Latest Blogs
CA and National Press Ignore State’s 12-Year Failure to Get with the
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's three-year lurch to the left, with the enthusiastic assistance of Democratic majorities in the state's legislature, has sent the state's fiscal situation once again into Gray Davisland -- and this time, unlike in November 2003 when he took office, the Governator doesn't have a growing economy to make getting out of the mess easier. The state's…
My Beef With Politico's Top Ten Media Blunders List
All in all, I like Politico's list of the Top Ten Media Blunders of 2008, by staff writer Michael Calderone, appearing on the website this evening. How can you be too tough on a list that includes, among other faux pas:MSNBC's use of Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as election night and convention co-anchors; The New York Times's suggestive but unsubstantiated story about John McCain and…
AP's 'Novel' Name That Party Wrinkle: Purging Dem Party IDs from Origi
Two situations over the weekend illustrate that the Associated Press's habitual failure to identify the political party of Democrats in trouble is more than likely a conscious decision. This is despite the AP Stylebook's guidance (as of 2000, the latest free edition I can find; a PDF is here) that a reporter should "include party affiliation if readers need it for understanding or are likely to…
Does Frank Find Incest More Objectionable Than Pedophilia
Does Barney Frank think incest is worse than pedophilia? The question arises because, chatting with Andrea Mitchell this afternoon, here's how Frank reiterated his opposition to Barack Obama having granted Rick Warren the honor of pronouncing the invocation at the inauguration. BARNEY FRANK: I think Rick Warren's comments comparing same-sex relationships to incest is deeply offensive, wildly…
Newsweek Buries 2008 with Obit Bias
In its year-ending double issue Newsweek couldn't resist injecting liberal media bias into its mini obituaries entitled "Remember Them Well."Yet the newsmagazine seemed to forget, perhaps intentionally, the left-of-center politics of prominent liberals profiled while using terms like "far-right" to describe the politics of deceased conservatives such as Paul Weyrich. But wait, there's more,…
CJR Worries Conservative Health Care Ideas Might 'Seep' into Coverage
Journalists, consider yourselves warned. Columbia Journalism Review worries government-run health care might not come to pass; indeed, ideas for consumer-driven health care could "seep" into media coverage. CJR's Trudy Lieberman announced it was "ominous news" that a government health insurance plan might be delayed: "Ezra Klein over at The American Prospect’s blog was right on point last week…
Eleanor Clift: Wright Had 'Prophetic Theology', Rick Warren 'Extremely
Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a voice crying in the wilderness that the mainstream media and middle class America weren't quite ready for and megachurch pastor Rick Warren is an ignorant evangelical rube who isn't totally without hope, given his awareness of AIDS and other favored liberal causes. That's essentially what Eleanor Clift preached to her choir in her December 19 "Capitol Letter" column, "…
He's Thrilled: MSNBC's Chris Matthews Wins MRC’s 'Quote of the Year
The Media Research Center today announced its Best Notable Quotables of 2008: The 21st Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting, and MSNBC's Chris Matthews "won" the dubious honor of Quote of the Year for gushing over a Barack Obama speech back in February: "I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often….And that is an objective assessment."Top runner-up for Quote of…
Children's Book Depicts Santa Fighting Global Warming
'Tis the season ... to be green. No, not even the traditions of Christmas are immune to the efforts of global warming activism. No, it's not Al Gore's, "How Greenhouse Gases Stole Christmas," but a children's story is pushing a similar green agenda. The recently published book by Anne Margaret Lewis called "Santa Goes Green" is about a boy who writes Santa and asks him to help raise awareness…
ABC: Barack Obama Tops Newsweek’s List of 50 Elite People
At the end of Monday’s ABC Good Morning America, co-host Chris Cuomo talked to Newsweek editor Jon Meacham about the magazine’s ‘Elite 50' list of influential people, as Cuomo put it: "People who will literally be able to shape our lives in many different ways." Meacham explained: "Our goal with this was, you know, elite got a bad rap this year. It wasn't a good thing to be an elitist. But there'…
ABC’s GMA Looks At Obama’s Hawaiian Christmas Vacation
At the top of Monday’s ABC Good Morning America, co-host Chris Cuomo teased a story on Barack Obama’s Christmas vacation plans: "And Aloha, President-elect Barack Obama says Mele Kalikimaka on a bright Hawaiian holiday. We'll take to you to the $30 million retreat where the future first family is spending Christmas." Later, fill-in co-host Elizabeth Vargas introduced the segment: "Barack Obama…
Reports: Chris Matthews Unlikely to Run for Senate
Well bias busters, looks like we are probably still going to have Chris Matthews to kick around.Two reports out today indicate that the liberal MSNBC host does not seem likely to be pursuing that Democratic Senate run that he's been flirting ever so coyly with.First this one from Reuters: