Dylan Byers Defends Politico For 'Diversity' That Barely Exists, and I

August 20th, 2014 11:08 AM
Just to be clear, the racial makeup of a news organization should be irrelevant to its ability to cover current events. The answers to who, what, where, when, why, and how are colorblind. The practice of assigning reporters to stories based on the ethnicities or races of stories' subjects is offensive, and should be seen as insulting. But the fact is that news organizations and so-called…

NYT Blames Hamas, Israel Equally For End of Cease-Fire; Story Ignores

August 19th, 2014 11:59 PM
Over at Hot Air on Tuesday night, Mary Katharine Ham pointed to a headline at the New York Times, present at its web home page as well as at the story itself, which equally blames Hamas and Israel for the end of their cease-fire: "Rockets From Gaza and Israeli Response Break Cease-Fire." Someone needs to tell Isabel Kershner and Jodi Rudoren that it's the "rockets from Gaza" which broke the…

Prominent Progressive's Email Suggests Defacing Cover of Paul Ryan's N

August 19th, 2014 4:07 PM
Imagine that a prominent Republican activist proposed a campaign of malicious destruction against Hillary Clinton's latest book. Does anyone doubt that the press would be all over it as proof that conservatives and Republicans are disrespectful and mean-spirited? Well, Erica Payne is a prominent, aggressively self-promoting progressive. The advanced nature of her activist bona fides might…

At Least Seven AP Reporters Violated Their Own Stylebook in Describing

August 19th, 2014 2:40 PM
Kudos to Ed Driscoll at PJ Media, Eddie Scarry at Mediaite, and likely others in pointing out that the Associated Press has frequently violated its own stylebook in describing Michael Brown, the 18 year-old who was fatally shot in a scuffle with police in Ferguson, Missouri, as a "teen" or "teenager." The AP's latest stylebook, in sync with the one I have from over a decade ago, states that…

Not National News: Mass. Obamacare Exchange Requires Everyone to Re-en

August 18th, 2014 5:59 PM
Recent news about Obamacare hasn't exactly been good, but the press has been pretty effective in keeping it quiet. To name just a few items, Enrollment is shrinking, because perhaps as many as 20 percent of enrollees aren't keeping up with their premiums. Rising costs have moved insurers to beg for bailouts, which appear to be forthcoming.  Then there's this: Just last week in Massachusetts,…

WashPost's Lowery: Ferguson, Mo., the Nation's Other 'War

August 18th, 2014 5:45 PM
Wesley Lowery was catapulted from relative obscurity to household-name status last week, at least for obsessive viewers of the MSNBC network, thanks to his arrest and brief detention by authorities in Ferguson, Missouri, last week. So perhaps it's not all too surprising that the Washington Post reporter -- whose beat usually is "Congress and national politics" -- used his Twitter account this…

Vox's Fisher Spins Pope's Support for Stopping ISIS As A 'Crusade

August 18th, 2014 5:01 PM
Vox's Max Fisher shamelessly invoked medieval history in a Monday post about Pope Francis. Fisher highlighted the pontiff's support for action against ISIS's "unjust aggression" in Iraq, and hyped that "there is good precedent for this...between 1096 and 1272 AD, popes also endorsed the use of Western military action to destroy Middle Eastern caliphates. Those were known as the crusades; there…

Irresponsible: Old Media Outlets Release Info on Where Ferguson Office

August 18th, 2014 3:01 PM
Boy, it's a good thing that we don't have any bloggers, Twitter amateurs or Facebook fulminators going off half-cocked and helping people find out where Darren Wilson lives. Wilson is the Ferguson, Missouri police officer who reportedly shot and killed Mike Brown. I mean, if anybody knew that or could figure it out, his safety and that of any family members would be in jeopardy. Oh, wait a…

The New York Times Has Zero Idea How the Internet Works - Or Is Lying

August 18th, 2014 8:52 AM
It takes a special man to cram so much wrong into a mere 342 words.  Or an Old Grey Lady. The New York Times’ utterly ridiculous Editorial Board recently as one addressed Title II Internet regulatory Reclassification and Network Neutrality - and they did so in utterly ridiculous fashion.  They either have absolutely no idea what any of this is - or they are lying through their printing…

Freudian Slip: Rick Perry Opponent Says 'Nothing Could Be Closer to th

August 17th, 2014 7:01 PM
Craig McDonald, the director of Texans for Public Justice, was on CNN today. He tried to "respond" to something Lone Star State Governor Rick Perry's didn't say yesterday in his reaction to his indictment, and followed that up with a comical gaffe. McDonald opened as follows: "The Governor again in his defense yesterday said this is merely a partisan political witch hunt." The trouble is that…

CBS's Axelrod Praises Twitter's Ferguson Protests; Omits How Featured

August 14th, 2014 9:40 PM
Smartphones and social media are enabling African-Americans all over the country to join in on peaceful, digital protests of the fatal shooting of unarmed Ferguson, Mo., teenager Michael Brown, CBS's Jim Axelrod reported on the August 14 Evening News. Axelrod turned to one such Twitter user, "Andre Fields... a 27-year-old political aide" from New York. But while Axelrod presented Fields as…

Shorter MSNBC.com: Ferguson, Mo., City Elections -- Held in April -- A

August 14th, 2014 5:00 PM
Examining how the Missouri town of "Ferguson’s lack of diversity goes way beyond its cops," MSNBC.com's Zachary Roth examined numerous factors that had led to the city's elected officials being predominantly comprised of white folks while the city itself is roughly two-thirds African-American. Roth explained that turnout in city elections are dreadfully low, often in the teens but dipping as…

Barely News: Teachers Union Head's Promise to 'Punch' Common Core Oppo

August 14th, 2014 2:58 PM
Give the New York Daily News credit for surfacing a video which originally appeared at Ed Notes Online, a publication whose "about" page says it opposes "the education corporate-based reforms ... undermining the public school system" and exposes "the motives behind the education deformers." The video shows Michael Mulgrew, the president of New York City's United Federation of Teachers,…

Publisher Rejects Fellow Soldiers' Book on Bowe Bergdahl, Because 'the

August 13th, 2014 3:33 PM
Remember all those books that the publishing houses rejected during the eight years before Dear Leader took office because they might get used by "the Left" to hurt George W. Bush? No you don't, because it didn't happen. But now, things are different. Fellow soldiers of released 5-year Taliban captive Bowe Bergdahl are trying to publish a book on their side of the "he was a deserter"…