USA Today

Dungy a ‘Pathetic’ ‘Homophobe’ for Saying He Wouldn’t Have Drafted Gay Player
By Kristine Marsh | July 22, 2014 | 12:33 PM EDT

These days, if a former NFL coach makes a vague statement about an openly gay sports player who was fawned over by the media, he can expect to be called a “homophobe” and “bigot” for not getting aboard the pro-gay train.

Dungy, former coach of the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and current NBC sports analyst, told The Tampa Tribune, “I wouldn’t have taken him [Michael Sam]. Not because I don’t believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn’t want to deal with all of it.” 

Dungy elaborated, "It’s not going to be totally smooth...things will happen.” For this cautious statement, Dungy was attacked by the media as homophobic and discriminatory. 

CBS, NBC Refuse to Cover News DOJ to Investigate Lost IRS E-Mails; ABC Gives News Measly 22 Seconds
By Curtis Houck | July 17, 2014 | 12:15 PM EDT

Both CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today chose to ignore the latest news in the IRS scandal Thursday morning that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will be investigating the disappearance and destruction of emails pertaining to former IRS official Lois Lerner. 

Meanwhile, ABC’s Good Morning America did cover the news, but only devoted 22 seconds to the story in the form of a news brief during the 7:00 a.m. hour. News reader Amy Robach reported “[a]nd in Washington, a major development in the IRS targeting scandal. The agency is accused of targeting conservative groups. Well now there is word the Justice Department will investigate the disappearance of e-mails the agency claims were lost when a computer crashed. The e-mails were to and from Lois Lerner, a key former IRS official who has refused to testify.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]

As He Gets 10-Year Sentence, Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's Party Affiliation Disappears or Is Downplayed
By Tom Blumer | July 9, 2014 | 2:29 PM EDT

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced to 10 years in prison today on fraud, bribery and related charges. In a January 2006 appearance on PBS's Tavis Smiley Show, Nagin, who in many several previous news reports had been described as a Republican who became a Democrat once he sought political office, told Smiley that he "never was a Republican" and he has been a "life-long Democrat."

As would be expected, several media outlets are failing to report Nagin's declared status as a "life-long Democrat." A particularly egregious example is at USA Today (saved here for future reference, fair use and discussion purposes, and in case USAT makes revisions; HT longtime NB commenter Gary Hall; bolds are mine):

Press Largely Fails to Note or Downplays How New VA Director Was Forced Out of P&G
By Tom Blumer | July 3, 2014 | 4:14 PM EDT

The identity of President Obama's nominee to head the scandal-plagued, bloated mess known as the Department of Veterans Affairs was known on Sunday.

Very few news outlets (the Fox news item just linked is an exception) noted that Obama's pick was particularly odd because McDonald's run as CEO at Procter & Gamble was not considered a success. He was essentially forced into retirement after four years at the helm in May 2013.

USAT's Wolf Shows Financial Ignorance, Relays Non-Scientific Arguments for Hobby Lobby Decision's Opponents
By Tom Blumer | June 30, 2014 | 1:58 PM EDT

USA Today reporter Richard Wolf's afternoon coverage of the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision this afternoon appeared to be completely ignorant of the dire financial consequences which would have been visited on the company had it lost today.

He also allowed unscientific and objectively wrong arguments about conception to be advanced by those who wanted to see Hobby Lobby defeated. Excerpts follow the jump (bolds and numbered tags are mine):

Dog Ate the Homework? Newspapers Take Four Days to Notice Lois Lerner's E-mails 'Missing'
By Tim Graham | June 19, 2014 | 11:33 AM EDT

The networks have mostly ignored new stories on the Internal Revenue Service claiming on Friday they lost two years of lost e-mails from IRS official Lois Lerner (and then six others) in the investigation of IRS attempts to inhibit conservative groups in the Obama years. But what about America's leading newspapers? Not Saturday. Not Sunday. Not Monday.

The Watergate hounds at The Washington Post didn’t report on Lerner’s “lost” e-mails in the paper until Tuesday, on page A-17. Today’s paper floods the zone on a Patent Office decision on “Redskins”– including a front-page spread and a gooey top editorial –  but this is chopped liver. The New York Times also arrived on Tuesday, on page A-15.

MSNBC's Ronan Farrow Slammed as 'Third Rate...Child Anchor,' The 'Nadir of TV Gravitas'
By Tim Graham | June 9, 2014 | 2:38 PM EDT

USA Today media columnist Michael Wolff throws dirt on the sinking fortunes of CNN in Monday's paper, denouncing the cable-news audience along the way: it’s “overly fixated, if not fetishistic.”

Wolff then unloads on MSNBC host Ronan Farrow as the “nadir of television gravitas, the “child anchor...mimicking the adults.” Ouch:

Media Go Ga-Ga for Gay Christians
By Kristine Marsh | June 5, 2014 | 1:03 PM EDT

If the mainstream media is talking about a religious book, you can bet it’s either about “Jesus’ wife” or how Mary wasn’t a virgin or something else entirely off base from traditional Christianity. Well a new book which claims the Bible actually supports homosexuality is getting heavy press from the liberal media. Of course because it’s praising progressive outlier Christianity,it’s exactly the kind of religion the media want to promote as “mainstream.”

Over the past few weeks the media has been gushing over 24-year-old Matthew Vines’ “God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships.” The book has prompted the media to question endlessly, will Christians finally accept homosexuality into the church? The Daily Beast’s Jay Michaelson pondered, “The marriage equality fight is all but won. Will the future of marriage be boring as hell, or a Bible-thumper’s idea of Sodom and Gomorrah?” 

Andrea Mitchell: VA Scandal 'Far More Serious' Than Obama's Other 'So-Called Scandals'
By Kyle Drennen | May 30, 2014 | 4:15 PM EDT

On her Friday 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show, host Andrea Mitchell joined fellow media liberals Stephen Colbert and Chris Matthews in labeling the VA scandal the first real scandal of the Obama administration: "...this is the biggest political problem that the President has faced. This is far more serious than a lot of so-called scandals that have popped up from time to time in the last couple of months." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

USA Today's Susan Page affirmed: "I totally agree with you, this is much more perilous for the President politically. Benghazi, they can dismiss that as a partisan battle. The Affordable Care Act, they can argue, 'This is actually going to work pretty well, just give us a little more time.'"

Low-Info Voter Outreach: USAT Tweets and Makes Excuse For GDP Contraction — On Its Weather Feed
By Tom Blumer | May 30, 2014 | 10:17 AM EDT

In an apparent attempt to reach those who usually don't pay much attention to the economy, USA Today sent out a tweet Thursday afternoon in the wake of the government's report earlier in the day that the U.S. economy contracted by an annualized 1.0 percent — on its weather feed.

The tweet (HT Zero Hedge), plus evidence that the economy has somehow managed to "weather" previous cold and stormy winters, follow the jump:

USA Today Poll Finds 'Biggest Advantage' for GOP 'In 2 Decades'; Nets Ignore
By Ken Shepherd | May 5, 2014 | 2:42 PM EDT

"Democrats hoping improvements in the economy's course and the Affordable Care Act's implementation would level the playing field for the fall elections should brace themselves," USA Today's Susan Page and Kendall Breitman warned the president's party in their May 5 front-page story, "Poll shows biggest advantage for Republicans in 2 decades." So naturally the Big Three broadcast networks completely ignored the story this morning, preferring instead to fawn over President Obama, Joel McHale, and the White House Correspondents Association Dinner held on Saturday.

The USA Today-Pew Research Center poll conducted April 23-27, found strong frustration by respondents with President Obama and Democrats, with 65 percent of Americans "want[ing] the president elected in 2016 to pursue different policies and programs than the Obama administration." What's more, "registered voters are inclined to support the Republican candidate over the Democrat in their congressional district by 47%-43%. Yes, "[t]hat edge may seem small," Page and Breitman conceded, but (emphasis mine):

NY Times Columnist: Every Newsroom or Stadium Press Box Without a Black Shows Donald Sterling-Level Racism
By Tim Graham | April 30, 2014 | 7:49 AM EDT

On NPR’s race-matters talk show “Tell Me More” on Monday, host Michel Martin discussed the Donald Sterling scandal with New York Times sports columnist William Rhoden, announcing he had written the book "Forty Million Dollar Slave: The Rise, Fall, And Redemption Of The Black Athlete."

Rhoden used the Sterling scandal to thump a tub for racial quotas in journalism. He claimed that every time there’s not a black journalist in a newsroom or a stadium press box, that news outlet or media elite  is Donald Sterling-level racist: [MP3 audio here.]