USA Today

Finally, a review of Michael Moore's “Sicko” that addressed the problems with his Seigfried & Roy style of filming and his one-sided view of health care systems. USA Today's review, by Richard Wolf, did not ignore the problems with US health care, but it put “Sicko's” view into perspective and notes the tricks and gimmicks he used to frame an image of a health care system that is worse than…

When it was announced Tuesday that China surpassed the United States as the world’s leading emitter of carbon dioxide, NewsBusters asked, “Will Media Notice?”In reality, the answer is a mixed windbag, with most press outlets totally ignoring the revelation, and a few actually blaming the problem on – wait for it! – the United States. I kid you not.However, before we address that stupidity, it…

In a Q & A with the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper published Monday, USA Today founder Al Neuharth described Rush Limbaugh's radio show as “one of the funniest programs on the air” and asserted: “I don't become offended by the idiotic things he says; I become amused by them.” Neuharth, however, conceded Limbaugh is entitled to his supposed idiocy: “I also think that from my…

On Saturday, NewsBusters asked two important questions: “Will Media Report Palestinians Fleeing Gaza For Israel,” and will they address the theft of Yasser Arafat’s Nobel Peace Prize by Hamas looters? At this point, the answer to the latter is a resounding “No.” The answer to the former is “Not much.”To be more specific, extensive searches of Google News and LexisNexis have identified that no…

On Thursday, a NewsBusters headline asked “G-8 Statement Regarding Climate Change: Will Media Use It to Bash Bush?”The answer: Most definitely.From print to television, the formal declaration published by the group of eight most developed nations emanating from their summit in Germany was depicted as a winner for the host country’s chancellor Angela Merkel, while George W. Bush was the big meanie…

You know, it seems pretty cut-and-dried to me. Stuffing secret documents down your pants and removing them from a secure room in a federal facility, that constitutes stealing.USA Today's "On Deadline" blog isn't sure, though. (bold/italics are USA Today's):Sandy Berger, the national security adviser under former President Clinton, was disbarred yesterday in the District of Columbia.The…

Color me pleasantly surprised, given the media's past treatment of the issue. The June 7 Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today all gave prominent play to news of a stem cell breakthrough that may make moot the embryonic stem cell ethical dilemma.I don't have a hard copy of the LA Times, but I know the other papers featured the story on their front pages.Of course, it…

While the relatively narrow Dow Jones Industrial Average has been achieving alltime highs for a couple of months, it took until last week for the broader S&P 500 index to beat its previous record of 1527. The index closed at 1536.24 last week. Instead of writing up the big winners in the 77% of companies that have brought the index back from its 2000 low, USA Today writer Matt Krantz looked…

(14:50 EDT) Video of Tim Russert misspelling "Iraq" at bottom of post.When California homeschooler Evan O’Dorney, 13, won the National Spelling Bee on Thursday night, the nation’s press reacted with a yawn.Instead of focusing on the winner, The New York Times ran a story about an immigrant from India who lost in the second round of the competition. That boy, Kunal Sah, 12, who is living in Utah…

It’s been a full 48 hours since antiwar icon Cindy Sheehan publicly announced that she was leaving the Democrat Party due to Thursday’s bipartisan agreement on an Iraq war funding bill.Yet, Google News and LexisNexis searches have identified that not one major media outlet has covered her announcement.Not one.Given the media’s fascination with this woman since she traveled to Crawford, Texas, in…

Critical Update and Correction at End of PostA headline at NewsBusters Thursday asked, “Will Media Report Al Qaeda Torture Manual With Same Zeal as Abu Ghraib?”The answer: No!In fact, from what I can tell by looking at LexisNexis, Google News, and closed-captioning dumps, the only media outlet in the nation that covered this story was Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes.”This is despite the fact that…