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AP Report on 'Occupy' Anniversary Wallows in Nostalgia, Ignores Blockade Plan, Obama's 2011 Endorsement
By Tom Blumer | September 22, 2012 | 9:54 AM EDT

Gosh, those were the good old days. Or so Meghan Barr at the Associated Press apparently believes.

As what's left of the Occupy Wall Street mobs from last year staged a pathetic anniversary protest in New York on Monday, Barr, in one of the most embarrassing reports I've seen emanate from the self-described "essential global news network," described them as "celebrating" and "giddy." At the end, in a desperate attempt to show that the movement actually accomplished something, Barr cited vague and I believe completely unrelated statements from two banks about "working with their customers." For those with strong stomachs, the first five and final paragraphs of Barr's beclowning follow the jump.

Illegal-Alien Reporter Launches Crusade to Ban 'Illegal' from Immigration News Stories
By Tim Graham | September 22, 2012 | 7:40 AM EDT

Ted Hesson at ABCNews.com reports that formerly "objective" Washington Post reporter Jose Antonio Vargas is leading a crusade to ban the term "illegal immigrant" from polite news coverage. Or as Hesson puts it, Vargas will "begin monitoring the use" of the phrase "with the goal of shifting the conversation."

"The term dehumanizes and marginalizes the people it seeks to describe," Vargas said. "Think of it this way, in what other context do we call someone illegal?" Since announcing to the world that he's an illegal immigrant, Vargas has become a celebrity activist who's starred in cover stories in in The New York Times Magazine and Time. He wants reporters to use the word "undocumented," and many do.

ABC’s Jim Avila: More Activism Than Journalism
By Liz Thatcher | September 19, 2012 | 11:47 AM EDT

Jim Avila may not be a household name, but he has become one of the most prominent news correspondents on television – averaging 130 reports a year since 1997. But he’s done much more than just report the news, Avila has become an activist.

He made that name for himself and sullied the term “lean beef” early in 2012 with a series of stories repeatedly calling the beef “pink slime.” On Sept. 13, Beef Products Inc. filed a 1.2 billion lawsuit against ABC for the coverage of “pink slime.” Avila is specifically named in this lawsuit for his part in the anti-meat attacks. “Avila knowingly or recklessly made multiple false and disparaging statements regarding BPI and LFTB during ABC broadcasts, in ABC online reports and social media postings,” read the lawsuit. That was just one of four separate anti-meat topics Avila has pursued in 2012 alone.

Flashback: ’I’ve Never Had a Gaffe‘ Joe Biden Jokes
By Mike Ciandella | September 5, 2012 | 3:27 PM EDT

News outlets are focusing on the latest gaffe from Vice President Joe Biden who said to a largely African-American audience that the GOP was “going to put y’all back in chains.”

Just over two years ago, the gaffemaster joked that he had “never had a gaffe” in a July 18, 2010 interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper.

Even then, that claim was itself a joke. It came only a few months after his March 23, 2010 announcement that the signing of healthcare law was “a big f---ing deal.”

Biden's Green Bay Gaffe: Claims Only 1,980 Troops Have Died in Afghanistan
By Tim Graham | September 3, 2012 | 7:20 PM EDT

ABC reporter Arlette Saenz reported for The Note on Joe Biden’s speech Sunday in the Green Bay area, including this statement: "In Afghanistan, we have lost 1,980 fallen angels as of yesterday, and I’m precise because every single one of those lives deserves to be recognized. Wrong: The U.S. death toll in Afghanistan at the end of August was 2,101.

Biden somehow subtracted from the Defense Department count, ignoring three civilian casualties and 118 soldiers who died in other countries after medical evacuation. Did they not deserve to be recognized?

WaPo Writer Calls Chalian Smear a 'Joke,' But Called Romney's Birther Joke a 'Comment'
By Matt Vespa | August 29, 2012 | 11:22 PM EDT

Last night, Yahoo! News Washington Bureau Chief, David Chalian, slandered Romney by saying that the Republican nominee and his wife, Ann, were "happy to have a party with black people drowning."  These remarks were made during ABCNews.com's webcast of their coverage of the RNC convention.  As a result, Mr. Chalian has been fired by Yahoo!, but some liberal journalists aren't happy about it.

Gwen Ifill of the taxpayer-subsidized Public Broadcasting System (PBS) tweeted this today.

Yahoo Fires David Chalian for Claiming Romneys Want to 'Party With Black People Dying'
By Matthew Sheffield | August 29, 2012 | 1:44 PM EDT

Yahoo has fired its Washington bureau chief David Chalian after NewsBusters exclusively revealed his offensive remarks that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his wife Ann were "happy to have a party with black people drowning."

Chalian made the comment during a live webcast of the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Here is Yahoo's statement:

Yahoo Bureau Chief David Chalian: Romneys ‘Happy to Have a Party With Black People Drowning’
By Matthew Sheffield | August 29, 2012 | 10:22 AM EDT

During live coverage of the Republican National Convention here in Tampa, Yahoo News Washington bureau chief David Chalian provided the perfect example of the pervasive anti-Republican bias Mitt Romney faces in his bid to unseat President Barack Obama.

In video broadcast Monday night by ABC and Yahoo over the Internet, Chalian can be heard claiming that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife Ann are unconcerned about the fate of residents of the New Orleans area who are currently being hit by Hurricane Isaac.

Ridiculous Reuters: Romney 'Appeared to Parrot' Obama's 'Private Sector Is Doing Fine' Line in 'Big Business' Statement
By Tom Blumer | August 26, 2012 | 11:26 AM EDT

Sam Youngman at Reuters, and several others have attempted to pounce on a comment about "big business" GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney made at a Minnesota fundraiser on Thursday as some kind of equivalent to President Obama's out-of-touch assertion that "the private sector is doing fine" back in June.

In fact, what Romney actually said in large part explains why the private sector isn't doing fine. Here is the relevant text from Youngman (bolds are mine):

ABC's Tapper Notes Obama's Evasion Of W.H. Press Corps; POTUS Has Time for 'People,' 'Entertainment Tonight' Though
By Matt Vespa | August 16, 2012 | 3:24 PM EDT

ABC News's Jake Tapper noticed an interesting trend with President Obama.  He hasn't been around to take any questions from the press lately.  In fact, he has evaded the national press corps  for more than two months.  However, as Tapper noted on his blog today, Obama did have time to talk to "reporters from People Magazine and Entertainment Tonight."  In addition, "during his three-day Iowa bus tour this week, for example, he conducted three interviews with local radio stations, including a sports talk radio show, and a roundtable discussion with columnists from three Iowa papers, in addition to sitting down with People and Entertainment Tonight. On July 12, he did an interview with Charlie Rose for CBS This Morning."

Obama's "last news conference was at the G20 in June, when he answered six questions from three reporters on the European debt crisis, the conflict in Syria, and the notion of politics stopping at the water’s edge. The White House press corps has not formally been given the opportunity to ask questions of the president on U.S. soil since his appearance in the Briefing Room on June 8 (when he said “the private sector is doing fine.)" 

Still Hyping: ABC Now Touts ObamaCare's Banning of 'Discrimination Against Transgendered'
By Scott Whitlock | August 9, 2012 | 5:04 PM EDT

ABC News is missing no avenue in its promotion of ObamaCare. The liberal network's website trumpeted the news that, under the President's health care law, "it is against the law to discriminate against transgender and LGBT patients in federally funded healthcare programs."

Writer Susan Donaldson James offered several sympathetic stories of individuals who, previously, struggled to be receive treatment after undergoing sex change operations. Ms. Donaldson James promoted the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and their study "Injustice at Every Turn." The author insisted that the group "paints a bleak picture of life as a transgender person in the United States. It revealed harassment in education, employment, housing and health care, as well as in the government and prison systems."

WaPo Columnist Works Gratuitous Swipe at Romney Into Story About National Park Service
By Matt Vespa | July 6, 2012 | 7:11 PM EDT

"Summer’s in full swing, and unless your family is rather Romney-esque, there’s a chance you’ll be spending some time in one of the country’s hundreds of national parks. " That's how Washington Post "In the Loop" columnist worked in a gratuitous swipe at the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in today's "In the Loop" column in which he interviewed Jonathan Jarvis, the head of the National Park Service. 

It's tempting to think this was an out-of-the-blue snark by Kamen, but you will recall that on June 25 he asked his readers for their input on where the Obamas should vacation, cheekily noting that it was "our civic duty" to help pick the next vacation spot for the first family -- although it appears Kamen never had such a contest when President Bush was in office.