BiasAlerts

According to Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos, there's "no evidence" that the Arizona shooter was motivated by political ideology. But, that didn't stop the ABC host from speculating during a discussion with possible Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty. After allowing that "crazy voices" inside Jared Loughner's head probably prompted the rampage, Stephanopoulos continued, " But this has sparked a debate about the political debate in this country. You see Roger Ailes on Fox News saying his people have to tone it down. You have got Paul Krugman on the left talking about a climate of hate. " "What's your take... continue reading

NBC's Andrea Mitchell just can't let go of the media spin that political rhetoric, specially from conservatives like Sarah Palin, is somehow partly to blame for the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords as on Tuesday's Today show, she questioned if Palin's use of crosshairs on her Web site to target Democratic districts was "inflammatory?" Mitchell couldn't even report that "There is no direct link" from Palin to the shooting suspect Jared Loughner without adding, "as far as investigators know." Mitchell actually began her story airing a soundbite from outer space with Giffords' brother-in-law, astronaut Scott Kelly, linking political rhetoric to the... continue reading

Within hours of the mass shooting in Arizona, former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman on Saturday was offering Barack Obama tips on how to manipulate the outburst of violence for his political advantage. Making comparisons to Bill Clinton's response to the Oklahoma City bombing, he lobbied, "...Obama may be able to remind voters of what they like best about him: his sensible demeanor. Amid the din and ferocity of our political culture, he respectfully keeps his voice down, his emotions in check and his mind open." The piece, which appeared on the left-wing Huffington Post , featured this coldly calculating follow-up:... continue reading

There's no evidence political vitriol of any kind drove Jared Loughner's murderous rampage, ABC, CBS and NBC all acknowledged, but that didn't deter them on Monday night from taking up the left-wing line holding conservatives culpable as NBC, incredibly, managed to castigate Sarah Palin and go back more than five years to find an incendiary quote from Glenn Beck - but couldn't find anything over the line from its own Keith Olbermann or Ed Schultz. (Some of Schultz's hate-filled rants ) "It was, by all accounts, a lone and very disturbed man who shot that gun on Saturday," ABC's Diane... continue reading

Economist turned liberal hack New York Times columnist Paul Krugman didn't do his reputation for fairness or class any good with a posting on the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on his nytimes.com blog Saturday, even before the suspect's name or anything about him had been released. He put a foot wrong right out of the gate, suggesting that the shooter, who all now agree has the characteristics of paranoid schizophrenia, was a political assassin: We don't have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She's been the target of violence before. And for... continue reading

On Monday's Newsroom, CNN treated Arizona's gun laws as a significant contributor to the shootings in Tucson. Correspondent Jessica Yellin prompted the local prosecutor to spout her pro-gun control views. Anchor Brooke Baldwin highlighted a local Republican's gun-toting ad and the infamous clip of an anti-Obama protester carrying a semi-automatic rifle outside a 2009 presidential event in Arizona. Yellin interviewed Pima County, Arizona Attorney Barbara LaWall, a Democrat (though Yellin didn't identify her as such ), 15 minutes into the 3 pm Eastern hour. Midway through the segment, the correspondent raised the gun control issue. LaWall immediately replied by touting... continue reading

CNN International's Zain Verjee on Monday's Newsroom highlighted The Guardian's left-wing talking point that the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabby Giffords " points to the rise of political extremism in the United States ." Verjee also bizarrely played up a post from al-Jazeera's website which speculated whether the U.S. would blame Islam for the shootings in Arizona [audio available here ]. Anchor Kyra Phillips brought on the CNN International anchor 53 minutes into the 9 am Eastern hour to report on international reactions to the violence, and asked, "So, what are the headlines there, starting in Great Britain, Zain?" Verjee... continue reading

Chris Matthews, on Monday's Hardball, used the attempt on Gabrielle Giffords' life, to not only portray America as some sort of gun crazed country, but also to blame the likes of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann for political violence as he blurted : "Sarah Palin using gun play language. What is she talking about crosshairs and reloading...and Bachmann out there with her kind of talk . I mean it seems like the way people talk now has, has gotten more ballistic... Why are guns talked about so much, especially on the right? Why?" First up, Matthews depicted the United States... continue reading

After a weekend of media coverage fretting about the tone of political discourse, MSNBC's resident shouter Ed Schultz on Monday pointed his finger (literally) at Fox News for supposedly inciting its audience to "think that doing something radical is the right thing to do," but sidestepped his own history of shocking comments. " I get passionate, but not in a violent way ," Schultz insisted. MRC's recent Special Report, The Real Radio Hatemongers , detailed outrageous statements from Schultz and other left-wing radio stars. Among the supposedly "passionate but not violent" rants from Schultz in the past couple of years:... continue reading