Dylan Byers

‘Crossfire’ Reviews Are In and They’re Not Good
By Randy Hall | September 12, 2013 | 9:33 AM EDT

One of the worst things a reviewer can say about a television program is that "it has potential,” which usually means the show's not utilizing much of it. That situation was played out on Monday, when the Cable News Network brought back “Crossfire,” a conservative-liberal debate program that had been in television limbo for eight years.

Despite a newsworthy discussion topic -- the fate of Syria, where chemical weapons may have been used by the government on rebels -- and two well-known hosts, GOP former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Stephanie Cutter, deputy manager of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, critics were not impressed by the first edition of the 30-minute weeknight series.

Is Giving Alec Baldwin a Show The 'Best Idea MSNBC's Had In a While'?
By Tim Graham | September 8, 2013 | 6:28 AM EDT

Some left-wingers adore the newest program at MSNBC. Alyssa Rosenberg at Think Progress thinks "Giving Alec Baldwin A Talk Show Is The Best Idea MSNBC's Had In A While."

Never mind Baldwin's old dreams of killing Osama bin Laden and then killing Vice President Dick Cheney with the terrorist's corpse. "If MSNBC is supposed to be a smart, enthusiastic place for intelligent analysis and discussion, Baldwin brings a dash of celebrity and sex appeal to that mission." His apparent tryout for MSNBC came with a talk show/podcast called "Here's The Thing" on New York's taxpayer-funded radio station WNYC, and he passed for liberals with flying colors:

Politico's Dylan Byers: 'Iraq Casts Shadow' Over Media Coverage of Syria Debate
By Randy Hall | September 1, 2013 | 5:45 PM EDT

It's been a decade since the U.S. and its coalition of nations invaded Iraq and sent Saddam Hussein scurrying to an underground bunker. As time passed and no weapons of mass destruction were found, the media accused President George W. Bush of relying on “bad intelligence” that led to a “disastrous fallout" in that violence-drenched nation.

Ten years later, Dylan Byers -- media reporter for the Politico website -- stated on Thursday: “For a moment, it looked like the media were going to follow quietly along as America bombed Syria.” However, the Iraq War “stretched its shadow over the span of 10 long years, and the press sprung into action” against U.S. president Barack Obama's strategy to punish Syrian president Bashar el-Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons on his own people.

NYTimes, AP Will Now Call Bradley Manning 'Chelsea,' Use Female Pronouns
By Ken Shepherd | August 27, 2013 | 3:43 PM EDT

*Corrected from earlier | "Starting tomorrow, The New York Times and The Associated Press will refer to Bradley Manning as Chelsea Manning, 'formerly know as Pfc. Bradley Manning,' honoring the former soldier's request to be addressed as a female," Politico media reporter Dylan Byers noted yesterday* afternoon. Not only will AP and the Times refer to Manning with female pronouns, but in an email, an AP editor insisted that Manning "will henceforth use Pvt. Chelsea E. Manning... in accordance with her wishes to live as a woman."

For his part, however, Byers (and presumably the rest of Politico), is sticking with "he" when describing Manning:

Rush Limbaugh Says Debate Moderator Role Wouldn’t Work for Him
By Randy Hall | August 15, 2013 | 10:27 PM EDT

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh began his Thursday afternoon program by addressing the possibility that he and such other well-known conservatives as Sean Hannity and Mark Levin might moderate debates of Republican primary candidates during the 2016 election cycle as a departure from the previously biased questioning at such events by obviously liberal journalists.

“I don’t see how I can do it,” he stated. “I’m too famous,” and he added that his presence would “overshadow” the event, though Limbaugh admitted that deciding whether to take part in a radio debate “would be a real, real, real tough call” since “it could get ratings.”

LOL: Claim That Media Downplayed Benghazi Denounced as ‘Whopper of the Year’
By Randy Hall | August 6, 2013 | 11:59 PM EDT

In shining examples of the phrase “better late than never,” Conor Friedersdorf -- a staff writer on politics and national affairs at The Atlantic -- and Dylan Byers -- a media critic for the Politico website -- hammered conservatives on Monday for charging that the mainstream media had mostly ignored or minimized the attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.

Friedersdorf called the charge the “Whopper of the Year,” while Byers accused conservatives of taking a “guilty-until-proven-innocent approach” regarding the reaction by President Barack Obama and his administration to the incident, which 11 months ago led to the deaths of four people, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

CNN Taps Leftist For Its Own Film on Hillary Clinton
By Tim Graham | July 29, 2013 | 5:34 PM EDT

Add CNN to the networks who are producing a Hillary Clinton movie. “CNN Films has tapped documentary filmmaker Charles H. Ferguson to direct a film about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” reports Dylan Byers at Politico. The film will air on CNN and be released in theaters (no word of a release date).

Like NBC News, CNN is insisting this doesn’t reflect on their editorial content. Spokeswoman Allison Gollust insisted “CNN's editorial side has no role in the production of the film, just as it has no role in any of the films produced or acquired by CNN Films.” Byers also pointed out CNN’s Jake Tapper called NBC’s film a lose-lose:

Politico: Benghazi-focused CBS Reporter Sharyl Attkisson's 'Computers Compromised'
By Tim Graham | May 21, 2013 | 12:07 PM EDT

Dylan Byers of Politico reports “Sharyl Attkisson, the Emmy-award winning CBS News investigative reporter, says that her personal and work computers have been compromised and are under investigation.”

"I can confirm that an intrusion of my computers has been under some investigation on my end for some months. But I'm not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today as I've been patient and methodical about this matter," Attkisson told Politico on Tuesday. She suggested it could be related to the probe of Fox reporter James Rosen:

Politico: CBS News Execs See Attkisson As ‘Dangerously Close to Advocacy’ on Benghazi
By Tim Graham | May 8, 2013 | 12:45 PM EDT

Politico media writer Dylan Byers sought to add context to Paul Farhi’s “glowing profile” of CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson in Wednesday’s Washington Post.

Byers suggested Farhi painted it as a David and Goliath story with Team Obama as Goliath. But there’s another Goliath, he wrote: CBS News executives who aren’t happy with Attkisson’s “Benghazi campaign” that’s “wading dangerously close” to advocacy:

NY Times Editor Abramson Called Brusque, 'Very Unpopular,' Defenders Cry Sexism
By Clay Waters | April 25, 2013 | 11:04 AM EDT

Politico media reporter Dylan Byers stirred up media indignation with an unflattering article Tuesday on Jill Abramson, the New York Times executive editor, "Turbulence at the Times", based largely on anonymous Times sources who snipe that Abramson is detached, brusque, and a "very, very unpopular" presence in the newsroom.

One Monday morning in April, Jill Abramson called Dean Baquet into her office to complain. The executive editor of The New York Times was upset about the paper’s recent news coverage -- she felt it wasn’t “buzzy” enough, a source there said -- and placed blame on Baquet, her managing editor. A debate ensued, which gave way to an argument.

Politico's Byers Writes a Tome on NYT's Baquet-Abramson Conflict, Omits Baquet's Outrageous 2006 Insubordination at the LA Times
By Tom Blumer | April 24, 2013 | 10:57 AM EDT

In a 1,700-word report on conflict and office politics at the New York Times, the Politico's Dylan Byers omitted critical context about the apparent personality clash between Jill Abramson, the paper's executive editor, and Dean Baquet, its managing editor.

Byers could have remedied the situation by including these seven words at an appropriate point: "Baquet, who has a history of insubordination ..." This history is not a secret, as illustrated in the following writeup at the (I'm not kidding) New York Times in September 2006 (bolds are mine):

After Gun Debate, Media Credibility Is Shot
By Matthew Sheffield | April 21, 2013 | 4:01 AM EDT

Normally, the people who cover the media industry try studiously to avoid mentioning the very obvious fact that America's elite journalists are overwhelmingly liberal and that one can discern this by reviewing their output. This is a logical response considering that said reporters probably do not wish to antagonize potential sources. It's hard to report on the media if no one in the media will speak to you.

In the case of the recent journalist meltdown over gun control, the bias was so overwhelming, even Politico's cautious media reporter Dylan Byers had to admit the obvious: