Heilemann: Bachmann Migraine Story 'Hit Piece' By GOP Rival—Not MSM

The story about Michele Bachmann's migraines was not the product of a "liberal media conspiracy." Instead, it was a "calculated hit piece" by one of Bachmann's rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. That's the view emphatically propounded by John Heilemann on Morning Joe today.  As evidence, the New York magazine editor and Game Change co-author noted that the story first…
Mark Finkelstein
July 21st, 2011 7:59 AM

MSNBC's Schultz Defends Bachmann from 'Right-Wing Hit Job,' 'Maybe' a

  On Wednesday’s The Ed Show, MSNBC host Ed Schultz came to Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s defense against what he called a "right-wing hit job" from the Daily Caller in the form of an article alleging that the Minnesota Congresswoman suffers from severe migraines. But one may question whether Schultz waded into taking a side in the controversy as an excuse for bolstering…
Brad Wilmouth
July 21st, 2011 7:34 AM

WaPo’s Greenberg Bolsters Pro-Palestinian Activists, But Notes ‘An

 In the Digest section of the Saturday, July 16, Washington Post, in the article, "Israelis and Arabs March in Jerusalem for Palestinian Statehood," writer Joel Greenberg bolstered the pro-Palestinian statehood movement by playing up the presence of both Jews and Arabs in a rally that was held in Jerusalem on the previous day as a "rare Jewish-Arab demonstration in this contested city." After…
Brad Wilmouth
July 21st, 2011 7:19 AM

AP's Ohlemacher Describes 'Gang of Six' Document As a 'Plan' 12 Times

It really is a "plan," and don't you forget it. Never mind, as the Washington Examiner's Conn Carroll inconveniently points out, that the document produced by the "Gang of Six" -- Republican Senators Coburn, Chambliss, and Crapo, along with Democratic Senators Conrad, Warner, and Durbin -- is all of five pages. If you take out the white space, it's about 3-1/2. Early this evening, the…
Tom Blumer
July 20th, 2011 11:58 PM

NPR Portrays Muslim Professor as Victim; Omits Sexual Harassment Recor

NPR's Dina Temple-Raston did her best to cast a Muslim fired by the State of Ohio in a sympathetic light on Monday's Morning Edition, describing him as a "college professor" dressed in a "tweed jacket, button-down shirt, [and] thick round glasses," but failed to mention his other firing from a Ohio college for violating their sexual harassment policy. Temple-Reston also featured an expert who…
Matthew Balan
July 20th, 2011 8:31 PM

Michael Steele Laughs At Joan Walsh For Calling Obama 'The Reagan Figu

As NewsBusters previously reported, Chris Matthews on Wednesday lied about Ronald Reagan's position on taxes in a "Hardball" segment insinuating the late President would oppose the current Republican stance on the debt ceiling. When Salon editor Joan Walsh said Obama "is actually the Reagan figure here," former RNC chairman Michael Steele bust out laughing (video follows with transcript and…
Noel Sheppard
July 20th, 2011 7:21 PM

Chris Matthews Lies About Ronald Reagan as Way to Smear 'Terrorist' Re

Hardball host Chris Matthews on Wednesday lied about Ronald Reagan's position on taxes in order to justify his bizarre assertion that the late President would consider the current Republican stance on the debt ceiling to be "economic terrorism." Matthews, who did no fact checking, played a clip provided by the Congressional Progressive Caucus from a  September 26 1987 Reagan radio address.…
Scott Whitlock
July 20th, 2011 6:19 PM

MSNBC Anchors Promote Disingenuous Democratic Ad Butchering Reagan's D

At least five MSNBC anchors since Tuesday have promoted a cherry-picked House Democratic Caucus video that distorts President Ronald Reagan's position on the debt ceiling, inaccurately asserting that President Barack Obama is more in line with Reagan than the Republicans. If any of the anchors had played the entirety of Reagan's 1987 radio address, instead of giving free air time to the…
Alex Fitzsimmons
July 20th, 2011 6:17 PM

After Routinely Bashing Republicans in Debt Ceiling Debate, NBC Touts

On Wednesday's NBC Today, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd promoted the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, declaring that when it came to raising the nation's debt ceiling, "...it was a landslide as far as what the public preferred. 58% preferring the President's vision on that front versus 36% [for the Republican proposal]." Todd went on to conclude that "most of this poll…
Kyle Drennen
July 20th, 2011 5:44 PM

American Education Is Worse Than We Thought

Last December, I reported on Harvard University professor Stephan Thernstrom's essay "Minorities in College — Good News, But...," on Minding the Campus, a website sponsored by the New York-based Manhattan Institute. He was commenting on the results of the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, saying that the scores "mean that black students aged 17 do not read with any…
Walter E. Williams
July 20th, 2011 4:55 PM

WaPo's 'On Faith' Wonders if Atheists Need a Televangelist of Sorts

"Does atheism need a pitch man?" is the latest "panel debate" at "On Faith," the Washington Post religion news-and-views blog. Yes, a discussion question on a religion blog about whether atheists need a Moses to lead them to the Promised Land. Leave it to the mainstream media!:
Ken Shepherd
July 20th, 2011 4:41 PM

MRC-TV: Graham Discusses Media Bias Against 'Cut, Cap and Balance' on

"Your World w/ Cavuto" guest host Stuart Varney interviewed NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham today about the media bias against the conservative Cut, Cap and Balance plan and how the media have boosted the “Gang of Six” plan instead. Guest host Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network will conduct the interview. Video of the nearly 3-minute-long interview follows the page break:
NB Staff
July 20th, 2011 4:02 PM

MSNBC's Bashir Touts Murdoch's Power as Reason For Why Government Must

MSNBC's Martin Bashir argued on Wednesday's Morning Joe that the News of the World hacking scandal demonstrates why government should be allowed to regulate private ownership of media. "All of this reveals the fact that people like Michele Bachmann, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, talk about government getting out of the way, well this is what happened in this country. In 1968, Rupert Murdoch…
Eric Ames
July 20th, 2011 3:51 PM

'Undefeated' Receives Unflattering Treatment from Entertainment Weekly

After Entertainment Weekly graciously gave grades of B+ to Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' and A- to former Vice President Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth,' EW's John Young has bestowed a much different treatment on his review of the new Sarah Palin political documentary, 'The Undefeated.' The conservative documentary, which successfully opened last weekend in limited release, was given a…
Aubrey Vaughan
July 20th, 2011 3:49 PM