By Scott Whitlock | May 4, 2015 | 12:19 PM EDT

After armed gunmen opened fire at a free speech event in Texas on Sunday, all three networks on Monday chided the sponsor organization as "notorious" or "controversial." The American Freedom Defense Initiative created a contest to draw the Prophet Muhammad and while ABC's Good Morning America covered the details of the attack, co-host George Stephanopoulos wondered: "How about the event itself? The organizers said it was organized to take a stand for free speech. Is it fair, also, to call it anti-Muslim?" 

By Tom Blumer | May 4, 2015 | 10:53 AM EDT

(See Update Below)

Since news broke of the terrorist attack in Garland, Texas Sunday evening and continuing until early this morning, the Associated Press, perhaps best nicknamed Allah's Press in instances such as these, was determined not to reveal the nature of those behind it. Two attackers were killed by police after opening fire and wounding a security officer, who, according to AP, "was treated and released from a local hospital."

The attack took place outside the city's Curtis Culwell Center, where a "First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest" was being held. Despite information available at the time of each filing, dispatches submitted by a pair of AP reporters at 1:20 a.m and 7:12 a.m. would only say that it "remained unclear" and "was not immediately clear," respectively, whether the attack wes related to the event. The wire service's Nomaan Merchant and Jamie Stengle also used their final paragraph in each item to engage in an implied blame-the-victim exercise.

By Tom Blumer | April 30, 2015 | 10:51 PM EDT

On Wednesday, Fox News reported that "a senior law enforcement official" who has since emerged from anonymity told them that Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake "gave an order for police to stand down as riots broke out Monday night."

That source, Michael Lewis, currently the Sheriff in Wicomico County and a former Sergeant with the Maryland State Police, appeared on the Norris and Davis show in Baltimore today and repeated his assertion, while adding that the orders included commands to retreat. Those who listen to the interview following the jump will have little doubt that Mr. Lewis is telling the truth, leaving all to wonder how it can be that, from what I can tell, no one in the nation's establishment press at this point has reported what he is saying:

By Tom Blumer | April 30, 2015 | 12:04 AM EDT

Add the following to the "you will be made to care" stories Erick Erickson at RedState began to recognize several years ago.

Those who think that legalizing same-sex "marriage" won't affect them should have received a wake-up call on Tuesday during arguments at the Supreme Court over inventing a constitutional right for two people of the same sex to have such an arrangement. Most of them didn't get it, because, with only one exception I could find, the establishment press covering the proceedings perfectly understood the gravity of the discussion and its implications — and refused to report it, because doing so would give away the Obama administration's, and the left's, ultimate game plan.

By Tom Blumer | April 28, 2015 | 7:12 PM EDT

The language police came out in full force today, expressing outrage that President Barack Obama employed an accurate word — "thugs" — to describe many of those involved in Baltimore's three days of rioting.

The PR flaks at a leftist media group went to a spokesperson for a Latino "organizing" group. He attacked Obama, not for using the word, but for having the temerity to apply it a "handful" (Obama's word) of rioters instead of to the police — "President Obama Should Call Freddie Gray’s Murderers Thugs, Not Protesters." The Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, has dutifully fallen into line, not only protecting Obama by ignoring his use of the word, but also by giving prominence to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's pathetic apology for having previously used it.

By Tom Blumer | April 27, 2015 | 10:53 AM EDT

At a Sunday press conference, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told reporters that she and the law enforcement in the city she runs have a de facto responsibility, in the name of "balance," to give "space" to "destroy" to "protesters" who have such a desire.

This obviously newsworthy pull quote condoning property destruction is not present in coverage at the Associated Press's main national site, in several stories where her comment could have been mentioned at the wire service's "Big Story" site, or in two additional stories at the New York Times containing Sheryl Gay Stolberg's byline. Video and a transcript follow the jump.

By Tom Blumer | April 25, 2015 | 5:59 PM EDT

You can usually set your watch to it.

First, you learn about a "progressive" or liberal darling who makes a controversial, over-the-top statement which would get him or her in serious trouble with the general public if widely known. About 24 hours later, you visit establishment press coverage of the event, especially at the Associated Press, and find not a hint that anything controversial occurred. Such is the case with Hillary Clinton's comments yesterday at the annual Women in the World summit in Washington. Video, a transcript, and a portion of Julie Pace's AP whitewash follow the jump.

By Jorge Bonilla | April 22, 2015 | 5:24 PM EDT

There is something to be said for the warm cocoon of academia, and its ability to draw out the true thoughts of radicals. Univision News President and Fusion CEO Isaac Lee's recent presentation at the University of Texas at Austin was certainly no exception.

Lee’s eye-popping remarks should serve as a timely reality check for conservatives looking at how to factor in Univision as part of their Hispanic outreach/inclusion strategies.  During a Q&A with NYU professor Jay Rosen, Lee was asked about Univision’s “theory of trust” and truth-telling as related to impartiality and news coverage.  Here is the Univision News President’s answer in all its glory.

By Tom Blumer | April 13, 2015 | 1:33 AM EDT

With months (really years) to prepare, the allegedly well-oiled Hillary Clinton for President machine still managed to produce a howler of a mistake in her campaign bio's debut. Since corrected, it originally stated that "she's fought children and families all her career."

This and other obvious gaffes are likely destined to go unreported by the Hillary-worshipping establishment press, while the slighest of real or imagined mistakes — up to and including supposedly taking an untimely drink of water — will become media obsessions for the next 19 months.

By Tom Blumer | April 12, 2015 | 2:38 PM EDT

Imagine if a Republican or conservative U.S. president told an audience — on foreign soil, no less — that he didn't properly warn Americans about how long it would take for the economy to recover from a recession. "So-and-so Admits He Lied About the Economy" would be headlined everywhere.

At the University of the West Indies in Jamaica on Thursday, President Barack Obama essentially admitted that the he knew that the economic recovery would take far longer than advertised, but chose not to tell us. There's no other way to interpret the following answer to a student's question seen in the video following the jump. But somehow, this isn't news.

By Kristine Marsh | April 8, 2015 | 4:07 PM EDT

The University of Michigan has dropped a campus showing of “American Sniper” after Muslim students complained the film made them feel "uncomfortable."

U of M is roughly 40 miles away from Dearborn, a city which is famous for having one of the largest Muslim populations in the U.S. But U of M is also a university, where once upon a time young people went to have their assumptions challenged, their horizons broadened – which just might leave one feeling "uncomfortable."

By Tom Blumer | March 30, 2015 | 8:00 PM EDT

UPDATE, March 31: This morning in an email, the AP's Lederman pointed me to a Saturday afternoon "Big Story" item time-stamped the day before the report to which this blog post below links. For whatever reason, that earlier "Big Story" item has more detail than what appears, despite the Sunday time stamp, to be Lederman's original report posted at the AP's national site. In that "Big Story" item, Lederman writes that "Like last time, the White House arranged for the reporters covering the president to wait at a separate location nearby where Obama won't be visible," and that "Previous administrations have allowed brief news media coverage during presidential rounds of golf. Obama's policy generally is not to allow reporters to observe him." Lederman did not mention reporters' decision to stay in a shed rather than return to their hotels. The posts' point about reporters' willingness to submit to what I described as "dismissive, insulting treatment" stands.

At the Associated Press on Sunday, Josh "Lapdog" Lederman filed a brief report telling readers the names of the captains of industry who would be golfing with President Barack Obama that day. Bigwigs with the Floridian, the Boston Celtics, and (yes) even Halliburton, the former source of all evil during the Bush 43 administration, were in the foursome.

Lederman "somehow" failed to note that the White House ordered reporters back to their hotels, and that when they refused, they were banished to a shed. Paul Bedard at the Washington Examiner has the details Lederman didn't care to mention, even in passing: