USA Today: 'Housing Starts, Jobless Claims in Good Shape' Despite Wors

USA Today's Web site features an Associated Press report with the headline "Housing starts, jobless claims in good shape."  For the many readers who just scan headlines, that sounds encouraging.  Yet by the second paragraph the article notes "that construction of single-family homes and apartments dipped 1.1% in July compared with June. . ."  And by the third paragraph: Housing has been…
Mike Bates
August 17th, 2012 1:37 PM

NYTimes Egan's Peculiar Omission in Bashing Romney as 'Olympic' Flip-F

Former reporter turned New York Times columnist Timothy Egan's hostile anti-Mitt Romney column on Thursday had a peculiar omission. Egan insulted the likely Republican nominee by calling him an "Olympic" caliber flip-flopper, yet somehow managed not once to mention Romney's successful management as chief executive officer of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. In focus groups, he’s described…
Clay Waters
August 17th, 2012 1:32 PM

MSNBC's Roberts Interviews Colleague Sharpton About What He's Doing As

Generally when a broadcast journalist interviews an activist about a hot-button political issue, it's customary and in accord with sound journalistic practice to interview someone from the other side of the issue for balance. Except, of course, if you work for MSNBC, which has essentially become DNC-TV. On the August 17 MSNBC Live program, news anchor Thomas Roberts interviewed his fellow…
Ken Shepherd
August 17th, 2012 12:57 PM

ABC Hypes: Mitt Romney 'Finally Ready' to Address Taxes, Network Touts

Good Morning America's Josh Elliott on Friday yet again hyped the issue of Mitt Romney's taxes. Guest anchor Elliott touted, "And Mitt Romney finally ready to address that question about his taxes." Amy Robach thrilled, "Mitt Romney, for the first time revealing new information about his tax returns...But why now?" The candidate on Thursday asserted that he had "never" paid lower than a 13…
Scott Whitlock
August 17th, 2012 12:45 PM

NBC’s Brian Williams Demeans The Title of Network Anchor

Remember the days when nightly news anchors were supposed to be serious journalists?  Apparently Brian Williams never got that memo.  Appearing on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on August 15, the managing editor of NBC Nightly News showed the continuing decline of the gravitas of the broadcast news anchor.  Appearing on The Daily Show, Williams continued his routine of making awkward and…
Jeffrey Meyer
August 17th, 2012 11:57 AM

USA Today Finds OWS Theme in Movies, Ignores Villainy

Drawing examples from Batman, Cosmopolis and Arbitrage, newspaper sees Occupiers in Hollywood plots, but finds little to criticize about OWS.
Julia A. Seymour
August 17th, 2012 11:22 AM

Bozell, Hannity Review Media's Attacks On Paul Ryan, Pathetic Defense

Paul Ryan is radically anti-woman, anti-senior citizen, and if he and Mitt Romney are elected and ObamaCare is repealed, people will die! That, in a nutshell, is the liberal media's spin about Gov. Romney's pick of the Wisconsin Republican as his running mate, with the latter claim being made recently by MSNBC political analyst Jonathan Alter, formerly of Newsweek. "That sleazeball did…
NB Staff
August 17th, 2012 10:42 AM

Letterman: Ryan's 'The Grandson of Ripley’s Believe It or Not Man Wh

It appears now that Paul Ryan has been named Mitt Romney's running mate, CBS Late Show host David Letterman feels obligated to attack him every evening. On Thursday's program, Letterman spent two minutes on the Wisconsin Congressman including accusing him of being "the grandson of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not man who was able to swallow his own face" (video follows with transcribed…
Noel Sheppard
August 17th, 2012 10:09 AM

Open Thread: Cronyism Isn't Capitalism

One of the persistent themes on the campaign trail for many liberals is the idea, best exemplified by President Obama's "you didn't build that" remark and also the anti-capitalist rants of Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, that people who work hard for a living somehow are undeserving of their success. That attitude likely originates from the mistaken belief that cronyism,…
NB Staff
August 17th, 2012 9:34 AM

3000-Pound Granite Marker Now Honors Obamas' First Kiss

From the Obama Adoration Department: AP reports the managers of a shopping center in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood installed a 3,000-pound granite marker this week complete with a plaque reading, "On this site President Barack Obama first kissed Michelle Obama." They’ve said the first kiss came in 1989 and the Obamas will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in October.
Tim Graham
August 17th, 2012 8:14 AM

Bozell Column: Skipping Over the Shooting at FRC

Floyd Corkins, a volunteer for the last six months at the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community, marched into the Family Research Center with a gun and serious ammunition, denounced FRC’s policy positions, and shot a security guard in the arm before being subdued. Another hate crime, but this time against perhaps the pre-eminent pro-family organization in America. CBS gave the story 20 seconds.…
Brent Bozell
August 17th, 2012 7:10 AM

After Mocking Ryan 'Slinging Cheap Margaritas,' Politico Reporter Marv

It might seem like a bad time for a reporter to marvel over Joe Biden’s political gifts, after the load of gaffes this week, but not for Politico reporter Jonathan Martin. He wrote a story headlined “Mission Impossible: Managing Joe Biden.” But he meant that to be positive. Just days after slamming Paul Ryan’s background driving the Wienermobile and “slinging cheap margaritas,” Martin began…
Tim Graham
August 17th, 2012 6:47 AM

ABC Informs Viewers of FRC Shooter's Anti-Conservative Views

On the day after gunman Floyd Corkins attacked the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., ABC's World News on Thursday was the only broadcast network evening newscast to run a followup report which elaborated on Corkins's political opposition to the group's conservative views.
Brad Wilmouth
August 17th, 2012 5:26 AM

The Media's Strangely Subdued Reporting on Family Research Council Sho

I was camping yesterday morning when a friend alerted me via Twitter on my iPhone there had been a shooting at Family Research Council headquarters in Washington, D.C. Frightened for my friends, I began scanning Google for news reports. Ten minutes later the first story popped up, stating an FRC security guard had been shot in the arm, and the shooter had been arrested.
Jill Stanek
August 16th, 2012 10:56 PM