Latest Blogs
BMI’s Gainor: Inauguration ‘Pay for Play’ Coverage Highlights Ob
And the media, 'one of Barack Obama's major constituencies,' don't complain.The Obama Inauguration Committee sold coverage of inaugural events, effectively limiting the number of Americans who can view them and undercutting Obama’s claims of accessibility, according to Business & Media Institute VP Dan Gainor.“Barack Obama, in his last radio address before he becomes president says this is…
CBS’s Nancy Giles Describes ‘Carnage’ of Bush Administration
On Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez asked Sunday Morning liberal commentator Nancy Giles about the incoming Obama Administration and Giles could not resist bashing Bush: "Well, Barack Obama's going to have his hands full with a lot of the carnage that was left by the previous administration." Republican strategist Bay Buchanan was seated next to Giles and Giles defended her…
ABC Cites Only Democrats as the 'Warriors' in the Civil Rights Movemen
On Monday's "Good Morning America," co-host Robin Roberts chose to tout only Democratic politicians in a piece honoring the civil rights movement and those "warriors" who made Barack Obama's election as president possible. Not a single Republican was mentioned or featured in the segment. Roberts began by announcing, "And on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we thought it would be appropriate to…
Fun Fact: Inauguration Days Much Warmer For Republicans
It's going to be unseasonably cold when Barack Obama takes the oath of office Tuesday, which is in keeping with a long-term trend for Democrats.In fact, it's normally almost 7 1/2 degrees warmer when a Republican is sworn in on a January Inauguration Day than when a Democrat raises his right hand.So said a 2001 study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
CBS Plugs Enviro Activist Who Illegally Defrauded Oil Lease Auction
On Saturday’s CBS Evening News, correspondent Bill Whitaker devoted a full story to an environmental activist in Utah, Tim DeChristopher, who disrupted an oil lease auction by illegally making bids that he knew he could not pay, which slowed down the process making it possible for Barack Obama to block President Bush’s directive allowing the auction. Anchor Russ Mitchell introduced the report: "…
Huckabee Blasts 'Spineless' Congressional GOP about Stimulus
Former governor tells Fox's Cavuto most Republicans abandoned fiscal restraint, aren't asking tough questions about proposal.
ABCNews.com Scorns Bush in 'Historic Moments of Inaugurations Past' Sl
A 14-picture slideshow of "Historic Moments of Inaugurations Past" that begins with an illustration of Washington's 1793 swearing-in and mostly includes flattering photos of other commanders-in-chief ends not with a photo of President George W. Bush but of left-wing protestors at his first inauguration. (h/t e-mail tipster Chris Lowery)Even President Nixon was shown flashing his "classic double…
Newspapers Notice News Mags Are Turning Into Opinion Mags, But Editors
On Monday, both The New York Times and The Washington Post noticed a long-simmering trend: Time and Newsweek have increasingly abandoned news reporting in favor of being more opinionated "thought leaders." In the Post, reporter Howard Kurtz bluntly declared, "The rival editors are turning out weeklies that are smaller, more serious, more opinionated and, though they are loath to admit it, more…
On NYT Front Page, Obama Now Being Praised for...Reading
In the run-up to Barack Obama's inauguration, the New York Times has run several articles praising the President-elect's "eloquence," the most visible being Monday's front-page story by the paper's lead book critic (and prominent Bush-basher) Michiko Kakutani, "From Books, New President Found Voice," who praised Obama for...reading:In college, as he was getting involved in protests against the…
If Hollywood ‘Made’ Obama, It Also Made Problem Issues
Next time someone dismisses the idea that mass media can exert influence on American culture, point to a Jan. 18 New York Times article titled, "How the Movies Made a President." In that piece, Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott argue that fictional depictions of black U.S. presidents helped pave the way for a real one. “The presidencies of James Earl Jones in ‘The Man,’ Morgan Freeman in ‘Deep Impact…
Inaugural Funnies: Obama Is a Much Better Painter Than Churchill
On the eve of becoming the nation's 44th President, Barack Obama went to Sasha Bruce Youthwork, a Washington, D.C., residence for homeless, runaways, and troubled youth, and actually assisted in painting the walls what appeared to be an aqua blue (video embedded right).Watching the proceedings on various cable news networks, my heart welled with pride as I realized my new president was a much…
Times Reporter: OK to Be Proud of America Now
Helene Cooper on the "suddenly hip" D.C.: "It's even cool to wave the Stars and Stripes."