Media Bias Debate

With 15 minutes of fame comes 15 hours of “gotcha” scrutiny -- especially if you’re a voter who has dared to criticize Barack Obama, the liberal media’s Chosen One for president.Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher has had his 15 minutes of fame, capping it off with an unplanned appearance as the poster boy of populist tax policy in last night’s presidential debate. So now it’s time for the press to…

Just in time for the final weeks of the presidential election campaign, Gallup has added a nuance to its polling presentations. Instead of merely presenting "registered" and "likely" voters, the polling firm has decided to present a third category: an "expanded" version of likely voters. This third category is in addition to its "traditional" likely-voter presentation. My look at Gallup's October…

Apparently the Washington Post thinks it has an ethics violation to hold against Cindy McCain, wife of GOP presidential candidate John McCain. The Post is trying to claim that Cindy McCain somehow illicitly got a portable cell tower delivered to her remote Arizona ranch so that their phones would work there. The truth is, however, the Secret Service ordered up the portable cell tower, not Cindy…

The New York Times posted on its website Wednesday political writer Matt Bai's long profile of Barack Obama, which will be featured in the next edition of the Times Sunday Magazine. Near the end of the 8,800-word piece, in which Bai talked to Obama on his campaign plane, the Democrat dropped a backhanded tribute to Fox News, which by his lights is not only frustrating him in the polls, but is…

With Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin receiving some return fire from the media for their criticism of the press, it's interesting to note that they are not alone in criticizing the media at this point in the campaign cycle. In an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Democratic candidate Barack Obama lashed out at Fox News Channel, accusing it of portraying him as an "arrogant…

CNN anchor John Roberts complained in an October 15 interview to Media Life magazine about the "Media Research Council" (he meant Media Research Center) giving him an award in 2001 for being one of the most liberally biased journalists during George W. Bush's first 100 days in office. In the interview, Roberts labeled himself an "equal opportunity holder of feet to the fire," and lamented that "…

While the media were aghast while the Republicans booed the New York Times at McCain-Palin rallies – Jon Stewart suggested they might be "against reading" -- the Democrats were booing Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly in Athens, Ohio, today at a Joe Biden rally. Does this encourage vicious hate, or even violence against the Fox News stars? Washington Post reporter Perry Bacon blogged it as a sign of…

Gee, and I thought I might be pushing the envelope on September 28 when I expressed concern that the "bailout" with the made-up $700 billion price tag that turned into the pork-loaded "bailout" with the made-up $850 billion price tag "blackmail" (though "extortion" may be the more appropriate word). It is clear that this is indeed the case, at least twice over. First, there were the threats made…

We are approaching halftime of Round Two of the MRC's Sweet-On-Obama Sixteen Media Bias Tournament. If you haven't yet cast your ballots from among the Enamored Eight, it's time to do so. And if you have, check back often to keep tabs on your picks.We now proudly unveil on NewsBusters.org the trophy that we will present to the Media's Most Valuable Partisan (MVP) -- the winner of the Sweet-On-…

A Colombian associate of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is once again linked to FARC terrorists and Marxist Dictator Hugo Chavez with the revelation of damning new messages concerning Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba that are currently being investigated by Colombian military officials. Once again we have a powerful American politician, this one the Speaker of the House of Representatives…

Three weeks out from Election Day, surely more Americans are tuning into the Big 3 networks' evening newscasts, right? Wrong. In the past two weeks, Big 3 evening newscast viewership has actually declined by 360,000, or 1.6%. What's more, in percentage terms, viewership among "The Demo" of ages 25-54 has declined even further (220,000, down 3.1%). Here are the rest of the gory details for total…

Oliver Stone's "W." is "boring" cinema, not much more than "illustrated journalism," lamented Time's Richard Corliss in an October 13 review.:Like its central character, it seems never to have questioned itself about its mission or even asked if it had one. For this normally crazy-brilliant auteur, the last and lasting W. has to be Why? But perhaps Corliss's real beef is that President Bush and…