Latest Posts

Regulatory suggestion to limit trans-fats in New York foods results in serving of poor journalism.

Buried on page 3 of today's Metro section (and apparently absent from the national edition entirely) is the NYT's first whisper of the financial scandal at left-wing radio network Air America. The crack NYT staff got to the story less than three weeks after the New York Daily News first picked up on it July 26.

Not that the headline or subhead of the Times' story actually mention "Air America." Instead it reads: "Bronx Boys Club's Finances Investigated -- Officials Look Into Loans Made to a Liberal Radio Network." The two words "Air America" presumably couldn't fit into that 15-word space.

MSNBC's David Gregory took umbrage with criticism of the media’s coverage of Cindy Sheehan on last night's Hardball at around 7:53pm. The following is a brief exchange from a segment that featured talk show host Melanie Morgan and Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen:

Gregory: "Melanie, let me, let me begin with you. Does Cindy Sheehan have something important to say?"

Melanie Morgan: "I think that Cindy Sheehan believes that she has something very important to say and she has the right to say whatever it is she wants to say. But that doesn`t mean because the mainstream media has portrayed her as a very sympathetic, lone grieving mother, that actually represents the case. In fact..."

Gregory: "Well, hang on one second. Hang on. Let me just, I can`t let all these mainstream media attacks go by. How has the media done that? I will grant that you there`s a news vacuum in August and she`s become a national figure, when perhaps, another part of the year, she may not have. But, I mean, let`s not get so far away from this process that we don`t say that this is a grieving parent who lost a son in, in the war. So, I mean, you just assume that the media is trying to prop her up?"

Cindy Sheehan got a full segment Thursday evening on the NBC Nightly News as anchor Brian Williams framed her protest in the context of how “so far, 1,846 Americans have died in Iraq, nearly 14,000 have been wounded. And it doesn't help that a woman who lost a son in Iraq vows to wait outside the President's ranch until the Commander-in-Chief agrees to speak with her.” Reporter Kelly O’Donnell described Sheehan as “a media magnet," as if journalists have no ability to control that, but O’Donnell did at least note that “Sheehan also has some detractors." ABC’s World News Tonight ran a clip of President Bush rejecting her demands, but then anchor Bob Woodruff relayed how Sheehan retorted that “all we're asking is that he sacrifice an hour out of his...vacation to talk to us." MSNBC’s Countdownfeatured an interview with her and Keith Olbermann insisted that “now her story is about more than just her protest, it's about the role of dissent in a country founded on the right to dissent.”

Full CyberAlert article follows. For all of today's MRC CyberAlert items, click here.

CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante mistakenly characterized seasoned anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's pilgrimage to Crawford, Texas, where Mrs. Sheehan daily protests the war and demands to speak with President Bush. Plante filed a report in the 7:00 a.m. half hour of The Early Show from Crawford which, while noting that opposition to Sheehan from other Iraq military families is starting to grow, mainly focused on support she is receiving from left-wing activist groups like MoveOn.org.

A couple of years ago, there was a bit of a media firestorm, at least on the web, when New York Times' columnist Maureen Dowd was caught removing a portion of a comment that the President made. The omission rendered a clear and straightforward statement as a delusional and misleading one. Eventually the Times was forced to "correct" the quote. Well, the New York times is "Dowdifying" quotes again, leaving out crucial information with no indication that they're doing so. Only now, instead of merely doing it in a Maureen Dowd opinion piece, which is bad enough, they're doing it in an actual news story. (Big tip of the hat to Michelle Malkin, who's been all over this story.) As anyone who's been paying attention on the internet knows, the liberal Air America radio network has been operating, in part, on a "loan" of $875,000 from a Bronx Boys and Girls Club. Anyone reading the New York Times did not know it until today, and still doesn't know much. In any event, Franken spoke about the story on the air yesterday, and the Times quoted him. Sort of.

In one of the replies to Brent Baker's Grannies post, Phil R. took exception to the "good luck" comment NBC anchor Natalie Morales gave the "Raging Grannies" the other morning, raising the question: how much can we complain about anchors' well-wishing at the end of interviews? We hate to sound uber-touchy. Certainly, a certain amount of politeness is required, both for guest and viewer. Matt Lauer said "good to have you here" to Bernie Goldberg yesterday, for example. But our Geoff Dickens was struck by what Morales said:

Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) has opened a Pandora’s box.  Weldon has unearthed information suggesting that military intelligence had identified four suspected members of a terrorist cell operating in Brooklyn/>, NewYork/>/> in 2000.  The group included several 9/11 hijackers including ringleader Mohamed Atta. 

On Thursday night, Keith Olbermann interviewed anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on his Countdown show. While he did at least ask her about reports that her attitude toward Bush had changed since her meeting with him last year, he also did not challenge inflammatory accusations she made against the President, such as accusing him of the premeditated murder of her son.

Yesterday CNN’s Wolf Blitzer tried to get Bill Clinton to answer whether or not entering Iraq was a “mistake.”

BLITZER: So I assume that the answer is, yes, the war was a mistake. Is that your answer?

Have you heard about the Planned Parenthood Golden Gate pro-violence video that depicts violence towards pro-lifers and anyone who doesn’t agree with the agenda of Planned Parenthood?

Today's Washington Post carries a story by Dan Eggen that is rife with inaccuracies that paint the 9/11 Commission in a far better light than recent news would suggest. The article is headlines "Sept. 11 Panel Explores Allegations About Atta". Here are the first two paragraphs:

Staff members of the Sept.

During the panel segment on tonight's (Thursday) Special Report with Brit Hume on FNC, Fred Barnes recalled Joe Wilson and Bill Burkett as he wondered, "is there any left-wing publicity hound who the media won't build up?” Zeroing in on Cindy Sheehan, Barnes criticized both her and the media's treatment of her:

“This woman wants to go in and tell the President that the war is about oil because the President wants to pay off his buddies. She's a crackpot, and yet the press treats her as some important protestor.”