Monthly Archives: May 2010

Chris Matthews, Iraq Truth-Teller

Posted on 05/07/2010 by Peter Hart

On May 4, 2010: What killed President Bush's credibility? His utter claim that the reason we went to war in Iraq was to search for nuclear weapons. Because he and his people were dishonest enough to make that claim, he … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq, Media Criticism | Tagged | 8 Comments

Newsweek: Stop Blaming Robert Rubin

Posted on 05/05/2010 by Peter Hart

Newsweek's Jacob Weisberg is tired of people picking on Robert Rubin. Sure, his critics to point to his involvement in the financial deregulation of the 1990s and his disastrous tenure at Citibank, but they're wrong. At least that's what Weisberg … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Iraq, Newsweek | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Historical Fraudster a Regular on Glenn Beck's Show

Posted on 05/05/2010 by Steve Rendall

Glenn Beck says progressives are trying to "fundamentally transform the country" by rendering the Constitution "irrelevant" ("In 1920, they stopped studying the Constitution in law school and started studying case law!"), and by expunging from history the role "religion and … Continue reading →

Posted in First Amendment, Fox News | Tagged , | 8 Comments

O'Reilly Speaks Out for Bias and Backlash

Posted on 05/05/2010 by Steve Rendall

You just never know what will set Bill O'Reilly off. Last night, it was a perfectly reasonable remark by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who, following the arrest of a Pakistani suspect in the Times Square car bomb plot, … Continue reading →

Posted in Fox News, Race | Tagged , | 9 Comments

O'Reilly's Non-Existent Arizona Immigrant Crime Wave

Posted on 05/04/2010 by Peter Hart

Fox host Bill O'Reilly searched around for a reason to support Arizona's harsh new immigration law, and seemed to settle on the fact that there is a crime wave in Phoenix (5/3/10): Arizona had to do something. In the capital … Continue reading →

Posted in Fox News, Immigration | Tagged , | 16 Comments

NYT Has No Space to Tell You It's an Oil Industry Group Saying That Spills Aren't So Bad

Posted on 05/04/2010 by Jim Naureckas

The formula for "contrarian" journalism was aptly summed up by Wonkette (1/6/09): Take a widely accepted belief (e.g., "Dogs make good pets") and write a cool 600 words arguing why its opposite is SECRETLY truer ("Why all dogs should die"). … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, New York Times | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Time's Influential Antiwar Activist Too Antiwar?

Posted on 05/04/2010 by Peter Hart

It was a surprise to see Afghan feminist activist Malalai JoyaonTime magazine's"Top 100 Most Influential People in the World" list. Not as surprising, though, to see her views criticized. Joya is a fierce opponent of the U.S. presence in her … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, Time | Tagged , | 4 Comments

NewsHour Finds Drilling Critic

Posted on 05/04/2010 by Peter Hart

We noted last week that the PBS NewsHour's coverageof the Gulf oil disaster one night includeda one-on-one interview with a spokesperson from BP. Going through the show's coverage since then, a remarkable fact emerged: The show hadnot interviewed an environmental … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Media Criticism, PBS | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Defending Arizona: It's U.S.'s Fault for Not Wrecking Lives, Damaging Economy

Posted on 05/03/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Ross Douthat has a New York Times column today (5/3/10) criticizing those who are "impugning the motives" of the new Arizona immigration law, which has been denounced as a "Nazi" or "near-fascist" law, a "police state" intervention, an imitation of … Continue reading →

Posted in New York Times | Tagged , | 22 Comments

NYT: Drill, Baby, Drill

Posted on 05/03/2010 by Peter Hart

The New York Times' May 2 Week in Review section leads with a piece from Jad Mouawad headlined "The Spill vs. a Need to Drill." You get a sense of the tone of the piece early on: Readers learn that … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Environment, New York Times | 15 Comments