bad news because they undermined “progress” in green energy. The Detroit News ran his column on its website December 21, despite the fact that Detroit’s economy still relies heavily on the auto industry. The unemployment rate in Detroit was at 8.1 percent in October 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national rate that month was 5.5 percent.