Did AP and Rugaber, Obsessed With Managing Economic Expectations, Spin
Yesterday was sort of "Pick on Christopher Rugaber at the Associated Press Day." So when I came across a particularly reprehensible report he filed last night whining about the difficulty the economy may face in meeting heightened expectations -- with yet another reference to the wire service's obsession with its relevance to President Obama's approval ratings and reelection -- I let it go.…
Rush: 'There Is Shellshock' That Campaign to Marginalize Him Hasn't Wo
In the second half of his second hour today, Rush Limbaugh followed up on a phone call from a "Victor in Atlanta." Vince is concerned that many Americans like him, even though they want a different president, are "zapped out of enthusiasm."
Rush took Vince's call as an opportunity to look at the Sandra Fluke controversy of the past week and use its results as an indicator that enthusiasm for…
NYTimes Editor Rosenthal: 'Bull...' and 'Pernicious Nonsense' to Sugge
It's "bull..." and "pernicious nonsense" to suggest the New York Times is the liberal equivalent of Fox News, says Editorial Page editor Andrew Rosenthal, because "Fox News presents the news in a way that is deliberately skewed to promote political causes, and the New York Times simply does not."
Rosenthal was one of several guests on a Freakonomics podcast back on February 16 (h/t Jim…
Liberal Comedian Louis CK Withdraws from Media Dinner After Van Suster
Earlier today, Van Susteren announced on her blog that she will not be attending the Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner hosted in DC every year. This dinner is being headlined by liberal comedian Louis C.K. who has said a number of offensive statements about Sarah Palin and other women that are far in excess of anything ever said by Rush Limbaugh on the air. Update below: C.…
Bozell, Hannity Discuss Media's Ongoing Push to Paint GOP As Waging 'W
"There's only one person who's trying to insert the reproductive rights debate into this campaign," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted in the "Media Mash" segment of the March 8 edition of Fox News Channel's Hannity.
It's Barack Obama who made this a live issue when he moved to push religious institutions to provide contraception, even if it violates their religious conscience to do so…
Halperin: Romney Has Horrible Relationship With Media, But 'It's Not A
Mark Halperin says Mitt Romney's campaign has the worst relationship with the media of any major candidate he's covered. But, according to the man from Time, it has nothing to do with the fact that Romney is the front-runner to take on the MSM's Chosen One. No, Halperin assures us, "it's not a partisan thing." The fault lies entirely with the Romney campaign itself, which reportedly has kept…
Rush Rips AP's Rugaber for 'Intentionally Misleading' in Report on Une
Earlier today (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted the press's ridiculously forgiving coverage of today's reported increase in unemployment claims while concentrating primarily on RTT News's assertion that the unemployment rate should continue to come down as long as weekly claims stay below 400,000. Three years ago, Christopher Rugaber's threshold at the Associated Press, also known to…
War on Rush Update: NB Publisher Bozell Addresses Hypocrisy In Letters
Updated at bottom of post | This morning, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell sent letters to Jay Farner and David Friend, the presidents of Quicken Loans and Carbonite, respectively, addressing the hypocrisy of how their companies pulled out of the Rush Limbaugh program over comments for which the conservative talker has since apologized, even as they continue…
More Grading on the Curve: At RTT, Acceptable Weekly Unemployment Clai
The Department of Labor reported today that initial claims for unemployment benefits increased to 362,000 from an upwardly revised (as usual) 354,000 the previous week. Expectations were for a reading of 351,000 (Business Insider's email) or 352,000 (Bloomberg).
Over at the Associated Press, also known as the Administration's Press, the headlined reaction in its 9:17 a.m. report was: "…
Clarence Page Falsely Asserts Fluke Testified 'Before a Congressional
On the Chicago Tribune's Web site and in its print edition today, columnist Clarence Page asks hopefully "Could this be the end of Limbaugh?"
Seizing on the usual Democratic points regarding Rush Limbaugh's comments about law student Sandra Fluke, Page writes that Limbaugh wasn't suspended, "despite his breathtaking assault against a private citizen whose only crime, after all, was to…
Howard Kurtz: Bachmann Should Have Expected Verbal Abuse Because She R
Michele Bachmann complained that although the media are outraged over an insult of Sandra Fluke, "there is no level of vitriol that's beyond the pale" when the victims are conservative women. CNN's Howard Kurtz questioned that assumption since Bachmann ran for president and should have expected "a lot of criticism." Apparently, running for president nowadays subjects you and your family to vile…
CBS's Jan Crawford: Mrs. Santorum's 'Frustration' With Media 'Understa
Jan Crawford spotlighted Karen Santorum's "frustrations with the media" on Tuesday's CBS This Morning, adding that it was "understandable. They've been mocked by some for how they grieved the loss of their infant son." Crawford also noted how Mrs. Santorum's "life...has been under a microscope. In nearly every story written about her, it's mentioned she lived with a doctor...[who] performed…
Liberal Radio Host Glad Breitbart's Dead, Would Pour Weed Killer on Hi
A few days ago, conservative author Ann Coulter summed up the left's reaction to the death of Andrew Breitbart with this statement: "Even in death he shows liberals in their true colors". With that, those true colors, the same rage and venom being spewed in Breitbart's direction, continues.
Last week, we saw Rolling Stone publish a piece in which author Matt Taibbi lamented how happy he was…
U.S. 'Tent Cities,' Sharp Increase in Homelessness Ignored by Almost E
Over at the Associated Press in a report with a Tuesday morning time stamp, Christopher Rugaber produced yet another predictable lemonade-from-lemons story about how the economy is allegedly "improving faster than economists had expected. They now foresee slightly stronger growth and hiring than they did two months earlier - trends that would help President Barack Obama's re-election hopes."…
