Media Bias Debate

CNN personalities Jack Cafferty and Howard Kurtz made a sudden confession of the mainstream media’s imbalanced coverage of Barack Obama versus John McCain on Thursday’s "The Situation Room." First, in his 5 pm Eastern hour "The Cafferty File," Cafferty labeled the media’s planned coverage of Obama’s first overseas trip since becoming the presumptive nominee an "extravaganza." He then gave some…

MRC President and NewsBusters Publisher Brent Bozell appeared on today's "Fox & Friends" around 8:15 a.m. EDT. The topic: Barack Obama's biggest fans, the three network anchors, taking their bias on the road following the Illinois senator to Iraq. [audio available here]Quipped Bozell:If the networks were governed by the FDA, they would have recalled the word "news" from these guys. The…

After the firestorm that erupted Saturday over the Associated Press's classless story on the death of former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, I was hoping that the possibly-chastened wire service could get through its coverage of his funeral without getting in any gratuitous digs. In that horrid Saturday story (blogged at NewsBusters and BizzyBlog), the AP's Douglass K. Daniel, with the…

MRC Director of Research and NewsBusters Senior Editor Rich Noyes appeared on the July 17 "Election HQ" program on Fox News Channel. Noyes appeared opposite liberal columnist Ellis Henican to discuss whether there was a double standard by the media in covering Sens. McCain and Obama and their foreign trips. [Audio available here.]The Big Three network news anchors are planning on traveling to…

"Authenticity a priority for the other Obama," blares the headline for a puffy July 17 Denver Post story on the Illinois senator's wife Michelle Obama. The story by staffers Suzanne Brown and Dana Coffield lamented that: Michelle Obama's life as a contemporary political wife has been rocky at times. Her work life has been scrutinized. Papers she wrote as a senior in college have been dredged up…

While Thursday’s New York Times reported that the anchors from all three network newscasts will be joining Barack Obama on his trip to Iraq, they showed no such interest in following John McCain during his visit to Iraq in March. During the week of March 16, McCain’s trip received only four full-length stories during the combined ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news program coverage. Three of those…

A visit to the Vanderbilt TV News archives (no link; registration is required) reveals that on September 20, 1996: GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole was trying to make up lost ground against incumbent President Bill Clinton, while Ross Perot was filing a Federal Elections Commission complaint over being excluded from televised presidential debates. It was disclosed that Unabomber suspect Ted…

Larry Hunter claims he is a "lifelong conservative." Yet, in his recent New York Daily News article, he also says he is voting for Barack Obama for president. The two simply cannot coexist. One has to be obliterated in favor of the other. And, regardless of the facile reasoning Hunter gives for his apostasy, this article does nothing to support any supposed conservative cause. It does, however,…

So much of the liberal bias on cable networks is visual. It can impact the casual viwer on the treadmill at the gym watching with the audio off. Case in point is the video embedded at right from the July 15 edition of "The Situation Room" on CNN. [audio available here]In it, anchor Wolf Blitzer tries to put a substantial wedge between House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and presumptive…

H/t texascajunWe can debate the propriety of mentioning the name of banks that might be in financial trouble.  But one thing appears clear to Chris Cuomo [file photo]: it would be wrong to mention the name of a Democrat who could be in hot water.  Wouldn't want to cause a run on the Dem's political capital, after all. Cuomo's discretion was on display during today's Good Morning America. …

Update at bottom of post.Leave it to CNN to worry that the Colombian government committed a war crime in its recent rescue of FARC hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.This morning in the Latest News menu on CNN.com, I found this teaser headline (shown in screen capture at right): "Did Colombia skirt law in hostage rescue?"My curiosity piqued, I followed the link to…

The leftists of the nutroots went gaga when Barack Obama claimed that he'd stand against taking money from lobbyists with his campaign for president and so did the media. It was because, of course, he was for a "new era" in politics. He is for "change." Isn't he special, the nutrooters and media sigh contentedly. Well, apparently Obama's standard of a "new age" in politics doesn't carry too far…

How insulated is the MSM? In how much of a liberal cocoon does it exist? For an answer, consider the vile cartoon displayed here.  My guess is that the great majority of NewsBusters readers are familiar with it.  But John Harwood—of the New York Times and CNBC—has never seen it.That became clear on today's Morning Joe. The topic was the TV comedy world's double-standard, in which Republicans are…

I received this CNNMoney.com e-mail just before 6 PM ET: Hmmm. So they think it's all on Ben's shoulders. The headline at the Associated Press's coverage by Adam Schreck says that the drop was due to "bad economic news." But at least one person quoted earlier today (11:26 a.m., according to the link; HT NixGuy) had a different view, and he said what he said to CNNMoney.com, the same outfit that…