Open Thread VIDEO: MSNBC's Never-ending 'Conversation' on Racism

A new YouTube channel, Digitas Daily, has an amusing little montage about MSNBC's non-stop talk about racism. It's a clever one-minute look at how the Lean Forward network has been Johnny One-Note. So we thought we'd give you a look at it below the page break. As an added bonus, we also embedded another video Digitas Daily did a few weeks back, headlined, "He Reports. They Recite," about the…
NB Staff
May 2nd, 2014 10:03 AM

Former AP Bureau Chief Says Blow Off White House Briefings, They're 'A

Former AP Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier is advising the White House press corps to toughen up. “The typical White House reporter considers President Obama's team the most secretive in memory, stingier with information than the tight-lipped Bush White House and, according to a Politico survey, prone to lie.” So Fournier advised in National Journal that it’s time to be “both fair and…
Tim Graham
May 2nd, 2014 9:38 AM

'Yelps of Outrage': White House 'Media Monitor' Helps Carney Staff Pus

The White House can play “Twitter police” with the White House press corps. Yahoo White House correspondent Olivier Knox relayed “Reporters who regularly cover Obama have become familiar with seemingly out-of-the-blue emails or telephone calls from officials taking issue with their tweets — often thoughtfully and constructively, sometimes with obscenity-laced yelps of outrage.” Even instant…
Tim Graham
May 2nd, 2014 7:42 AM

Krauthammer: ‘Media Are Somewhat Embarrassed’ By Missing Benghazi

Columnist Charles Krauthammer contended, on Thursday’s Special Report with Bret Baier, that the release of the Ben Rhodes memo has changed the media dynamic in interest toward the Benghazi scandal because journalists are now “embarrassed” over being “rolled” by the White House:  “What’s changed now, and we saw it in the briefing room, is I think the other media are somewhat embarrassed by the…
Brent Baker
May 2nd, 2014 2:04 AM

Chris Matthews Thinks It's 'A Little Ridiculous' to Blame Obama Admin

MSNBC's Chris Matthews ranted on Thursday's Hardball that "it's a ridiculous" to hold the Obama administration culpable for the lack of security around the Benghazi compound during the September, 2012 attacks. "But the idea that somebody else should have been covering for him [Ambassador Chris Stevens], that someone else should have the army there waiting to defend him, I think it's a little…
Matt Hadro
May 1st, 2014 11:42 PM

Bill O'Reilly Hammers Howard Kurtz for Being Too Soft on Benghazi Bias

On Wednesday night’s O’Reilly Factor, Howard Kurtz conceded the media are kind of allergic to covering Benghazi. But he would not agree that this “allergy” is about protecting Barack Obama. O’Reilly ticked off the media avoidance: no Benghazi e-mails coverage in the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal. “The Washington Post ran the story on page 17.…
Tim Graham
May 1st, 2014 11:12 PM

GOP Finds Only 67% of ObamaCare Enrollees Paid First Premium; Networks

House Republicans determined that just two-thirds of ObamaCare enrollees paid their first month's premium in the federal marketplace, but the broadcast networks ignored their finding on Thursday evening, while FNC's Special Report with Bret Baier devoted a full story. If true, the report would drastically undercut the White House's number of ObamaCare enrollees. A report by the House Energy…
Matt Hadro
May 1st, 2014 10:25 PM

Ed Schultz Oddly Claims Donald Sterling 'Made His Thoughts Public

Ed Schultz might be the only man in America who engenders sympathy for LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling by the mere act of opening his mouth. On his radio show Wednesday, Schultz revealed himself to be a staunch opponent of thought crime -- even when it occurs "behind closed doors" -- and quickly drew resistance from a caller who described himself as a longtime listener. (Audio clips after…
Jack Coleman
May 1st, 2014 8:10 PM

NBC, CBS Ignore Congressional Hearing on Benghazi; ABC Gives It Only

On Thursday evening, ABC was the only broadcast network to cover the day's congressional hearing on the Benghazi attacks. Both CBS and NBC ignored the hearing. ABC only covered the story for 46 seconds; they gave twice that amount of coverage to the U.S. Olympic speedskating suits. World News quoted retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Lovell, at the U.S. Africa Command headquarters…
Matt Hadro
May 1st, 2014 7:43 PM

Lindsey Graham: You Couldn't 'Increase MSNBC's Ratings If You Put Guns

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had some harsh words for the folks over at MSNBC during an interview with Newsmax's Steve Malzberg.  Appearing on The Steve Malzberg Show on Thursday May 1, Graham slammed MSNBC: "I don't think you could increase MSNBC's ratings if you had a gun to people's heads." [See video below.]
Jeffrey Meyer
May 1st, 2014 7:06 PM

Column: A Man of Sterling Character

I had listened to roughly eight hours of commentary on Donald Sterling and the ugly remarks he made in conversations secretly tape-recorded by his girlfriend, before I heard anyone mention a wife. HE HAS A WIFE? At first, I thought the topic must have changed when I left the room, but no -- the TV talking heads were still discussing Sterling advising his girlfriend to stay away from blacks.
Ann Coulter
May 1st, 2014 6:07 PM

Networks Outraged Over Murderer's Execution; No Pity for Victims

Who’s the victim here: A man who beat, sodomized, shot and buried alive a 19-year-old girl or the deceased girl? What about her family?  To judge by ABC, NBC and CBS, the victim is Clayton Lockett, who brutally killed Stephanie Neiman, kidnapped three more people and committed multiple other crimes, because his execution was botched. The lethal injection drug cocktail administered by the…
Kristine Marsh
May 1st, 2014 5:00 PM

Politico Survey: WH Press Corps Are Wealthy Hillary Fans Who Think Oba

The May-June edition of Politico magazine is out, complete with what it boasts is "the most comprehensive survey yet of [the] unique group of journalists" who comprise the White House press corps. The picture painted by the honest answers therein are not altogether flattering. For instance, we see just how much a self-congratulatory, conventional wisdom-spewing echo-chamber the group is with…
Ken Shepherd
May 1st, 2014 4:53 PM

Big Three Newscasts Out to Lunch on Jihadists' Mass Kidnapping of Nige

ABC, CBS, and NBC's morning and evening newscasts have yet to set aside any air time to a mass abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from a school in northern Nigeria on April 16, 2014. Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram raided the government-run institution and forced the students into vehicles. On Thursday, the girls' parents and their supporters led a demonstration to pressure the government…
Matthew Balan
May 1st, 2014 4:38 PM