Catching up with a distorted news report from Christmas Day, the AP decided to distribute a particularly tendentious piece of "reporting" by the news service's Washington, DC-based Alan Fram and Jennifer Agiesta , who misleadingly charged House Republicans "defied" public will on "tax cuts for the wealthy," which were non-existent. They led: Republicans say they will follow "the people's priorities" when they gain power on Capitol Hill next month. Yet when it came to tax cuts for the wealthy and other top issues that dominated the just concluded lame-duck Congress, the GOP either defied what most Americans want or followed... continue reading
While the rest of America might not be mourning the departure of the troubled Patrick Kennedy from Congress, MSNBC on Tuesday lamented "the end of an era" that saw at least one member of the Kennedy family serving in Washington for 63 years. The network featured three segments on the topic in the span of an hour. Jansing and Co. Guest anchor Richard Lui wondered, "...Will we see a family that will be able to take up the mantle here?" Talking to Democratic strategist Karen Finney, he repeated talking points from the Rhode Island Congressman: "...Patrick Kennedy was saying, you... continue reading
On the Wednesday, December 22, Nightline on ABC, inspired by recent extreme weather, correspondent Dan Harris filed a report on global warming in which he gave attention to the views of a proponent of global warming theory, while giving a lesser amount of attention to two skeptics, one of whom he labeled "controversial." Harris related that, "despite all that compelling evidence" of global warming, climate scientists "feel more embattled than ever," taking heat from "politicians on the right." He even went so far as to highlight examples of reported harassment of climate scientists, including anti-Semitic insults. Harris also concluded his... continue reading
For the last 17 years, ABC's medical editor, Dr. Tim Johnson, has hyped various forms of government-run health care. He continued that pattern on Tuesday's Good Morning America, promoting Barack Obama's 2010 law and ignoring the its unpopular aspects. Talking to guest co-host Chris Cuomo, he enthused, "Many issues have already gone into effect and people like them." Johnson did allow that the bill was "controversial," However, he added, "But, there's many features in this bill, that if they go into effect, could help control costs and improve quality." However, he didn't explain that the legislation as a whole remains... continue reading
The first 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 Monday, the awards issue was posted, with videos, on Monday, December 20, but following tradition, yesterday , today, Wednesday and Thursday - 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 formats... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on Monday's Parker-Spitzer on CNN, Chrystia Freeland of Reuters claimed that the European economy is at an advantage compared to the U.S. because of America's lack of universal health care. But, when fellow guest Will Cain of the National Review pointed out that America's economy outperforms Europe, Freeland was only able to name one nation in Europe - Germany - whose economy is performing impressively. Freeland: "I also think it's a little bit of a mistake to be talking about how bad European economies have been doing recently. ... if you look at the industrialized nations,... continue reading
Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Time columnist Joe Klein predicted that the Tea Party will be the "biggest losers" next year after he agreed with MSNBC's Howard Fineman that the conservative movement represented the "biggest winners" this year. Klein: "I'm going to go with the Tea Party, with the caveat that even though they were the biggest winners of this year because they set the debate, they're going to be the biggest losers of next year because they're going to have to vote." A bit earlier, after Fineman accused Nevada Republican Senate nominee Sharron... continue reading
On Sunday's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, panel member and MSNBC analyst Howard Fineman - also of the Huffington Post - made the over the top assertion that "10 to 20 percent" of Americans will "continue to hate and fear" President and Mrs. Obama, but that the rest have "accepted" President Obama "as a member of the family." And when host Matthews asked who was the biggest winner of the year, Fineman gushed over former President Bill Clinton's recent return to the podium in the White House press room, with Matthews referring to Clinton's visit as the "second coming": HOWARD FINEMAN:... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on Sunday's Reliable Sources on CNN, Steve Roberts - who has worked for both the New York Times and U.S. News and World Report - after conceding that the Tea Party movement is important, dismissively asserted that the movement "didn't win. You only won a couple of seats." Roberts: I think that they are an important part of the American landscape. Now I don't think they're as important as they think they are. I mean, you had people coming into Washington this week and saying, wait, we won. No, you didn't win. You won a couple... continue reading
According to Good Morning America's Robin Roberts on Monday, the efforts of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence aren't "anti-gun." The morning show co-host interviewed Colin Goddard, the group's assistant director of legislative affairs, and promoted a new documentary on the "gun show loophole." Colin Goddard survived the massacre at Virginia Tech and now works for the aggressively anti-Second Amendment organization. Yet, while talking to Goddard, she portrayed the group's work as just common sense. She exclaimed, " Because you're not anti-gun ." After playing a clip of the young man going undercover at a gun show, she mildly... continue reading