Yahoo!

ABC's Terry Moran and Yahoo! News Preach Roberts 'Saved' the Supreme Court
By Tim Graham | June 29, 2012 | 9:22 AM EDT

The top of the Yahoo home page on Friday asked "Did Chief Justice Roberts save the Supreme Court?” That’s channeling the incessant spin of ABC Nightline anchor Terry Moran, who announced on Yahoo's web show Top Line: “Roberts rode to the rescue of the Obama health care plan, and maybe rode to the rescue of the Supreme Court, a little bit, as well.” 

"We live in an era of punditry and hyper-partisanship where everybody’s on one side or the other and screaming,” complained Moran. “And here’s the Court, and John Roberts in particular, saying ‘We do this job. You guys do the rest.’”

Yahoo! Predicts Obama Re-election 'In The Bag' -- Prognosticator Has Democratic Ties
By Tim Graham | February 17, 2012 | 12:43 PM EST

“The Signal” blog at Yahoo!  is grabbing attention for a very, very early prediction: “With fewer than nine months to go before Election Day, The Signal predicts that Barack Obama will win the presidential contest with 303 electoral votes to the Republican nominee's 235. How do we know? We don't, of course.” What an eye-grabbing gimmick this is. That doesn’t stop some people from posting headlines like “Yahoo economists: Obama reelection's in the bag.”

Remember that Yahoo! is not only a major news site, it's now allied with ABC News. Why the Obama happy talk? A quick look at the curriculum vitae posted at Yahoo! by one of the prognosticators in the byline, David Rothschild, has a list of Democratic credentials, including an internship in the Clinton White House:

Will GLAAD Scrub Yahoo! Of All 'Anti-LGBT Comments'?
By Tim Graham | February 3, 2012 | 7:03 AM EST

The Hollywood Reporter publicized that Yahoo! has "teamed up" with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to monitor "hateful and violent" comments on their many online platforms. GLAAD reported finding comments violating Yahoo's terms of service under an interview with the gay singer Adam Lambert. (There is presently NO space to comment on Adam Lambert posts here. Or here. Or here. But if you hate Simon Cowell, comment here. There are 1,059 comments.)

Allison Palmer, GLAAD's Director of Digital Initiatives, issued a statement commending Yahoo! for addressing the issue quickly and highlighting its continued pledge to address anti-LGBT comments across all of its platforms. "Young music fans should be able to interact and comment on sites without seeing violent, hateful comments directed at LGBT people," Palmer said. But wait -- does that mean all "anti-LGBT comments" get scrubbed? Or all comments?

Despicable: Yahoo! News Contributor Exploits Bella Santorum's Illness to Attack Rick Santorum
By Ken Shepherd | January 30, 2012 | 11:10 AM EST

Update: A former Santorum colleague at EPPC responds. [see bottom of post]

Yahoo! News contributor Andrew Riggio yesterday evening cynically used the occasion of Bella Santorum's hospitalization and her father's accompanying temporary suspension of his presidential campaign to attack the pro-life conservative who opposes taxpayer-financed embryonic stem-cell research:

Yahoo Trumpets Study Supposedly Linking Conservatism to Low IQ
By Matthew Balan | January 26, 2012 | 3:51 PM EST

Yahoo! News, which recently entered into a partnership with ABC News, somehow thought it fit to use its "Destination 2012" site for the 2012 election to highlight a new study that found a purported link between conservatism and low intelligence. The headline for the story by LiveScience.com's Stephanie Pappas exclaimed, "Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice."

Pappas wasted little time to note that apparently, "low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found." She cited the study's lead researcher, Gordon Hodson of Brock University in Ontario, Canada, who claimed that "those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote."

Yahoo's Headline Implies GOP Debate Audience Wanted Uninsured to Die
By Matthew Balan | September 13, 2011 | 9:18 PM EDT

Rachel Rose Hartman's Tuesday item for Yahoo! News's "The Ticket" blog carried a misleading headline ("Audience at tea party debate cheers leaving uninsured to die") implying that the majority, if not all, of the audience at Monday's GOP presidential debate thought that the critically injured who are uninsured should be left to die. In reality, only a handful cheered and/or laughed in response to Wolf Blitzer's question.

Despite this headline, Hartman did acknowledge in her lede that "if you're uninsured and on the brink of death, that's apparently a laughing matter to some audience members at last night's tea party [sic] Republican presidential debate." She then recounted how Blitzer, who moderated the joint debate with the Tea Party Express organization, turned to Rep. Ron Paul and "asked a hypothetical question...about how society should respond if a healthy 30-year-old man who decided against buying health insurance suddenly goes into a coma and requires intensive care for six months."

AP's David Klepper Files Flowery Kennedy Compound Story Filled with Nostalgia for 'Camelot-by-the Sea'
By Ken Shepherd | July 15, 2011 | 12:48 PM EDT

I can't begrudge the Associated Press for covering the conflict within the Kennedy clan about what to do with their iconic Hyannis Port estate.

But AP's David Klepper cranked the Kennedy nostalgia -- no, make that  worship -- up to 11 in his 27-paragraph story -- which I accessed via Yahoo! News -- on the family dispute (emphasis mine):

 

Yahoo! Sports Blogger Tags Natl. Organization for Marriage As 'Anti-Gay' Group
By Ken Shepherd | June 17, 2011 | 12:50 PM EDT

Updated with video of Tyree interview (see below page break)

Former pro football player David Tyree has dared come out publicly with his view that New York State should not grant same-sex marriage licenses.

For that view, disclosed in an interview with the "anti-gay group" the National Organization for Marriage, Tyree's "put his foot in his mouth" according to Yahoo! Sports blogger Doug Farrar (emphasis mine):