NewsBusters has been showcasing the most egregious bias the Media Research Center has uncovered over the years — four quotes for each of the 25 years of the MRC, 100 quotes total — all leading up to our big 25th Anniversary Gala tomorrow evening. (Click here for posts recounting the worst of 1988 through 2011.)
Today, the worst bias of 2012 (so far): Newsweek sees Barack Obama as “grotesquely underappreciated,” afflicted by critics who are simply “dumb;” Chief Justice John Roberts becomes a media hero by voting to save ObamaCare; and an ex-CNN correspondent charges Republicans are trying to take the country back “to the good old days of Jim Crow.” [Quotes and video below the jump.]
Andrew Sullivan
By Rich Noyes | September 26, 2012 | 8:00 AM EDT
By Tim Graham | June 30, 2012 | 10:27 AM EDT
Perhaps only Tina Brown's Newsweek would be shameless enough to offer a cover story (in a double issue, no less) on "100 Most Powerful Digital Disruptors" and then plug their own writers. In the "Opinionists" category, Newsweek gave a "Lifetime" honor to Andrew Sullivan, who's written several glowing Obama cover stories this year, most recently the rainbow-halo tribute.
"His insightful, feisty, and voluminous blog on the Daily Beast is a beacon for readers sick of the same old Washington dogmas," they advertised. As in old dogmas like Sarah Palin gave birth to her own son?
By Noel Sheppard | June 3, 2012 | 1:49 PM EDT
Chris Matthews must be really getting concerned that the man that gives him a thrill up his leg is in serious jeopardy of losing in November.
On this weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, the host asked his panel of perilously liberal journalists, "Can the president make Mitt Romney scary?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Andrew Sullivan: 'I Never Understood the Power of a President's Words' Till Obama Flipflopped on Gay Marriage
By Noel Sheppard | May 13, 2012 | 5:06 PM EDT Remember back in 2008 when Michelle Obama said, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country?"
The Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan made a similar remark on this weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show when he said of Barack Obama's flipflop on same-sex marriage, "I never understood the power of a president's words till today, till that day" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By P.J. Gladnick | May 13, 2012 | 1:56 PM EDT
Bill Clinton was the first black president. And now, according to Newsweek, we have the first gay president.
Yes, all the speculation over what cover Tina Brown would choose for Newsweek is over. Despite several suggestions from The New Republic on this crucial subject, Brown refrained from taking their kindly advice and chose a picture of President Obama with a rainbow halo over his head.
By Noel Sheppard | May 13, 2012 | 12:13 PM EDT
As NewsBusters reported last week, eleven out of twelve regular contributors to the syndicated Chris Matthews Show thought Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won't be able to take control and drive the political debate in the next six months leading to Election Day.
On this weekend's program, only one of the twelve regulars thought President Obama's recent flipflop on same-sex marriage hurts him politically (video follows with transcript and commentary):
NPR Interviews Only Andrew Sullivan: Obama's 'Marriage' Move Is 'Conservative' and He 'Let Go Of The Fear'
By Tim Graham | May 10, 2012 | 8:31 AM EDT National Public Radio did a classic pirouette of one-sidedness on All Things Considered Wednesday night. For comment on Obama' s "evolution" on gay marriage, NPR invited only a "leading advocate of same-sex marriage," gay activist-pundit Andrew Sullivan, now writing for Newsweek/The Daily Beast. There is no time for the social conservatives, just the gays.
Sullivan oozed about Obama: "I think he let go of fear today, the fear that somehow by embracing this natural, obvious and I would say conservative development he was sometimes -- somehow embracing political calamity. He wasn't, he isn't, he won't." NPR anchor Audie Cornish asked him if this was about fundraising, but he just praised Obama's (and America's) evolution:
By Noel Sheppard | May 6, 2012 | 1:05 PM EDT
You want a clear picture of just how in the tank America's media are for Barack Obama?
On Sunday, Chris Matthews revealed that eleven out of twelve regulars on the syndicated program bearing his name say Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won't take control and drive the political debate in the next six months leading to Election Day (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Baptist Leader Schools Andrew Sullivan: Evangelical Tie to GOP 'Pales in Comparison' to 'Black Church' and Democrats
By Noel Sheppard | April 8, 2012 | 8:20 PM EDT Newsweek's Andrew Sullivan got a much-needed education about religion and politics from not one but two evangelical leaders Sunday.
The first came from Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention who in the midst of a heated debate on CBS's Face the Nation told Sullivan, "Any fusion between evangelicalism and Republicanism pales in comparison to the point of anemia compared to the black church and the Democratic Party" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Rick Warren Smacks Down ‘Disingenuous’ Media for ‘Bait and Switch’ Exploitation of Christian Holidays
By Brent Baker | April 8, 2012 | 2:48 PM EDT
When ABC’s Jake Tapper held up Andrew’s Sullivan’s “Forget the Church, Follow Jesus” Newsweek cover story on how, as Tapper described Sullivan’s premise, “American Christianity is in a ‘crisis,’ it’s too focused on politics and policy, too little on spirituality,” Pastor Rick Warren took the opportunity to air “a little personal gripe.”
He contended: “I think it’s disingenuous that magazines like Newsweek know that their circulation goes up at Christmas and Easter if they put a spiritual issue on the cover, but it’s always bait and switch. They never tell the stories, never tell the stories of what good the church is doing.”
By Matt Hadro | April 2, 2012 | 1:25 PM EDT
Sunday's Fareed Zakaria GPS saw a ridiculing of the Catholic bishops and Republicans for their stances against contraception and the HHS mandate. The liberal panel was quite hostile to conservative Christians when the discussion came to religion and contraception.
The Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan ludicrously accused the Catholic bishops and other Christian leaders of using their opposition to contraception for political gain. "My concern is that the Church and the churches have become politicized," he quipped. He insisted that the bishops want to make Obama a "one-term president" in the wake of the HHS birth control mandate.
By Noel Sheppard | March 18, 2012 | 10:55 PM EDT
The Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan this weekend called Mitt Romney "the most dreadful candidate since John Kerry."
Appearing on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Sullivan must have forgotten that in 2004 he endorsed Kerry over George W. Bush (video follows with transcript and commentary):