Tuesday, June 30, 2009

93% of Cable Coverage About Michael Jackson

Yesterday, I asked about the dearth of Iraq coverage—here’s some more context…

Did Chuck Todd Roll His Eyes When Talking About Republican Press Releases?

Take a look at this clip of Chuck Todd chatting with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.  Pay no attention to Gibbs’ non-answer to Todd’s question; deflecting questions is his job. Rather, take a look at Todd’s expression when asking Gibbs about Christina Romer’s comments from yesterday, which I wrote about here, in which she claimed no one ever thought the stimulus would, you know, actually stimulate the economy ...

Olbermann Boasts about Ratings, Leaves out Key Fact

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann blasted a media critic on Monday night for saying he is in a ratings “slump.” But it seems odd that he would carry on so vociferously and defensively without mentioning that Fox’s Bill O’Reilly—the man Olbermann has made a career out of pestering—is smothering both he and CNN’s Campbell Brown combined at 8:00.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Stunning Lack of Coverage of Iraq Withdrawal

Scanning blogs, Twitter, print and cable news and thinking back to the mood of the country just a couple of years ago, it’s stunning to see the muted coverage of what would have been a momentous story...

Was Sotomayor Out of the Mainstream on White Firefighters?

Patrick writes, “A substantial majority of Americans disagree with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and agree with the majority of the Supreme Court on the question of whether or not white firefighters from the City of New Haven were discriminated against, according to a new CNN/opinion Research Corporation poll.” There’s another angle to this, per Glenn Greenwald...

CNN Poll: 65% Say White Firefighters Were Victims of Discrimination

A substantial majority of Americans disagree with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and agree with the majority of the Supreme Court on the question of whether or not white firefighters from the City of New Haven were discriminated against, according to a new CNN/opinion Research Corporation poll.

Obama Econ Advisor Kicks the Stimulus Can, Media Ignores

Why isn’t the stimulus stimulating?  According to Christina Romer, no one ever thought it would, at least in the first six months. “We always knew we were not going to get all that much fiscal impact during the first five to six months,” says Romer in an interview with the Financial Times. Her comments are greatly at odds with what others in the Obama administration have said. One would expect that the cable news chat shows could find a minute or two to discuss this.

Read My Lips Redux (Without the Media Scrutiny)

So the top advisor to the President of the United States refuses to rule out middle-class tax increases to pay for health care reform—in complete contradiction to the foundational argument behind his candidacy—and cable news chat shows respond with … silence?  Well, yeah, if you get your news from CNN or MSNBC.

Atrios: Rudy Discusses Sanford on Morning Joe

Short and sweet. Atrios: “Of course the cable news day began with Rudy Giuliani discussing the Sanford affair on Morning Joe. Any self awareness journos?”

Update on CNN’s “Declaration of Independence”?

How goes CNN’s campaign to become the cable news source of straight, independent news, as opposed to leftwing or rightwing opinion, which, in their marketing formulation, is how CNN positions MSNBC and Fox news respectively? Two nuggets give us conflicting clues.