Wall Street Journal

Former NBC Moderator David Gregory: ‘It Has Been Faith That Steadied Me’
By Erin Aitcheson | September 14, 2015 | 10:18 AM EDT

Last week, David Gregory, former NBC Moderator of Meet the Press, spoke about his difficult departure from the show and his journey towards spiritual renewal in the aftermath.

Gregory reflected on moments from his past in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. In coming to terms with being dismissed from Meet the Press and the controversy and humiliation surrounding that situation, he stated that in his time as a journalist he asked the questions. However, it was three compelling questions other asked him that stirred him to think about who he was and what he believed in strengthening his spirituality.

MSNBC Accuses Iran Deal Opponents of ‘Making it Partisan’
By Kyle Drennen | September 8, 2015 | 4:35 PM EDT

Despite the bipartisan opposition to the Iran nuclear deal, on Tuesday, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell and Wall Street Journal political editor Jeanne Cummings accused critics of the plan of being “partisan.” Mitchell began by touting a video of former Vice President Dick Cheney being shouted down by a left-wing protester: “Dick Cheney today speaking about Iran with a very tough attack on the President, but interrupted by a protester.”

Ignatius Discloses Lack of Objectivity of an Important Source — In a Separate Column
By Tom Blumer | September 5, 2015 | 10:43 AM EDT

In the past week, several pundits and alleged "experts" have been on a mission to tell us rubes that Hillary Clinton's email and private-server controversy doesn't rise to the level of being a scandal. They have absurdly argued that even if she "technically" violated State Department protocols and even broke some pesky laws in handling her communications while she was Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton's actions weren't serious enough to warrant prosecution.

In making that argument in an August 27 column ("The Hillary Clinton e-mail ‘scandal’ that isn’t"), Washington Post columnist David Ignatius heavily relied on one Jeffrey Smith without revealing Smith's political connections to Bill and Mrs. Clinton and his professional advocacy on behalf of Democrats. After getting caught, while never recognizing his critics' existence, Ignatius incompletely disclosed Smith's obvious lack of objectivity in a manner which would have been barely tolerable during newspapers' dead-trees era, and which is completely unacceptable in the digital age.

NY Times Runs Interference As Hillary Bogusly Takes 'Responsibility'
By Tom Blumer | August 26, 2015 | 11:07 PM EDT

I'm sure we all feel better now that Hillary Clinton, as reported by the New York Times late Wednesday afternoon, "took responsibility" for "her decision to use only private email while she was secretary of state."

Well, no — and Times reporter Maggie Haberman should (and probably does) know why that doesn't cut it. Mrs. Clinton still maintained on Wednesday that investigations currently in process "will prove that I never sent, nor received, any email that was marked classified." Information already known shows that contention to be false, and the noise about "markings" is irrelevant in any event.

Press Determined Not to Blame Venezuela's Social and Economic Calamity on Its Chavista Government
By Tom Blumer | August 26, 2015 | 11:44 AM EDT

As Venezuela's Chavista economy under Nicolas Maduro continues to crumble, the Associated Press and others in the media to describe its problems as if they came out of nowhere instead of originating with its statist, oppressive government.

Examples follow the jump.

CBS Skips Reports ISIS Used Chemical Weapons to Attack Iraqi Kurdish Forces
By Curtis Houck | August 13, 2015 | 10:16 PM EDT

On Thursday night, the CBS Evening News omitted reports that the Islamic terrorist group ISIS used chemical weapons in multiple attacks in Iraq over the past week against Kurdish forces the group claimed responsibility for a bombing in Iraq earlier in the day. In contrast, ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News offered news briefs on the development with the latter program also providing a full report from chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel on the brutality of female members of ISIS in enforcing Islamic laws on women living under the terrorist group’s control.

Networks Evening Newscasts Ignore Latest ObamaCare Audit Findings
By Ken Shepherd | August 10, 2015 | 7:56 PM EDT

The Big Three broadcast evening newscasts tonight ignored a new audit showing that the government may have paid out subsidies to ObamaCare purchasers who were not eligible for them.

Liberal Comcast, NBCUniversal Set to Invest in BuzzFeed, Vox Media Websites
By Randy Hall | July 30, 2015 | 6:48 PM EDT

Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal company is close to a deal in which the “media giant” will invest a staggering $250 million to increase its holdings in several liberal websites -- including BuzzFeed and Vox Media -- as the corporation searches for ways to reach younger audiences, according to an article written by Shalini Ramachandran and Lukas Alpert for the Wall Street Journal's website on Thursday.

The reporters call BuzzFeed “a hot new media property that has built a huge audience of young users over the past several years.” The deal would increase the website's value to about $1.5 billion.

Absurd CNN Email: (Annualized) 2.3 Percent Is 'Solid' GDP Growth
By Tom Blumer | July 30, 2015 | 5:45 PM EDT

The bar-lowering in the business press continues.

In the wake of today's disappointing news from the government on U.S. economic growth, an email from CNNMoney.com failed to properly describe reported second-quarter growth, and falsely characterized today's results as "solid":

Jonathan Who? AP, NY Times Set the Stage For Gruber News Blackout
By Tom Blumer | June 23, 2015 | 10:55 PM EDT

Two recent NewsBusters posts have demonstrated that the major broadcast networks other than Fox News have failed to cover new information reported Sunday evening at the Wall Street Journal. Newly available emails reveal that MIT's Jonathan Gruber "worked more closely than previously known with the White House and top federal officials to shape" the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Monday afternoon, NB's Scott Whitlock noted that "All three network morning shows on Monday ignored" the clearly newsworthy revelations. Very early Tuesday morning, NB's Curtis Houck observed that "The top English and Spanish-language broadcast networks" did the same thing Monday evening. The Associated Press and the New York Times, the nation's de facto news gatekeepers during the Obama era (far more the former than the latter, in my view) were instrumental in this deliberate averted-eyes exercise. Neither outlet has printed a word about what the Journal found.

Networks Again Punt on E-Mails Showing Gruber’s Deeper Role with WH on ObamaCare
By Curtis Houck | June 23, 2015 | 12:23 AM EDT

The top English and Spanish-language broadcast networks again ignored on Monday night a new development in the Jonathan Gruber saga as new e-mails have surfaced that revealed how his role with the White House on ObamaCare was more detailed than previously thought. As initially reported by The Wall Street Journal, e-mails “show frequent consultations between Mr. Gruber and top Obama administration staffers and advisers in the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services on the Affordable Care Act.”

BREAKING: Brian Williams Will Not Return to NBC Nightly News Anchor Desk [UPDATED]
By Curtis Houck | June 17, 2015 | 7:49 PM EDT

According to CNN's Brian Selter on Wednesday night, NBC News will announce that suspended NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams will not return to the anchor desk when his six-month suspension ends in August for having perpetuated lies about numerous stories he’s covered in his career. The network has stated that Williams will assume a new role in the network.