Danielle Kurtzleben at U.S. News & World Report crunched some numbers of federal campaign contributions and discovered that the NPR Board and the board of the NPR Foundation are - surprise, surprise - much more likely to donate to Democrats. A review of campaign finance data found that NPR board members' campaign contributions have sharply favored Democrats . Since 2004, members of the boards of NPR and the NPR Foundation, the public broadcaster's fundraising arm, have contributed nearly $2.2 million to federal candidates, parties, and PACs, of which $1.95 million, or 89 percent, has gone to Democratic candidates and liberal-leaning... continue reading
MSNBC's Chuck Todd on Wednesday hyped the fact that Barack Obama will be making his NCAA tournament picks on ESPN. The Daily Rundown anchor enthused, " You got about 27 hours to get your brackets in. The President has already done his ." Perhaps referencing the devastating earthquake in Japan or the ongoing crisis in Libya, Todd vaguely allowed, "He's a bit distracted, of course. Maybe he just doesn't just have time to do the research [for college basketball]." But, the MSNBC anchor didn't question the appropriateness of making televised basketball while Japan's nuclear reactors are still a major threat... continue reading
On Monday's Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews slammed the potential crop of 2012 Republican presidential contenders as "the weakest list of candidates I have ever seen." Matthews bashed Mitt Romney as someone who "gives a bad name to empty suits." He claimed Mike Huckabee was being "racist" by mistakenly saying President Obama spent part of his childhood in Kenya instead of Indonesia. When Leno asked about Minnesota Congressman Michele Bachmann, Matthews ranted about a gaffe she made about Lexington and Concord being in New Hampshire: "You ought to at least know high school... continue reading
On Tuesday's Morning Edition, NPR's Carrie Johnson highlighted critiques of the Obama White House from the left on their promise to be "the most transparent administration in history," but downplayed questions over the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Unit's use of non-disclosure agreements with companies under investigation. Host Renee Montagne introduced Johnson's report , noting that "in Washington, D.C., some people are calling this 'Sunshine Week.' It's a time of year when government watchdog groups evaluate the administration's commitment to openness. Two years ago, President Obama promised to run the most transparent administration in history." After playing a clip of... continue reading
On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, contributor Taryn Winter Brill touted a new University of Pennsylvania study on the influence of breakfast cereal cartoon characters on children: "Previous research has shown how these images influence children's selections, but now a new study reveals they also influence how the kids think the cereal actually tastes." In the report that followed, Brill described how marketing campaigns "target" kids to sell unhealthy sugary cereals: "Breakfast cereal is a $10 billion a year business and competition is fierce...especially among children's cereal.... They target kids with cartoon characters, in commercials and on boxes, that practically reach... continue reading
The damage control effort over at National Public Radio (NPR) is at such a state that they've consulted a piece from Glenn Beck's TheBlaze.com to argue it's the victim of a smear operation. On Sunday morning's "Weekend Edition," NPR delved into the report. When a sting operation launched by conservative James O'Keefe recorded a top NPR Foundation fundraiser making disparaging comments about Republicans and tea partiers, NPR faced heavy public scrutiny. But a publication created by Glenn Beck, described by an NPR correspondent as a "sort of a conservative 'Huffington Post,'" used the full-cut video of the operation, released after... continue reading
The Birther conspiracy obsessed Chris Matthews, on Friday's Hardball , suggested the disaster in Japan was a good opportunity for Barack Obama to remind people he was born in Hawaii. Well when a guest on Monday's show pointed out Obama did just that, the MSNBCer couldn't help but congratulate him as he told the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson: "Thank you for reminding us the President was raised in Hawaii...and not of the Maus Maus, which some of his more insane critics have brought up." Matthews began his final segment by leading his guest into the answer he was looking for... continue reading
Jay Kernis, senior producer of CNN's In the Arena program, promoted liberal writer David Sirota's thesis that " the mythology of the 1980s still defines our thinking on everything from militarism, to greed, to race relations ." Sirota bashed 80s cultural touchstones such as The A Team and Ghostbusters for being " hideously militaristic " and the " ugliness of [their] anti-government message ." Kernis interviewed the Huffington Post contributor about his new book, "Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now-Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything" in an item on his program's blog... continue reading
For the last two years, members of the media have scolded conservatives and members of the Tea Party for using incendiary language. Yet, a Time.com headline on Saturday blasted, " Wisconsin's Governor Wins, but Is He Now Dead Man Walker? " Writer Dawn Reiss highlighted the angry tone of pro-union demonstrators, enraged over Scott Walker's collective bargaining restrictions: "The midnight honking of cars circling the white building had ceased. The chalk outlines around fake dead bodies etched with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's name remained in dismembered parts, not yet completely washed away by hoses." Reiss touted the anger of people... continue reading
Many of NPR's correspondents and contributors were out in force this weekend singing the praises of their taxpayer-subsidized network in the wake of an undercover video scandal that led to the ouster last week of NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller. MRC's NewsBusters blog chronicled the various appearances over the weekend. Before providing a flavor of the commentary, NewsBusters also picked up on an item published in the March 7 edition of Current , billed as "the newspaper about public media in the United States." In comments delivered at a February 25 NPR Board meeting (and reprinted in Current), Sue... continue reading