On Wednesday, The New York Times posted an article by reporter Robert Pear calling out Marco Rubio for taking the pen to Obamacare in the budget legislation from last year. On Thursday, it appeared on the front page with the headline “Rubio Measure Delivered a Blow to Healthy Law.”
Journalistic Issues
By Michael McKinney | December 8, 2015 | 10:29 AM EST
On Monday on Twitter, National Review writer Charles C. W. Cooke called out the hypocrisy of the New York Times, as he posted a contrast, a Times flip-flop: a 2014 Editorial Board write-up on how the “Terror Watch Lists Run Amok” and a 2015 Editorial Board write-up on why Republicans are showing “Tough Talk and a Cowardly Vote on Terrorism” by refusing to let the terror watch lists run amok.
By Michael McKinney | December 7, 2015 | 1:46 PM EST
On the December 5th airing of Saturday Night Live, fake-news anchor Michael Che called out the Republican Senate for scheduling action to defund Planned Parenthood, despite the recent shooting in San Bernardino. The reality of the Senate activity however is that the bill, known as the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, was scheduled for Thursday, December 4, back on November 18.
By Michael McKinney | December 4, 2015 | 3:33 PM EST
In response to the San Bernardino shootings on Friday, leftist actor Mark Ruffalo, best known for playing the Hulk in The Avengers movies, tweeted “Begin again…The Second Amendment Was Never Meant to Protect an Individual’s Right to a Gun” and an image and link from the article of the same name from The Nation. The article Ruffalo tweeted is about why District of Columbia v. Heller was ruled wrongly by the Supreme Court in 2008.
By Michael McKinney | December 3, 2015 | 4:06 PM EST
MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall had Chuck Todd on for two segments related to the terrorist attack in San Bernardino on Wednesday. When confronted with the idea that this could be terrorism, as many labeled the Colorado Springs shooting, Todd hesitantly said, “I don't know if we want to go down that road, Tamron, just yet. I think, I think let's let all this play out. But I have, I have very, I have some fears of where this conversation goes, if this turns into being an American Muslim, an American citizen, and the investigation comes out that this is a radicalized situation and all this stuff, I think the consequences on our politics could be very ugly and very negative.”
By Michael McKinney | November 30, 2015 | 4:31 PM EST
Planned Parenthood executives appeared twice on MSNBC on Monday with female interviewers who acted more like facilitators than journalists. Planned Parenthood boss Cecile Richards appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports. Meanwhile PP's Executive Vice President, Dawn Laguens, was on MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall.
By Michael McKinney | November 25, 2015 | 1:10 PM EST
Tuesday Night on The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly and Bernie Goldberg discussed the ‘morality play’ created by NBC's Harry Smith on the Syrian refugee crisis, complete with Bible verses, as was previously documented on NewsBusters. Smith had tried to compare the Japanese internment with the refugee crisis. Bernie set fire to the idea when he said, “He [President Roosevelt] only interned Japanese Americans, and let's emphasize they were Americans, because they weren't white."
By Michael McKinney | November 24, 2015 | 1:51 PM EST
On Monday night on The O’Reilly Factor, Charles Krauthammer discussed with Bill O’Reilly the growing rhetoric of the White House and its attempt to downplay or diminish the threat that radical Islam is on the world. Shortly after a clip of President Obama criticizing the media for conflating ISIS’s power, Krauthammer opened up on the President.
By Michael McKinney | November 23, 2015 | 1:55 PM EST
On Monday's Morning Joe, the crew discussed New York Police Commissioner William Bratton's appearance on Sunday's Meet the Press. Joe Scarborough played a clip of Bratton begging Congress to pass a law preventing people on the government's terrorism watch list from buying guns. Scarborough echoed the plea as well.
By Michael McKinney | November 20, 2015 | 3:07 PM EST
On Friday, Sally Kohn took to The Daily Beast to argue that we should all be heartened by the fact that “The Religious Fundamentalists Are Losing.” In making her case, Kohn compared Christian ‘hardliners’ – you social conservative ones who are pro-life and pro-traditional marriage – with DAESH, or ISIS as many in the West know it.
By Michael McKinney | November 19, 2015 | 3:41 PM EST
On Tuesday, The Atlantic featured an article that lamented decades of Republican race-baiting in presidential campaigns. The piece by [authors] allow that race-baiting “does not mean that those who employ them are racists,” but it does “show a willingness to exploit societal ills for political gain.” The authors don’t think Republicans are racists, just that Republicans have a tendency to exploit racist attitudes across America.
By Michael McKinney | November 18, 2015 | 11:27 AM EST
Morning Joe on Wednesday discussed the recent remarks by President Obama on Republicans who are “afraid of orphans and widows.” When the discussion turned to David Ignatius for commentary, he gave a defense of Obama. Scarborough would press Ignatius with on using "the widows and orphans" to antagonize Republican governors. While Ignatius conceded there is always room to correct the words used, he thought the President was on point.