Media
April 28, 2013 — Steven Hayward
There’s likely an inverse relationship between the decline of the legacy media and the increasingly over-the-top desperation, self-congratulation and spectacle of the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, held last night. You would think the media would do themselves a favor and not televise the proceedings of their Otherness on C-SPAN, just as the Gridiron dinner is not open to cameras. Even Tom Brokaw has had enough; isn’t this almost a
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April 28, 2013 — Steven Hayward
As we noted here a few weeks ago, The Economist has gone off the reservation on climate change, and in the current issue it has done so again on the issue of affirmation action and race-conscious policy. The issue is featured on the cover, which means it is the subject of the first “leader” (house editorial), “Time to Scrap Affirmative Action,” as well as the focus of a long feature
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April 21, 2013 — John Hinderaker
It is being reported that Koch Industries is considering bidding for the eight regional Tribune newspapers. The Tribune Company, having recently emerged from bankruptcy, is putting the papers up for sale. The Tribune papers include the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the Orlando Sentinel and the Hartford Courant, and represent a substantial media presence. The New York Times, which has more than a passing interest in
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April 21, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Roger Simon comments regarding the Marathon bombers: [W]e have the worst possible president to deal with the situation. And even after an event as heinous as Boston, he is supported by a media desperate to preserve his narrative at all costs. It’s already started. On Saturday the Boston Globe published an article titled — I kid you not — “Islam might have had secondary role in Boston attacks.” (Don’t look
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April 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Probably not. Recall, to cite just one recent example, how the news media got virtually every fact wrong during the first hours and days after the Newtown shootings. Still, the media’s Boston performance has been atrocious, to the point where the FBI released a statement chiding the press: [C]ontrary to widespread reporting, there have been no arrests made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack. … Over the past day
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April 16, 2013 — Scott Johnson
When a liberal hack wins the Pulitzer for commentary or editorial cartoons or news coverage promoting the left-wing party line, it is full of sound and fury signifying nothing but the left’s domination of the institutions conferring recognition and renown. When a conservative of some stripe wins a Pulitzer, it suggests (to me) that his or her undeniable excellence has overcome the resistance of the judges. Such is the case,
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April 16, 2013 — Scott Johnson
In his USA Today column Glenn Reynolds pays tribute to Kirsten Powers for her USA Today column on the silence of the mainstream media regarding the Gosnell murder trial: Like pretty much everyone who writes opinion columns, I hope that people will read what I write and look at things differently as a result. It happens, sometimes. But very few have the impact of Kirsten Powers’ column on the murder
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April 15, 2013 — Steven Hayward
There’s no good purpose in adding to the half-informed speculation on the TV news outlets about what has taken place in Boston. So far only the NY Post is reporting a Saudi national in custody, but I recall how the authorities rounded up the first Middle Easterner they could find after Oklahoma City in 1995, not to mention the rush to judgment about Richard Jewell after the Atlanta Olympics bombing.
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April 15, 2013 — Scott Johnson
I posted J.D. Mullane’s PhillyBurbs.com column in our Picks over the weekend, but I want to take the liberty of drawing special attention to it. Mullane’s column is “What I saw at the Gosnell trial.” Mullane’s column is accompanied online by a photo of the press section at the trial that Ed Morrissey declared “Photo of the day.” Mullane’s column opens: It is hard to decide the most appalling images
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April 11, 2013 — Steven Hayward
The New York Post front page below really can’t wait for our weekend “Week in Pictures” photo/meme/cartoon spread. The thought of Anthony Weiner running for mayor of New York City is just too irresistible. Please, please, Anthony, do it! We need the endless comic relief. Jon Stewart will be able to put half his writing staff on furlough. The Post‘s Andrew Peyser says this is a “bizarre fantasy”–”Is Anthony Weiner
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April 7, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Edward Jay Epstein’s new book is The Annals of Unsolved Crime, just published by Melville House. Ed is incapable of writing a dull book, and this one lacks a dull page. Michael Wolff’s USA Today review is in the nature of an appreciation that I share in full. Ed now writes to invite Power Line readers to participate in a series of online programs geared to the book: I will
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April 2, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Associated Press announced today that it is amending its style book to eliminate the phrase “illegal immigrant.” (Also “illegal alien,” “an illegal,” “illegals” or “undocumented.”) The AP’s explanation is a little hard to follow: [W]e had in other areas been ridding the Stylebook of labels. The new section on mental health issues argues for using credibly sourced diagnoses instead of labels. Saying someone was “diagnosed with schizophrenia” instead of
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March 21, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Investigative reporter/editor Tom Lipscomb is a Senior Fellow at the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future (USC) and the founder of Times Books. He broke stories on questions about the military records of both John Kerry and George W. Bush in the 2004 election in the Chicago Sun-Times and the New York Sun. Tom argues that the media’s allegiance to the Democratic Party is suppressing news: In one of the
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March 19, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Walter Olson is Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and author of several books on litigation. He holds down the fort at Overlawyered. He has forwarded a column responding to the flurry of articles that appeared in the liberal press a few weeks ago opposing the federal law that bans certain gun lawsuits (the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act), led by the Washington Post. Since then the attacks
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March 18, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Arkansas Fourth District Rep. Tom Cotton appeared on CNN’s State of the Nation yesterday along with his colleague Hawaii Second District Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (video below). Our friend Rep. Cotton set forth a few significant truths about the American effort in Iraq that should not be obscured by Rajiv Chandrasekaran and his media colleagues. In the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, Naval War College professor of national security affairs
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March 18, 2013 — Scott Johnson
We have covered the death of the son of BBC Gaza picture editor Jihad Masharawi at the outset of Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense in some detail. Jihad Masharawi eloquently condemned Israel for the death and the BBC, the Washington Post and other organs of the mainstream media turned it into an international sensation. They turned it into a sensation so long as they could attribute responsibility (wrongly, regardless of
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March 16, 2013 — Scott Johnson
BBC Middle East editor Paul Danahar happened to be on hand in Gaza for the opening of Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense. When the son of Danahar’s BBC Gaza colleague Jihad Masharawi was killed at the outset of the operation this past November, Danahar all but accused Israel of murder. Via his Twitter account @pdanahar, Danahar tweeted his reaction to young Masharawi’s death: “Questioned [sic] asked here is: if Israel
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