On February 5, 2012, the Associated Press (AP) reported that an Occupy DC protester slammed a brick into the face of a law enforcement officer. Yahoo! News then reposted and promoted the piece.

Nonviolent brickbats? (Source: comicvine.com)

The article and its reposting by another prominent left-of-center news site does not indicate that the mainstream media is willing to cover Occupy’s violence. Rather, further examination reveals another example of the media’s efforts to cover up and spin Occupy’s violence as nonviolent protest.

The obvious strategy, as was the case in the media’s response to the ACORN scandal, is to bury the key details, reporting the news but lacing it with false disclaimers in order to frame the issue to the left’s advantage.

In this example, though the AP/Yahoo News story does acknowledge the Occupy violence, it makes clear and concise efforts to frame the issue falsely as one of a lone wolf/isolated incident in a “mostly peaceful” and “nonviolent” Occupy movement.

The article reads as follows (my emphasis):

Police: 11 arrested at Occupy DC site
AP – Sun, Feb 5, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — Authorities say 11 people have been arrested in Washington’s McPherson Square since Park Police began clearing away tents from one of the nation’s last remaining Occupy sites.

David Schlosser, who is a spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said Sunday that one of those arrested was charged with felony assault on a police officer and assault with a deadly weapon. That person is accused of hitting an officer in the face with a brick Saturday evening. The officer was treated at a hospital.

Three others were charged with assault on a police officer.

Schlosser says officials are continuing to clear the park of unsanitary conditions, though so far Sunday things had remained mostly peaceful.

On Saturday night, the protesters vowed to continue their movement and urged followers to remain nonviolent.

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Right off the bat C-SPAN should have aired this hearing. There is absolutely no excuse not to air it on TV. Since I had to stream it online I kept my TV on DirecTV News Mix to keep an eye on the news. The only network that had consistent coverage of the testimony was FOX News. I’m not shocked at all. I didn’t see anything about the testimony on the other channels. Jeff Poor from The Daily Caller helped me keep an eye on MSNBC and he didn’t see anything. He said they were hung up on Donald Trump all day. I was informed by a friend on Twitter, Doug Mataconis, that the hearing was discussed on The Situation Room on CNN for about 15 minutes. “Special Report” and The FOX Report both started off with Mr. Holder’s testimony.

Before I continue I noticed some friends on Twitter growing upset that headlines were partisan. The MSM was right: This was a partisan fight and every single Democrat coddled Mr. Holder. The Republicans were the only ones to demand withheld documents and answers from Mr. Holder.

Right after the testimony ended I began searching for coverage of the hearing on Google. First stop was Associated Press. Remember: If the AP doesn’t write anything on Fast & Furious more than likely the rest of the media won’t mention it. Pete Yost did write about the testimony, but hat’s where the excitement ends. Again, he distorts information to favor Mr. Holder and the Department of Justice. Mr. Yost fails to mention the subpoena was issued October 12, 2011. That’s 4 months ago. That is plenty of time to go through the hoops to release the documents. Mr. Yost says, “Though neither side said so, negotiations are almost certain to be the next step.” If you watched the testimony do you honestly think Mr. Issa or Mr. Holder will negotiate? Didn’t think so. Mr. Issa won’t accept anything less than the documents he needs. Then Mr. Yost describes a few dialogues, but doesn’t bother to get down to nitty gritty of the testimony.

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On Monday Representative Darrell Issa threatened Attorney General Eric Holder with a contempt of Congress if he does not fulfill Mr. Issa’s subpoena from October 12, 2011. Hardly anyone reported it. But then when I went to Google “Issa Eric Holder” this evening and a bunch of results came up. Unfortunately it was not about Mr. Issa’s statements. Instead it’s all about Mr. Holder and the Department of Justice’s remarks.

I’ve mentioned before it’s unusual for the Old Media to run any Fast and Furious news if the AP didn’t run something first. Same thing with this story. AP didn’t bother to post a story about Mr. Issa, but as soon as Mr. Holder says something they’re all over it. It’s quite pathetic and reminds me of Pavlov’s dog. This is the explanation of Mr. Issa’s letter:

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., made the accusation in a letter threatening to seek a contempt of Congress ruling against Attorney General Eric Holder for failing to turn over congressionally subpoenaed documents that were created after problems with Fast and Furious came to light. Holder was to testify Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which Issa chairs.

That’s it. No mention that this is a response to his subpoena on October 12, 2011. No mention of the emails sent Friday night. But the media goes crazy and reprints this article.

Not every outlet used the AP story though. The Washington Post again had an original piece written by Sari Horwitz! Weird, isn’t it, that she writes original posts when the DOJ and Democrats are on the defense. Surprise surprise! The story is on the front page of the website.

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Oh look! The Justice Department decides to dump 500 pages on Congress on a Friday night! If they really want to be secretive or different they’d choose to dump documents on a Tuesday night. We’re almost looking forward to Friday nights because that’s when we can expect anything about Fast and Furious from the Justice Department.

Attorney General Eric Holder is set to testify on Thursday, February 2 in front of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee so it’s no surprise there was a dump last night. I was looking through my timeline when I saw Michelle Malkin’s tweet about the documents. The link led to NPR, which shocked me they would be the ones to have it plus they included nine pages of the documents. They beat the AP! I have found unless the AP writes about Fast and Furious the majority of the Old Media won’t touch it.

I went to sleep around midnight central time and at that time the only major outlets that covered it were AP, CNN, Washington Post, FOX News, and ABC News. This morning I woke up and saw USA Today posted the AP article. The story was the main story on the front page of their national section, but has since been replaced. It’s not even on the front page anymore. I’d give them props, but it appeared before 6AM and taken down before 9AM CDT. Sorry guys, it doesn’t count when you have it up and taken down before the majority of the country wakes up. It’s also nowhere on the FOX News home page and it’s buried in the politics section. Shame on them since they’ve been consistent with Fast and Furious coverage. CNN does receive credit because it’s still on their home page.

At The Washington Post and ABC News you have to go a search for Fast and Furious in order to find their AP article. The New York Times also buried the AP article. In order to find it you have to go to the bottom of their home page and find the tiny cube for “More News From AP and Reuters.” Click on AP and it’s under AP Politics. But you have to click AP Politics and scroll to the bottom. Even if you search “Fast and Furious” it doesn’t bring up the article. I consider this as NOT covering it New York Times! I’m very disappointed The Washington Times hasn’t even mentioned it. I haven’t seen anything on CBS News either. MSNBC buried the AP article.

Here’s the thing. I know these outlets have investigative reporters. The emails gave me more questions than answers and I’m wondering why no one in the Old Media is pointing this out. I receive Google Alerts for Eric Holder and Operation Fast and Furious. This morning a blog post from Stop The ACLU popped up addressing the same questions I had. NPR brings up this part in the emails, but ignores it and doesn’t realize the importance. Right after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry passed away Monty Wilkinson, Mr. Holder’s deputy chief of staff,  emails Dennis Burke (bold my emphasis), “Tragic. I’ve alerted the AG, the Acting DAG, Lisa, etc.”

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Last week two political operatives were arrested in separate incidents, one Democrat and one Republican. It certainly isn’t news that political operatives sometimes break the law, but how the different incidents were reported is typical of how the Old Media establishment uses guilt by association to tar Republicans but rarely does the same thing to take swipes at Democrats.

The similarity in the two stories is that both of the accused are former staffers of high profile politicians. The Democrat was an Obama campaign staffer while the Republican was a staffer of the Republican Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker. Neither currently works for those high profile pols, but only the Republican was linked to his former boss. The Democrat’s link to Obama was mostly ignored by the media.

Story One: Some Guy Arrested

We’ll begin with the tale of Iowa Democrat operative Zachary Edwards who tried to steal the identity of a rival Republican in order to use that identity to get the Republican in trouble.

Edwards tried to use the identity of Iowa Secretary of State, Republican Matt Schultz (and/or Schultz’s brother) to illegally obtain some sort of state benefits so that he could then claim that the Republicans were illegally obtaining state benefits. This Edwards fellow hoped he could smear the GOP Sec. of State as engaging in some sort of unethical behavior. (The Iowa Republican blog has more on the fight between Schultz and Iowa Democrats)

Now, as it happens Edwards is not only a member of a politically connected Democrat consulting firm, Link Strategies — a company with long-standing ties to powerful Iowa Democrat Senator Tom Harkin — but Edwards was also a member of Obama’s Iowa team in 2007/08. Edwards’ bio has since been scrubbed from the Link Strategies page but read in part, “In September 2007, Zach joined the Obama New Media department as co-director of the Nevada New Media team and then moved on to direct New Media operations in five other primary states (New Mexico, Texas, North Carolina, and South Dakota).”

For a screen shot of Edwards memory-holed bio from the Link Strategy site, see the Iowa Grounds blog.

So, how was Edwards’ arrest reported? For one thing, it was hard to find Edwards’ Democrat affiliation and his past role as a top Obama campaign staffer in stories of this incident.

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The mainstream media’s glee in reporting that public sector unions have likely succeeded in drumming up enough signatures to force Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to face a recall election betrays their thinly-veiled sympathies for the effort.

The day began with a National Public Radio report that told listeners of the “festive” mood among organizers of the petition drive, contrasting enthusiastic man-on-the-street opposition to Walker with the institutional voice of the embattled state GOP.

Hooray! Recall Walker (Source: NPR/Scott Bauer/AP)

The NPR story was careful to note that “the governor continues to take advantage of a state law that allows recall targets to raise unlimited amounts of money during a recall period.”

Scott Bauer–whose November photograph (above) of a smiling Democrat donor accompanied NPR’s story on its website–followed the same line at the Associated Press, reporting that Walker was out of the state raising money to defeat Democrats’ effort to unseat him. But Bauer added a sinister–and false–insinuation that Walker was raking in federal bailout money: (more…)

And so, let the word go forth that Super PACs must bloom in every corner of America! Let the free speech flow! Let the money fall like rain, and let the national debate give voice to opinions other than those held by the MSM!

Wikipedia’s description of a Super PAC:

[A] political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation.  … The 2010 election marked the rise of a new political committee, dubbed “super PACs,” and officially known as “independent-expenditure only committees,” which can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions and other groups, as well as individuals. … Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate directly with candidates or political parties and are required to disclose their donors, just like traditional PACs.

Question: How is any part of that description different from what the MSM does on a daily basis and what it has been doing for years now?

Just like Super PACs, the MSM does most of its partisan campaigning in print, on radio and on television, and just like Super PACs, the MSM enjoys unlimited amounts of cash, much of it coming from the super-rich top 1% and their big multi-national corporations.

There are, however, three important differences between a Super PAC and The New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, The L.A. Times, The Huffington Post, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and all the other usual suspects. And those differences make the case for why Super PACs are better for America than the mainstream media:

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Long, long ago, the Associated Press simply decided to stop being objective. Other than the final act of officially declaring their left-wing bias, the AP has done just about everything else required to announce that they are on a crusade, among other things, to ensure Barack Obama’s reelection. But even then, you would think credibility would mean something to the AP. Biased or not, no one wants to come off as a hack, but hacky the AP is, especially with respect to today’s story about President Obama’s fourth-quarter fundraising for his reelection campaign.

When you read the AP’s reporting, it’s obvious what the AP is up to. The goal is to create the impression that Obama and the DNC represent an unstoppable political juggernaut, that they are unstoppable cash machines firing on all 12 cylinders of competency and popularity:

U.S. President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, together with the Democratic National Committee, raised more than $68 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina said on Thursday. 

Messina told supporters in a video message that 98 percent of the donations were made up of $250 or less, illustrating growing grassroots support for Obama, a Democrat, as he works to hold on to the White House in November’s election. …

The campaign beat its goal of raising $60 million in the final three months of 2011. 

Obama’s fundraising totals dwarf those of Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, whose campaign said on Wednesday it had raised $24 million in the fourth quarter.

By hiding the context in this report, the AP intentionally lies through omission to put some wins in Obama’s sagging sails.

Here’s what the AP chose not to report:

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Today, the Associated Press and National Public Radio reported on a new study by the federal government that suggests that the rate of growth in health care spending has slowed. Health care spending was up 3.9 percent in 2011 from the year before–still somewhat higher than inflation (3.4%), but relatively low. Health care spending had increased 3.8 percent in 2010.

Both the AP and NPR proclaimed that the new study by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services “provided relief for a jittery White House facing a 2012 reelection campaign in which President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul is a top target for Republicans.” NPR went even further on its health news blog, stating that the new study contradicted Republican claims that ObamaCare would increase health care costs.

The study found that health care spending was largely independent of ObamaCare, because most of its provisions have not been implemented yet. But neither AP nor NPR bothered to comment on President Obama and Democrats’ claims that ObamaCare would “bend the cost curve down.” They simply singled out Republicans.
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Following Rick Santorum’s impressive Iowa showing, the heretofore largely ignored GOP candidate is now being heavily scrutinized.  Fair enough.

The morning following the Iowa caucus, I awoke to an Internet ablaze about Santorum’s apparent characterization of male homosexual relations as “man on dog.”  Ouch.  I was, as are many on the Right, immediately offended that Santorum would use such a crude, offensive, unnecessary analogy, embarrassing not only himself but Republicans as a whole, and I immediately Tweeted about my disgust with Santorum’s remark.

Others were similarly critical:  National Review Online’s Michael Tanner blasted Santorum (“In fact, with his comparison of gay sex to ‘man on dog’ relationships, Santorum seldom even makes a pretense of tolerance”), as did Fox News’ Shepard Smith that afternoon on his show, Studio B (“Rick Santorum is, among other things, a man who equated homosexual sex to bestiality”).

Within minutes of Studio B’s airing, Mediate gleefully reported on the controversy with the headline:  “Shep Smith: How Will Equating ‘Homosexual Sex To Bestiality’ Affect Santorum’s Run?”  This morning, the L.A. Times unsurprisingly ran with it, writing:  “He [Santorum] said gay marriage could lead to bestiality.”

Then I remembered the Gipper: “Trust… but verify.”  So I did a little quick digging and looked at the actual text from which the controversial quote originated–the transcript of the April 23, 2003 Associated Press interview with Santorum.   (more…)

From Accuracy in Media’s Logan Churchwell:

With the first legitimate event of the 2012 Republican presidential primary just days away in Iowa, the Associated Press today offered a clear example of hatchet jobs to come for the candidates. Mitt Romney was given an early example of what the AP means by “journalism with voice.”

I previously raised concerns over a leaked memo from AP Managing Editor Mike Oreskes two weeks ago. Charging all journalists to use the said “voice,” he did not offer any examples but, rather very contradictory directions (emphasis added):

“We’re going to be pushing hard on journalism with voice, with context, with more interpretation. This does not mean that we’re sacrificing any of our deep commitment to unbiased, fair journalism. It does not mean that we’re venturing into opinion, either. It does mean that we need to be looking for ways to be more distinctive and stand out in the field — something our customers need and want. The why and the how of the news are as crucial as the who, what, when and where.”

The AP offered a very clear example this morning for how these directions will be executed.

The title, “Romney tries to come across as man of the people” was bad enough and it only got worse from there. The AP revealed its playbook as to how they will frame the Romney campaign in 2012.

Step 1: Paint Romney as filthy rich; like his daddy before him. What better way to fan the flames of class warfare than to paint the Republican frontrunner as the quintessential political aristocrat of one-percenter roots? The AP led with (emphasis added):

“Mitt Romney reminisced before a noontime crowd about the long car trips his family took when he was a boy. ‘My dad made Ramblers, so we had one,’ the Republican presidential hopeful said…In fact, Romney’s father didn’t just make cars. He was chairman and president of American Motors, the company that made Ramblers, and a highly successful businessman before he entered politics. It’s a detail the son omitted as he sought to establish a bond with Iowans he hopes will support him in next week’s presidential caucuses.”

Toward the end of the piece, another wealth jab that now opens the Romney wardrobe and Christmas list to criticism:

“As he stood at the cash register at a Concord, N.H., toy store, picking up a few gifts for charity, a patron asked him what he gave his family for Christmas. Earlier in the day, he had bought his wife a $285 North Face jacket as a gift, he said…For his sons? ‘We sent them checks,’ said Romney, a multimillionaire. ‘Cash is always good’.”

Some may remember just how effective the smears were against the Palin family wardrobe in 2008; a standard not held to Michelle Obama.

Step 2: Suggest to readers that either Romney is too smart, or Republicans are too dumb to understand him. Not only is Romney rich and therefore uncaring, but he cannot speak the language and empathize with the common man. The AP cited Romney’s comments regarding company relocation affecting employee commutes:

“Sometimes it’s counter-intuitive,’ replied Romney, a former businessman, explaining that businesses often invent new, more efficient ways to compete…The term is called productivity. Output per person,’ he said. ‘Our productivity equals our income’.”

Anyone with a Business 101 course under their belt or basic sense gained from commercial employment can understand what that statement means, and therefore why the question was properly answered. To argue otherwise is an insult to the general intelligence of the electorate. But the AP does not stop there, suggesting that he can also be too smart and systematically-minded to be “sympathetic.”

“When one retired firefighter in New Hampshire said he was drawing a reduced Social Security check because he also had a state pension, the former Massachusetts governor was less than sympathetic. ‘If there’s a competition for who will give you the most free stuff, go vote for that guy.’ When the man said he wasn’t asking for any handouts, Romney said, ‘You knew what you were getting into. … I wish you well, but I’m not going to promise you more bucks’.”

Regardless of the approach, Romney will be made to look unfit to chat up a voter on Main Street. It also would be helpful to know the context of that exchange and the tone of the question.

(more…)

A story on horrific poverty oddly gives me hope for local TV news.

As a local TV news/sports anchor for almost 30 years, one of my biggest problems with the business was when young producers or reporters would cut-and-paste a story from the Associated Press and just report it as gospel. I’m sure there were times when I made this mistake as well, but there were also times when I would take information I knew was inaccurate and change it in the script or just change it “on the fly” on set. Then I would spend the next two hours in meetings having to explain why I did what I did. Usually, my answer went something like this, “If I’m the face of this story, I’m not going to report something I know is inaccurate just because the AP says it is.” I would win the battles with facts, but after a while stations prefer to have news anchors who just shut up and read (if that makes sense).

This brings me to the remarkable thing that KNBC in Los Angeles did this week. A recent AP story claimed that 1 in 2 people were poor or low-income. A startling number, certainly. KNBC just flat out said that those numbers may be way off.

“Those figures appear to be wrong, perhaps based on a misunderstanding of the data by journalists who did not go back to the source to doublecheck their figures, said analysts at the U.S. Census Bureau district office in Los Angeles.”

Kudos to KNBC for doing its homework, double-checking the numbers and not just cutting-and-pasting from the Associated Press. Of course, if KNBC is right, you’ve got to wonder why the AP got this so wrong and how many other local stations across the country just reported the story as they got it from the AP. Online that 50% number, that KNBC says is inaccurate, spread like wildfire.

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His name is Stephen Bloom and he teaches journalism at the University of Iowa (that’s right, he’s on the taxpayer teat). Because he sees Iowans as little more than supporting players in “Deliverance 2: The Caucus,” he hates the idea that such backwards, rednecked, predominantly Caucasian, inbred, Jesus freaks (that *ahem* handed caucus and general election victories to Barack Obama) are so influential in our presidential election process.

In doing so, however, Bloom did prove a point that at least one Iowan is backwards, bigoted, hateful, prejudiced, and intolerant — himself.

—–

AP:

Only a few weeks before the first Republican presidential contest, some Iowans are on the attack like never before.

They’re writing angry blog posts, doing research to discredit their opponent and railing against elites, but this vitriol isn’t aimed at Republican candidates. It’s focused on University of Iowa journalism professor Stephen Bloom, whose article for The Atlantic magazine’s website painted Iowans as uneducated Jesus freaks who love hunting and don’t deserve the political clout they will exercise Jan. 3….

In the article, he paints Iowa’s cities and rural areas as economic wastelands with little culture. He calls the state politically schizophrenic with Republicans living west of Des Moines and Democrats to the east. He describes rural areas as hotbeds for suicide and filled with the uneducated, the elderly and meth addicts. He calls the Mississippi River “commercially irrelevant” and describes cities along it as “some of the skuzziest” he’d ever seen.

Bloom, who is Jewish, complains that Iowans constantly talk about Jesus and hunting. “That’s the place that may very well determine the next U.S. president,” Bloom, a New Jersey native who came to Iowa in the early 1990s from San Francisco, concludes….

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From Accuracy in Media’s Logan Churchwell:

An internal memo penned by the Associated Press’ Managing Editor Mike Oreskes was leaked and featured on sites such as The Huffington Post and Gawker this morning. As an effort to keep up with the rapidly changing news cycle, Oreskes is now offering a new direction for the wire service.

(Source: Moonbattery/Media Mania)

The new plan of action is called “The New Distinctiveness.” But why the change? The AP defines the problem:

“AP wins when news breaks, but after an hour or two we’re often replaced by a piece of content from someone else who has executed something more thoughtful or more innovative. Often it’s someone who has taken what we do (sometimes our reporting itself) and pushed it to the next level of content: journalism that’s more analytical, maybe a fresh and immediate entry point, a move away from text, a multimedia mashup or a different story form that speaks more directly to users.”

To face this challenge, Oreskes will be leading assignment editors and reporters to respond quicker, focus on story themes (dig deeper into the story), diversify communication methods and most important, report with “voice.”

This “reporting with voice” plank of the proposal should set off alarm bells. The full passage states (emphasis added):

“Journalism With Voice. We’re going to be pushing hard on journalism with voice, with context, with more interpretation. This does not mean that we’re sacrificing any of our deep commitment to unbiased, fair journalism. It does not mean that we’re venturing into opinion, either. It does mean that we need to be looking for ways to be more distinctive and stand out in the field — something our customers need and want. The why and the how of the news are as crucial as the who, what, when and where.”

The use of words like voice, context and interpretation are broad pathways to journalism with a point of view. Ask yourself, how does one report with “voice” while maintaining a “deep commitment to unbiased, fair journalism?” Will the AP weigh the use of “voice” on an ad hoc basis against fair reporting?

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MSM fact-checkers are an absolute cancer on our political process, a cynical and partisan conceit created by the left-wing media that allows them to arbitrarily judge what is and is not the truth, all in an effort to bring down Republicans and boost Democrats. I won’t even mince words here, the Politifacts and Anderson Cooper’s “Keeping Them Honest,” and the like must be exposed and neutralized. Conservative media and anyone else interested in truth and objective reporting must get the word out about this charade.

Good heavens, the “Pulitzer Prize winning” Politifact has gone so far as to protect Obama from “Saturday Night Live.”

No, really.

During the 2008 campaign, I watched in awe as fact-checking became a very effective weapon against the McCain-Palin camp. Get as angry as you want at this insidious practice, but the invention was pure genius. By disguising their left-wing agendas as “facts” and “truth,” these MSM fact-checkers allowed the left-wing media to turn every Republican criticism aimed at Obama into a backfire.

It goes a little something like this:

1. Republicans launch an effective attack.

2. Obama’s Media Palace Guards find a way to call that attack dishonest.

3. Obama’s Media Palace Guards then make the so-called dishonesty the issue.

4. *Poof* the narrative immediately turns from criticism of Obama into the dishonesty of Republicans.

5. That narrative lasts for days, putting our side on defense and off message.

If that particular scenario sounds familiar, that’s because it’s already happening in this campaign.

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You couldn’t pay me to go to journalism school, but I imagine they spend considerable time talking about the importance of headlines. Most readers, myself included, simply don’t read much past the headline unless they have a personal interest in a story… or are stuck in a doctor’s office. So, often, the headline is the story or, at least, the story the news outfit wants you to take away.

So, I was struck today to see different news agencies, within minutes of each other, reporting very conflicting news on the same set of facts. First the AP headline:

October durable goods orders fell 0.7 percent

Now, check out the Reuters headline for the very same report:

Durable goods orders ex-transportation up in October

Of course, the Reuters headline is no doubt completely true, but how is excluding a major sector of the economy remotely helpful to readers? Is Reuters now just going to report the bits of the news it likes and ignore the inconvenient bits. It reminds me of the classic Marion Barry line addressing rampant crime in DC:

Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

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Yesterday, in an article titled “Mo. crackdown on taping lectures shows digital divide over academic freedom, student privacy,” the Associated Press falsely claimed that Big Government edited controversial footage of a University of Missouri labor studies course. From the article:

Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website obtained a leaked copy and edited hours of classroom lectures to suggest that she and a classroom colleague advocated union violence.

Neither Breitbart, nor Big Government, nor any of the Breitbart editors edited the footage in question.

In fact, Insurgent Visuals claimed publicly that they edited the classroom videos after they were posted online and leaked. (more…)

Protection from the activist old media when scandal hits is a great deal when you can get it.

Political figures know that a Republican who sneezes sideways gets blasted non-stop, and a Democrat can stand on top of the local Clock Tower picking off the public with a high-powered rifle and the people will be blamed for getting in the way of the bullets.

This is the way the game is played, and everybody in the media and in politics knows it. Fortunately, the public is becoming more aware of this all the time.

You think I’m being extreme? Take the case of former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.

Corzine ran MF Global. That company just filed for bankruptcy, meaning investors have lost as much as $700 million dollars. Corzine is a Democrat–a big Democrat. It’s hard to find that fact in the stories being done on the collapse of MF Global, if Corzine’s name is even mentioned at all. Democrat Corzine may have also transferred investors’ funds days before the collapse to avoid detection by authorities. If this were a Republican, Joe Biden would call this a big ‘effin deal.

Good Morning America ran the story this week on the collapse of MF Global. It was all of 14 seconds long and Corzine’s name was left out. Whoops–didn’t have time to fit that in. Forget mentioning he was a big, lib Democrat, he got the luxury of his name being totally ignored. Hey, it’s a great deal when you can get it. (more…)

From Accuracy in Media’s Cliff Kincaid:

The FBI has released photos, videos, and documents in the case of 10 Russian secret agents arrested—and quickly deported—in 2010. The documents are mostly heavily redacted and of no practical value to those interested in the details about on-going Russian operations against the U.S. What is perhaps more interesting and significant is what the Russians are doing in plain sight by using American cable and satellite systems against us.

In this context, a complaint has now been filed with the Obama Justice Department over Russian propaganda broadcasts in the U.S.

While the FBI disclosures, such as they are, suggest that the Moscow regime regards the U.S. as an adversary, if not enemy, they are not nearly as fascinating as what Moscow is doing in the form of Russia Today (RT) propaganda broadcasts reaching tens of millions of American homes.

Media carriers for the Moscow-funded channel, which changed its name to RT from Russia Today to mask the foreign connection, include Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Verizon Fios, Cox Cable, RCN Cable, MHz Networks, and Dish Networks.

RT, a big backer of the Occupy Wall Street protests, has assigned several reporters to cover the demonstrations around the country. The channel has called the protests “America’s Arab Spring,” with an emphasis on alleged police brutality against the demonstrators. One RT program, “The Big Picture,” with self-described progressive Democrat Thom Hartmann, has also focused on the Wall Street protests. Hartmann has refused to disclose how much he is paid by RT for the rights to broadcast his show.

RT’s media “partners” include The Huffington Post and the website WhatReallyHappened, which questions whether Arab terrorists were behind 9/11.

RT employs a correspondent in Britain, Katia Zatuliveter, who went to work for the channel after being accused of conducting espionage against Britain. She is in the process of being deported. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to consider that some of its reporters working in America may also be agents of the Vladimir Putin regime.

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Photo: WBS-TV

The Associated Press published a report this morning about the Occupy Oakland protests.

Way, way down at the bottom of article was this explosive detail about Occupy Atlanta:

Mayor Kasim Reed had been supportive of the protests, twice issuing an executive order allowing them to remain.

Reed said on Wednesday that he had no choice to arrest them because he believed things were headed in a direction that was no longer peaceful. He cited a man seen walking the park with an AK-47 assault rifle.

“There were some who wanted to continue along the peaceful lines, and some who thought that their path should be more radical,” Reed said. “As mayor, I couldn’t wait for them to finish that debate.”

Reed said authorities could not determine whether the rifle was loaded, and were unable to get additional information.

An Associated Press reporter talked to the man with the gun earlier Tuesday.

He wouldn’t give his name — identifying himself only as “Porch,” an out-of-work accountant who doesn’t agree with the protesters’ views — but said that he was there, armed, because he wanted to protect the rights of people to protest. (more…)