Free Republic

Yep, the "newspaper" which gave us so many drama queen stories about Katrina that turned out to be woefully inaccurate wins the top prize in US journalism. Kind of tells you something, doesn't it?From Saudi-owned Reuters [excerpted]: Jim Amoss (L), Editor of the Times-Picayune newspaper, congratulates publisher Ashton Phelps, Jr. after learning the paper won two Pulitzer Prizes in New Orleans April 17, 2006. The Times-Picayune of New Orleans and The Sun Herald of Biloxi, Mississippi, shared the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for excellent coverage of Hurricane Katrina. The Times-Picayune also won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting...

Mayvis Coyle became internationally famous by trying to cross a busy Los Angeles street. She is 82 and walks slowly with a cane. On Feb. 15, while carrying a bag of groceries, she hobbled into a crosswalk. Los Angeles police say the red "Don't Walk" sign was blinking, and she was given a $114 jaywalking ticket. Mrs. Coyle, a great-great-grandmother, insists the "Walk" signal was on when she began crossing. She intends to fight the ticket. Since the incident, she has been besieged by camera crews and has become something of a hero on the Internet. Last week, the Ellen...

FRIDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Fetuses cannot feel pain, therefore U.S. legislation requiring doctors to tell women that the fetus will feel pain, or to provide pain relief during abortions, has no scientific basis and may harm the women involved, a leading expert contends. "This is an unwarranted piece of legislation because there is good evidence that the fetus cannot feel pain at any stage of gestation," said Stuart Derbyshire, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Birmingham, U.K. He authored an review of the available data on the subject in the April 15 issue of the British...

I don't know which of two news stories that hit last week should embarrass the Bush administration more. First, we learned that a Department of Homeland Security spokesman was charged with soliciting a minor over the Internet and then, a few short days later, court documents came to light alleging that President Bush himself was the leak in the ongoing investigation into a 2003 CIA scandal. Brian Doyle, 56, resigned form the Homeland Security Department Friday after being charged with seven counts of solicitation of a minor and 16 counts of transmitting pornographic material to a minor. Police say that...

WASHINGTON, April 7 — That President Bush authorized an aide to disclose classified intelligence on Iraqi weapons, as asserted in court papers, comes as no shock to official Washington. The leaking of secrets has long been a favored tool of policy debate, political combat and diplomatic one-upmanship. "We've had leaking of this kind since the administration of George Washington," said Rick Shenkman, a presidential historian at George Mason University.

Racing circuit was angered by crew visiting Martinsville track for story NBC tried to dispel rumors that it was investigating NASCAR for a segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, saying the focus of the story will be a widespread look across the country. "Dateline is not planning a story about NASCAR," the network said in a release Thursday. "We are following up on a recent poll and other articles indicating an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. ... The NASCAR race at Martinsville was a stop we have made in our research on this story, which...

Michelle Malkin has a good "heads up" story today. Apparently, NBC is trying to manufacture and stage a news story. She obtained an email from NBC soliciting Muslim Males to participate in hidden camera happenings. Here is a copy of that email: Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 13:05:54 -0800 (PST) From: Subject: Looking for Muslim Males to participate in NBC Dateline Segment [Forwarded] Salam, I hope everyone is doing well. I have been talking with a producer of the NBC Dateline show and he is in the process of filming a piece on anti-Muslim and anti-Arab discrimination in the USA....

When I was a teenager, I was told that I would someday be world famous. Leaders from many countries would make pilgrimages to my vast estates to seek my advice. I was even told that I would lead a punitive expedition across the galaxy to wipe out an alien civilization that dared to threaten our planet. Of course, I returned to Earth as a conquering hero. That same evening, other teenagers around the table I was sitting at, were told they would become famous actresses, captains of industry, or sports legends. Oddly enough, no one was told they would...

BC-APNewsAlert WASHINGTON (AP) -- A real estate trade group reports that sales of existing homes rose by an unexpected 5.2 percent in February as warm weather boosted demand.

"Under the Law of Media Oscillation, the only safe prediction is that a static, unchanging political narrative is impossible. Stuff happens in war and politics. And when it doesn't the media will half-consciously rearrange all the atoms of emphasis and particles of story choice to make it seem so." - Jonathan Alter http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2005/04/24/fea09.html

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney speaks during his keynote address to the U.S. Labor Department's 2006 National Summit on Retirement Savings at the Willard Hotel in Washington March 2, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing

Washington journalism has about it a peculiar insularity. Who gets credit for groundbreaking reporting is not important to most readers, but Washington editors often try to knock down each other's stories and want to be credited when they think they've broken a story first. I know; I've done it. So a memo from Knight-Ridder's Washington bureau that criticized The Post, leaked to a popular media news Web site Friday, was not viewed with equanimity in The Post's newsroom. snip The most serious issue was Hoyt's questioning of figures cited in a front-page story in The Post on Tuesday -- that...

MIA Peter Arnett magically appears in Vietnam journo reunion pic In its December 2005 issue, Vanity Fair magazine manipulated a photograph to make it appear that veteran journalist Peter Arnett was among a group of war correspondents gathered on a teeming Ho Chi Minh City street during a reunion of the Vietnam press corps. In fact, according to a source familiar with the photo shoot, Arnett was not present when photographer Jonas Karlsson shot a group portrait of eight journalists last April. Instead, the former CNN star (who covered the war for the Associated Press) was subsequently photographed solo and...

RUSH: Brian in Wilmington, North Carolina, I know you're still out there, because I know you're here every day, Brian, and I know a lot of you libs are out there. Let me tell you: I think this is probably everything that you're looking for. The reason that it took so long to release details of the hunting accident -- Dick Cheney and Harry Whittington -- is that Whittington is actually dead, and it took them about eight hours to go find a double for Mr. Whittington, because he's actually brain dead. He's so injured that he's being held...

No room for a laughingstock It is humor that often drives the final nail in the political coffin. The images of Gerald Ford falling on his face and hitting spectators with golf balls outlived his presidency. Jimmy Carter endured the Iranian hostage crisis and the misery index, but he had no comeback to the million yuks that followed his battle with an attacking rabbit. All of which is to say that Deadeye Dick Cheney is history. He is the Dead Veep Walking, whether he knows it or not. Ridicule is fatal. It's not just late-night comedians declaring open season on...

Wrong man in photo speaks out Sunday's Chronicle mistakenly identified him as police officer A San Francisco taxi driver said Tuesday that he had been "put in this situation where I have to watch my back" because The Chronicle mistakenly identified him in a photo as a police officer with a record of suspensions for using excessive force. At a news conference at his lawyer's office, Jack Neeley Jr., 42, said he had been "pulled out of my daily life routine" on Sunday, when The Chronicle's series on problems with the use of force by San Francisco police included a...

The controversy over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed is expanding, as more Muslims join the boycott and protests against Denmark and various European newspapers decide to publish the cartoons, mostly out of solidarity with Jyllands Posten and to make a strong political stand. One issue that puzzles many Danes is the timing of this outburst. The cartoons were published in September: Why have the protests erupted from Muslims worldwide only now? The person who knows the answer to this question is Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, a man that the Washington Post has recently profiled as “one...

The prophetess of women's liberation has been revealed as a liar and spouse abuser. If the personal is political – as feminists have long contended – what are the implications of this for feminism? Friedan accused her ex-husband Carl Friedan of beating up on her, in her recent memoir Life So Far. The media ran with the story. Now Mr. Friedan has responded with a website, carlfriedan.com, in which he charges that his ex-wife was mentally disturbed and given to fits of violent rage. It was she who abused him, says Mr. Friedan, not the other way around. The ex-Mrs....

Peter Arnett magically appears in Vietnam journo reunion pic FEBRUARY 2--In its December 2005 issue, Vanity Fair magazine manipulated a photograph to make it appear that veteran journalist Peter Arnett was among a group of war correspondents gathered on a teeming Ho Chi Minh City street during a reunion of the Vietnam press corps. In fact, according to a source familiar with the photo shoot, Arnett was not present when photographer Jonas Karlsson shot a group portrait of eight journalists last April. Once again the "smarter", more "civilized", and more "tolerant" MSM shows us their true stripes. TRUTH is...

Tony Blair told President George Bush that he was "solidly" behind US plans to invade Iraq before he sought advice about the invasion's legality and despite the absence of a second UN resolution, according to a new account of the build-up to the war published today. A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion - reveals that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence...