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Imagine that -- A massive government bureaucracy given almost a head start of more than three years to get up and running appears to be well on its way to not being ready. Julie Appleby covered the situation at the Washington Post yesterday. Steven Hayward at Powerline accurately called it an item which "ought to be on the front page above the fold," and wasn't. It also "just so happens" to…

Last March, Venezuelan raised actress Maria Conchita Alonso wrote a NewsBusters published open letter to Sean Penn in which she scolded the Oscar winner for his ill-informed support of Hugo Chavez. On Sunday, Alonso had a run-in with Penn at the Los Angeles airport, and as she told Steve Malzberg filling in for Chris Plante on WMAL radio Monday, she ended up calling her foe a "communist a--…

Reporting on the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il on Monday, CNN's American Morning re-visited a soft report from then-correspondent Alina Cho's heavily-guarded visit to the country in 2010. Cho admitted that the state controlled where she went – but her reporting was fawning at times in what clearly was the state's effort to produce propaganda for outside nations. [Video below the…

CBS's Bob Schieffer displayed his liberal leanings on Sunday's Face the Nation when he raised the issue of illegal immigration. Schieffer claimed during an interview of Newt Gingrich that "Mitt Romney has taken such a hard line, it seems to me, on immigration that some within the Republican Party are saying he is simply running off Hispanic voters." The journalist asked Gingrich for his take…

New York Times legal reporter Charlie Savage played softball with Attorney General Eric Holder on Sunday’s front page: “A Lightning Rod Undeterred by G.O.P. Thunder.” The online headline even more strongly suggested that Holder was standing brave and firm against a torrent of politically motivated Republican criticism: “Under Partisan Fire, Holder Soldiers On.” Savage has previously…

Will the death of despotic dictator Kim Jong Il lead to less pandering and naive reporting on North Korea? Not if the past is any indicator. On September 19, 2005, CNN founder Ted Turner appeared on his own network to credulously insist that Kim "didn't look" evil. Turner proclaimed, "...He didn’t look too much different than most other people." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] After a…

In an interview with House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday's Meet the Press, host David Gregory blamed Republicans for blocking an extension of payroll tax cuts by supporting a new oil pipeline: "You want to say, 'Look, we'll extend it for a year if the President makes a quicker decision on this pipeline.' White House officials I've talked to say you are guaranteeing that he'll say no..."…

Always prepare to giggle when someone calls a conservative a "sociopath" and then says "I use that word very, very, very carefully." On Thursday's edition of the Thom Hartmann show, the leftist radio host suggested Rep. Paul Ryan -- a runner-up in Time's Person of the Year considerations -- is a sociopath, just like Ted Bundy, but without the dead women. A caller was complaining that Sen. Ron…

Teresa Tomassoni's piece in the Washington Post's Dec. 19 Metro section, titled "Transgender immigrant finds new life, protection in D.C.," reads like a caricature of a liberal media feel-good human interest story. The article, about a transgendered Latina illegal immigrant granted asylum in the United States for sexual persecution, is designed to tug at heart strings while at the same time…

Time magazine's editor-in-chief Richard Stengel was asked on Sunday's Reliable Sources to respond to NewsBusters criticizing the inclusion of the Occupy Wall Street movement into Time magazine's "Person of the Year" award, given to "The Protester." In contrast, the Tea Party which helped the Republicans win a landslide election victory in 2010 earned only runner-up status in Time that year.…

Appearing on Friday's Hannity on Fox News, during the weekly "Media Mash" segment, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center president Brent Bozell detailed ABC's attempt to paint a rosy economic picture to help President Obama and the liberal media's across-the-board effort to slam Newt Gingrich as a "frightening" "political killer." [View video after the jump]

A newly posted Time-Life magazine photo montage showcased pictures of North Korea and touted photographer Christopher Morris comparing brutal dictator Kim Jong Il to the "very controlled environment" of George W. Bush's White House. On Life magazine's website, Morris connected, "America at that time [2005] was, you'll recall, filled with a kind of blind nationalism. But Time appreciated the…

Divers all over South Florida were probably drooling last night while watching the huge lionfish that appeared in the 60 Minutes broadcast about Cuba's Jardines de la Reina coral reef off that island's southern shore. The reason is that the state of Florida has declared open season on the invasive lionfish, introduced from Asia, which is known to devastate marine life on coral reefs.…

Last week, MRC announced the results of our "public ballot" for the worst media quotes in 2011, sort of the "People's Choice Awards" version of our Best Notable Quotables of 2011. This morning, the official results -- chosen by a distinguished panel of 48 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers, and expert media observers -- are in, and New York Times columnist…