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NYT, MSNBC Uncritically Relay Reid's 'Five White Men' Rant Against Court's Hobby Lobby Majority
By Tom Blumer | July 9, 2014 | 9:15 PM EDT

On Tuesday, Harry Reid told the press that "the one thing we're going to do, during this work period, sooner rather than later, is to ensure that women's lives are not determined by virtue of five white men. This Hobby Lobby decision is outrageous, and we're going to do something about it."

Obviously, Reid's statement assailing the Supreme Court majority in the Hobby Lobby decision is incorrect, as black African-American Clarence Thomas was among the five justices who defended the religious freedom of the Green family which owns and runs Hobby Lobby. Ordinarily, in an obvious gaffe involving a Democratic Party politican, coverage would be sparse. But in this case, there are at least two instances where an establishment press outlet actually reported Reid's statement without pointing out that it was wrong. One occurred at the New York Times.

Ghoulish MSNBC.com: 'Gun Violence Strikes at Boy Scout Camp'; Incident in Question Likely a Suicide
By Ken Shepherd | June 30, 2014 | 8:06 PM EDT

Exploiting a tragedy to take a swipe at gun rights, MSNBC.com editors this afternoon jumped on a boy's apparent suicide to alarm readers, "Gun violence strikes at Boy Scout camp," read the teaser headline in the lightbox.

"A 12-year-old boy has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, one day after arriving at a Boy Scout camp in San Diego, KNSD reported," read the caption for the photo promoting Emma Margolin's story. 

‘Rachel Maddow Show’ Producer: IRS Scandal ‘Imaginary…Meaningless…a Nothingburger’
By Tom Johnson | June 27, 2014 | 5:58 PM EDT

There’s a saying that “life isn’t one damn thing after another – it’s the same damn thing over and over again.” That’s essentially what Steve Benen, a producer for MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” argued regarding the IRS scandal in a Thursday blog post on the “TRMS” website.

Benen claimed that throughout “the imaginary IRS ‘scandal,’ there’s [been] an interesting pattern of events that serves as a template for every development. It starts with an alarming report, which is followed by scrutiny, which leads to details that make the original report appear meaningless.”

MSNBC's Wolffe Suggests Obama Likes 'Intellectually Rigorous' and 'Satisfying Challenge' of World Chaos
By Brad Wilmouth | June 25, 2014 | 7:09 AM EDT

On Tuesday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC, during a segment about foreign policy challenges involving Russia and the turmoil in the Middle East, MSNBC.com Executive Editor Richard Wolffe oddly suggested that President Obama finds it to be a "satisfying challenge" because it is "intellectually rigorous" to deal with such substantial foreign policy problems.

He also not surprisingly took a jab at former President Bush, blaming him for the chaos in the Middle East, and asserted that "there's a lot of cleanup there."

Host O'Donnell wondered about what things are like inside the White House as he posed:

Xerox Funds Latest MSNBC '30 Seconds To Know' Initiative
By Jackie Seal | June 18, 2014 | 10:59 AM EDT

On Tuesday, the Washington Free Beacon reported that Xerox is funding MSNBC’s new “30 Seconds to Know” initiative. It’s MSNBC’s version of VOX which offers 30 second videos of MSNBC pundits explaining the news. Clearly, reasonable, restrained MSNBC journalists are the best people for that job.

Ursala Burns, the CEO of Xerox, as the Free Beacon pointed out, is a staunch supporter and financial donor to the Democrat Party and is ranked as one of the worst CEO’s in the country.

MSNBC's Irin Carmon Blasts Bipartisan Louisiana Abortion Law
By Connor Williams | June 12, 2014 | 5:15 PM EDT

MSNBC’s Irin Carmon – a 2013 New York Abortion Access Fund “Champion of Choice” honoree – is at it again, savaging new legislation in Louisiana to regulate the state’s abortion clinics. The new law will hurl the Pelican State back to a “pre-Roe v. Wade condition,” Carmon quoted Amy Irvin of the New Orleans Abortion Fund in the second paragraph of her one-sided June 12 msnbc.com article titled, “Jindal signs bill that may close Louisiana abortion clinics.”

Carmon failed to turn to even a solitary token pro-life activist or legislator in favor of the new law, which is curious given the fact that backing for it was overwhelming and bipartisan. For example, the Louisiana State Senate passed this law by a vote of 34-3, with a strong majority of Democrats supporting it. In fact, the legislation’s co-sponsor, Katrina Jackson, is a Democrat.

MSNBC.com Distorts: ‘"American Idol" Wins Congressional Race’
By Jeffrey Meyer | May 13, 2014 | 3:45 PM EDT

A Tuesday, May 13 headline written by writers Clare Kim and Rachel Kleinman on the homepage of MSNBC.com misleadingly declared “'American Idol' Wins Congressional Race” despite the fact that he merely won the primary to face incumbent Congressman Renee Ellmers (R-NC). 

Aiken won the Democratic primary in the heavily Republican district by a mere 390 votes. The primary wasn’t called until his primary opponent, Democrat Keith Crisco died suddenly at his home on Monday. [Note: MSNBC has since changed headline to read " 'American Idol' Wins Primary Fight."] 

MSNBC’s Carmon Hypes ‘End of Abortion Access in The South’
By Paul Bremmer | April 28, 2014 | 1:31 PM EDT

MSNBC’s Irin Carmon is worried sick about women in the South. They may soon find it harder to kill their unborn babies in poorly-regulated abortion clinics!

On Monday morning, Carmon penned an article on MSNBC.com apocalyptically titled “The End of Abortion Access in the South?”

MSNBC.com Paints Hillary Clinton As Hapless Victim of 'Ageism,' 'Sexism'
By Ken Shepherd | April 22, 2014 | 6:22 PM EDT

One minute the liberal media will tell you that Hillary Clinton is a tough-as-nails politician and stateswoman who is eminently qualified for the White House and in the next the same folks are in high dudgeon about how the former secretary of state is the target of mean ol' "sexist" and "ageist" Republicans. 

Witness msnbc.com's Aliyah Frumin riding valiantly to the rescue of the poor sexagenarian damsel in distress/grandmother-to-be. "When it comes to conservative criticism of the Clintons, not even Chelsea’s unborn child is immune," Frumin laments, citing a New York Post columnist as her evidence of a vast right-wing conspiracy to rain on Grandma Hillary's 2016 parade:

MSNBC.com Celebrates Ousted Gay Scout Leader, Liberal Church That Supported Him
By Paul Bremmer | April 22, 2014 | 12:50 PM EDT

MSNBC doesn’t typically side with Christian churches – unless, of course, a church stands up for one of the network’s pet causes. That is exactly what happened on Tuesday, when a headline on MSNBC.com lamented how the “Boy Scouts Ban[ned] Church Over Gay Troop Leader.”

MSNBC.com's Amanda Sakuma explained that the Boy Scouts of America recently shut down a Seattle troop, sponsored by a United Methodist church, because church leaders stood behind the troop’s openly gay leader. While the BSA now allows openly gay scouts, it retains its ban on openly gay scoutmasters. Predictably, MSNBC framed the story to make the church and the scoutmaster the victims in this drama, even though both know perfectly well the rules of the organization.

MSNBC.com Complains As 'UAW Throws In the Towel' Over Election Loss in Tennessee
By Ken Shepherd | April 21, 2014 | 5:31 PM EDT

In mid-February, the United Auto Workers lost a crucial unionization vote at a Chattanooga, Tenn., Volkswagen auto plant. Rather than licking their wounds and accepting the outcome, a slew of liberal pundits, including MSNBC's Ed Schultz, cried foul and agitated for the United Auto Workers to call on the federal government to essentially insist on a do-over election, predicated on the notion that pro-right-to-work politicians tainted the vote by their public pronouncements on the election.

Fast forward to today, when the UAW at long last decided that it would not press the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for another election. "Union throws in the towel," lamented the teaser headline on MSNBC.com this afternoon. Ned Resnikoff filed a brief story which portrayed the UAW as the hapless victims of shadowy right-wingers rather than a union which, well, could simply NOT make its case to the voters in a free and fair election (emphasis mine):

MSNBC's Gripe: 'Gay Couples Feel Tax Wrath'
By Ken Shepherd | April 15, 2014 | 6:35 PM EDT

Tax Day, April 15, is a perfect day for a news organization to publish stories about tax reform debates, including the notion that perhaps we should do away with a national income tax and replace it with a national sales tax. Perhaps instead we should have a flat tax with very few, if any, deductions, credits, and all kinds of other exemptions which gum up the tax code.

A sensible news organization would throw open the doors to such a spirited discussion. But the folks at MSNBC? Well, let's just say they found an occasion to promote their desired goal of nationwide state recognition of -- as well as the licensing for -- same-sex marriage.