GMAC Continues Sponsorship of Bowl Game Despite $5 Billion Taxpayer Ba

GMAC may be in financial trouble, but that isn't stopping the auto lender-turned-bank holding company from maintaining its corporate sponsorships. The question is - will anyone notice?  In October, GMAC (NYSE:GKM) changed its legal status so that it would be eligible for TARP funds passed by Congress. Late last month, GMAC was approved to receive a $5 billion lifeline from the U.S. government.…
Jeff Poor

WaPo Style Section Surfs Into New Year Declaring Obama Gnarly as Ever

Since when does Jeff Spicoli write for the Washington Post?Filing his January 2 Style section front-pager, "Hawaii's Still Waters Run Deep for the President-elect," staffer Philip Rucker made clear all he needs in life are some cool waves and a tasty Obama buzz: HONOLULU -- In his two weeks in Hawaii, Barack Obama has oozed island cool: the black shades and khaki shorts, the breezy sandaled…
Ken Shepherd

AP Skews Libertarian View of Gas Taxes

Ken Shepherd

Weekend Captionfest

Future resting place at Chicago's Oak Woods Cemetery of Roland Burris, named by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagovejich to replace Barack Obama in the Senate.
NB Staff

Last Year Tough for Print Media as Newspapers Lose $64B in Share Value

Some call it "the dead tree edition" of the news media. But as 2009 dawns, trees may not be the only casualties.Newspaper companies as an investment are less lucrative than they once were. Alan D. Mutter, a Silicon Valley CEO, pointed out on his blog that newspaper companies took a hit in 2008 in terms of share value to the tune of $64 billion. "In the worst year in history for publishers,…
Jeff Poor

Time's Economic Blame Points in Only One Direction

Magazine says free market, GOP responsible for financial crisis.
Matt Philbin

Chicago Homicides Exceed U.S. Iraq Deaths: Is It News

There's just so much hope and change already taking place in America that it's hard to keep up.  The mainstream media is doing an exemplary job of keeping us up to date with news that really matters, such as articles like the Associated Press's "Web site lets women register their inaugural dress" and "Hairdressers Want Chance to Style First Lady."  Then there are the penetrating analyses like "…
Mike Bates

Paul Krugman: GOP Is 'The Party of Whiners and Racial Backlash

Has Paul Krugman become print's version of Keith Olbermann?After you read his column published by the New York Times Friday in which he called Republicans "a party of whiners" that forty years ago "decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash," there may be little doubt.Readers are advised to strap themselves in tightly, for Krugman appears to have woken up New Year's day with…
Noel Sheppard

2008 Was Rough for Traditional Media

Newspaper companies lost $64B overall and print ownership continues to drag down stock prices across business models.
Jeff Poor

WaPo's Booth Hails 'Half-Century of Revolution' in Cuba

Filing his January 1 story from Santiago, Cuba, Washington Post foreign service staffer William Booth paid homage to the 50-year mark of the Castro revolution, pinning blame on "mostly hostile U.S. presidents" and a "decades-long trade and travel embargo" for the big 5-0 being celebrated as a "low-key event that was far removed from the triumphant displays and mass rallies of [Cuba's] socialist…
Ken Shepherd

CBS: Sarah Palin ‘Launched an Offensive’ Against Media

On Friday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez described Sarah Palin’s recent attempts to set the record straight about her daughter Bristol’s pregnancy this way: "Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has launched an offensive against the news media, again." In contrast, on Tuesday’s broadcast, fill-in co-host Chris Wragge was concerned about Barack Obama being in the media spotlight: "Coming up,…
Kyle Drennen

Navarrette: I Like Blago’s Chutzpah

Looking for a column loaded with racism, hyperbole, praise for a man embroiled in scandal, and an obvious disregard for the integrity of a Senate seat?  Then you're in luck if you've read Ruben Navarrette's latest efforts. Completely dropping the ball on why some people are apprehensive about any appointment that Rod Blagojevich could make for the vacant Senate seat, Ruben litters his article…
Rusty Weiss

CNN's Bittermann Awarded French Legion of Honor

Stop me if you've heard this one: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and a biased CNN journalist walk into a bar...CNN's Jim Bittermann has been admitted into the French Legion of Honor, one of just 13 foreign nationals, including two other Americans, "Howard Mamoian, a World War II paratrooper, and John Morris, a news photographer," CNN.com is reporting.Bittermann, who also teaches journalism…
Ken Shepherd

Dear WSJ: You Were Right About Antitrust

Can 'antitrustinistas' prove mergers have harmed the public?
Donald J. Boudreaux, Ph.D.