National Review

Ferguson Media Darling Joshua Williams Sentenced to 8 Years For Arson
By Tom Blumer | December 13, 2015 | 11:24 PM EST

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday that Joshua Williams "was sentenced ... to eight years in prison for starting a fire at a QuikTrip in Berkeley (a St. Louis suburb) after an officer-involved shooting there." The Dispatch apparently didn't think it important to tell readers that the crime spree which occurred after that shooting took place despite the fact that the suspect had pulled a gun on that officer.

I noted in a NewsBusters post a year ago that Williams' arrest on charges of "1st degree arson, 2nd degree burglary and misdemeanor theft," and his confession "to setting fires at the store in a videotaped interview" constituted a major establishment press embarrassment. You see, until then, outfits like the New York Times, MSNBC and others had, in the words of Ryan Lovelace at National Review, "depicted him as a hero of the summer protests" in Ferguson, Missouri.

Networks Cheer NYT’s ‘Historic’ Gun Control Editorial; ‘Dramatic’ ‘Front-Page Outrage’
By Curtis Houck | December 5, 2015 | 11:03 PM EST

On Saturday, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC continued to prove why the liberal media loves congratulating itself for their so-called accomplishments as the morning and evening newscasts spent nearly four minutes (without teases) cheering the “historic” decision by The New York Times to publish a “dramatic” front-page editorial chiding gun rights advocates and pushing for massive gun control/confiscation.

Megyn Kelly Takes Left, Media to Task for Double Standard in Placing Blame for Violent Attacks
By Curtis Houck | December 1, 2015 | 8:07 AM EST

In a thorough takedown of the left and the liberal media over their double standard in selectively assigning blame after mass shootings, the Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly dismantled on Monday night the arguments of abortion activists who have rushed to blame conservatives and the pro-life movement for supposedly causing the deadly shooting Friday at a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado.

UNC J-School Drops Post-Civil War History and Econ Course Requirements, Has No Idea Why They're Needed
By Tom Blumer | November 30, 2015 | 11:57 PM EST

If you think journalists' ignorance of American history and economic fundamentals is bad now, give it a few more years.

The University of North Carolina's School of Media and Journalism "has updated its curriculum requirements to give students more choice and flexibility in meeting the school’s graduation requirements. The change is in response to consistent feedback the school has received from students in its annual senior survey." You already know there's trouble if students who haven't been out in the real world yet are influencing the curriculum. Here's how much trouble:

Facts and Math Are Both Hard for Smug Daily Beast Pair Ridiculing Refugee-Refusing Governors
By Tom Blumer | November 18, 2015 | 1:29 AM EST

Michael Weiss and Justin Miller at the Daily Beast are apparently really proud of themselves. They're claiming that because a passport found on one of the terrorists involved in last Friday's terrorist murder spree was a fake, it "means the (U.S.) governors’ freakout over refugees was based, at least in part, on a lie." Based on their headline ("GOP Guvs Rely on ISIS Lies to Reject Syrian Refugees"), their attack was only directed at Republican governors.

There are at least four problems with their assertion. The funniest one is that these two apparently have no business ever being trusted around a calclulator or a spreadsheet. It's either that, or Weiss and Miller really believe that 475 million Syrian refugess are spreading themselves throughout Europe and much of the rest of the world.

Maddow Producer: ‘Republicans Abandoned Rational Thought In Their Contempt For’ Iran Nuclear Deal, Obamacare
By Tom Johnson | September 12, 2015 | 12:41 PM EDT

To Steve Benen, Obamacare is a high-quality dress shirt that Republicans treat like a greasy rag. Benen, a producer for MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, wrote in a Friday post on the TRMS blog that even though “every GOP prediction about the Affordable Care Act has been discredited,” conservatives keep trying to use it to tarnish other measures they oppose, including the Iran nuclear deal.

“If there is a compelling parallel between ‘Obamacare’ and the international nuclear agreement,” contended Benen, “it’s this: Republicans abandoned rational thought in their contempt for the idea, and despite pleas for an alternative solution to an important pressing problem, they offered nothing but slogans and cheap talking points.”

Kos: GOP ‘Crazies’ Like Trump Because He Reflects Their ‘Bigotries’ and ‘Tell[s] the Weenies to F**k Off’
By Tom Johnson | September 6, 2015 | 2:40 PM EDT

Does Donald Trump’s popularity among Republicans indicate that a big part of the GOP base is more authoritarian than it is conservative? Yes, suggested Daily Kos founder and publisher Markos Moulitsas in a Friday post.

“The crazies don't really care about any conservative platform, they just want someone to reflect their own bigotries and xenophobia, all the while telling the weenies to fuck off,” wrote Kos. “They'd be just as excited if it was Hulk Hogan playing the role.” He remarked that Trump has a flair for “the kind of braggadocio that appeals to the conservative lizard brain” and concluded, “Remember how hot Vladmir Putin made conservatives? Donald Trump is the GOP's homegrown Vladimir Putin.”

CBS Pushes Gun Control as ‘a Public Health Issue’ Like Seat Belts, Airbags, Anti-Smoking Campaigns
By Curtis Houck | August 28, 2015 | 2:11 AM EDT

On Thursday, the CBS Evening News seized on the deadly shooting of two local news reporters in Roanoke, Virginia to promote the idea that gun control should be treated like “a public health issue” akin to seat belts, airbags, and anti-smoking campaigns. In a tease early on in the program, fill-in anchor Maurice DuBois explained that “[s]ome public health officials say gun violence, just like car accidents and smoking-related illnesses can be prevented or at least reduced.”

Nets Too Busy Hyping Parade, Celebrities to Notice Obama Admin. Defying Court
By Matthew Balan | July 10, 2015 | 9:42 PM EDT

On Friday, ABC, CBS, and NBC's evening newscasts all ignored how the Obama administration issued the latest version of its abortifacient/contraception mandate under ObamaCare, which ignores multiple court rulings against it – including the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling in 2014 – and again tries to force religious non-profits to fund drugs that they consider to be immoral. Instead, the Big Three programs all devoted over a minute and a half each to the ticker tape parade in New York City for the World Cup-winning U.S. national women's soccer team.

Nets Skip Wisconsin Police Raids Against Conservatives; Fox Exposes
By Scott Whitlock | April 23, 2015 | 12:09 PM EDT

Secret police raids in Wisconsin targeted conservatives whose only crime seems to have been donating to conservative causes. Yet, the story, first reported in National Review, has been ignored by the networks. It was only Fox News that highlighted the story on Wednesday. Correspondent Trace Gallagher explained how Wisconsin's John Doe investigation allowed prosecutors to go after conservative groups, such as the Wisconsin Club for Growth. Then, it expanded to supporters. 

Email from Al Jazeera English Bans Staff from Using Terms ‘Terrorist,’ ‘Militant,’ ‘Islamist’
By Curtis Houck | January 27, 2015 | 6:20 PM EST

On Tuesday afternoon, Brendan Bordelon of National Review Online (NRO) reported on the latest leaked email from Al Jazeera English that showed executive Carlos van Meek telling employees not to sure the terms “extremist,” “Islamist,” “militant,” and “terrorist” in their news coverage to “avoid characterizing people.”

Van Meek’s email came following a deadly shooting earlier in the day at a hotel in Libya that killed at least eight (including one American). Writing to the outlet’s New York and Washington newsrooms, van Meek felt that it was pertinent to “bring to your attention some key words that have a tendency of tripping us up” considering “[o]ne person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter.”

AP's David Crary Perpetuates Michael Brown 'Hands Up' Myth as 'Police Killings of Blacks' is AP's Top Story of Year
By Tom Blumer | December 23, 2014 | 10:43 AM EST

Establishment press reporting has all too often been about perpetuating a narrative, even long after it has been proven false, than conveying facts and truth. Anyone arguing that 2014 has been one of the worst years ever for this growing trend won't get an argument here.

An Associated Press poll about the top stories of the year got responses from 85 editors at subscribing AP outlets. Although the top story named wasn't a surprise (disappointing, yes; surprise, no), the way the AP's David Crary wrote it up to support the proven-false "Hands up, don't shoot!" narrative on Monday was absolutely outrageous (bolds and numbered tags):