NYT Wants to Make Reading NYT a Requirement for College Students

November 19th, 2009 2:49 PM
Further your indoctrin...I mean education -- with the New York Times! Professor Scott Stein recently received an email offer from the Times: Require his students to read the Times, and get a free subscription.Excerpt from the email (hat tip American Spectator):

CNN Holds Focus Group on Palin...With No Palin Supporters

November 17th, 2009 7:33 PM
CNN's Rick Sanchez hosted a forum of 'average joes' yesterday in a sort of focus group on Sarah Palin. CNN did not feel, however, that it needed to invite any Palin supporters. Despite claims that the group accurately represented American opinion, its responses demonstrated a total disconnect from actual public sentiment.Sanchez, shown right in a file photo, asked the group to inform viewers of…

Shep Smith Is Objective Because He Agrees With Left

November 16th, 2009 11:54 AM
Too often "objectivity in journalism" is code for agreeing with the left. The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz demonstrated this sentiment in his profile of Fox News Channel's Shep Smith.Kurtz lauded Smith as an "outspoken newsman at the network defined by high-decibel conservatives, a stance that has earned him respect even from some Fox-hating liberals." But was it really his "newsman" status…

Eleven AP Reporters Turn Up Little in Palin 'Fact Check

November 15th, 2009 3:39 PM
The Associated Press recently assigned eleven of its writers to fact-check Sarah Palin's new book "Going Rogue." AP's team of truth-seekers only found six errors the former Alaska Governor's book, most of which were trivial and presumably not worth the time of a team of reporters."AP writers Matt Apuzzo, Sharon Theimer, Tom Raum, Rita Beamish, Beth Fouhy, H. Josef Hebert, Justin D. Pritchard,…

Did Lou Dobbs's Conservative Views Cause Him to Leave CNN

November 13th, 2009 3:34 PM
Lou Dobbs left CNN after years of tensions between him and the network's brass, who consistently objected to his outspoken, often controversial reports. But the issues that seem to have annoyed CNN execs most were ones on which Dobbs took a conservative stance.The New York Times reported Wednesday that CNN President Jonathan Klein offered Dobbs an ultimatum a few months ago: "Mr. Dobbs could vent…

WaPo Sees 'Glimpses of Humanity' in Beltway Sniper

November 10th, 2009 6:06 PM
The Washington Post apparently has a soft spot for serial killers.John Allen Muhammad, the infamous Beltway Sniper, is set to die by lethal injection tonight.  After being found guilty of capital murder by a jury of his peers, Muhammad was sentenced to death.  The Washington Post, however, sees the “humanity in [the] D.C. sniper.”The Post quotes defense attorney Jon Sheldon as saying:

Brokaw's Really Important Interview: Gorbachev Supports Obama's Nobel

November 9th, 2009 5:04 PM
Sometimes – no, scratch that, many times –  it is difficult to imagine a caricature of the media.Tom Brokaw made an appearance on this morning's edition of Morning Joe this morning, plugging his interview with the former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.  Brokaw was, of course, reporting from the historic Brandenburg Gate this morning to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin…

WSJ's Timely Wall-Fall Reminder: In 1987, Rather Said USSR Citizens 'D

November 9th, 2009 3:16 PM
The Wall Street Journal's editorial today on the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is excellent, as would be expected, and gives credit where credit is due: In the debate over who deserves credit for causing the Berlin Wall to collapse on the night of November 9, 1989, many names come to mind, both great and small. There was Günter Schabowski, the muddled East German politburo…

Dem Congressman Equates Tough Interview Questions with Political Favor

November 8th, 2009 2:00 PM
Very often criticism of journalists is actually criticism of journalism. Effective investigative reporting entails asking the tough questions and demanding answers.   Powerful Democrats, including White House officials, have derided Fox News for this reason. But even conservative bloggers are not immune to the "extension of the opposition" charge for simply asking the tough questions.Late last…

American Association Of Retired Democratic People

November 6th, 2009 8:26 AM
Far be it from NewsBusters to support more government social-program spending. Still, my antennae went up when I heard AARP's Nancy LeaMond dismiss a half-trillion in Medicare cuts as mere "scalpel" wielding. LeaMond, AARP Exec. VP, made her blithe statement while defending her organization's endorsement of ObamaCare to Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe today.Which made me wonder: just who is Nancy…

Wait, I Thought It Was Over; AP Blurb Says Recession 'Will Likely Take

November 3rd, 2009 2:35 PM
Laurie Kellman, call your office, check your e-mail, and tap in to your Twitter. The Associated Press reporter didn't get the memo that recession is supposedly over, and that at a minimum you shouldn't be writing as if it will be with us for a while. She also erred in citing the weak economy as a bad thing for Democrats. The New York Times told us about a week ago that a bad economy is a good…

Pat Buchanan Feels A Morning Joe Tingle

November 3rd, 2009 2:33 PM
After Joe Scarborough’s intra-squad snarking of Keith Olbermann yesterday morning, one might have expected a better-behaved Brew Crew today.No such luck for Chris Matthews – Pat Buchanan had different plans.In a discussion of the polling data in Virginia’s gubernatorial race, Joe asked Lawrence O’Donnell why the Democrat was doing so poorly in a state that President Obama won by a large margin…

Joe Scarborough Satirizes Keith Olbermann's '08 Election Night Coverag

November 2nd, 2009 12:37 PM
The technical term for the following video is “busting his chops.”Joe Scarborough provided a wonderful satire of Keith Olbermann’s 2008 election-night bias on this morning’s edition of Morning Joe.  A partial transcript follows the video, which really must be watched for the full effect.Attaboy, Joe.  This sort of thing makes up for your left-of-center moments.

USAT Headline Calls 3Q GDP Growth 'Torrid,' Ignoring Article Source's

October 31st, 2009 11:53 PM
Does the self-described "Nation's Newspaper" -- er, make that the nation's second newspaper -- have a MoveOn mole as a headline writer? The paper's headline at its report on Thursday's government announcement that the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) came in at an annualized 3.5% after four consecutive quarters of decline was not only over the top. Its message went directly against an…