ABC Touts Calderon's 'Sharp Words' Swipe at U.S. for Inadequate Gun La

With “Sharp Words” forming the on-screen graphic, ABC anchor Diane Sawyer on Thursday night championed the domestic gun control argument espoused by a foreign leader trying to shift the blame for his nation's criminal activity, a remark neither CBS nor NBC found newsworthy:Mexico's President Felipe Calderon today challenged a joint session of Congress on gun control, asking that they reinstate a…

TV Reporter: Chicago's Gun Buyback Program 'Is Better Than Nothing, Ri

On Fox Chicago News Friday evening, reporter Tera Williams did a piece on Chicago's gun buyback program scheduled for today.  The city gives prepaid credit cards for weapons turned in.  This year it's paying $100 for each assault weapon, $75 for guns and $10 for BB guns, air guns and replica guns.Williams questioned several residents on the effectiveness of the program.  One man told her (at…

MSNBC Suggests Guns in Church 'Crossing the Line'; Omits Fact Armed Ch

Updated with audio and video (18:25 EDT)Picking up on a story from Louisiana about a bill to allow concealed carry for firearms in houses of worship, MSNBC's Tamron Hall asked viewers of the network's live coverage shortly before 3 p.m. EDT today if the legislation was "Crossing the Line."True to the segment's formula, only one side of the controversy was represented in the form of a guest to…

Pentagon Rescinds Franklin Graham’s Invitation, Al Sharpton is Welco

The Pentagon rescinded the invitation of evangelist Franklin Graham to speak at its May 6 National Day of Prayer event because of complaints about his previous comments about Islam. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation expressed its concern over Graham's involvement with the event in an April 19 letter sent to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. MRFF's complaint about Graham, the son of…

CNN's Brown Touts 'Rise in Right Wing Extremism;' Guest: SPLC 'Exagger

On her CNN program on Monday, Campbell Brown forwarded one of the Left's talking points about the tea parties by stating that "it does appear that we are seeing a rise in right wing extremism recently." However, her guest, historian Robert Churchill of the University of Hartford, downplayed her claim and claimed that groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center were "exaggerating" the threat.Brown…

Maddow Worries McVeigh's 'Voice from the Grave' Echoes, as She Plays H

For weeks, MSNBC has advertised Rachel Maddow's two-hour special broadcast about the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building. This special, aired on the 15-year anniversary of that bombing, was billed as a way for viewers to see what can happen if anti-government sentiment gets out of control. "So tonight, exactly 15 years later, this special edition of ‘The Rachel Maddow…

MSNBC Talking Points: Touting Obama as a Pro-gun President, Lecturing

MSNBC on Monday repeatedly promoted Barack Obama as a pro-Second Amendment President and chastised gun-rights activists for "worrying" so much over this issue. News Live host Monica Novotny talked to Skip Coryell, the founder of the Second Amendment march on Washington and complained, "What are you guys worried about?She then touted, "Our political unit today was reminding us in the First Read…

MSNBC Shocker: Firearms Deaths Fall As Gun Restrictions Ease

What's the likelihood of an EXTREMELY liberal media outlet publishing an article about firearm related homicides declining while permits to carry concealed weapons increase?About as likely as Keith Olbermann saying something nice about Sarah Palin, right?Well, on Wednesday, MSNBC.com actually published a piece with the following shocking headline: Shhh. Wait. It got better (h/t CNSNews via Weasel…

Gun Phobia in the News: Gun Dealer Denied Little-League Team, Unlike

Cam Edwards at NRANews.com passed along a New Jersey Star-Ledger story showing how gun dealers are held in low esteem. Matt Carmel of Maplewood, New Jersey was rejected when he applied to sponsor a little-league baseball team: Carmel, a licensed gun dealer, applied to sponsor a team in the local Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken baseball league, using the name of his business — Constitution Arms.He was…

CNN's Ali Velshi Supports Starbucks For Sticking to Its Guns

On Thursday's Newsroom, CNN anchor Ali Velshi unexpectedly supported Starbucks' decision to stand by its policy of letting gun-owning customers openly-carry their weapons in states where it is legal to do so. Despite hinting he didn't see the need for guns in coffee shops, Velshi stated it was "better for businesses not to weigh into this unwinnable debate."The anchor weighed in on the Starbucks…

Double Standard: NPR Applies Varying Terminology on Gun Rights vs. Abo

One's bias can come out in subtle ways depending on your world view, and try as National Public Radio may to be fair, their leanings are transparent. In a March 2 story on NPR's "Morning Edition," Nina Totenberg reported on a pending Supreme Court case involving the Second Amendment and how it applies state and local laws. Her story is specifically about a Chicago handgun ban and how those on…

WaPo Reporter Finds Experts Skeptical of Crime-reducing Efficacy of Vi

On Monday, I noted how the Washington Post editorialized against repeal of Virginia's 1993 one-handgun-per-month law. The Post reasoned in its top March 1 editorial that without the law "straw purchasers" could "serve as front men for criminals who come to the state to buy guns in large quantities."But today, in a Metro section front page story, Post reporter Fredrick Kunkle noted that experts in…

Seattle P-I, AJC Offer Slightly Loaded Headlines on AP Gun Case Story

Headlines can be an excellent window into the biases, albeit sometimes subtle, of editors. An AP story about a gun rights case, McDonald v. Chicago, challenging the Windy City's handgun ban before the Supreme Court today is one such example. "High court looks at reach of Second Amendment" reads the headline the Associated Press assigned its story by Mark Sherman. The AP's headline is pretty…

WaPo Defends Rationing of Gun Rights: One Gun a Month Is Enough, Virgi

Print newspapers are an ecological nightmare, what with the trees felled to make them, the fossil fuels burned to print and then deliver them, and the tons of unrecycled paper that millions of Americans toss into the garbage instead of a recycling bin. As such, do newspapers really need to print everyday? Isn't once a week, say Sunday, the most popular day for newspaper reading, enough for most…