Blogs

Across the Media Universe: Swing and a Miss Edition

By Matthew Felling

May 22, 2007 / 3:11 PM EDT / CBS News

(AP Photo/Rick Silva)

Left-field Bias? : Newbusters – which purports to expose and combat liberal bias in the media — found a new bugaboo last month: Liberal Bias Of Home Run Calls! Newsbusters contributor Mark Finkelstein is none too pleased that ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne has begun spouting "Obama!" during highlight reels and gets all "Won't someone think of the children?!" on the Worldwide Leader in Sports:

[D]oes he need to inject his personal politics into his sports work? For that matter, would ESPN let a Republican host [if there are any at the network] shout "Ch-Ch-Ch-Cheney!" to mark an outstanding feat?

The guys at Deadspin decided to make a few more suggestions:

For our part we would love a "Ch-Ch-Ch-Cheney!" call on SportsCenter, although we can't quite figure on when it would be appropriate. Maybe the next time someone gets hit in the face with a ball? But instead of eliminating the Obama call, we think ESPN should go the other way and add several more.
Weak flare falls into short right field for a single: "Kucinich!"
Diving catch: "Another vote for MITT!"
Ball caught on warning track: "It could be ... no, its a Ron Paul."

(That Mitt one could catch on …)

Worst. Backtrack. Ever.: Earlier this week, an Arkansas reporter quoted Jimmy Carter as saying that the Bush administration is "the worst in history" when it comes to international relations. And that's not all::

The ex-president also accused Bush of erasing the line between church and state and sharply criticized Bush's war policies, his arms-control stances and his environmental record during the interview.

Carter later went on the "Today" show, crying foul and saying he was possibly "misinterpreted." But the audio – posted online – backs up the reporter. The Chicago Tribune, meanwhile, lists a few of the worst presidential insults in history – including Truman calling Nixon "a shifty-eyed [expletive] liar."

The Blog of War : Dante Chinni at the Christian Science Monitor Christian Science Monitor shoots some e-mails back and forth with Iraq war blogger Bill Roggio, who sees good news going unreported and accuses the media of being played by the terrorists:

After a big operation in Tal Afar, the situation improved dramatically in the northern city. Tal Afar was declared a model of success by President Bush. Al Qaeda decided to pull off an occasional suicide attack in the city, so it could hang Tal Afar around the president's neck like an albatross. When attacks occur, you read, "A suicide attack killed X and wounded Y in Tal Afar, a city President Bush declared a model of success in Iraq...." … But progress there has been dramatic, and there are only reports if something goes wrong. That is exactly what Al Qaeda in Iraq wishes to achieve.

Roggio might have a point, but there's an old saying in journalism: If the plane don't crash, it's not news. And there are enough crashes right now in Iraq that an on time flight isn't going to get much play.