Campaigns & Elections

A NewsBusters tipster found a perfect example of why those who monitor journalists' original news coverage should look at all iterations of stories they file. Doing so reveals whether coverage of a story improves or degrades over time. It also occasionally exposes biases reporters otherwise try to cover up. The Associated Press's Ben Feller, tasked with writing a story immediately following…

NBC late-night host Jimmy Fallon somehow doesn't think it's enough to "slow jam the news" with President Obama, or exercise with the First Lady in the East Room of the White House. As the Democratic convention closed, he performed a James Taylor impression, singing the hit "Fire and Rain" with the joke title "Romney and Bain." The Huffington Post boasted "It's also a pretty explicit endorsement…

Guess John Harwood was feeling lucky today.  CNBC's chief Washington correspondent went on the Today show and boldly proclaimed that not only did Clint Eastwood not accomplish his mission with his RNC speech, but that the speech is almost universally viewed by political professionals as "a big blunder, a big set-back for Mitt Romney." Harwood did not adduce a scintilla of evidence in support…

Once a day for 25 days, NewsBusters is showcasing the most egregious bias the Media Research Center has uncovered over the years — four quotes for each of the 25 years of the MRC, 100 quotes total — all leading up to our big 25th Anniversary Gala on September 27. (Click here for ticket information) So far, we’ve published the worst quotes from 1988 through 1993 (you can find those here).…

The fashionistas in the “objective” press displayed their favoritism by boosting Michelle Obama’s convention speech dress and quoted flagrant Michelle-boosters like Kate Betts, who insisted whatever stylishness the Republican women had they owed to the pioneering Mrs. Obama. On Wednesday, the Associated Press posted a story headlined, “Michelle Obama gets raves for Tracy Reese dress,” and…

On Friday's NBC Today, less than two hours before another poor jobs report, co-host Matt Lauer touted a bold economic prediction: "Some of the analysts I've been reading have said that no matter who is president over the next four years, the economy will add about 12 million jobs just because of the cycle it's in." CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer agreed with the rosy scenario: "...a lot of pent-…

MTV really wants young people to head to the voting booth in droves. This would be a good thing if MTV execs didn’t blatantly schill for lefty ideology in their new “Power of 12” promo. The new get-out-the-vote ad aired at the 2012 Video Music Awards, and hawked the slogan the “power of 45 million young people will decide the outcome of the 2012 election.” It featured a series of images…

Washington Post TV writer Lisa de Moraes made a big deal on Friday about how Bill Clinton’s extremely verbose Wednesday night convention speech (when you add up seven networks) apparently trumped the season premiere of NFL football (which aired just on NBC.) Actually, football beat Clinton, until the Post made a special mathematical effort to include ratings estimates from Current TV and PBS…

How deep are MSNBC and its parent company Comcast in the tank for the Democrats?  So deep that even the New York Times [!] has headlined an article "Welcome to the MSNBC, Er, Democratic Convention."  [H/t Mediaite] The article details how MSNBC personalities were treated like rock stars by adoring Dems.  Even more telling is this: "Four years ago, there was open anxiety inside MSNBC over…

Responding to a week of non-stop attacks on his speech to the Republican National Convention last Thursday, Hollywood superstar Clint Eastwood blasted his critics, saying they were “obviously on the left” and that they couldn’t bear to hear him tell the truth about their hero, President Barack Obama. “President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” Eastwood told…

Comparing the RNC and DNC conventions on Friday's NBC Today, MSNBC Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough declared a knockout for Democrats: "...if we're going pound for pound, round for round, this wasn't Ali versus Frasier, this was Muhammed Ali versus Chuck Wepner...It was ugly..." The liberal crowd assembled around Scarborough at a bar in Charlotte all cheered and applauded the statement. [Listen…

Even the journalists on the liberal NBC, CBS and ABC morning shows had a hard time spinning Barack Obama's acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention. On Friday's Today show, Chuck Todd glumly conceded, "Look, aides acknowledge this wasn't his most poetic speech, not on par with his previous convention speeches and maybe not even the best convention speech of the week." [MP3 audio…

Mercifully, the political conventions have ended. The political press will keep buzzing over whether Clint Eastwood's unconventional speech helped or hurt Mitt Romney and whether the snafu over Israel and God in the Democratic platform will do any lasting damage to President Obama. Republican reporters will think former President Clinton talked too long, and Democrats will note that New…

The Daily Caller published two troubling stories by Matthew Boyle yesterday. The first, referring to email evidence, contends that senior Obama reelection campaign adviser David Axelrod has attempted "to subtly intimidate the respected polling firm when its numbers were unfavorable to the president," and that in August, "After Gallup declined to change its polling methodology, Obama’s…