Articles

16th Aug, 2006 12:07pm
John Kifner's lead story from Beirut, "Hezbollah Leads Work To Rebuild, Gaining Stature," is depressing enough on its face without typical Timeslabeling slant like this: "Hezbollah's reputation as an efficient grass-roots social service network - as opposed to the Lebanese government, regarded by many here as sleek men in suits doing well - was in evidence everywhere. Young men with walkie-talkies and clipboards were in the battered Shiite neighborhoods on the southern edge of Bint Jbail,…
16th Aug, 2006 11:52am
     Out: the media showing homeless people scrounging for food in dumpster as an indictment of the economy under conservative presidents.        In: the media showing middle class young people scrounging for food in dumpsters as an indictment of capitalism’s success.       Washington Post staff writer Megan Greenwell devoted her article on the front page of the August 16 Metro section to the new trend for young liberal dumpster divers.       Prince Frederick, Md teen Bryan Meadows “considers…
15th Aug, 2006 12:30pm
From Lebanon, Sabrina Tavernise provides some favorable spin for Hezbollah fighters in Tuesday's "Hezbollah Fighters Limp Out Into the Light, Yet Manage a Bit of a Swagger.""When the thunder of the bombs stopped in this southern Lebanese town on Monday morning, the fighters emerged from shrapnel-spattered buildings, moving with the confidence of men who felt they had won. "Sometimes they bragged. "'It was a small group, but we defeated America and Israel, both of them,' said a man driving a…
15th Aug, 2006 11:54am
Congressional reporter Carl Hulse's "Democrats See Security As Key Issue for Fall" portrays the Democratic Party as eager to turn the terrorism issue back on Bush.The online version includes a helpful direct link toa newcampaign video at the website of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee,noticed Nathan Goulding at National Review Online. The link is even embedded in the story teaser on the Times' home page. Why should Democrats bother advertising when the Times will link fromits home…
15th Aug, 2006 10:57am
     CNN’s Lou Dobbs attacked the federal government for overspending, heavy borrowing, and poor accounting practices on his August 14 program. Yet in doing so, the anchor actually praised a liberal Democrat criticized for his own spendthrift record.      Dobbs introduced the story by correspondent Christine Romans by remarking that “by almost any measure, the federal government is not a very good steward of taxpayer money, to say the very least and to say it as kindly as possible.”     …
14th Aug, 2006 4:35pm
     Being a news anchor isn’t rocket science. But a little bit of basic arithmetic couldn’t hurt.      NBC’s Natalie Morales and CBS’s Julie Chen mistakenly told their respective August 14 morning show audiences that gasoline prices of $3.03-a-gallon were at “record” highs.      “Nationwide gas prices have hit yet another record high rising just over a penny in the last three weeks,” Morales told “Today” show viewers. A half-hour later Chen told her “Early Show” audience that “record prices…
14th Aug, 2006 2:10pm
Media reporter Lorne Manly checks out the ongoing debate over media bias in the Israel-Hezbollah war in Monday's "In Wars, Quest for Media Balance Is Also a Battlefield." But Manly fails to address the concerns of critics who see an anti-Israel slant at the Times."Some critics of Israel argue that because the death tolls and destruction are greater in Lebanon, a proportionality of sorts should inform the resulting reports; anything else betrays a pro-Israeli stance. But supporters of Israel say…
14th Aug, 2006 1:54pm
     Nearly two week ago, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell suggested hard-line Communist Raul Castro really did have a soft spot for capitalism.       “Raul has been in charge of the military and the economy,” Mitchell explained to the August 2 “Today” show audience, calling Fidel’s younger brother “politically hard-line but more open than his brother to free enterprise, including foreign investment.”       She might be on to something, after all.        “Federal prosecutors in Miami were prepared to…
14th Aug, 2006 1:42pm
That's the argument put forward in the Sunday Week in Review by Times book review editor Sam Tanenhaus ("An Antiwar Campaign That Takes A Page From the G.O.P. Playbook")."Like the current Democratic insurgency, the conservative movement was driven by activists who combined journalism with partisanship. Just as today's insurgents often post their analyses and self-described 'rants' on Web sites like Daily Kos, so the conservative rebels of an earlier day poured forth their opinions in the…
14th Aug, 2006 12:35pm
Medical reporter Robert Pear for some reason covers Saturday's anti-war protestin Lafayette Park ("Rally Near White House Protests Violence in Mideast")."Thousands of people rallied near the White House on Saturday to protest what they described as Israeli aggression in Lebanon and the United States' unwavering support for Israel."It may not be his normal beat, but Pear proves he has what it takes to cover political stories for the Times- an apparent deep need to portray any group of Muslims,…