US News

New Peter Pan Movie Has a 'Lily-White Tiger Lily Problem'
By Tim Graham | March 23, 2014 | 9:03 AM EDT

In the world of Hollywood politics, U.S. News & World Report is hyping "Peter Pan's Lily-White Tiger Lily Problem."  Warner Brothers is making a movie called "Pan" (due in July 2015), and the Indian princess Tiger Lily is being played by white actress Rooney Mara.

“This casting choice is particularly shameful for a children’s movie,” an outraged petition said. “Telling children their role models must all be white is unacceptable.” Tierney Sneed at U.S. News highlighted how this "stings" for the Native American actors:

Zuckerman: Billionaires Are Buying Newspapers ‘Because They No Longer Wish To Be Billionaires’
By Noel Sheppard | August 11, 2013 | 8:30 PM EDT

Media mogul Mort Zuckerman wins this weekend’s funniest line on a political talk show.

Asked by the host of PBS's McLaughlin Group why successful billionaires would invest in a dying business such as newspapers, Zuckerman replied, “Because they no longer wish to be billionaires” (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Zuckerman Schools Clift: If Obama Gave Cantor's AEI Speech 'You'd Have Supported Everything He Said'
By Noel Sheppard | February 9, 2013 | 4:27 PM EST

Mort Zuckerman really schooled Eleanor Clift on PBS's McLaughlin Group Friday.

After Clift commented that if she closed her eyes during House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-Va.) speech to the American Enterprise Institute last week, she "would have thought it was Barack Obama," Zuckerman marvelously fired back, "Eleanor, if it had been Barack Obama, you would have supported everything he said" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

US News Item on How Working Less Might Slow 'Climate Change' Ignores Underlying Radical 'De-Growth' Agenda
By Tom Blumer | February 5, 2013 | 9:35 AM EST

A Monday US News item by Jason Koebler ("Study: Global Warming Can Be Slowed By Working Less") illustrates how radical thought injects itself into establishment press news stories.

Koebler's work attempts to be cute, with its picture (a cyclist taking a nap), its subheadline (a suggestion that "a more 'European' schedule would reduce the effects of climate change"), and its opening ("Want to reduce the effects of global warming? Stop working so hard"). The seemingly innocent concept is that "working fewer hours and more vacation time, could prevent as much as half of the expected global temperature rise by 2100." It takes a bit of digging before one learns that the whole idea is really premised on "de-growth" -- "a political, economic, and social movement ... (which) advocate(s) for the downscaling of production and consumption," or, in other words, "the contraction of economies."

Media Hail JFK's 'Poetry,' Ignore That His Agenda Didn't Match His Words
By Mike Bates | January 22, 2013 | 3:40 PM EST

With this week's inauguration, several media stories recounted past inaugural addresses. One oration prominently featured and applauded was the speech given by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

On CNN's Web site, it was listed as one of "The six best inaugural addresses."  U.S. News & World Report's site included it as one of "The 5 Best Inaugural Addresses," noting that it set "the benchmark against which subsequent addresses have been measured."  Just in case readers missed it, the following day the same site carried the story "What Obama Can Learn From the Greatest Inaugural Addresses," this time declaring part of Kennedy's speech "poetry."  At The Washington Post, The Fix counted it as part of  "The 10 most famous inaugural addresses."  Politico claimed it "ranks alongside Lincoln’s two for pure eloquence." 

US News & World Report Cites Record Number Food Stamp Recipients: Wonders if They're Getting Enough for Survival
By Ryan Robertson | November 21, 2012 | 12:41 PM EST

This Thanksgiving, a record high of 42.2 million Americans will use food stamps to curtail the cost of a big meal. At a whopping expense of $72 billion to the taxpayer per year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has grown by 70 percent since 2007, an increase of over 15 million more people.

Despite acknowledging all of this, Elizabeth Flock of US News & World Report declared "More Americans will use food stamps to buy their Thanksgiving dinner this year than ever before," and implied these government handouts aren't as sufficient as they could be.

James Pethokoukis Smacks Down Eleanor Clift: GOP Isn't 'Anti-Immigration' - 'That's Just Wrong'
By Noel Sheppard | June 23, 2012 | 11:20 AM EDT

A common media deception is to accuse Republicans of being anti-immigration.

When Newsweek's Eleanor Clift tried this on PBS's McLaughlin Group Friday, US News & World Report's James Pethokoukis quickly scolded, "They’re anti-illegal immigration. They’re not anti-immigration...That’s just wrong" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Mort Zuckerman Smacks Down Eleanor Clift: 'I Know About Bain Capital Since I Was Involved With It'
By Noel Sheppard | June 16, 2012 | 12:58 PM EDT

U.S. News and World Report's Mort Zuckerman deliciously smacked down the perilously liberal and unwarrantedly arrogant Newsweek columnist Eleanor Clift on this weekend's edition of PBS's The McLaughlin Group.

When Clift ignorantly said Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney didn't create jobs at Bain Capital, Zuckerman quickly dismissed her saying, "I’m not going to argue. I know about Bain Capital since I was involved with it" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Remember When the National Media Despised Recall Elections? California in 2003
By Tim Graham | June 3, 2012 | 7:03 AM EDT

As the national media's political attention turns again to a Wisconsin recall election ginned up by angry labor unions -- that's not counting Ed Schultz, who's never stopped obsessing about ousting Gov. Scott Walker -- it's easy to forget that the national media used to be on the other side of a recall election.

In 2003 in California, it was liberal Gov. Gray Davis who was recalled, and conservatives who ginned up the campaign. Back then, the governor was a hero and the opponents were cranks. As reporters Howard Fineman and Karen Breslau summed up in a Newsweek cover story: "So this is California: in thrall, at least for the moment, to an earnest crank and in the grip of what can only be described as a civic crackup."

Mort Zuckerman Once Again Corrects Eleanor Clift's Stupidity
By Noel Sheppard | April 16, 2012 | 12:16 AM EDT

There are times when I'm truly sickened by the total lack of economic acumen possessed by today's so-called journalists.

On PBS's McLaughlin Group this weekend, Newsweek's Eleanor Clift once again said something so totally ignorant that she had to be corrected by US News & World Report's Mort Zuckerman (video follows with transcript and commentary):

John McLaughlin Asks 'Is the Press in Love With Obama?' Eleanor Clift Says 'No'
By Noel Sheppard | March 11, 2012 | 5:05 PM EDT

The host of PBS's McLaughlin Group asked his panelists this weekend, "Is the press in love with Obama?"

Not surprisingly, all in attendance said "Yes" with the exception of Newsweek's Eleanor Clift who predictably protested, "No, they aren't" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Zuckerman Smacks Down Clift: 'That's Nonsense to Say Israelis Don't Think Through Consequences of War'
By Noel Sheppard | March 11, 2012 | 4:20 PM EDT

Newsweek's Eleanor Clift got a bit of a tongue-lashing from US News and World Report's Mort Zuckerman on this weekend's McLaughlin Group.

After Clift predictably praised President Obama's press conference last week, Zuckerman aggressively shot back, "That's nonsense to say the Israelis don't think through the consequences of war! That’s ridiculous!" (video follows with transcript and commentary):