Comparing Coverage of Industrial Production Declines: 2008 v
May 16th, 2008 12:01 AM
The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that April industrial production fell, the second negative reading in the past three months. Specifically, February and April fell by 0.7%, and March showed an increase of 0.2%. In May 2001, that same report showed that production fell for the seventh consecutive month. Seasonally adjusted data from the Fed indicates that industrial production during those…
News Reports Avoid Mentioning Record U.S. April Tax Receipts
May 13th, 2008 2:40 PM
How do you write an article about Uncle Sam's April financial results without telling readers how much money came in and went out -- especially if what came in was an all-time record? Yesterday and today, many journalists have shown us how. Two of them are Martin Crutsinger of the Associated Press and Michael M. Phillips of the Wall Street Journal. Crutsinger's AP report actually made it…
Nonsense 'Survey' Says Americans 'Struggling in Life
May 13th, 2008 2:23 AM
How about I ask you if you "feel" like you make enough money each year? Let's say you make $48,000 a year, OK? (That's the median household income in the US) You'll likely tell me, then that you "feel" you need more. Now, from this, can I conclude that you are "struggling in life" as a citizen of the USA? Not if you use actual data instead of "feelings" to determine what "struggling" means and…
AP: Military Hits Recruiting Goals Despite 'Slow Economy,' and 'Unpopu
May 12th, 2008 9:13 PM
Don't you just love the MSM? They can't even report good news without interjecting their doom and gloom, agenda driven verbiage into any report. This time it is the Associated Press with the good news that the Marines and the rest of America's armed forces have reached their recruiting goals. In fact, many branches of the service exceeded them. All good news, right? Well, naturally the AP had to…
Old Media Ignores Obama's '57 States,' Obsessed Over Quayle's 'Potatoe
May 11th, 2008 11:56 PM
During the 1992 presidential campaign, when incumbent Vice President Dan Quayle made a spelling mistake, the New York Times was all over it. It's clear from the Times's story that the rest of the media was also in full pursuit: So Jay Leno has a week's worth of new Dan Quayle jokes. At a school here, everyone was quite hush-hush the day after the visiting Vice President spelled potato wrong…
AP: 'Fearless' Liberalism of Franken Primary Opponent
May 11th, 2008 5:01 PM
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is a college professor with a long history of political activism and fearless liberalism.—AP, 5-11-08, profile of candidate for Minn. Dem primary nomination [emphasis added].Fearless liberalism? Fearless? It's fearless for an American college professor to be a big-time liberal? Give me a fearless break! Yet that's how the AP described the predictably left-wing politics of…
Jenna's Wedding: An Excuse for Cheap Media Shots at Her, and Her Fathe
May 9th, 2008 9:35 AM
I noted a few weeks ago (at BizzyBlog; at NewsBusters) that Mike Celizic at MSNBC couldn't get though his article about Jenna Bush's upcoming wedding without bringing up her misdemeanor arrests from seven years ago. Julie Mason of the Houston Chronicle also went there in a late Thursday report. She also threw in a number of shots at Jenna's father, his administration, and his hometown: Saturday…
Misleading AP Headline: Comedy Daily Show 'a Lot Like' O'Reilly
May 8th, 2008 9:29 PM
The Associated Press today wins first place for the most misleading headline in the MSM by saying that a study shows that Jon Stewart's Comedy Central "The Daily Show" show is somehow "a lot like" Bill O'Reilly's "The O'Reilly Factor." The Thursday May 8 report is flippantly headlined, "Study of 'Daily Show': It's a lot like O'Reilly," but the following report does not exactly confirm the…
AP's Crutsinger 'Clings to Recession' Despite Improving Data
May 8th, 2008 9:58 AM
The Associated Press's business writers just won't let go of their claim (or is it audacious hope?) that we are in a recession -- not heading towards one, but actually in one. Despite yet another decent economic report, this one on productivity, the AP's Martin Crutsinger downplayed a significant beating of expectations, and continued to invoke the R-word (bolds are mine): Worker productivity…
Media Misreport Nun Voter ID Story
May 6th, 2008 10:16 PM
If you have been watching the primary election coverage tonight you've probably seen at least one story about elderly nuns from South Bend, Indiana, who were "denied the right to vote" for lack of a photo ID.It's a shame when the mainstream media, bear false witness. Even more so when they exploit the nun angle to carry water for left-wing groups that opposed the law all the way up to the U.S.…
In McGreevey Divorce Story, AP Omits Party Label, Errs on Background
May 6th, 2008 1:58 PM
In a remarkable example of "Name that Party," the Associated Press, in an unbylined report about the beginning of his divorce trial appearing in USA Today, failed to name the party of former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, who resigned in 2005, or of his former "male staffer." Beyond that, AP did not accurately describe the circumstances that triggered McGreevey's resignation. Here's how…
Another Day, Another Snapshot of Media Pumping Out Gas Price Hype
May 6th, 2008 11:06 AM
Three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and media hype about gasoline prices. On television that third item often takes place not just in your usual standup at a gas station interviewing outraged motorists. In Web-based media, however, the still shot is worth 1,000 barrels.We've noted how CNN.com has done it. Today, it's ABCNews.com with its front-page teaser headline "Oil: Another Day,…
The Truth In Sadr City
May 5th, 2008 3:12 PM
The AP article as headlined in the Houston Chronicle:"Militiamen ambush drives back US patrol in Sadr City"The story reports:"The U.S. Military said 28 militamen were killed as the U.S. patrol pulled back."Not exactly.Bill Roggio at The Long War Journal gives us the important details. The title of his article?"US troops kill 28 Mahdi fighters during Sadr City ambush"His story reports:
