BiasAlerts

While it is unusual for the mainstream media to give attention to armed citizens who use guns to defend themselves against criminals before police can arrive, on Thursday's CBS Evening News, anchor Harry Smith highlighted a smoke shop owner in Texas who fought back when he was the victim of two armed robbers, as he shot and apparently wounded one of them. Smith related to viewers: The owner of a smoke shop in Waco, Texas, knows how to stay cool under pressure. Early Wednesday, two robbers pulled guns on him and his friend. Surveillance video shows the owner, Amar Kayah... continue reading

Appearing as a guest in a pre-recorded interview on Wednesday's Parker-Spitzer on CNN to promote his film The Social Network, television and film producer Aaron Sorkin trashed Sarah Palin as an "idiot" and a "mean woman." Sorkin: "Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on, this is a remarkably, this is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman." After the former producer of the television series The West Wing complained that the religious right had attacked the show as "anti-God," he also went after the GOP as the segment neared its end. Sorkin: "But the Democrats may have moved into the... continue reading

In her @katiecouric Web show analyzing the trends of 2010, the CBS Evening News anchor made a serious speech (in her serious, deep-thinker glasses) against the deep "seething hatred" against Muslims in America: I also think sort of the chasm, between, or the bigotry expressed against Muslims in this country has been one of the most disturbing stories to surface this year. Of course, a lot of noise was made about the Islamic Center, mosque, down near the World Trade Center, but I think there wasn't enough sort of careful analysis and evaluation of where this bigotry toward 1.5 billion... continue reading

The Washington Post's Ezra Klein appeared on MSNBC's Daily Rundown, Thursday, to mock the incoming Republicans for their stated fixation on the Constitution, asserting that the document is rather old and "confusing." MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell dismissed the GOP effort as "lip service" and wondered if it was a "gimmick." After playing clips of Republicans claiming they would reject legislation that couldn't be justified constitutionally, Klein complained, " The issue of the Constitution is that the text is confusing because it was written more than 100 years ago and what people believe it says differs from person to person and differs... continue reading

The third runners-up quotes in the MRC's " Best Notable Quotables of 2010: The Twenty-Third Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting ." As announced in a CyberAlert Special last week, the awards issue was posted, with videos, on Monday, December 20, but following tradition, Monday , Tuesday , yesterday and today - the last weekdays of the year - MRC.org's BiasAlert and corresponding CyberAlert e-mail newsletter will run the winning quotes followed on succeeding days by the runners-up. The page linked above also has links for the text of the entire issue in MS Word, OpenOffice Writer or WordPerfect... continue reading

On Tuesday morning, CNN anchor Alina Cho interviewed Lorena Bobbitt - who unsurprisingly goes by her maiden name, Lorena Gallo - to discuss her recent efforts to reach out to domestic abuse victims and combat spousal abuse. However, the network not only failed to explain the specifics of her 1993 domestic dispute - where she infamously severed her then-husband John Bobbitt's penis with a kitchen knife - but asked her if she can now look back and laugh about the attack. Bobbitt took revenge on her husband after she said he had abused her multiple times. Years later, in 1997,... continue reading

Former MSNBC journalist David Shuster, who used his position as a supposedly straight-forward journalist to slam "nutty," far-right" conservatives, will return to the airwaves Wednesday night, guest hosting the Jim Bohannon radio show. Shuster was "suspended indefinitely" on April 06, 2010 after it was revealed that he was shooting a pilot for CNN, despite still being under contract at MSNBC. The ex-anchor used his Twitter page to announce the development and to inform that his guests for the day's program will include White House spokesman Bill Burton and a UFO expert. During his time at MSNBC, Shuster repeatedly slammed Tea... continue reading

Of the three morning shows, only ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday singled out New Jersey governor Chris Christie, chiding the "rising star of the Republican Party" for being out of the state when a blizzard hit. At the same time, reporter Sharyn Alfonsi praised Newark's Democratic Mayor Cory Booker for helping with the clean-up. She enthused, "Wow! A mayor with a shovel." Regarding Christie, Alfonsi critiqued, "Meantime, anger also boiled over into New Jersey, where Chris Christie, the state's brash and often outspoken governor,...was nowhere to be found." To underline the segment's sarcasm, Alfonsi played a clip of the... continue reading

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The second runners-up quotes in the MRC's " Best Notable Quotables of 2010: The Twenty-Third Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting ." As announced in a CyberAlert Special last week, the awards issue was posted, with videos, on Monday, December 20, but following tradition, Monday , yesterday , today and tomorrow - the last weekdays of the year - MRC.org's BiasAlert and corresponding CyberAlert e-mail newsletter will run the winning quotes followed on succeeding days by the runners-up. The page linked above also has links for the text of the entire issue in MS Word, OpenOffice Writer or WordPerfect... continue reading