Media Bias Debate

I was reading Associated Press reporter Sam Hananel's coverage ("Unions see sharp membership declines again") of Uncle Sam's latest report on union membership, and I came to this paragraph about what happened with private-sector union representation in 2010: Union membership in the private sector fell from 7.2 percent to 6.9 percent, a low point not seen since the infancy of the labor…

At several points in 2010 (just one example: at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog; graphic), I pointed out that despite the federal government's continued insistence that its budget deficit for fiscal 2010 was on track to come in lower than fiscal 2009, the deficit based on real spending would be, and turned out to be, higher in fiscal 2010. That's important to know, as clever year-crossing accounting…

"Postscript: Sargent Shriver" appears on The New Yorker's Web site today.  In it, senior editor Hendrik Hertzberg writes: In 1972, when George McGovern’s original running mate, Senator Thomas Eagleton, had to withdraw, Shriver defied the family pecking order by taking Eagleton’s place on the ticket. The Democrats had their problems that year, but Shriver wasn’t one of them. He was a…

In an interview with CNSNews.com last week, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) referenced President Obama's African-American heritage last week and "found it remarkable" that he could be pro-abortion. Santorum, later clarifying his comments under media scrutiny, said he meant he is dismayed that a President who "rightfully" fights for civil rights ignores the civil rights of the unborn…

A liberal radio host who in 2004 referred to Condoleezza Rice as an "Aunt Jemima," is at it again with hateful rhetoric against a female Republican politician. [h/t e-mail tipster Gerald Harrison] Just don't hold your breath for the guardians of civility in politics at MSNBC to make a federal case of it. On Monday, WTDY radio host John "Sly" Sylvester mocked Wisconsin's new Lieutenant…

NBC's failure to cover the Democratic congressman who compared Republicans to Nazis on the House floor trickled down to MSNBC yesterday, as anchor Lawrence O'Donnell neglected the story in favor of smearing House Speaker John Boehner and syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh. After spending more than six minutes railing against House Republicans for repealing Obama's health care overhaul in a…

"My comprehension of the English language can't adequately describe the barbaric nature of Dr. [Kermit] Gosnell." That's how a horrified District Attorney Seth Williams (D) described the abortionist arrested yesterday for murdering newborn babies in his squalid Philadelphia clinic. It appears Gosnell's clinic had been ignored by medical regulators for years as the abortionist performed…

Guests on Hannity's "Great American Panel" referenced NewsBusters yesterday as a leading watchdog of the liberal media. Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky likened NewsBusters to liberal blogs that attempt to, as Fox News anchor Sean Hannity put it, monitor conservative shows for phrases that "they can take out of context and target advertisers to try to silence opposition or get them fired…

After spending close to two weeks bemoaning the state of political dialogue in America and wondering about its connection to the shooting of a Congresswoman, NBC has, thus far, completely ignored a Democratic Representative comparing the Republicans to Nazis and the Holocaust. On Wednesday, Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen smeared, "They say it's a government takeover of health care. A big…

The folks in the establishment press are looking for any sign of upward movement in the housing market, especially in new home construction, that they can portray positively as the beginning of a general recovery. That desperate search explains the content of the following e-mail alert from CNN which arrived in my inbox this morning:

Tamron Hall was joined by her MSNBC colleague Dylan Ratigan on Wednesday's edition of "News Nation" in condemning some members of corporate America for the way they have "demonized" the Obama administration. That slight of American businesses came during a dicussion of President Hu Jintao's U.S visit, in which Ratigan remarked that President Obama's greatest challenge will not be dealing with…

Carrying his sermonizing from his MSNBC morning show to Politico, Joe Scarborough railed against inflammatory political rhetoric in his latest Politico column – but hit conservative talk while ignoring leftist vitriol. Calling them out by name, as he did recently on his show "Morning Joe," Scarborough pleaded with conservatives that if they can't be civil out of righteousness, they could at…

Almost immediately after the shooting in Tucson that killed six people and left Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords severely wounded, the media establishment linked the attack with a debate about “civility,” suggesting an association between Jared Loughner’s rampage and the words and phrases used in national political debates. Many of these network news stories offered ambiguous…

On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reported on Sarah Palin's first interview since the Tucson shooting: "She accused the Left and the news media of trying to destroy her message, trying to destroy her, said she was being accused of being an accessory to murder." Cordes forgot to mention her role in furthering those accusations against the former Alaska…