Franken Bullies Comcast, NBC on Merger: 'I Don't Trust These Promises
After hearing the wit and wisdom of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., one has to wonder how modern media corporations could stay in business without the expertise and guidance of those elected to the U.S. Senate.Sarcasm aside, Franken did admit during a Feb. 4 hearing he didn't necessarily have legal expertise to address the Comcast-NBC Universal merger, but he could more than make up for that…
Piling On: 6 of 12 Vids in AP's Web Site Rotation are About Toyota
Why are the Associated Press's video people piling on Toyota? Moments ago, in going to business-related stories at hosted.ap.org (example here), I found that the rotation of video teases the AP is presenting to readers has 12 items. Six of them, presented consecutively, relate to Toyota. Each is negative. No doubt the situations in which the company is involved are newsworthy, but is one…
AP Plays 'Hide the Numbers' In Its Unemployment Claims Report
You would think that someone going to the trouble of reporting on something would at least provide the most basic of relevant numbers so that readers could understand what they're telling us.That isn't the case with the 11:51 a.m. version of Uncle Sam's report on unemployment claims by the Associated Press's Stephen Bernard and Tim Paradis. Their report failed to specifically state what analysts…
Obama Submits Largest Budget in History, But Networks Portray Him as F
President Obama just submitted a $3.8 trillion budget proposal, the largest federal budget ever, which will come with a "record amount of red ink." The projected deficit of that budget would be $1.6 trillion, yet the networks didn't criticize him for being spendy. To put this in perspective: Obama is proposing a budget $700 billion larger than big spender Pres. George W. Bush's last budget. It's…
ABC’s Robin Roberts Lauds Pay Czar for Slamming CEOs: ‘We Can Feel
Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts didn’t even try for objectivity on Wednesday when she talked to pay czar Kenneth Feinberg about his attempts to stop AIG CEOs from receiving bonuses. "We can feel the fire in your belly," she enthused after Feinberg touted the administration’s efforts at reining in bonuses. "And that's great to see," Roberts opined. After Feinberg proudly told Roberts, "…
Santelli: Media's Coverage of Economy, Tea Parties 'Very Much Lacking
Rick Santelli is the star of perhaps the most politically consequential online video, viral to the extreme, of the past year (right). On February 19, 2009 he let loose on the Obama administration's economic policies on CNBC's "Squawk Box", calling for a "tea party", and inspiring millions of Americans to speak out against what he and many others see as collectivist economics policies pursued by…
Financial Times Reporter: Is Next Year Too Soon to Address Deficit
Only a liberal could imagine that addressing the federal deficit and creating jobs might be mutually exclusive. On MSNBC's Feb. 3 "Morning Joe," Chrystia Freeland of The Financial Times asked Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., whether she agreed with President Obama's stated intention of addressing the deficit next year. "Senator, we've also heard from the president that next year - in his budget…
CNBC's Santelli Brandishes Hammer to Illustrate Obamanomics
As the old cliché goes, you don't use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but according to Rick Santelli, that's exactly what it appears the Obama administration is doing terms of financial regulation and fiscal discipline. On CNBC's Feb. 2 broadcast of "Fast Money," host Melissa Lee proposed that taxing the wealthy is not the path to "economic prosperity and fiscal stability." Santelli, the network'…
Katie Couric Gets Some of Her Own Class Warfare Medicine for $14m Sala
Update - 2/4, 11:46 AM | Lachlan Markay: CBS News President Sean McManus has denied that the network will cut Couric's pay. Details below.Katie Couric may be getting a taste of her own populist medicine. When the Dow hit 10,000 last October, she (and other network news personalities) used the opportunity to bemoan massive payments to Wall Street bankers. But now the populist sentiment has turned…
Scarborough Shows Low Taxes = Low Unemployment in New Hampshire
Want proof low taxes work? Just take a look at the state of New Hampshire, as MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough astutely pointed out. On the Feb. 2 broadcast of his MSNBC program, Scarborough interviewed Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Shaheen's home state was hosting a jobs town hall put on by President Barack Obama and Scarborough used the occasion for a teachable moment. "Now, usually…
Poor Baby: Obama Inherited 'Hollow Prize' Of United States
Poor Barack Obama. In becoming president he inherited the "hollow prize" of the United States of America. That was the astounding theory suggested this morning by Melissa Harris-Lacewell.The Princeton professor of politics and African-American studies bemoaned the president's predicament on Morning Joe today. Apparently this "hollow prize" theory is in vogue in certain circles, used to decry…
'Created or Saved' Jobs Rubric Quietly Scrapped by White House, Story
On Saturday, the Obama administration quietly scrapped the "created or saved" rubric for measuring the president's success in job creation. Covering the story, the Washington Post today also quietly noted the news, placing the story --entitled "Stimulus created 600,000 jobs at the end of 2009, White House says" -- on page A15. The Post's Ed O'Keefe wrote the 18-paragraph story (emphasis mine):
Calculating Jobs a Muddled Mess – Press Presents it as Fact
The White House continues to throw out random numbers in their quest to convince the public that their behemoth stimulus bill is saving jobs at a massive rate. The confusion has even seeped into the President's biggest support group - the media. CNN recently announced how the stimulus plan funded nearly 600,000 jobs this past quarter. In their article, which parrots the numbers provided by the…
Obama Pledges To Rein In Budget Deficits During Weekly Address
In his weekly address Saturday, President Obama promised to rein in the spiraling budget deficits citing three specific steps to meet this goal. Readers are encouraged to review his plan, and offer comments about its efficacy and probability of being implemented. An embedded video and full transcript of this address are below the fold:
