Solyndra

Politico: Libs Miffed Media Fixated on Solyndra; In Truth, Nets Largely Ignoring Story
By Ken Shepherd | October 19, 2011 | 1:08 PM EDT

In a front-page story today, Politico's Darren Samuelsohn relayed the ire of liberal think tanks and blogs "bemoaning the 'out of proportion' Solyndra coverage" in the media. We at NewsBusters are not sure what planet these folks are living on.

A search of the Nexis database for Solyndra stories on ABC, CBS and NBC between September 8 -- when the FBI raided the company's headquarters -- and today turned up just 19 stories. Of those, the vast majority are from September.

NBC has had no stories on Solyndra in the month of October. CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley briefly noted the resignation of the company's CEO on the October 13 program, but without any reference to emails that had been unearthed that questioned the wisdom and legality of the loan while it was being finalized by the Obama Energy Department:

Bozell Column: A Green Whitewash
By Brent Bozell | October 18, 2011 | 11:12 PM EDT

Walter Cronkite's longtime producer Leslie Midgley once wrote that "News is what an editor decides it is." News today is what TV producers decide can help President Obama. News that hurts isn't news at all.

In the last week, network anchors like Brian Williams repeated endlessly that the "Occupy Wall Street" protests are "increasingly resonating." It’s the story reporters will declare "isn’t going away" -- and they're going to see to it. They are using their microphones like yellow Hi-Liter pens to draw attention to it.

Solyndra CEO Resigns, Major Backer Evasive on Taxes; Will Media Report?
By Ken Shepherd | October 13, 2011 | 5:02 PM EDT

Two more shoes dropped in the Solyndra scandal today, but it remains to be seen their sound will stir the sleepy liberal lapdog media.

Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison resigned last Friday, the Associated Press reported early this afternoon.

Oh, and while the media of late have cheerleading the Democratic push for a new surtax on millionaires, don't expect the news media, particularly MSNBC, to note how a key Obama donor who pushed for the Solyndra loan has been delinquent on his evaded federal taxes for years. As Washington Examiner's Mark Tapscott noted this morning:

Bloomberg News Downplays Nature of Solyndra Scandal in Debate "Viewers' Guide"
By Ken Shepherd | October 11, 2011 | 6:40 PM EDT

As a service to the 10 people who will somehow manage to find the Bloomberg Television channel on their cable box tonight in order to watch the network's GOP presidential debate, Bloomberg News today published and the Washington Post syndicated a "Viewers' Guide to Economic Jargon."

While most of the article is helpful and unbiased, Bloomberg News seriously downplayed the scandalous nature of the ill-conceived Solyndra loan. Here's how Bloomberg defined the controversy surrounding the firm that was raided by the FBI in early September:

NB Publisher Bozell Slams Media for Ignoring or Downplaying Solyndra Scandal
By Brent Bozell | October 11, 2011 | 2:58 PM EDT

Editor's Note: What follows is a statement NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell released this afternoon reacting to the findings of a Media Research Center study on the media's Solyndra coverage.

ABC, CBS and NBC are aiding and abetting in the cover-up of an outrageous scandal linked directly to Obama and his failed economic policies. Even the uber liberal New York Times could not ignore this outrage, spotlighting it on their front page this weekend. Yet these networks are intentionally minimizing coverage to avoid reporting the failure and scandal that resulted under Obama’s watch for the same stimulus package they hailed in 2009.

What further compounds the hypocrisy of ignoring this scandal is the excessive, glowing coverage these same networks are giving the Occupy Wall Street protests. While they gather to oppose "corporate greed," the media quietly dismiss the most outrageous scandal in years – and financed by their taxpaying dollars.

Reality Check: ABC, CBS and NBC Bury News of Taxpayer Money Squandered on Obama-Linked Solar Energy Company
By Rich Noyes | October 11, 2011 | 10:50 AM EDT
 

A study by the Media Research Center finds that the three broadcast networks are providing virtually no coverage of the Solyndra scandal, a solar energy firm that went bankrupt after getting more than $500 million in taxpayer money from the Obama administration. This is not the approach the networks took after the collapse of Enron, an energy company with Republican ties. In just the first two months of 2002, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts cranked out 198 stories on the Enron debacle, compared to just eight so far on Solyndra, a 24-to-1 disparity. Details after the jump.

Bloomberg Columnist: Obama Was 'Conciliator,' OWS May Provide 'Inoculation' Against Bad Economy
By Tom Blumer | October 10, 2011 | 11:55 PM EDT

Yesterday, in a different post about long-term unemployment, I wrote: "Of all the reality-denying aspects of Obama administration press coverage, the usually implicit but occasionally explicit assertion that he and his people are just helpless bystanders in an economic calamiity is easily among the most annoying."

Bloomberg's Mike Dorning triggered the annoyance meter today with an "analysis" contending that President Obama's move from being a "conciliator" (quoting an alleged "expert") to supporting "populist causes" and sympathizing with the anti-capitalist Occupy Wall Street assemblage "may provide some inoculation" against the continuing bad economy -- as if Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the their party bear no conceivable responsibility for current economic conditions. Here are the first seven paragraphs of Dorning's dreck (bolds and numbered tags are mine):

Bureaucrat Who Approved Solyndra Loan Resigns, NYTimes Buries News on Page A17
By Ken Shepherd | October 7, 2011 | 4:05 PM EDT

Energy Department bureaucrat Jonathan Silver tendered his resignation on October 6, effective the following day. Silver led the Energy Department office that approved the ill-fated $528 million loan to solar energy firm Solyndra, despite concerns from some in the White House that it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Although the development occurred the same day as President Obama reiterated his support for similar loans for green energy, the New York Times buried staff writer Matthew Wald's story on page A17 of the October 7 paper.

Wald closed his article by quoting President Obama's defense of loans to green energy firms:

Despite Obama's Defense, GMA Maintains Their Solyndra Scandal Blackout
By Matt Hadro | October 4, 2011 | 12:55 PM EDT

For the 33rd consecutive day, ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday omitted any mention of the Obama administration's Solyndra scandal, even though co-host George Stephanopoulos asked the President about it in an interview on Monday and elicited a newsworthy defense of the more than $500 million loan to the now-bankrupt company.

Tuesday's show instead focused on other questions from the ABCNews / Yahoo! online interview, like the best piece of advice the President has received from his wife and whether or not he would stop Bank of America's new monthly debt card fee.

Solyndra Defense Reveals Obama's Socialist Mindset: If Government Doesn't Do Something, It Won't Happen
By Mark Finkelstein | October 4, 2011 | 8:49 AM EDT

Barely a week ago, we noted that the Morning Joe crew was blowing off the Solyndra scandal.  "There's no there, there," they sniffed.  But facts are pesky things.  A devastating email, which Mika Brzezinski read on the air today, has turned up, indicating that top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett was warned about Solyndra's possibly impending bankruptcy before PBO made his photo-op visit to the company.  That compelled Joe Scarborough & Co. to acknowledge that the Solyndra story has legs.

Perhaps even more significant was a clip Morning Joe played of President Obama defending his administration's decision to fund the soon-to-go-belly-up solar panel maker.  In stating his case, Obama revealed his fundamentally socialist mind-set.  According to the prez, unless the government funds something, it's not going to happen.  Video after the jump.
 

MSNBC's Matthews, O'Donnell, Schultz and Sharpton Still Haven't Reported Solyndra
By Noel Sheppard | September 28, 2011 | 3:46 PM EDT

Despite the growing scandal involving failed solar company Solyndra - now officially four weeks old - MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ed Schultz, and Al Sharpton have still not reported the matter on their respective prime time programs.

The only regular MSNBC host to mention this subject in prime time is Rachel Maddow who predictably discounted its importance Monday (transcript and commentary follow):

ABC and NBC Spike Solyndra Execs Taking the 5th, CBS Gives It 25 Seconds
By Brent Baker | September 25, 2011 | 7:16 AM EDT

Appearing Friday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, the CEO and CFO of Solyndra both invoked their fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.

But instead of highlighting the cover-up in the scandal of the $535 million federal loan trumpeted by the Obama administration to the solar panel manufacturer which went bankrupt, neither ABC nor NBC mentioned the development Friday night and CBS allocated a mere 25 seconds.