Politico's Calderone Compiles a Quality 2009 Media Blunder List -- And
December 31st, 2009 11:04 AM
Michael Calderone,Doing it Right UPDATE #2 - ALSO BELOW THE FOLD. UPDATE BELOW THE FOLD - THE ESTEEMED MR. CALDERONE RESPONDS. ------------- CORRECTION: I said the Washington Post was on the hook twice on Calderone's list. H/t to NBer Dean who pointed out it's three - #s 2, 7 & 10. A thousand apologies, and thanks to The Man from the People's Republic of…
Times Watch's Top Ten Lowlights of the New York Times in
December 30th, 2009 2:07 PM
2009 began as a year of smiles at the Times, with rapture over the "historic" Obama administration. Reporters showered partisan praise on Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and first lady Michelle Obama. Meanwhile, the Times resolutely buried emerging left-wing scandals over ACORN and Obama adviser Van Jones. But the smile curdled into a defensive snarl during the long hot summer of "…
Wrapping Up 2009's Search for Christmas (Year
December 29th, 2009 1:18 PM
This is the fifth year I have looked into how the media treats these two topics: The use of “Christmas shopping season” vs. “holiday shopping season” (note how the AP photo at right uses “holiday” and not “shopping,” even though there is a C-C-, Chr-Chr-Christmas tree in the picture). The frequency of Christmas and holiday layoff references. I have done three sets of simple Google News…
GMA's Elizabeth Vargas Pushes James Carville to Attack GOP
December 29th, 2009 1:01 PM
On Tuesday's edition of Good Morning America, Elizabeth Vargas was joined by former Bush pollster Matt Dowd and Democrat strategist James Carville. Astonishing though it may seem, Carville was not the left-most member of the panel.Carville and Dowd were there to provide commentary on the Obama administration's response to the attempted Undi-Bomber attack. Dowd agreed with Carville's assessment…
Relief Without Limits: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Get Blank Checks; NYT P
December 27th, 2009 9:42 AM
On Thursday, the Treasury Department issued a press release, called "Update on Status of Support for Housing Programs." Its fourth paragraph reads as follows: At the time the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship in September 2008, Treasury established Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) to ensure that each firm maintained a positive…
Flight 253: AP Scrubs 'M-Word,' Potential Relevance of 'Nigerian Talib
December 26th, 2009 12:02 PM
It has been interesting watching the Associated Press reports on the attempted takedown of Flight 253 devolve in the past 12-plus hours. In its 8:56 a.m. report (likely dynamic and subject to change), it looks like the assemblage of AP writers who worked on the story have succeeded in: As Mark Finkelstein at NewsBusters noted earlier this morning in the case of the New York Times, ridding the…
Guess The Missing Word In NY Times Report On Attempted Plane Bombing
December 26th, 2009 8:23 AM
Imagine that there had been a series of three incidents in which members of a [invented for present purposes] fanatical Jewish sect had attempted to bring down airliners from Arab countries. In reporting on the latest attempt and describing the previous ones, do you think the New York Times might have mentioned the religion of the perpetrators? So do I.But with the legerdemain required to…
AP's Babington Plays Obama/Dem Party Mouthpiece, Ignores CBO 'Double-C
December 26th, 2009 8:22 AM
The Associated Press should seriously consider renaming itself "Associated Dems" or "Associated Leftists." This morning, the AP's Charles Babington uncritically relays the latest Democratic Party talking point about its statist health care plan that has been passed in two very different forms in the House and Senate. The supposed point is that anyone who voted to create Medicare Part D in 2003…
GM Indefinitely Lays Off More Workers Barely a Week After It Said It W
December 23rd, 2009 3:32 PM
On December 8, Susan Gustafson at MLive.com proclaimed that "GM's announcement of no more layoffs is good news after years of hemorrhaging jobs": General Motors' announcement this morning that it plans no further layoffs in the immediate future is huge news for both the automaker and Michigan as a whole after years of steady erosion in the ranks of hourly and salaried workers..... the company…
Not News: Obama EO Removes Restrictions on INTERPOL
December 23rd, 2009 2:20 PM
Here are some examples of Executive Orders issued by President Obama that have received New York Times or Associated Press coverage: NYT, October 29 -- "Obama Order Strengthens Spy Oversight" (the browser window title is "Obama Moves to Roll Back Bush Changes to Intelligence Oversight Board"). NYT, October 2 -- "Obama Prohibits Federal Employees From Texting While Driving for Work." NYT,…
MRC-TV: On Breitbart 's B-Cast, Motley Discusses the Media's Flagrant
December 23rd, 2009 1:14 PM
We Give It a Solid B+ Yesterday, Media Research Center (MRC) Director of Communications and NewsBusters Contributing Editor sat down with Breitbart.tv's Liz Stephans and Scott Baker to discuss the media not discussing the major rifts that exist between liberals and Democrats and Democrats and Democrats on the health care legislation wending its way fitfully…
MSNBC's Shuster Continues to Ignore Dem Senator's Incendiary 'Aryan' S
December 22nd, 2009 6:37 PM
Yesterday, joined by substitute co-host Lynn Berry, MSNBC's David Shuster wondered of Sen. Tom Coburn, "what was he thinking," in regards to a comment the Oklahoma Republican made on the Senate floor Sunday which Shuster interpreted in the worst possible light. Coburn, Shuster suggested to his "Big Picture" audience, was hoping a Democratic senator would drop dead before the 1 a.m. cloture vote.…
MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Runs Sen. Whitehouse's 'Aryan' Accusation -- Bar
December 22nd, 2009 12:36 PM
The Republican minority in the Senate found an unlikely defender today: MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-host, Mika Brzezinski.Yesterday, the Brew Crew played the video for the Democrat talking point attack on Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), but omitted the ghoulish statement by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.):They [the GOP] are desperate to break this president. They have ardent supporters who are nearly…
AP Word Games: 'Pork' and 'Earmarks' Transformed Into 'Local Projects
December 22nd, 2009 12:07 PM
In connection with the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending monstrosity signed into law last week, an unbylined AP report on December 16 told us the following (bolds are mine throughout this post): Most Republicans opposed the bill, citing runaway federal spending. They also pointed to an estimated $3.9 billion for more than 5,000 local projects sought by lawmakers from both parties. The AP writer…