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FNC Knocks MSNBC's 'Lean Forward' Campaign; BNet.com Writer Complains of 'Corporate Pissing Match'
By Ken Shepherd | October 21, 2010 | 3:08 PM EDT

As an answer to MSNBC's new vacuous "Lean Forward" promo campaign, Fox News Channel has worked up a few promos of its own to knock the lower-rated rival network.

"In this country, we don't stand still, we don't lean, we move forward," goes the tag line for one. Another promo spot declares, "We don’t stand around, we don’t lean against a wall, we break the wall down. We move… Forward."

Fox's move is a "study in pointlessness," media and advertising blogger Catharine P. Taylor groused today at Bnet.com, the website for the CBS business interactive network:

Hollywood Hypocrisy: Oliver Stone's 'Wall Street' Sequel Funded by Product Placement
By Lachlan Markay | September 30, 2010 | 3:19 PM EDT
Oliver Stone is discovering one of the many joys of capitalism: without it, he would never be able to make such flashy, well-produced films bashing capitalism!

Stone's latest film, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", may have replaced Charlie Sheen, star of the original, with a younger Shia LaBeouf, but it's still as hypocritically anti-capitalist as the original.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, "Money Never Sleeps" would not have been able to muster a sufficient budget without massive product placement campaigns. The film benefitted "enormously" from the advertising technique, Stone admitted (h/t Big Hollywood headlines).

Planned 'JC' Cartoon Illustrates Comedy Central's Uneven Irreverence
By Brent Bozell | June 7, 2010 | 12:34 PM EDT

Managing Editor's Note: The following was originally published today at the Washington Post/Newsweek "On Faith" page. Mr. Bozell was asked to contribute this "Guest Voice" column to explain his complaints about Comedy Central's planned "JC" cartoon.

Comedians often pride themselves on being irreverent, and in today's popular culture a favorite thing to ridicule is religion. The network Comedy Central has made laughing at religion its bread and butter. Their irreverence has limits, however, and it has nothing to do with taste. When radical Muslims wrote ominously online that the creators of "South Park" could end up like Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh - shot eight times on the street - mockery of Muhammed was formally and publicly censored.

Within weeks of that very public retreat, Comedy Central announced plans to work up a series laughing at Jesus Christ called "JC," a half-hour animated show about Jesus trying to live a normal life in New York City to escape the "enormous shadow" of his "powerful but apathetic father." God the Father is preoccupied with playing video games while Christ is the "ultimate fish out of water."

Beyond the glaring double standard there is this question: Where is the market demand for an entire television series dedicated to attacks on Jesus Christ? What did Jesus Christ do to Comedy Central that they must relentlessly mock Him by portraying him defecating and talking about his "yummy, yummy crap" on "South Park" and roast him on specials titled "Merry F--ing Christmas"? Why the visuals of Jesus Christ being stabbed to death? Of the Blessed Virgin Mary menstruating? To call these attacks "juvenile" is an insult to juveniles.

Thanks Obama: Left-wing Nation Magazine Facing $1 Mil Budget Deficit
By Lachlan Markay | May 20, 2010 | 12:43 PM EDT

The far-left Nation magazine is facing a $1,000,000 budget shortfall. Though it attributes it to a weak market for print journalism, conservative periodicals are doing quite well. In fact, the president the Nation worked so hard to elect could spell the magazine's downfall. The irony is delicious.

The magazine's Washington Editor Chris Hayes wrote a fundraising email saying that "newspapers and magazines are having a rough time." Well, not all magazines. National Review's circulation has increased by roughly 25,000 since 2008. It would have been more accurate to say that liberal magazines are having a rough time.

It's generally accepted that magazines do well when someone of the opposite ideological makeup is in the White House. During the Bush administration, liberal magazines thrived. Since Obama was elected, they've declined while conservative ones have flourished.

Here is the full text of the letter:

Liberals Lambast Beck's Connections to Gold Dealers, Ignore Colossal NBC/GE Conflict of Interest
By Lachlan Markay | May 19, 2010 | 2:41 PM EDT
A far-left Democratic congressman is accusing conservative commentators of improperly -- perhaps illegally -- conspiring with advertisers to shill for their products under the guise of political opinion. The accusers, however, conveniently ignore liberal commentators that do virtually the same thing, only on a far larger scale.

Rep. Anthony Weiner released a report yesterday alleging that Goldline "has formed an unholy alliance with conservative pundits to drive a false narrative and play off public fears in order to sell its products," according to a release. Under "conservative pundits," read the Fox News Channel, and specifically Glenn Beck.

Weiner has this far neglected to criticize Fox's cable news competitor MSNBC and its parent network, which consistently shill for policies that would dramatically enrich their parent company, General Electric. GE's communications arm consistently further's Weiner's own political agenda, so a double standard seems to be afoot in his failure to call NBC out on its colossal conflict on interest.
WaPo Drifts Further Leftward in Pursuit of Blog Strategy
By Lachlan Markay | May 5, 2010 | 12:47 PM EDT
The Washington Post is making the transition from a powerhouse liberal newspaper to a network of powerhouse liberal blogs. While the paper's Old Guard is worried that the move will tarnish the Post's supposed reputation for political neutrality, it should be seen more as a embrace of the agenda the Post has evinced for years.

"Traditionalists," wrote Politico today, "worry that the Post is sacrificing a hard-won brand and hallowed news values." One such "traditionalist," Rem Rieder of the American Journalism Review, said a more openly-liberal approach to reporting, mostly done online in the form of various blogs, would be "a danger to the brand."

To the extent that the Post still pretends to be objective -- and to the extent that its readers believe that claim -- then yes, an opinion blog-centric approach is tarnishing the brand. But for those who acknowledge the Post' consistently liberal approach to the news, the only change is the way that that news is delivered.
MSNBC President Phil Griffin Finally Comes Clean on Channel's Liberal Slant
By Lachlan Markay | May 3, 2010 | 11:57 AM EDT

It took a while, but MSNBC President Phil Griffin has finally admitted and embraced his cable network's hard-left slant. He told the Chicago Tribune that he will try to carve out a niche on the left, hoping some day to rival the Fox News Channel's record-setting ratings.

Not so long ago, Griffin insisted that MSNBC was not "tied to ideology" -- unlike Fox, which simply could not be trusted, he claimed. Griffin even knocked FNC President Roger Ailes's business model, criticizing him for "creat[ing] an ideological channel… I give them total credit. I tip my hat to them. They scored. But it was ideological and opportunistic. It was a business plan."

Griffin has apparently abandoned his disdain for that business plan. He spoke glowingly of Ailes in an interview with the Tribune, saying the FNC president "changed the world" with his wildly successful business model, which went beyond just reporting to create brand loyalty and provide viewers with commentary that speaks to their views and preferences. MSNBC will now be (openly) emulating that model.

Circulation Dropping, 'The Nation' Recycles Bush-Bashing
By Mark Finkelstein | March 12, 2010 | 8:59 PM EST

She'd never admit it, but if there's one person secretly hoping for a big Republican victory in 2010 and, yes, a President Palin in 2013, it could be . . . Katrina vanden Heuvel.  That's right, the editor of The Nation might well be looking at GOP success as her best shot at salvaging the sinking fortunes of her far-left magazine.

A recent article in Vanity Fair—which no one would accuse shilling for the right—is entitled: Hate Sells: Why Liberal Magazines Are Suffering Under Obama.  It details how circulation at The Nation has been dropping significantly since Pres. Obama took office.   I was prompted to research the magazine's numbers when, watching Larry O'Donnell guest-hosting Countdown this evening, a Nation commercial appeared that consisted largely of a trip down liberal nostalgia lane: Bush bashing . . .

Calvin Klein 'X' Ad Aims for X-Rated Theme
By Sarah Knoploh | March 11, 2010 | 1:07 PM EST
“Hey, hey you. Wanna see my s---?” And that’s how the latest Calvin Klein commercial begins.  Of course, it really should come as no surprise that the commercial features underwear-clad models asking “if you wanna see it” since the company is known for its raunchy, and even pornographic, ads.

The ad featured a series of young men wearing only cK X underwear offering to reveal more. Huffington Post described the ad saying, “The four gents tug at their tighty-whiteys' waistbands while spitting out expletive-ridden phrases in the typical oh-so-shocking cK fashion.”

Although the commercial was just 49 seconds long, the male models used 14 expletives that Calvin Klein “censored” out with a beep. Even though a model stated, “It’s all about the f------ Calvins” it’s difficult to think it’s really not all about the sexual references. (Warning: Mild Content in Video)
Deutsch Says Tebow Ad Starts Down 'Slippery Slope'; Compares it to Gay-Dating Spot
By Jeff Poor | February 8, 2010 | 5:28 PM EST

Even though, the day after it aired on the Super Bowl broadcast, the consensus on the Focus on the Family advertisement featuring former Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow was that it wasn't as bad as the left had feared, at least one person that isn't going to let it go.

On MSNBC's Feb. 8 "Morning Joe," host Joe Scarborough made the point that the TV spot played during the Feb. 7 game was inoffensive and painted the opponents of it as being upset about nothing.

"One other thing too, talking about the soft touch - Focus on the Family's ad with Tim Tebow was soft, it was subtle and it made all the people who criticized it over the past week look like shrill idiots," Scarborough said. "It was a mom talking about a son she loved - her take with soft music."

Second Pro-Life Tebow Ad to Run During Super Bowl Pre-Game
By Noel Sheppard | February 6, 2010 | 10:29 AM EST

The Left and their media minions may not have enough time to fully express their anger before it happens, but a second ad featuring Pro-Life advocate and college football star Tim Tebow is now scheduled to air during the Super Bowl pre-game show.

Adding insult to injury, this one's supposed to run four times.

Try to feel the liberal media's anger as you read USA Today's article on this subject:

Pro-choice Sports Writer Jenkins Slams NOW for Trying to Scuttle Pro-life Tebow Ad
By Ken Shepherd | February 2, 2010 | 10:56 AM EST

Tim Tebow | NewsBusters.orgForget six more weeks of winter. It's possible Hell has frozen over.

In the Groundhog Day edition of the Washington Post, liberal, pro-choice sports columnist Sally Jenkins took direct aim at the National Organization for Women (NOW) for its campaign to keep a pro-life ad featuring Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother from airing during Sunday's Super Bowl.

Jenkins slammed NOW, mocking it as one of the few "Dwindling Organizations of Ladies in Lockstep" (DOLL) that is coming off more "pro-abortion" than pro-choice with its anti-Tebow crusade (emphasis mine):