NB Media Roundup: Liberal Infighting, Journo-Casulties and Our Old Favorite -- Media Bias

January 30th, 2006 12:41 AM

Democrats have figured out how to use the interwebs thingy. Staffers of Democrat representative Marty Meehan have gone into Wikipedia and removed all the (truthful) things they didn't like. Meanwhile, politicians wag a finger at Google for basically doing the exact same thing. You probably haven't heard anything about this story though because it was a Democrat and unless Karl Rove changes his Wikipedia entry it won't get much further than the Lowell Sun.

Bob Woodruff and his camera operator, Doug Vogt, were hit by an IED today while recording a stand-up. Godspeed to their recovery, but I have to wonder why this video hasn't aired yet. If it were anyone else it would be exploited with a constant loop. No doubt someone at ABC is rethinking the concept of privacy, unfortunately that concept of privacy will never be extended to any of us. While the impious media will probably plea for Woodruff and Vogt tonight, those of us with a soul will say a prayer for them.

Media darling and Court TV founder Steven Brill came out and said journalism school "is a giant waste of time." Huzzah.

Arianna is still taking shots at Tim Russert for being a pushover. NYDN would have you believe Russert blew a gasket, puffed up his chest and had his publicist send the NY Daily News a "ballistic email". The nearly too-hot-for-primetime email said "The last time we heard from Ms. Huffington, she was hiring private eyes to investigate reporters." Oooh, snap. Liberals can't even get along with themselves.

But that's not all. On the heels of the WashPost having to shut down comments due to liberals attacking liberals, Columbia Liberal Journalism Review took a swipe at Katie Liberal Couric for mentioning Abramoff funneled money to Democrats as well as Republicans:

Couric did, however, spend over eight minutes of air time this morning searching for "the best pants for every behind," exploring "why some outfits make women's derrieres look too large," and letting female viewers know how to make the best of their butts.

Thanks, CJR, for pointing that out. I hadn't noticed in the last twenty years that The Today Show was filled with mindless nonsense stories.

CBS mentions a Media Research Center report on mainstream media attempts to talk down the economy but are sure to opine: "one should not make the mistake of treating the report as objective. The mission of the MRC is to prove 'that liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values.'" They go on to conclude that the report is right, but it isn't bias; it's a difficult job, ferocious deadline pressures, it's complicated, and all economists are conservative. That the building is infested with liberals is just a coincidence. CBS News business correspondent Anthony Mason claims "We've done a fair number of stories on the fact that there's been job growth." I'm sure they will have no problem linking to all those stories in the comments below. A search of CBSNews.com for the term "Record Job Growth" yields the positive stories Mason is talking about:

1. U.S. Job Growth Soars (with this caveat: "Even so, the unemployment rate inched up a tenth of a point to 5.7 percent..." )
2. Job Growth Is Gloomy
3. Feds Revise Job Growth Downward
4. Bush Aides Back Off Jobs Numbers
5. Job Growth Crawls in March
6. Job Growth Crawls in March
7. Job Growth: Reality Or Fairy Tale?
8. Trade Deficit Hits Record $55.5B

A wake-up call hit big media this week. After years of the media haranguing auto-makers for not giving enough benefits to workers (kind of like they are doing to WalMart now,) automakers are on the verge of going out of business. Now auto advertising in newspapers is tanking, which was the bread and butter of newspaper revenue. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.