Well fancy that: The New York Times has learned what Times Watch has been pointing out for weeks: Not even New Yorkers want a large mosque built two blocks from the site of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. New York residents were previously praised by Times reporters like Sheryl Gay Stolberg as better informed and thus more tolerant of the idea of a mosque at Ground Zero than ignorant outsiders (ignoring the results of a Quinnipiac poll showing otherwise). But a New York Times poll conducted last week showed that New Yorkers don't like the idea of building a mosque near... continue reading
Reporting ABC News President David Westin's plan to step down at the end of the year, the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz noted "some early missteps" during his 13-year tenure, such as "a comment after the Sept. 11 attacks, for which Westin apologized, that journalists should offer no opinion about whether the Pentagon had been a legitimate military target." That apology was promoted by an MRC CyberAlert item in October of 2001 which put into play an answer Westin delivered during a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism seminar. Barely six weeks after the 9/11 attack, Westin was remarkably reticent about... continue reading
Good Morning America's Dan Harris on Monday slipped in an aside about Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck that seemed to link the two conservatives to both violence against Muslims and a Florida minister's plan to burn on the Koran on 9/11. Harris asserted, "It is but a preview of the anger we'll be seeing on the upcoming ninth anniversary of 9/11, now just five days away , which will include an event in Alaska featuring Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, a protest at Ground Zero and a Koran-burning ceremony at a church in Florida." [MP3 audio here .] After the... continue reading
On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith touted President Obama's economic proposals and portrayed Republicans as obstructionist: "Obama's new plan. The President proposes to spend $50 billion on roads, airports, and railways and offers businesses a $200 billion tax cut. But the GOP says not so fast." Later, Smith introduced a report by senior White House correspondent Bill Plante: "With unemployment at 9.6% and the midterm elections just two months away, President Obama is out and about this week promoting new ideas to get the economy moving again." Plante proclaimed: "Pumped up in full campaign mode before a crowd... continue reading
With the rise of the Tea Party, their push for constitutional limits on government power and admiration for the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, I thought I'd use this last holiday of the summer as an opportunity to post an item from the MRC's archive which exposed how a major cable network once tried to discredit George Washington's moral authority in history, and thus the legitimacy of the Revolutionary War. In an A&E movie, aired in 2000, on George Washington crossing the Delaware, The Crossing, he is persuaded that just like the hired-gun Hessians, his opposition to British taxes means... continue reading
The late Peter Jennings, shortly after the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994: "Imagine a nation full of uncontrolled two-year-old rage. The voters had a temper tantrum last week." Washington Post Associate Editor Eugene Robinson , a frequent guest analyst on MSNBC, in his Friday column on polls showing voters will throw out Democrats, again, in November: "This isn't an 'electoral wave,' it's a temper tantrum." More Jennings from 1994: "Parenting and governing don't have to be dirty words: the nation can't be run by an angry two-year-old." And more from Robinson this year: "The American people are acting... continue reading
Filling in for Bob Schieffer as host of Face the Nation , Early Show co-host Harry Smith brought his liberal sensibilities to the Sunday show, pressing his economic panel to agree the Bush tax cuts should not be extended, the stimulus was too small and so another would be wise - even suggesting a return to an FDR-era government make-work jobs program: "What about, say, something like a new WPA?" Presuming the pre-2003 levels are the real rates, Smith questioned Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "Is now the time to continue cutting taxes if there is this overwhelming... continue reading
A Washington Post news story earlier this week served to demonstrate that mainstream media journalists apply the same prism overseas as they do domestically when covering illegal immigration and the Ground Zero mosque: When an overwhelming majority of the public goes against the media's position, journalists see division and portray politicians sharing the majority position as causing rancor. Case in a point: An article from Paris on page A6 of the Tuesday, August 31, Washington Post, " Crackdown on Roma divides French : Unease grows as Sarkozy razes camps, expels residents," in which the newspaper's Edward Cody led: "Much of... continue reading
The Labor Department announced the unemployment rate rose a tenth of a point, to 9.6 percent in August so, as the AP noted , it "has exceeded 9 percent for 16 straight months," while the economy lost 54,000 jobs. Yet, without avoiding the dire numbers, ABC, CBS and NBC managed to find a "mixed picture," "mixed bag" or even a "silver lining" for President Obama and Democrats two months before election day. "It's a mixed picture here, but it's giving some encouragement to those who are out there looking, some who are hanging onto their jobs and their businesses by... continue reading
ABC's Claire Shipman waxed ecstatic over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday's Good Morning America, as she reported on Mrs. Clinton's efforts in the Middle Eastern peace process. Shipman exclaimed how the Secretary had a " distinct, quite public moment of triumph " in her meetings with leaders from both sides, and noted how Clinton has become an " international political celebrity ." Anchor George Stephanopoulos, former communications director for President Bill Clinton, introduced the correspondent's report, which aired 44 minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour. Stephanopoulos noted past administrations' failure "to broker a lasting peace between Israel... continue reading