Mainstream Media
I wonder if anybody at the Providence Journal — particularly on the PolitiFact crew — is concerned that, every few days, Cynthia Needham whacks a big chunk of their organization’s credibility off the table in the service of David Cicilline’s Congressional campaign. Last week, she gave David Cicilline a “mostly true” rating for his claim…
It was yesterday’s big news online, so it’ll surely be in the paper today: Long-time NPR political analyst Juan Williams has been fired for comments that he made while a guest on Bill O’Reilly’s show: The move came after Mr. Williams, who is also a Fox News political analyst, appeared on the “The O’Reilly Factor”…
The article’s a couple of weeks old, but it’s still worth noting a bit of writing that I don’t think Projo journalist Felice Freyer or her editors would have allowed into print if they weren’t fundamentally in favor of government healthcare: The increases will pay for the coverage of dependents through age 26 and preventive…
Frankly, if the folks behind the Providence Journal’s PolitiFact feature wish not to lose entirely the salable premise thereof — its neutrality — mere months from its introduction, they should ban Cynthia Needham from touching the Truth-O-Meter. Monique made mention of Needham’s take-down of Republican Congressional candidate John Loughlin, last week, but the matter deserves…
Although I’m sympathetic to dislike of the e-reader technology that is displacing print media, it is most definitely not for the reason that Dan Bloom enunciates: Well, be careful what you wish for. Frankenpapers might turn out to be another turn in the screw that seals the decline of the republic. Think about it. With…
I’ve been meaning to note Bob Kerr’s continued function as the elder statesman who says what the younger folks must strive to keep to themselves at the Providence Journal. Here’s the crux of his Wednesday column: You might remember protest. It’s an honored American tradition. It’s how this whole thing got started. People speak out…
The “Truth”-O-Meter in today’s Providence Journal rates Congressional candidate John Loughlin’s comparison of social security to a Ponzi scheme as “False”. Let’s take a look, shall we? Here’s the definition of a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by…
As of Monday’s edition, the Providence Journal had still not deigned to mention Congressional testimony about racial bias in Obama’s Department of Justice. Indeed, yesterday’s paper revisited the apparently more-important testimony of comedian Stephen Colbert that migrant farm workers do work that a Hollywood celebrity might find arduous. Curiously, as well, Sunday’s paper featured an…
Before it actually occurred, many in the blogosphere speculated that Congressional testimony by comedian Stephen Colbert was intended to distract from concurrent testimony. If that was the case, from the perspective of mainstream media, the ploy clearly worked. Saturday’s Providence Journal, for example, dutifully covered the “controversy” over the Colbert performance. Unless I’ve missed it,…
Perhaps it shouldn’t seem odd, but it’s still discouraging to see the editorial board of the state’s major daily paper offer up partisan spin as an unsigned editorial. Consider: The GOP argues that extending the tax cuts for the affluent is good for small business, which creates most new jobs. The Democrats, pointing to dismal…