Chicago Tribune, Six Other Papers Drop Associated Press

December 27, 2012 | Filed Under Associated Press, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Los Angeles Times, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, Progressives, Reuters, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In perhaps an unsurprising move, the Chicago Tribune has announced that starting in January, the Chicago-based paper and several other Tribune-owned papers will be dropping the Associated Press as its chief wire service.

Along with Chicago, six other Tribune-owned papers will also be dropping the AP. Those papers are the Baltimore Sun; the Orlando Sentinel; the South Florida Sun-Sentinel; the Hartford Courant; the Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania; and the Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia.

Reports from Tribune insiders were confirmed Sunday by Paul Colford, director of media relations for AP. “We’re disappointed by this development but recognize this is a time of transition for these seven Tribune newspapers,” Colford said. “We hope they’ll return to AP as their circumstances change. AP continues to diversify its business to enhance the value of our newsgathering for our 1,400 member newspapers and other news organizations worldwide. The Los Angeles Times has indicated that it plans to stay with AP. The Times has been a great partner in innovation and developing new AP services for many years.”

This news shouldn’t really be a big surprise as the Trib had already started to scale back use of the AP. As far back as 2008 the Trib began using Reuters’ American wire content.
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Assoc. Press Fearmongering About ‘Printable Guns’

December 23, 2012 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Associated Press, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Guns, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, the Associated Press is again fearmongering over the idea of a “printable” gun. That would be a gun manufactured using a 3-D printer that prints in plastics instead of ink. Of course, this story is consistently misreported as no gun can be made in such a fashion, but the Old Media keeps regurgitating this claim anyway in order to push an anti-gun agenda.

In a December 21 report, the AP says that anti-gun groups are “worried” over new technology that utilizes downloadable plans, software and commercially available machines that can print fully realized items — in this case a fireable gun — in 3-D. This technology, AP claims, can “print” a firearm that will get around any gun regulations.

As the AP’s handwringing report begins, “Downloading a gun’s design plans to your computer, building it on a three-dimensional printer and firing it minutes later. No background checks, no questions asked.”

“Sound far-fetched? It’s not. And that is disquieting for gun control advocates,” the story continues.

Well, it might sound “far-fetched” because it is far-fetched. The truth is there is currently no such technology that can “print” a gun.
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AP’s False Claim That ‘Some’ Democrats Open to Entitlement Cuts

December 4, 2012 | Filed Under Associated Press, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entitlements, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a November 28 article, the Associated Press tried to give cover to Democrats by insisting that they are somehow divided over cuts in entitlements to help solve the “fiscal cliff” problem. But the truth is, Democrats are united against these cuts, not divided.

In its piece headlined, “It’s Not Just Taxes: Benefit Cuts Divide Democrats,” the AP attempted to demonstrate a “division” that doesn’t exist by citing two Democrats that meekly offered to consider cuts to entitlements.

It’s not just about taxes. There’s another big obstacle to overcome as Congress and President Barack Obama work to skirt the fiscal cliff: deep divisions among Senate Democrats over whether to consider cuts to popular benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

This is flat out absurd. There are no deep divisions among Democrats over cuts to these programs. In fact, just the opposite.

This tall tale goes on to present the weak claims of “considering” cuts to these programs uttered by Senator Max Baucus (D, Montana) and Kent Conrad (D, N.D.). But one, Conrad, is retiring and the other has no support from his fellows — especially Democrat leadership — for the idea.
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Stupidity: Govt. Says Unemployment Compensation CREATES Jobs!

December 1, 2012 | Filed Under Associated Press, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entitlements, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Media, Nanny State, Progressives, Regulation, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is why no one in government lives in the real world. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said this week that extending unemployment creates jobs Good lord, if these idiots truly believe this garbage, we need to nuke Washington D.C.!

The AP is reporting that the CBO is saying that extending unemployment for another year will “add 300,000 jobs to the economy.”

Naturally, the left-wing idiots we call Democrats think this is all great.
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AP Quits Use of Islamophobia/Homophobia in Reporting

December 1, 2012 | Filed Under Associated Press, Gay Marriage, Gays, Islam, Islamofascism, Journalism, Media, PCism, Race, Society/Culture, Terrorism, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

We often take after the fine folks at the Associated Press for biased “reporting.” But as we criticize when warranted so should we praise when warranted and the AP has done something praiseworthy by telling its correspondents to stop using “Islamophobia” and “homophobia” in their reporting.

On November 26, Politico reported that the AP made some changes to its online style guide, that set of grammatical and language usage rules it requires writers to abide by when writing the news. Out, AP decided, was the phrase “ethnic cleansing” as well as the words “Islamophobia” and “homophobia,” all because they are emotionally tinged words that really have no precise meaning — all are essentially euphemisms, not logical, properly descriptive words.

Said AP,
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Assoc. Press Paints Murders in Benghazi as Merely a ‘PR Disaster’

November 30, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Associated Press, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Foreign Policy, Government, Government, Corruption, Hamas, Islam, Islamofascism, Journalism, Koran, Liberals, Libya, Media, Media Bias, President, Progressives, Religion, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an outrageous attempt to defuse for President Obama the murderous disaster that is his security failures in Benghazi on September 11, the Associated Press deemed the whole debacle merely a “PR disaster” and speculated it could all just be forgotten if Susan Rice were to be successfully nominated as our next Secretary of State.

The White House could finally have its chance to close the books on its Benghazi public relations disaster, as key Republicans signal they might not stand in the way of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to become the next secretary of state.

With such dismissive rhetoric, the AP seems to discount the death of Chris Stevens, our U.S. Ambassador to Libya, and several of his security staff all of whom were murdered by radical Islamists. Still, even the logic here makes no sense.

Is the AP saying that the ambassador’s brutal murder can just be forgotten if Susan Rice becomes Sec. of State? How does that even make sense? This claim makes as much sense as saying that Watergate should have been forgotten because Richard Nixon was successfully re-elected after perpetrating the break-in.

The AP next goes on to swallow whole the shaky explanation of why Susan Rice lied about what happened at Benghazi.
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AP Touts ‘Non-Partisan’ Study Saying Obamacare Great for States

November 29, 2012 | Filed Under Associated Press, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entitlements, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Medicaid, Medicare, Nanny State, Obamacare, President, Progressives, Regulation, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press has done it again, pushing on readers a “study” by purported “nonpartisan” organizations that aren’t nonpartisan at all. This one claiming that Obamacare is a “good deal for states.”

The AP notes that this “report” by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute says that Obamacare is good for the states because it picks up the largest amount of healthcare costs through its Medicaid expansion.

Expanding Medicaid to cover about 20 million more low-income people will cost over $1 trillion nationally from 2013 to 2022, said the joint report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute. But the analysis found that states will pay just $76 billion of that, a combined share of roughly 7 percent. The feds will pay the other $952 billion.

But what of these two groups? Are they really “nonpartisan”?
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Assoc. Press Delegitimizing Israel’s Capital City

November 17, 2012 | Filed Under al Qaeda, Anti-Semitism, Associated Press, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Hamas, Islam, Islamofascism, Israel, Jews, Jihad, Journalism, Judaism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Progressives, Religion, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again we see the Old Media using subtle rhetoric in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of Israel, this time it’s the Associated Press playing the trick.

In a November 16 story about Palestinian rockets being launched into Israel’s civilian population, the AP decided to try and cajole readers into feeling that Israel’s capital isn’t really Israel’s legitimate capital.

This is how the AP described Jerusalem: (my bold)

An attack on Israel’s self-declared capital marks a major escalation by Gaza militants, both for its symbolism and its distance from the Palestinian territory. Located roughly 75 kilometers (50 miles) away from the Gaza border, Jerusalem had been thought to be beyond the range of Gaza rocket squads.

What is this “self-declared” business, AP? Are you trying to say that Jerusalem isn’t really or legitimately Israel’s capital? Of course you are.
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Assoc. Press: Stop Whining About Soc. Sec., America. It Isn’t as Expensive as Europe’s!

August 15, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Associated Press, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Entitlements, Ethics, Financial Reform, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Politicians, President, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Social Security is as close to insolvency as you can get and not be completely belly up. Government watchdogs warn that Social Security will see a $7 trillion shortfall by 2086. But the Associated Press says, don’t worry about all that, America. Why, the Social Security system isn’t as bad as Europe’s public pension mess, so everything’s just fine. Move along. Nothing to see here.

In the article, AP sets about comparing Europe’s public pension systems to Social Security. In so doing AP is apparently trying to quell fears that Social Security is in crisis. Why, Europe’s is in worse shape, so Social Security is “downright frugal,” The AP says.

Not only is the AP apparently trying to make Americans forget all about the mess that our entitlements are in, but the venerable wire service goes on to note that Europe’s benefits are far more generous than our miserly Social Security.

AP points out that those lucky Europeans can retire earlier than Americans and also informs readers that this Nirvana was created by high taxes. See, Europe is better.
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AP Misleads: Perry Did NOT Call for Romney to Release Tax Returns

July 19, 2012 | Filed Under Associated Press, Barack Obama, Elections, GOP, Government, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press does it again, falsely reporting something that might tend to make Mitt Romney look bad. This time, with a headline that screams, “Perry calls on Mitt Romney to release tax returns,” the AP garbles the story of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s comments about Romney’s tax returns. Contrary to the AP, Perry made no such call on Romney, however.

We should be suspicious of the initial AP report right off because it doesn’t contain a single, actual quote from Gov. Perry. Here is how the AP report begins:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is calling on fellow Republican and former rival Mitt Romney to release his tax returns.

Perry said anyone running for office should make public as much personal information as possible to help voters decide.

The report goes on with a bit of padding but also notes that “Romney has come under increasing pressure” for not releasing more tax return information, a demand that itself is nonsense.
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Assoc. Press Now Pushing Anti-Scott Walker Story About… Beer?

June 13, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Associated Press, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, GOP, Government, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Public Employees Unions, Republicans, Scott Walker, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press seems to be still on the lookout for stories about how Wisconsinites (especially “unions”) hate Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker — yes, even after he beat a recall attempt getting even more votes than he did during his first run for the Guv’s manse. This time AP is pushing the tale that Carrie Nation’s alcohol prohibition “union” is mad at Walker for wanting to serve beer at his unity picnic. Yeah, the same 140-year-old group chiefly responsible for passing the ill-fated Prohibition Act on the country in the 1920s.

So now, the AP has its headlined, “Walker Angers Temperance Union by Serving Beer,” and is seriously trying to get the nation all ginned up over the fact that the beer hating Women’s Christian Temperance Union is upset at the Governor.

What is the Women’s Christian Temperance Union? The WCTU started way back in 1873 ultimately becoming a major political force when its most well-known advocate, Carrie Nation, helped lead the way for the 18th Amendment, the one that banned alcohol in the United States. Of course, Ms. Nation died 8 years before the Amendment succeeded in becoming law, but that doesn’t stop her from being one of the main reasons for giving rise to the exciting career of our most honored Chicago citizen, Al Capone. Thanks, Carrie.

So, who cares much about what the WCTU is doing now some 90 years after their main premise was proven an abject failure? The AP apparently.
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AP Asks Cheney’s Doctors if They Stopped Beating Their Wives Yet

March 26, 2012 | Filed Under Associated Press, Conservatives, Dick Cheney, GOP, Health, Journalism, Media Bias, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like Jerry Seinfeld, the Associated Press did a masterful job of making a story out of nothing this weekend after news broke that former Vice President Dick Cheney was the recipient of a heart transplant.

In fact, APs first paragraph is one of those masterful bits of psychological manipulation along the lines of the old rhetorical trick that goes: “when did you stop beating your wife?”

With its first paragraph the AP cast doubt on the propriety of Cheney getting a heart transplant, raised the specter of Cheney getting “special treatment” (even while denying he did) and played the age card to boot pointing out that many “thousands of younger people” are still waiting while Cheney is now walking around with a new heart.

The nerve of that guy.
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Media Forgets to Mention S. C. Immigration Law-Blocking Judge is Obama Appointee

December 23, 2011 | Filed Under Associated Press, Barack Obama, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Immigration/Immigrants, Journalism, Judges, Law, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Regulation, South Carolina, The New York Times, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the Old Media’s favorite ways of attempting to hide the ideological track of a story is to somehow forget to mention to which party someone in the news hails or owes fealty to. In this case it is what they don’t report that misleads. This week we find a classic what-they-don’t-say story concerning the judge that blocked sections of South Carolina’s new immigration law.

For those unaware, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel temporarily blocked segments of South Carolina’s new immigration laws because he claimed that some of its provisions impinged on federal prerogatives, things over which the state has no jurisdiction.

The South Carolina law was opposed in court by Obama’s left-wing, activist Department of Justice headed by Eric “Fast And Furious” Holder and a gaggle of civil rights groups and Judge Gergel agreed with these attackers issuing an injunction to stop implementation of the provisions in question.

The Old Media reported a lot of details in the story, of course. We learned all about who opposed the provisions, who scoffed at the injunction, in what District Judge Gergel hailed, and in some of the reports we even get to hear what Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had to say about it all. But one thing few of these news outlets seemed to report might help readers understand the decision better.

Judge Richard Mark Gergel is an Obama appointee.
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AP Editorializing in the ‘News’ Again

September 7, 2011 | Filed Under Associated Press, Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a recent article on the dissatisfaction of Big Labor once again we see making its way into what is otherwise supposed to be a normal, everyday “news” story, the Associated Press indulging its penchant for using biased labels and left-wing “definitions” in order to push a left-wing agenda on its readers. Even while presenting straight “news” the AP can’t resist swinging all terms and discussions to the liberal side of the fence, a tactic that it employs to push every story to the left.

In an article headlined, “Labor Unions Adjust to New Reality Under Obama,” AP writer Sam Hannanel reports the dissatisfaction that Big Labor leaders are increasingly expressing about their Obammessiah. Even though he’s been the most union-friendly president in American history their grumbling is rising as they see Obama “failing” them.

The complaint is that Obama hasn’t done enough for unions — an astounding claim for what he has done for them in comparison to what past presidents have done.
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Why Can’t Old Media Learn That Obama Has Contempt for Them?

June 29, 2011 | Filed Under Associated Press, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Since the early days of Barack Obama’s run for the presidency, you know, right after he became Senator Obama in 2006, he’s been slighting the media in ways small and large. And since 2006 the media has been complaining about his sleights. Even this week the Old Media has been found whining about getting the back of Obama’s hand. And yet, that same media, treated like an abused wife, comes back for more with love in their eyes.

Obama has ignored reporters, he’s refused to engage in friendly patter, he’s remained aloof and distant, he’s banned some, had folks in his administration ban others, he’s blocked them, he’s excluded them in favor of his own “reporters,” he’s smart-mouthed them and given them short shrift, and he’s done his level best to so control the message that the press corps ends up having less access than they have had with other presidents.

And yet, the media is so pliant and subservient to The One and family that even wife Michelle recently thanked the in-the-tank media for its constant “helping” of the Obamas.
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Old Media Gets Rolled on Hoax Story

April 14, 2011 | Filed Under Associated Press, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press was very excited to learn that General Electric was going to return its $3.2 billion tax refund to the U.S. Treasury because the company was so embarrassed that it got such a giant refund this year. Why, it was so selfless of GE to be that public minded, AP thought. Only one problem. The story was a hoax and AP fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Early on Thursday a press release came from GE… or at least AP assumed it came from GE… that announced that the corporate giant was giving back its $3.2 billion tax refund. Saying that the company was “facing criticism over the amount of taxes it pays,” AP assumed that GE wanted to reverse the bad reputation it had earned for having skipped out on paying taxes for 2010.
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Republicans Block DREAM Act, Another Old Media Lie

December 20, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Immigration/Immigrants, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Regulation, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Old Media is up to its old tricks again, this time making the GOP the fall guy for the failure of the latest immigration bill. Nearly every news outlet is reporting that the Republicans have blocked the DREAM Act, many of these reports even say so right in the headline. The truth, however, is not that the GOP blocked it, but that the Democrats didn’t get all its own members to vote for it.

In fact, if the Democrats could have gotten five more of their own members to vote “yea” the bill would have passed cloture. As it happened they had five members vote no and one didn’t vote at all. If the Democrats could have marshaled all its strength it would have won the day. This is rightfully a Democrat failure, not a GOP blocking, as it should be remembered that the Democrats still have the majority in Congress, enough that if they’d have stayed together on this they could have won.
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Name That Party: Another Criminal Democrat Goes Unidentified by Old Media

November 13, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Virginia, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Every now and again I like to play “name that party.” This is the fun parlor game where you read a story about a politician that has either been indicted, arrested, or imprisoned and try to guess by the story from which party he hails. If you read the story and no political party affiliation is mentioned, 99 out of 100 times you can be sure that the troubled pol is a Democrat. However, if it is a Republican that is going to jail or to court his party usually makes the first paragraph if not the headline itself.

Well, today we have yet another edition of “name that party” going on in the Old Line State where Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson and his wife Leslie have been arrested and charged with tampering with a witness in connection with a criminal offense and destruction of evidence in a federal investigation. Johnson is a Democrat, not that the news helps you learn that little factoid.

As this is breaking news, the story has popped up on the AP, the Washington Post, Reuters, and several other sources. The stories are filled with all sorts of details about the case, what the charges are, the particulars of the crime, the names and offices of those accused, their ages, where they live… all these things fill the various stories that announce the arrest. But one tiny little detail seems to have escaped many of the news stories: the fact that Johnson is a Democrat. It seems like they just plum forgot to mention his political party.

You are shocked, I am sure.
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AP Says Dem Early Voters Big Turnout in MD, But MD Early Voting Hasn’t Started

October 21, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Journalism, Law, Maryland, Media, Media Bias, Vote Fraud, Warner Todd Huston | 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

(This post read on-air by Rush Limbaugh on Oct. 22, 2010)

Here is an interesting question that I have for the Associated Press. The AP has a story from October 21 that features the news that Democrats in Maryland are turning out in bigger numbers for early voting than Republicans. But according to the Maryland State Board of Elections, early voting in the Old Line State isn’t supposed to start until October 22.

Of the early voting stats in its Oct. 21 report AP says (my bold):

While it’s impossible to tell for whom people are voting, so far more Democrats than Republicans are casting ballots in Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina, Louisiana and Nevada’s heavily Democratic Clark County, which supplied two-thirds of the state’s voters in 2008.

But according to the Maryland State Board of Elections (my bold again):

For the general election, early voting centers will be open starting Friday October 22, 2010 through Thursday, October 28, 2010, except for Sunday, October 24th when early voting centers are closed.

So, what gives? How is it that AP knows the future and is reporting on early voting in Maryland, saying it is high for Democrats, when early voting isn’t even supposed to start until the day after the report came out?

Could someone explain to me what I’m missing?
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Down Economy: America’s ‘Oldest Family Farm’ Up For Sale

August 3, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Business, Capitalism, CNN, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, History, Journalism, Labor Law, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, New Hampshire, NPR, Regulation, Taxes, Unemployment, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a sign of these dismal times, the oldest family farm in America is up for sale because its owners just cannot survive this down economy. After 378 years of contiguous family ownership and operation, the Tuttle family of Dover, New Hampshire is selling its 134-acre farm.

Founded in 1632 by John Tuttle fresh off the boat from the Old World, the Tuttle family farm has moved on with the times, improved and changed to continue operating. But, at long last, this economy is too much for them to bear.

Curiously, the Associated Press worked very hard to downplay the economic side of this argument in its coverage and instead played up the fact that the Tuttles are aging and have decided to discourage their own sons from taking up the family business. The APs story also turned the focus away from the bad economy and toward blaming WalMart and the “growth of supermarket chains.”
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Top Ten most Left-Biased American Journalists – #9: Liz Sidoti, Associated Press

July 15, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Warner Todd Huston | 6 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Do you get paid to sleep on the job? The union employees of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority apparently do. And if caught sleeping on the job, the punishment seems to be just a slap on the wrist, a wink and a nod, and business as usual afterward. All at $33 dollars an hour of the taxpayer’s money.

The Associated Press has been increasingly disappointing at least since Ron Fournier, one of its former bureau chiefs, decided in 2008 to change the APs editorial policy and allow more emotive language and opinion to become an official part of its newswire copy. Not every AP reporter has taken Fournier’s challenge, but boy has Liz Sidoti claimed that policy as her own.

Liz isn’t the only AP reporter to indulge her inner Olbermann, of course, as there are many AP writers that have been caught using emotive wording, hyperbole, and straight out opinion to damn conservatives and Republicans. But Liz is particularly good at the off-handed sleight and the surreptitious slam.
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Gawker Tastelessly Gawks About Suicide of Fox News Employee

July 8, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Media, Media Bias, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The lurid website Gawker.com recently posted a story about the suicide of a Fox News employee that was entirely empty of any real newsworthiness, but did serve as a platform to throw a dig at Fox News. In fact, it seems the only reason that Gawker posted the story at all is to attack Fox News. Exploiting this poor woman’s death and mental anguish just to get a dig at Fox News is over-the-top even for Gawker, but it is the culture our friends on the left have fostered in America today.

Featuring a giant Fox News logo, the Gawker piece blares in a bold headline that “Former Fox News Producer Committed Suicide, Investigators Say.” From all the hoopla Gawker gave this story one would think that Fox News was central in the story. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Certainly the suicide of a Fox News employee could be newsworthy. If it had involved a high profile, on-air personality or high executive of Fox, perhaps the news of his suicide might be somewhat newsworthy. But the woman whose death Gawker and its commenters are chortling over is nothing of the kind.
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The AP: Using Emotional Descriptives to Demean the GOP

June 22, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Republicans, State Government, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the best ways to cajole a reader into accepting a point of view is to use emotional descriptives in writing. It is the difference between opinion style editorials — like what I write — and straight news — like what a wire service like the Associated Press is supposed to be writing. Unfortunately, the AP has been adding ever larger amounts of emotional language to its news and, not surprisingly, that emotion is used to give support to the American left and to denigrate the right. A recent AP story about the rise of the new conservative movement in Wisconsin is a perfect example of that emotional language used to attack Republicans.

The story, “Wisconsin’s Democrats have got the blues” by Scott Bauer, ostensibly describes how conservatives in Wisconsin are on the rise, finding great success in organizing and fielding candidates. But the main emotional response one comes away with from reading the negative rhetoric of the story is a distaste over the conservative’s success.

The first sentence that casts the right in a negative light is directed against Wisconsin’s Tea Party groups.
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Sarah Palin ‘Tweets’ Huston Story

June 18, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Media, Media Bias, Sarah Palin, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

OK, excuse me if this sounds a bit like a fan-boy post, but Sarah Palin herself tweeted to her “tweeps” my story on the AP’s constant covering for Democrats.

Now, some may scoff at my claim that it was Sarah herself that did it. But for all the investigating that people have done, we know that Sarah does her own Tweeting and does not have a staffer doing it. So, yes, I feel comfortable saying Sarah herself Tweeted my story.

Check out the screen shot of her Twitter feed…

Like I said, I hate to sound like a fan-boy, and I’m not a fan of hero worshiping, but this is kind cool anyway so I thought I’d share it.

AP Bias: Name That Party Blasts Repubs, Leaves Dems Unnamed in Stories

June 17, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Democrats/Leftists, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the many ways that the Associated Press lends its support to Democrats and leftists in its political reporting is often evident in its stories on political scandals. The most common assist the AP gives to Democrats is to somehow forget to mention that a politician in the news because of criminal activity or other scandals is a Democrat. Yet when any pol in the news for scandal is a Republican his party affiliation often leads the story, if it isn’t in the headline, even. Oh, it’s all accidental I’m sure, but it happens so often as to give the suspicion of a concerted effort. And today we have a great example of the AP’s penchant for covering for Democrats.

The writer is AP’s Colleen Long and on June 14 she penned two stories on separate political scandals, both of them occurring in New York. These criminal cases concern political operatives and how Long treated them is telling.
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A Tale of Two Book Banners: Palin Ripped, Kagan Excused

May 24, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Barack Obama, Books, Democrats/Leftists, Entertainment, Government, Government, Corruption, Huffington Post, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, Republicans, Sarah Palin, TV News, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Comparisons are always a great way to show how differently the Old Media treats conservative and leftist politicians in America today and Obama’s nomination of the Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court gives us another opportunity to see the Old Media’s penchant to excoriate a Republican’s actions while soft peddling and excusing away similar actions by a left-winger.

In this case, it is instructive to see how the Old Media treated the claim that Sarah Palin banned books from the Wasilla library when she was mayor and today how it is treating the recently highlighted Supreme Court arguments made by Elena Kagan that the government could ban books under the McCain-Feingold Act.

After McCain picked Governor Sarah Palin for his number two slot during the 2008 campaign for president the Old Media lit upon a story that said Sarah Palin tried to ban books from the Wasilla library when she was mayor there in 1996. A list of the supposedly banned books was even bandied about by the left-wing blogs causing a ruckus in the media but it turned out the list had books on it published years after Palin had left the Mayor’s office. The list was a fabrication and was lifted from a website that detailed the books that had been banned at one time or another, in one place or another, over the last 100 years.

As it turned out the whole story came from another former Wasilla mayor. He claimed that Palin had asked a Wasilla librarian “how she could go about banning books.” No books were banned, no list was made and Palin said she was asked by a constituent to look into how a book might be removed for its “objectionable material.”
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Study Shows Businesses Weren’t Cutting Jobs Until…

May 15, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press made an interesting concession — likely without even knowing they did so — in a recent report on the “new normal” of permanent job loss in Obama’s economy. The AP admitted that until the recession, American businesses weren’t firing people simply so improve the bottom line as many anti-business, left-wingers have been for decades claiming.

In the AP piece the headline moans that “Millions of jobs that were cut won’t likely return,” and goes on to say that “millions of jobs lost in the recession could be gone for good.”

It’s all pretty dismal news, but tucked inside the piece was this interesting paragraph:
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Tea Party: Instantly Attacked by Old Media, Coffee Party: Immediate Respect from Old Media

April 28, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Huffington Post, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, Radio, Tea Party, TV News, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Nothing says “media bias” like coffee in the morning.

If anyone ever wanted to see an example of the bias of the Old Media no better example can be found than the different ways that it has treated the tea party movement and the coffee party astroturf effort. The tea party movement was initially ignored, then it was ridiculed, then it was attacked as dangerous, but no where in the Old Media was it treated as a valid, powerful political movement despite the literally millions of Americans that have attended them.

On the other hand, the astroturf coffee party effort created by an Obama campaign staffer was treated as a viable, important effort from the second it was announced and all that quite despite the fact that no coffee party event seems to have been able to turn out more than 20 people at a time.

Let’s look at some numbers. Just from those first tax day tea party events (April 15, 2009) the number of participants topped *500,000. And since then there have been thousands of more tea party protests of all sorts sponsored by any number of local and national groups and they, too, have turned out thousands of participants. There have been tea party participants in the millions since April of 2009.

Of course, the Old Media has done its best to downplay the number of tea party protestors. Instead of detailing the actual numbers, the Old Media continues to use the nebulous phrase “hundreds of protestors,” or when the numbers are greater the dismissive “thousands of protestors.” An excellent example of this can be seen in the great Washington D.C. protest of September of 2009. Where the foreign press noted that as many as a million flooded Washington D.C. on September 12, 2009, the American Old Media insisted on using the less accurate phrase “tens of thousands.” When asked to quantify a million people no one would use the phrase “tens of thousands,” unless, of course, they were trying to diminish the amount.

Also since April of 2009, we have seen tea party groups begin a foray into local politics. From coast to coast tea party groups have been holding candidate forums, endorsing candidates, and proffering candidates from their own ranks. Now, as it is right now this moment, we are still at a nascent stage of these electoral efforts, so it is difficult to say what will come of it. But the fact is, they’ve begun at various levels from north to south and east to west.
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AP Pushes Muslims Into Story Where They Don’t Belong

April 22, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Democrats/Leftists, Islam, Islamofascism, Lobbyists, Religion, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The AP recently posted one of its many daily short news stories, reports usually of only three or four paragraphs in length, this one about the possible Nazi connotations of a vanity license plate issued by the Virginia Dept. of Motor Vehicles. But at the last second, this report suddenly became a propaganda tool for the radical Islamist group CAIR.

As it happens, the Virginia DMV revoked a vanity plate issued in 2009 with “14CV88″ embossed upon it. Supposedly the numbers “88″ and “14″ are connected to Hitler in some way or another, but what makes the AP report appalling is the last line in the AP report.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations applauded the DMV’s action.

Um, why did the AP feel it necessary to add that CAIR was happy that the Nazi influenced vanity plate was pulled? What do Muslims have to do with opposing anti-Jewish sentiment? In fact, isn’t it rather the opposite more often than not? More outrageously, Islamism was an offshoot of Nazism as Hitler’s Nazi system served as the model for radical Islam as practiced today. Yet the AP is allowing radical Islamists to claim the mantle of anti-racists?
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Tags: Publius+Forum, Warner+Todd+Huston, Media+Bias, Associated+Press, AP, Islam, Muslims