New York Daily News

USA Today and WSJ Mask Serious Circulation Problems at Most Other Major Papers
By Tom Blumer | November 8, 2007 | 5:34 PM EST

It is understandable, but not forgivable, that business reporters at Old Media newspapers might think that the economy is in bad shape. They first have to get past how poorly most of their employers are doing. The industry as a whole has not been doing well, and it's been that way for quite some time.

This table illustrates that point (September 30, 2007 figures are at this post, which originally came from this Editor & Publisher article, which will soon disappear behind its firewall; March 31, 2005 figures were estimated in reverse using annual percentage changes reported as of March 31, 2006, because older data I thought would remain available no longer is):

Sportswriter Works Anti-Ann Coulter Shot Into Marion Jones Story
By Mark Finkelstein | October 6, 2007 | 3:13 PM EDT
There's no media nook safe from liberal bias, not even sports reporting

Ever heard of New York Daily News sports writer Filip Bondy? Neither have I. But browsing through Google News this afternoon I saw a link to a story by Bondy that caught my attention: " Marion Jones drags others into selfish, steroid mess".

The gist is that it was selfish of Jones to elbow her way onto the 2004 4x100-meter Olympic relay team. Since she knew she had been taking steroids, she must also have realized that any medal the team won was in danger of being forfeited. Good point.

But then, from out of left field, this gratuitous shot [emphasis added]:
NYDaily News Distorts Fred Thompson's al Qaeda/Smoking Comment
By Warner Todd Huston | September 10, 2007 | 6:01 AM EDT

Candidate Fred Thompson is the butt of media jokes, once again. This time it is due to the reporting by the New York Daily News of Thompson's comments in Sioux City, Iowa over the weekend. Thompson's claim that an al Qaeda enforced smoking ban in Iraq led to many Iraqi citizens joining the U.S.

Seized in a Coup? Tabloid Headlines for Murdoch's Dow Jones Deal
By Tim Graham | August 1, 2007 | 9:08 AM EDT

Rival newspapers are not calmly reporting the news that Rupert Murdoch has sealed the deal to buy The Wall Street Journal for a royal sum. The Washington Post front page headline today makes Rupert sound like he came in with tanks, not just cash: "Murdoch Seizes Wall St. Journal In $5 Billion Coup." Liberals must really see this tycoon as some sort of press-baron version of Pinochet.In New York, competing papers made it sound more like Rupert won another prize, like he bought a new yacht. "Dow Jones Deal Gives Murdoch a Coveted Prize," wrote The New York Times on its front page. "Rupe takes the prize: Wall Street Journal owners selling out to peddler of Post" was a headline in the New York Daily News.

Media Ignore Theft of Arafat’s Nobel Peace Prize, Downplay Palestinian Flight to Israel
By Noel Sheppard | June 17, 2007 | 1:04 PM EDT

On Saturday, NewsBusters asked two important questions: “Will Media Report Palestinians Fleeing Gaza For Israel,” and will they address the theft of Yasser Arafat’s Nobel Peace Prize by Hamas looters?

At this point, the answer to the latter is a resounding “No.” The answer to the former is “Not much.”

To be more specific, extensive searches of Google News and LexisNexis have identified that no major American media outlet with the exception of the New York Daily News bothered to report the theft of Yasser Arafat’s Noble Peace Prize:

N.Y. Daily News Labeling Guide? 'Avoid Pro-Life Or Pro-Lifers...Avoid Pro-Abortion'
By Tim Graham | June 7, 2007 | 7:34 PM EDT

A tipster reports that the New York Daily News has a style guide on its internal computer system with a very typical liberal-media template for its reporters on how to handle abortion labeling:

Leo DiCaprio's New Global Warming Doc 'Won't Be Drowned Out' By 'Contrary Viewpoint'
By Lynn Davidson | April 15, 2007 | 11:06 PM EDT

photo of Leonardo DiCaprio from NY Daily News via Corkery/News

Apparently, hearing both sides of the global warming debate is too much for Hollywood heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio. Rush & Malloy of New York’s Daily News reported that Leo doesn’t like "contrary" views in his “documentary” about global warming, “The 11th Hour.” After being part of an ABC special about “threats to the Earth,” Leo decided that dissent ist verboten! So now he’s making a real documentary—minus all of that pesky questioning (emphasis mine throughout):

Leonardo DiCaprio has heard enough bilge from oil-company apologists. At last week's Natural Resources Defense Council gala here, the three-time Oscar nominee recalled taking part in an ABC film a few years ago that focused on threats to the Earth. "Unfortunately, the message was drowned out by the inclusion of the contrary viewpoint," said DiCaprio, who narrated and co-wrote the forthcoming environmental doc "The 11th Hour." DiCaprio said this film focuses only on those who acknowledge global warming, such as Stephen Hawking, Mikhail Gorbachev and Andrew Weil. "The message won't be diluted by our having to yell over oil-company-funded 'scientists,' " he said.

After Bush-Assassination 'Documentary,' N.Y. Theater Stages A Bush-'Whacked' Drama
By Tim Graham | April 11, 2007 | 4:32 PM EDT

On the heels of last year's "documentary" by Gabriel Range concocting an assassination of President Bush in "Death of A President," Bill Hutchinson of the New York Daily News reported a new play in the Big Apple that also treads along the Bush-assassination theme. The playwright's thinly disguised Bush-resembling fictional president gets "whacked like Julius Caesar by a confidant."

Dennis Miller Takes on the Oscars, Al Gore, NY Times and ACLU
By Noel Sheppard | March 1, 2007 | 11:35 AM EST

It was “Miller Time” again on the “O’Reilly Factor” Wednesday night, and though the boys got off to a slow start, they finished quite strong.

This increasingly popular Fox News segment featuring comedian Dennis Miller and host Bill O'Reilly focused on the Oscars, Al Gore, the New York Times, and the recent virtually unreported ACLU controversy.

With that in mind, here are some of the highlights for your viewing and entertainment pleasure (video available here courtesy of our friend Ms Underestimated):

Bruce Willis: No Die-Hard for GOP
By Mike Bates | September 18, 2006 | 8:48 AM EDT

Today's New York Daily News carries the article "Willis no die-hard for the GOP." In it, actor Bruce Willis wants to set the record straight. "I'm always being accused of being a Hollywood Republican," Willis is quoted as saying, " — but I'm not!"According to the story, Willis is particularly interested in foster care, certainly a worthy concern.

Olbermann Follow-Up: Keith Curses at His Viewers
By Noel Sheppard | June 15, 2006 | 10:05 AM EDT

On Wednesday, NewsBusters reported how MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann sent an e-mail message to a viewer in which he debased colleague Rita Cosby as well as his boss at the time. Lloyd Grove of the New York Daily News (hat tip to NB reader John in CA) reported Thursday that Olbermann has been responding to his likely voluminous hate mail with…hate mail:

“Keith Olbermann's vacation isn't going so well.

“He was forced to apologize yesterday after more of his E-mails found their way to my inbox and exposed the host of MSNBC's ‘Countdown With Keith Olbermann’ as insulting and frequently obscene in an acrimonious exchange with two viewers who taunted him.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

(Update: For those that are interested, the following link directs you to a website that has some of the actual e-mail messages in question. Be forewarned that these are much more vulgar and offensive than what has been presented here.)

After Grove forwarded the e-mail messages to an MSNBC executive, Olbermann wrote the following (fair warning to  not have food or drink in your mouth as you read this):

NBC's First Read Gets More Poll Numbers Wrong
By Joshua Sharf | April 25, 2006 | 7:51 PM EDT

For a few days, it looked as though maybe MSNBC's First Read - written in part by NBC's political director Elizabeth Wilner - was being more careful with their poll numbers. Then, from today:

The New York Daily News says the same CNN poll showing Bush's approval at 32% also notes that 69% "said gas prices were causing them severe financial hardship."