So, What Should We Call The Media, Anyway
July 22nd, 2008 5:14 AM
Many of us have taken to calling the media establishment the "MSM," or "Mainstream Media." But is that a fair and properly descriptive monicker to bestow upon them? A New York Times Blogger pondered that very question on July 21 in a "The Caucus" blog entry -- one that was a barely disguised effort to highlight and advertise the opinion of one Markos Moulitsas of the DailyKos. Still, regardless…
NYT's Greenhouse: 'So-Called Partial-Birth Abortion' Ruling 'Patronizi
July 18th, 2008 3:05 PM
Retiring New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse has answered some more questions from readers at nytimes.com. After an earlier revelation that she considers the former ACLU lawyer Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg a centrist comes details of her deep affection for late ultra-liberal Justice William Brennan, whose decisions favored explicit racial quotas, no limits on abortion, mandatory…
Network News Anchors to Travel to Iraq With Obama
July 17th, 2008 9:39 AM
If the reports are true, Barack Obama has gone from Democrat presidential candidate to an out and out media star.According to the New York Times, when the junior senator from Illinois goes to Iraq in the coming weeks, all three network broadcast news anchors will go there to interview him. This goes in stark contrast to what happened when John McCain visited Iraq last March. I guess it's good to…
NYT Stock at 12-Year Low; Many NYT.com Search Capabilities Apparently
July 17th, 2008 7:18 AM
A visit to the Vanderbilt TV News archives (no link; registration is required) reveals that on September 20, 1996: GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole was trying to make up lost ground against incumbent President Bill Clinton, while Ross Perot was filing a Federal Elections Commission complaint over being excluded from televised presidential debates. It was disclosed that Unabomber suspect Ted…
NYT's Court Reporter Takes Parting Shot at Bork, Says Ruth Bader Ginsb
July 15th, 2008 1:20 PM
The New York Times sent veteran Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse into retirement in grand style on Sunday, turning over to her the front page of the Week in Review for "2,691 Decisions," a title marking the number of court cases she had covered during her tenure. Unmentioned were her off-the-clock denunciations of conservatives, such as her infamous speech at Harvard in June 2006 when she…
News Blackout -- NYT Ignores Momentous Pro-Jewish Court Case Win in Fr
July 13th, 2008 10:00 AM
French media loses big court case proving Palestinian propaganda false, New York Times ignores shocking story... Why?
France TV 2 has lost a major court case in France that makes the lie to a major piece of Palestinian propaganda. In 2000 an incident occurred in the Palestinian areas that has since been used as propaganda for the Palestinian cause all across the world and the New York Times has…
Newspaper Stocks Continue Unprecedented Dive
July 11th, 2008 11:57 PM
All of the major US stock indices are, unfortunately, in bear market territory. The S&P 500 crossed into Bearland yesterday, and dropped a bit further today. The Dow did so on July 1, and remains mired in its own "grizzly" situation. The Associated Press reported on July 2 that "the Nasdaq ..... hit that (bear) mark in March, moved higher and has now returned to a bear level." So if you're in…
The NY Times Presents: John McCain, Disqualified at Birth -- the Seque
July 11th, 2008 1:04 PM
Here they go again: Today the New York Times ran yet another flaky story questioning the presidential eligibility of John McCain, born in 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone, where his Navy father was stationed. Back on February 28, Congressional reporter Carl Hulse wrote a big story on the "controversy," even though Hulse himself admitted little was likely to come of it. The Senate later approved a…
The Biz Flog – Blaming Oil Speculators for High Gas Prices
July 9th, 2008 4:01 PM
Forget the basics of supply and demand, just find someone to blame. As Congress takes new aim at speculators for the high price of gasoline, some media reports seem to be following suit. But as The Biz Flog explains this week, there is considerable debate over whether speculators should be blamed for the high cost of oil. June 23, the same day Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce…
NY Times on VP Picks -- Lots of Conservative Labels, But No Liberals
July 9th, 2008 2:54 PM
Rounding another turn in the race to November 4, The New York Times's "Election Guide -- Potential Running Mates," compiled by Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny and posted to nytimes.com Monday, handicapped various potential vice presidents for Barack Obama and John McCain.The Times first counted up twenty-one potential nominees, 11 Democrats and 10 Republicans (Democratic Sen. Jim Webb was removed…
Collins: Obama's Not Flip-flopping—He's Bringing Us Together
July 9th, 2008 12:55 PM
Got to be good looking'cause he's so hard to seeCome together right nowOver me—The Beatles, "Come Together" (1969) [YouTube]Bob Herbert just doesn't get it. As Noel Sheppard has noted, in his NYT column today Herbert accuses Barack Obama of "lurching right when it suits him, and . . . zigging with the kind of reckless abandon that’s guaranteed to cause disillusion, if not whiplash." The NY Times…