CNN Obsesses Over McCain's 'Made-in-America Flub

According to CNN, a relatively minor misstatement by John McCain was worth replaying four times in the span of an hour. Newsroom host Randi Kaye repeatedly focused on a comment by the senator that the iPad and iPhone are "built" in America. (In fact, they are designed in California, but assembled in China.) A CNN graphic trumpeted, "McCain's Made-in-America-Flub." Kaye breathlessly related…
Scott Whitlock
March 7th, 2011 4:27 PM

CBS's Erica Hill Wonders if Americans Are Being 'Scammed' by Oil Compa

In an interview with former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Monday's CBS Early Show, co-host Erica Hill wondered if higher gas prices in the wake of Mideast unrest were the result of some sort of fraud: "We've seen prices skyrocket....Is the public right to feel taken advantage of in some ways here, or even scammed?" Even the liberal Reich didn't accept the premise: "Well look, a lot…
Kyle Drennen
March 7th, 2011 3:59 PM

New York Times Inhales Free-Market Fumes in Defense of Medical Marijua

One doesn’t often see the New York Times reporting on laws and regulations that hurt business, so when you do you can assume there’s a liberal twist in the tale. From Bozeman, Mont., Denver bureau chief Kirk Johnson notified readers on the front of Sunday’s National section that “A Boon to the Economy Faces Repeal in Montana.” The “repeal” involves repealing the state’s six-year-old medical…
Clay Waters
March 7th, 2011 3:34 PM

Unemployment Below 9 Percent 'Bolsters Recovery Hopes' in 2011, But Li

New York Times very downbeat in Reagan's day, despite much bigger monthly drop in jobless rate than February 2011.
Julia A. Seymour
March 7th, 2011 3:33 PM

Paul Krugman Tip-Toes Around Facts to Jam Wisconsin Debate into Leftis

In a short video on the New York Times's website, Brian Stelter, the paper's media reporter, comments on the "interesting" trend of cable news reporters "taking sides" in the Wisconsin budget battle - with Fox News on the right and MSNBC on the left, of course - and supposedly twisting facts to fit partisan narratives. Asked about commentators "looking for a certain narrative on the way in…
Lachlan Markay
March 7th, 2011 2:30 PM

NYT's Kate Zernike Switches From Tea Party to Wisconsin, Maintains Hos

Kate Zernike, Tea Party-beat reporter for the New York Times, whose reporting on the movement is marked by hostility and unfounded suspicions of racism, switched to the pro-union left-wing protests in Wisconsin for the front of the Sunday Week in Review,  “As Goes Wisconsin...” The subhead: “The Midwest’s legacy of labor activism -- and conservative pushback -- are both in play today at the…
Clay Waters
March 7th, 2011 1:46 PM

MSNBC Features Two Openly-Gay Journalists Looking at Maryland's Same-S

Presenting the same-sex marriage debate in Maryland's state legislature as one about "marriage equality," openly gay MSNBC host Thomas Roberts discussed the matter with Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart, who is also openly gay. The segment, entitled "Cold Feet In Maryland?" aired today at 11:17 a.m. EST. "Supporters of Marriage Equality Wavering on Bill" the lower-thirds…
Ken Shepherd
March 7th, 2011 12:31 PM

On Today: Scarborough Proclaims Republicans Are 'Afraid of Barack Obam

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough appeared on Monday's Today show to deliver a forecast of doom for Republicans on the budget fight and their 2012 presidential prospects. On their skirmish with Democrats in Congress the host of Morning Joe told NBC's Matt Lauer he thinks Republicans "have the most to lose" and in explaining the late start for GOP entrants into the 2012 race proclaimed, "they are afraid…
Geoffrey Dickens
March 7th, 2011 12:06 PM

20 Months Before 2012 Election, ABC's John Berman Mocks GOP Contenders

Even though there's still a year and eight months to go until the 2012 presidential election, Good Morning America's John Berman on Monday derided the GOP field for not joining the race yet. As a mocking trombone sound played, Berman joked that Newt Gingrich "had us on the edge of our seats" last week by establishing only an exploratory website. Highlighting Mitt Romney's failure to…
Scott Whitlock
March 7th, 2011 11:39 AM

Latest Notable Quotables: Claiming 'Coordinated' GOP 'Assault on Union

The Media Research Center is out with another edition of our bi-weekly Notable Quotables newsletter, a compilation of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes in the liberal media. Highlights from this issue include: Network reporters contrasting left-wing union protests in Wisconsin with recent uprisings against brutal Middle Eastern dictators, and journalists suggesting a “…
Rich Noyes
March 7th, 2011 11:20 AM

George Soros-funded Group Cherry-picks Chris Wallace to Smear Fox News

Two weeks ago, George Soros went on CNN claiming that Rupert Murdoch and Fox News are like Nazis dangerously trying to deceive the American people. On Sunday, an organization that Soros funds attacked Fox News by cherry-picking 53 seconds from an almost 12 minute segment to make it look like host Chris Wallace and the network he works for support the disgusting views of the Westboro Baptist…
Noel Sheppard
March 7th, 2011 11:09 AM

Unemployment Below 9 Percent ‘Bolsters Recovery Hopes’ in 2011, Bu

The unemployment rate finally dropped below 9 percent in February 2011, after 21 months at that rate or higher. The Labor Department reported March 4 that the rate had dropped 0.1 percent to 8.9 percent. The New York Times called it a “notable” improvement, but in 1983, the Times was downbeat about better jobs news. “The economic waiting game may soon be over, as businesses signal that they…
Julia A. Seymour
March 7th, 2011 10:58 AM

20-to-1: Networks Go Crazy over Sheen Story, Downplay Planned Parentho

If they ever take a break from publicizing Charlie Sheen’s cocaine dos and dont's, or detailing the power politics within his Beverly Hills harem, the networks should grab a copy of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics. And they may want to pay special attention to this entry: “Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.” From Feb. 1 through March 6, the three…
Matt Philbin
March 7th, 2011 10:43 AM

NY Times Columnist Tom Friedman Calls for Tax to Keep Gas at $4 a Gall

On Sunday's Face the Nation, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman denounced the proposed White House plan to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to curb rising gas prices: "That would rank in my top five worst ideas of 2011 so far....one thing we should finally be doing is using this opportunity to have a credible energy policy that begins to reduce our addiction to oil." Friedman's idea of…
Kyle Drennen
March 7th, 2011 10:39 AM