Media Scandals

As evidence that Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and then his transition team, were under surveillance by the Obama administration for political reasons continues to mount, the stubborn refusal by CNN's Don Lemon to acknowledge this reality is turning into a national joke. Thursday evening, Newsmax's Christopher Ruddy got so exasperated at Lemon's deep state of denial, that he asked: "Don,…

One would hope that the Washington Post, where the news masthead is "Democracy Dies in Darkness," and whose emails soliciting subscriptions tell recipients that "Democracy needs great journalism," searched far and wide for the most credible person they could possibly find to criticize the foreign-policy impact of how the Trump administration "twists the truth." Apparently, the best person they…

The Washington Post, which recently changed its web masthead's motto to "Democracy Dies in Darkness," also promises potential subscribers "Award-winning content" and "Top political coverage." We've yet to hear from the Post where it would categorize its original description Sunday of destruction perpetrated by far-left environmentalist vandals — as "a daring act of defiance" — at Trump National…

It all started with an ignorant tweet by Vox's Matt Yglesias, who falsely claimed that "It's impressive that the IRS never leaks." The New York Times's Nick Kristof, apparently unaware or indifferent to the fact that he was simultaneously engaging in breathtaking hypocrisy and playing with fire, saw an opportunity to advertise his paper's law-subverting services, and tweeted the paper's physical…

Late Friday afternoon, Brian Slodysko at the Associated Press published a legitimate but overwrought news story on how Vice President Mike Pence, while Indiana's governor, had "emails about state business distributed from a private AOL account that was hacked last year." But the AP reporter also published Karen Pence's still-active AOL email address for no conceivably justifiable reason. Now the…

It's becoming quite obvious that the Associated Press, which has tilted ever more to the left for several decades, has been on the verge of going completely off the rails since their coordinated plan to elect Hillary Clinton failed in November. Naturally, the AP has directed its ever-increasing hostility at Donald Trump and his administration since that fateful day — seldom more obviously than in…

It hasn't taken much time for the seedy, left agenda-driven unprofessionalism of Politico alum Glenn Thrush, who while there sent "an entire section of an article pertaining to (Hillary Clinton campaign manager) Podesta for approval before publication," to make its presence felt at the New York Times, his new place of employment. In a Friday diatribe disguised as a dispatch which appeared on the…

Donald Trump, like virtually every president before him, is upset that there have been leaks to the news media (and heaven knows who else) from his administration. In his Thursday press conference, Trump emphasized that leaks of classified information or matters relating to national security are "criminal" acts — because they are — and promised to pursue the leakers. That, and Trump's Friday…

One of the more amusing yet pathetic spectacles of the Trump administration’s early weeks — the ongoing establishment press fury at the richly deserved lack of respect it is getting from the President and his press secretary — neared meltdown yesterday. This occurred because Donald Trump wasn't asked a question everyone knew he wouldn't answer if asked about Michael Flynn at a joint press…

It tends to be good advice to avoid automatically assigning negative or malicious intent, such as a desire to play "gotcha," when someone's actions, inaction, or statements might have simply arisen from breathtaking ignorance. But what if it appears to a combination of both traits? That seems to be the case with New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman's Saturday morning tweet. Haberman, whose…

In a late Wednesday afternoon NewsBusters post, I commented on the extraordinary hostility reporters at the Associated Press exhibited towards Donald Trump and his administration during their first two full business days in power. In that post, I wondered if they might be carrying a childish grudge over not being able to ask the first question at Press Secretary Sean Spicer's briefings, as they…

Since last decade, it's been White House tradition that the press secretary typically calls on an Associated Press reporter to ask the first question at briefings. Trump administration Press Secretary Sean Spicer has not selected AP for the first question at either of his first two briefings, and numerous press outlets have noted that avoidance. It's more than fair to ask, given the tone of the…

At 6:55 a.m. on Sunday, Angie Goff of NBC4 in Washington, whose Twitter handle is @OhMyGOFF, tweeted, "JUST IN: The White House releases statement ..." on Saturday's "Women's Marches" in Washington and elsewhere. Goff attached the alleged "White House" statement. 2-1/2 hours later, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted that "The White House has not issued a statement." Good grief.

Here's an episode which indicates that many reporters in the establishment press expect the worst from Donald Trump, and can't wait to put it out there when they think they have it. On Friday, when Time Magazine political reporter Zeke Miller didn't immediately see the bust of Martin Luther King in the White House's Oval Office where he expected to see it, his knee-jerk assumption was that it was…