Free Republic

Since the inception of controversy over University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, the Rocky Mountain News has led all other media in news coverage, investigation and analysis. Now, that newspaper has published the results of a detailed, exhaustive two-month investigation into multiple allegations against the embattled professor. The five-part series of reports, which began on June 4, constitute remarkable journalism of a kind too rarely practiced, regardless of subject matter. It is thorough; it is careful; it is balanced. It is investigatory and scholarly, analytical and insightful, as clear and as compellingly written as any complicated, contentious story can be....

Did you miss this story from the Guardian (via AP)? BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) - About 10,000 opposition protesters chanted "Freedom!'' and carried pictures of President Bush as they marched across Azerbaijan's capital Saturday, urging the government of this U.S. ally to step down and allow free parliamentary elections this year.... Supporters of several opposition parties chanted "Freedom!'' and "Free Elections!'' while holding placards with such slogans as "Down with robber government!'' Some carried a picture of Bush with the inscription: "We want freedom!''

Newsweek's false account of a Koran being dumped in a toilet caused much damage to U.S. foreign policy. On May 20, the New York Times tried to do more damage. It devoted over 6000 words to the deaths of Afghans who had been in the custody of U.S. forces at Bagram Air Base on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. Seven people have been charged for alleged abuse of those described in the Times account. But that didn't stop reporter Tim Golden from including a lot of gratuitous details about the alleged abuse. The article was timed just before Afghan President...

Over the last few weeks, Afghanistan has been in the news again--unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons. The media pack has made a brief reappearance in Afghanistan to report on carefully staged "spontaneous" riots, which briefly erupted around the country, ostensibly in protest over a report in Newsweek (later retracted) about desecration of Koran. Sadly, in the rush of commentary about Afghanistan's slide into anarchy and America's deteriorating position in Kabul, most of the international media again missed or downplayed many other stories, some of them arguably far more consequential than an antigovernment rampage whipped up by opponents of President...

Last week, The Sun, a British tabloid, published a front-page photo of imprisoned former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in his underwear. Predictably, this became news and just as predictably, there were howls of protest that Saddam’s rights were violated and that the photos would further inflame anti-U.S. sentiment in the Middle East. A USA Today report on the incident suggested that the release of the photos “… were certain to offend Arab sensibilities and heap more scorn on an American image already tarnished. . . .” By contrast, a Fox News report indicated that The Sun said that the unidentified...

It's a given that The New York Times ignored the Holocaust, a sin of omission confessed by the paper itself. Now we have a book that says it ain't so — that from the beginning to the end of World War II, The Times published 1,186 stories about the extermination of the European Jews. It just buried the stories inside. "Buried by The Times" is the title of the book, and it's more damning by far than anything the critics ever said about the paper's coverage of the worst mass murder in history. This book proves that The Times not...

Rosen goes to trial May 3 on charges of falsely underreporting the costs of the August 2000 gala — thus inflating the amount of campaign cash ostensibly raised for Clinton at the event.

The blood is in the water. The sharks are circling. Now it is time for the main course. Lower the tank and drop in the political corpse of Tom Delay. Democrats are whipping themselves into a frenzy — as are their allies in the press — over the impending political death of Tom DeLay. The Majority Leader is helping fan the flames by holding up rifles at NRA rallies while asking for more bullets. But if you are scoring this one at home sports fans, expect to see a flurry of revelations coming out about the Democratic leaders in the...

An AP Story that ran in USA Today said that Weise posted information about his own mental state in the months before he killed nine people and himself. But the story failed to note that his comments included favorable references to using marijuana or MJ. Weise said, "MJ is my gal of choice." A March 25 Washington Post article by Blaine Harden and Dana Hedgpeth said Weise had serious mental problems but ignored the pot connection. A March 24 Post article by Ceci Connolly and Dana Hedgpeth described "a deeply disturbed youth who had been treated for depression in a...

How close should journalists get to thugs and murderers to get the facts? It's a question that has troubled editors for a long time, but a question that isn't asked nearly often enough. The question takes on new significance in an age of terrorism. We revisit it now that Columbia University has awarded a Pulitzer Prize to an anonymous Associated Press photographer whose connections to terrorists yielded an extraordinary scoop. By the rules, the AP did nothing wrong. But in a heated exchange with critics who saw the photographs as complicity with terror, an AP spokesman explained that the photographer...

It seemed so long ago that the old media and their liberal cohorts were able to mount successful campaigns manipulating the public into support for dubious propositions: Bill Clinton’s veto of a GOP budget as a “Republican shutdown” of the government; the public “demanding” Campaign Finance Reform, or Linda Tripp as demon. The formula was simple: provide a carefully selected mix of data, hammer away on themes making the conservatives look mean, extreme, stupid, corrupt or narrow-minded; take polls with questions designed to elicit majorities favoring the liberal solution, and then wield the polls as irrefutable evidence of the need...

The Informed Citizen Sunday, March 13, 2005 IMPORTANT NEWS FIRST !! On Friday,March 11,2005,an Atlanta,Georgia rape suspect named Brian Nichols overpowered a Sheriff's deputy as he was being brought into the courtroom for re-trial,seized her gun,shot her in the head, killed the judge and the court reporter,shot and killed another deputy,and made his escape by carjacking a reporter. Nichols,it is believed, then killed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and stole the agent's gun,shield,and pickup truck.He then drove to an apartment complex and took a woman resident hostage : surrendering only after being surrounded by a small army of SWAT...

Venezuelan Information Minister Andres Izarra is stomping his feet and crying because the mean ol' US media is being so nasty to Marx-crazed tyrant Huga Chavez. According to Izarra, continuous publication of information disclosing false data and making baseless accusations in US media has prompted the Executive to conclude that Venezuela is "indeed" facing a "media offensive," a "dirty campaign or war similar to the one launched by Otto Reich in the 80's

During this Christmas season and the aftermath of the election in which devout Christians played a large role, Jon Meacham, managing editor at Newsweek, writes an analysis of the birth of Christ. Not surprisingly, the article is seriously confused and flawed. It does not address the underlying assumptions that prejudice his interpretation of facts and his conclusions. This critique of Meacham touches on complicated areas, like the (im)probability of miracles, which cannot be examined more thoroughly here, but it at least provides an exposé of Meacham’s prejudices. His confusion and hidden assumptions can be clarified, as it were, in three...

Americans who want to understand conflicts between Democrats and Republicans during the election season have received precious little help from the media. While reporters usually recognize that there is some sort of problem about “values” and about “faith-based” principles, and that the Democrats and Republicans are often on opposite sides, writers and editors tend to publish news and analysis as if the situation were as follows: The Christian right, having infiltrated the Republican Party, is importing its divisive religious ideas into our public life, whereas the Democratic Party is the neutral camp of tolerant and pluralistic Americans. This way of...

Brit Hume: "Finally tonight, for the benefit of those viewers who might have chosen this network over CBS News on Election night, here's a sample of what you missed:" Dan: "This Presidential race has been...you know, crackling like a hickory fire for at least the last hour and a half - two hours..." Dan to Lockhurt: "I know that you'd Rather walk through a furnace in a gasoline suit..." Dan: "This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex and it has all night long..." Dan:"George Bush is sweeping through the South like a big wheel through a delta cotton...

Kerry got the “best press ever” during the 2004 campaign, according to a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA). The senator received the most favorable news coverage of all presidential candidates in the last 25 years. Bush was covered very negatively this year, according to the study, but he did not match the amount of bad press faced by Ronald Reagan in 1984. Kerry received a total of 58 percent positive evaluations from the media, in the time from Labor Day to Election Day. Not surprisingly, Bush did much worse at 36 percent positive and 64...

A New Low For Liberals By Edward L. Daley On Monday, October 25th, 2004, the New York Times printed a lengthy front page news story claiming that "380 tons of powerful conventional explosives" had disappeared from a storage facility in Iraq, supposedly while the stockpile had been under American military supervision and control. Throughout the day, newspapers and television networks the world over ran the story, and it wasn't long before Democrat presidential hopeful John F. Kerry was condemning George W. Bush for incompetence over the matter, as he continued on his final campaign swing through New Hampshire. Huge Cache...

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Equal Rules for the Press? Posted October 11, 2004 By Paul M. Rodriguez Catching up on the weekend news post the second presidential debate was a bit disturbing - and just reaffirms what so many readers of Insight have complained about concerning bias in the press. Specifically: Where are the stories analyzing the campaign issues raised by John F. Kerry compared to his political stump rhetoric compared to the senator's 20 years worth of votes, speeches and legislative history? Sure, sure - I know, that would mean that news organizations actually are looking for fair...