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by Roger Aronoff – [producer, media analyst]

Assuming that he is serious, however, one can take a look at the home page of MSNBC-TV and find that it shows 10 white faces and no people of color.

Stung by the reaction to his baseless charges of racism against the Tea Party movement, MSNBC-TV host Keith Olbermann did something he rarely does-he cited on the air some of the criticism of his remarks, including from my column carried by http://www.aim.org, GOPUSA and other Internet sites. He did this without labeling his critics as being among “the worst” people in the world. But he fell far short of coming clean about why he launched his smears. (more…)

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by Roger Aronoff – [producer, media analyst]

President Obama went into the East Room at the White House on March 3rd and talked about bringing the health care “journey to a close.” He is giving the Republicans one more chance to sign on to the Democrat’s health care legislation, or else he is prepared to move forward without their cooperation. And this time, apparently, he really means it, in spite of the fact that an overwhelming number of polls show, several by as much as 15 or more points, that the public is opposed to such legislation. (more…)

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by Roger Aronoff – [producer, media analyst]

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has offered another of his mindless rants that he calls “Special Commentaries.” This time, he tried to rile up his audience by throwing around vague charges of racism against white people, including himself!

People-especially anti-Obama Tea Partiers-are surrounded and motivated by racism, Olbermann said, huffing and puffing in righteous indignation. This helps explain why Obama is losing popularity and his policies are failing, he implied. (more…)

by Roger Aronoff – [producer, media analyst]

While the major media have bought the official storyline about the so called White House gatecrashers, could there be more to this scandal? The mainstream media have ignored obvious holes in the story and important facts about the alleged gatecrashers. Not only did they pose for a previous photo with Barack Obama, one of them, Tareq Salahi, has ties to some of the same radical Arab interests that backed Obama. (more…)

by Roger Aronoff – [producer, media analyst]

NBC aired a highly unusual show on July 20 called The Wanted, which has provoked a storm of controversy over its style, methods and content. Is it journalism, entertainment, infotainment, or To Catch a (Terrorist) Predator? It is, perhaps, a bit of all of the above. But most importantly, and the reasons for all the condemnation, is that it has given rare exposure to the terrorist mentality, it has shown positive benefits stemming from the war in Iraq, and it has highlighted media hypocrisy. (more…)

by Roger Aronoff – [producer, media analyst]

The recent appointment and ultimate withdrawal of Chas Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council has exposed much that is wrong with President Barack Obama’s first months in office, both in terms of policy and vetting, as well as the media coverage surrounding both. Many of Obama’s supporters said it was unfair to criticize Obama’s associations with people like the unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers and the anti-Semitic preacher of hate, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and called it guilt by association. It is now becoming clearer why those sorts of associations matter.

On February 26, Chas W. Freeman Jr. was named by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair as the Obama administration’s choice to head the Council, which has the job of filtering the intelligence from 16 agencies and presenting it to the President. (more…)

by Roger Aronoff – [producer, media analyst]

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder announcing her intentions to hold a hearing on the issue of newspaper consolidation in the San Francisco Bay area, citing anti-trust laws as a potential avenue to do something about this. The hearing would be by the Courts & Competition Policy Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, according to Pelosi’s letter.

While clearly there are serious issues engulfing the newspaper industry, in San Francisco and elsewhere, the problem isn’t one of anti-trust violations. Pelosi has made her feelings known. She would like a return to the Fairness Doctrine. This is a nose under the tent. (more…)

by Roger Aronoff – [producer, media analyst]

The verdict is in: the mainstream media were overwhelmingly in the tank for Barack Obama, and did their part to make sure he will be elected. Their polls predict an Obama victory, but the people have a chance to vote against media bias on Election Day.

Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger calls Obama a “con-man” who intends on buying the election with untraceable and possibly illegal contributions or stealing it through the efforts of ACORN if necessary. If this is the case, then it will be up to John McCain to decide what to do?concede or fight. The outcome could fall into the hands of lawyers for both sides, and it could be weeks or even months till we know for sure.

The evidence of bias in favor of Barack Obama continues to pour in. In the last couple of weeks came studies from the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA), neither of which is considered in any way to have conservative leanings. (more…)

by Roger Aronoff – [producer, media analyst]

With just two weeks to go before choosing the next president, the election cycle is producing some strange and troubling October surprises, and the media are absent on several significant stories. But what is no surprise is that the mainstream media are doing their best to ignore these stories when they are damaging to Democratic candidate Barack Obama, or dispose of them by using charges of racism, mean-spiritedness, or desperation, when in fact, they deserve?even demand close scrutiny.

During the 2004 campaign, Newsweek editor-at-large (then assistant managing editor) Evan Thomas said that the media were worth about 15 points for John Kerry in his race for president against George Bush. When later given a chance to walk back that comment (more…)