Houston Chronicle
Anatomy of a Biased Headline: Part III
October 1st, 2008 11:05 AM
Today’s version of our exercise, in which we dissect the media’s attempts at interjecting bias into a simple headline, may stun some of you.
The shocking aspect? The Washington Post didn’t partake in the liberal doctoring of the headline. Let’s take a look…
The Pentagon just released a report entitled ‘Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq,’ which highlights a decline in violence in the…
Headlines Offer an Alternate Liberal Reality
September 8th, 2008 10:21 PM
This is to say, not reality at all. What is the first step in the main stream media’s handbook of liberal bias? Why, alter the headline to fit your agenda, of course. In textbook MSM form, liberal news outlets have been altering the planned Tuesday announcement by President Bush that 8,000 troops in Iraq will be home by February. Allow me to demonstrate…
Media Near-Secret: Exxon's Taxes Almost 3x As Much As Profits
July 31st, 2008 10:49 PM
Just heard Mark Levin mention this point on his show tonight. The item he referred to is from Mark Perry at istockanalyst.com, who commented on CNNMoney.com's coverage of Exxon Mobil's profit report today: According to CNN, Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income of $11.68 billion on revenue of $138 billion in the second quarter.…
House Speaker Pelosi Claims Al Gore Invented Internet Technology
July 23rd, 2008 9:36 PM
I'm sure by now we are all aware of the Netroots Nation conference that happened in Austin, Texas last weekend. Well, did you know that without Al Gore it wouldn't have happened? That's right, since Al Gore invented the Internet... I know, I know, that is the old Al Gore joke where he famously claimed that he invented the World Wide Web. Everyone knows that Al Gore had little to do with the…
Kurtz: 'Liberal Commentators' Defended Obama's Campaign Finance Flip-f
June 22nd, 2008 1:13 PM
Has the media's love affair with Barack Obama gone too far?CNN's Howard Kurtz seems to think so, for on Sunday's "Reliable Sources," the Washington Post columnist strongly took issue with how press outlets reported last week's news that the Democrat presidential nominee was going back on a campaign promise to accept public funds:And all these liberal commentators who have always supported…
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…
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…
Newspaper Circulations in 3-Year Plunge, with Four Exceptions
May 1st, 2008 10:27 AM
Old Media business reporters have a definitionally-incorrect habit of labeling single industries or economic sectors as being "in recession," when the term, as defined here, can only describe national economies or the world economy. Two examples of this are New York Times reporter David Leonhardt's description of manufacturing as being in recession in February 2007 (laughably incorrect, in any…
Houston Chron: Obama Flag Pin Question 'Planted from the Right
April 19th, 2008 3:19 PM
Houston Chronicle blogger Bob Cavnar needs to take some time off, or lay off the caffeine, or maybe someone should gently tell him that the black helicopters aren't following him after all. Whatever the case, Cavnar used his April 19th posting to go off on a wild eyed rant that is so twisted that it ends up blaming Republicans and Mickey Mouse for the fact that Barack Obama isn't patriotic enough…
Scandal-Ridden 'Hip Hop Mayor' Superdelgate's Dem Power Links
March 11th, 2008 10:12 AM
A few days before Eliot Spitzer went down in flames, a highly-connected Barack Obama* superdelegate was mired in accusations of corruption, bid-rigging and a dead-stripper sex scandal. Usually the media love to report the downfall of party bigwigs, but not in the case of Detroit's youngest mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Much of the media downplayed the mayor's scandals and did not report his party, let…
USA Today and WSJ Mask Serious Circulation Problems at Most Other Majo
November 8th, 2007 5:34 PM
It is understandable, but not forgivable, that business reporters at Old Media newspapers might think that the economy is in bad shape. They first have to get past how poorly most of their employers are doing. The industry as a whole has not been doing well, and it's been that way for quite some time. This table illustrates that point (September 30, 2007 figures are at this post, which originally…