Culture/Society

Martin Bashir once again demonstrates that he represents the bottom of the admittedly deep MSNBC barrel . . . On his MSNBC show this afternoon, Bashir suggested to a female guest that by his questioning at the Senate confirmation hearing of John Brennan, Senator Marco Rubio sought to demonstrate that he had "very strong testicles."  Bashir elicited nervous laughter and a duck of the head…

NPR's Ari Shapiro did little to conceal his slant towards same-sex "marriage" on Thursday's Morning Edition, as he reported on the Defense Department granting limited benefits to the same-sex partners of members of the military. Shapiro hyped that supposedly, "as a political move, the Pentagon's action is barely controversial." The openly-homosexual correspondent later asserted that "it's…

With this afternoon's Senate confirmation hearings for CIA director nominee John Brennan in view, the February 7 broadcast of Now with Alex Wagner devoted significant attention to the Obama administration's use of armed drones and the recently-leaked DOJ White Paper defending the legitimacy of drone strikes that explicitly targeted American civilians overseas.  For her part, host Alex Wagner…

Have a look at the image of President Obama that Al Sharpton repeatedly displayed during a segment of his MSNBC show this evening on the theme that the Obama agenda on immigration and gun control is gaining traction. It shows a stern-faced President Obama superimposed against the backdrop of a massive crowd.  At one point, Sharpton displayed a graphic reading "Taking Control." More after the…

A senior Defense Department official said the ban on women in combat should be lifted because the military's goal is "to provide a level, gender-neutral playing field." I'd like to think the goal of the military should be to have the toughest, meanest fighting force possible. But let's look at "gender-neutral playing field." The Army's physical fitness test in basic training is a three-event…

On Wednesday, Poynter.org's Andrew Beaujon spotlighted NPR's new targeted ad campaign in four cities: Dallas, Indianapolis, San Diego, and Orlando. Beaujeau noted that the "ads on billboards, trains, in print and online....[are] NPR's first-ever such effort...Funded by a $750,000 grant from the Ford Foundation". The online writer also pointed out an eyebrow-raising ad campaign from WBEZ,…

In a new Lean Forward promo spot for MSNBC, Politics Nation host the Rev. Al Sharpton invoked the language of the Pledge of Allegiance, sans the term "under God." In the spot, Sharpton rattled off a laundry list of pet issues that MSNBC obsessed over in 2012 as he dreamed of a "nation that is really living up to the creed of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." [MP3 audio…

In his ongoing campaign to demonize the National Rifle Association and with it defenders of 2nd Amendment rights in general, MSNBC's Martin Bashir featured left-wing Rolling Stone journalist Tim Dickinson to promote his hit piece on the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. Liberal Democratic strategist Julian Epstein, who added more reverb in the anti-gun echo chamber, joined Dickinson…

Take heart, everyone: the NFL is changing. Football players these days are more tolerant, more willing to embrace social progress. They are moving in the direction of the country as a whole. Such were the conclusions reached by CBS’s Jim Axelrod. In a segment aired one day before the Super Bowl on CBS Saturday Morning, Axelrod proudly told his audience that players’ attitudes toward gay…

What’s more embarrassing, hateful, ignorant and racist than a “right-winger”? Not much, according to MTV. The youth oriented network’s reality show “True Life” ran an episode called “I hate the government” last Friday which detailed the lives of three “right-wingers.” The episode description reads: “Amelia, Caleb and Andrew are three right-wingers who despise the very thing that holds our…

On February 1, 2003, seven astronauts on board Space Shuttle Columbia died during re-entry as they returned to Earth from the STS-107 mission. Friday was the 10th anniversary of the disaster, but none of the Big Three networks morning newscasts marked this somber occasion. ABC's Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, and NBC's Today understandably devoted considerable broadcast time to the…

Ben Cosgrove of Time magazine's sister publication Life penned a piece today concerning gun safety in the 1950s, saying it was important for historical context about the gun control debate in today's political environment. The Life editor dusted off a March 1956 Life story on an Indiana conservation officer teaching grade school children basic gun safety, using real shotguns and bolt-action…

Hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee held Newtown-inspired gun control hearings, MSNBC's Morning Joe program brought on former Playboy chairwoman and CEO Christie Hefner to warn that warmer weather in Chicago has been a contributing factor in the number of gun deaths in the Windy City.  "[W]e are having this climate change effect that is driving" young men in Chicago to commit 500…

On Wednesday's CBS This Morning, Nancy Cordes falsely characterized the weapon used in the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona. Cordes noted that former astronaut Mark Kelly, "whose wife...Gabrielle Giffords was badly injured in the Tucson shooting," would call for a ban on "assault weapons like the one that was used to wound his wife and kill six others." However, Jared Loughner, the…