Mainstream Media
One of the topics that came up on last night’s Violent Roundtable was the failure of mainstream commentators to leaven their mockery of conservative concern about President Obama’s in-school presentation with an acknowledgment of the objectionable suggested lesson plan that stoked the ire in the first place. Host Matt Allen suggested that bias leads such…
Massive continuing protests against the direction of the U.S. government, a healthcare improglio, 9/11, shakeups in Japan, murmurs in Russia, continued economic pain. And what does the Providence Journal believe to be the most significant story of the day — deserving of one-third of its Sunday print edition front page? A big ol’ face-licking in-kind…
Putting down his column about the race for attorney general of Rhode Island, I thought about what an improvement the Providence Journal’s Ed Fitzpatrick is over his predecessor. And then he had to go and write a bit of got-a-laugh-at-the-cocktail-party received wisdom like his reaction to the story of parents opting their children out of…
Have you heard of the Van Jones controversy? No? You know, the thing with Obama’s environmental jobs “czar” and his kooky left-wing extremism? Huh. The spotlight got sufficiently intense that Mr. Jones had to resign; of course, the light didn’t emanate from mainstream sources — which typically promote themselves as just such seekers of truth…
Since the pre-Anchor Rising days of Dust in the Light, I’ve found it to be among the great puzzles of Rhode Island media that somebody is actually willing to pay Froma Harrop a living wage to write political opinion pieces. The young writer might be tempted to find encouragement in the apparent height of the…
Whether by ignorance or deceit, there’s a curious omission from the Providence Journal’s coverage of Governor Carcieri’s plan to bring the state government’s budget out of deficit. It’s not in the summary article by Cynthia Needham and Katherine Gregg. It’s not in the article conveying state workers’ anger, by Richard Dujardin. And at best, it…
Remember how quickly it seemed that the words “quagmire” and “Iraq” seemed to become joined after the U.S. invasion some years back? I couldn’t help but chuckle at the headline that the Providence Journal gave to this story: “Obama’s headache in Afghanistan.” A headache, we can presume, is much preferable to a quagmire. The latter…
Having not had cause to develop much of a sense of Scott MacKay — beyond noting his chumminess with Matt Jerzyk, who introduced us at the most recent Ocean State Follies performance — I have to say that I’m astonished at how shallow a well of insight is indicated by the quotation that Andrew posted…
So, despite a decrease in the national rate (because Americans have begun giving up on finding work), Rhode Island’s unemployment moved up to 12.7%. Not to worry, though; see, when the national rate decreases because folks give up, it’s a positive sign, and when Rhode Island’s rate goes up, it’s also a good sign: The…
There are surely practitioners of the stratagem on both political wings, and it’s the sort of ploy into which one can slip from time to time, but it seems to me that it is much more characteristic of liberals to weave rhetorical comforters that allow them to slip opinions through as objective fact. This, from…