Media Bias Year-in-Review: The Most Partisan Potshots of Campaign 2012
As 2012 winds down, it's time to look back at some of the year's most egregious media bias, as documented by the Media Research Center's "Best Notable Quotables of 2012."
Much of what made this year unique was how the so-called "mainstream media" linked arms with the Obama campaign to denigrate and demonize conservatives and Republicans, even those as mild and moderate as GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
Politico Doubles Down on Liberalism, Hires Disgraced David Chalian of ‘Black People Drowning’ Fame
Veteran liberal journalist David Chalian was fired by Yahoo after he was caught on an open mic at this year's Republican convention in Tampa saying that GOP officials were "happy to have a party with black people drowning," a story first exposed by NewsBusters. Politico’s Dylan Byers reports that didn’t stop him from being picked up off liberal waivers by....Politico.
Politico editor-in-chief John Harris said management took Chalian's remark into consideration prior to hiring him to manage their video content. "He’s made clear that remark did not reflect his personal views or professional standards. This is a journalist who carries with him more than a decade of accomplishment and a well-earned reputation for fairness.” That's not tainted at all by a crack about Mitt Romney glorying in the deaths of black Americans?
Ari Fleischer: David Chalian Comments Reflective of Larger Media Problem
Speaking with NewsBusters at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer reacted strongly to the offensive joke made by ousted Yahoo News Washington bureau chief David Chalian that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his wife Ann.
"It baffles me that somebody like that could even be hired in the first place," Fleischer said.
WaPo Writer Calls Chalian Smear a ‘Joke,’ But Called Romney’s Birther Joke a ‘Comment’
Last night, Yahoo! News Washington Bureau Chief, David Chalian, slandered Romney by saying that the Republican nominee and his wife, Ann, were "happy to have a party with black people drowning." These remarks were made during ABCNews.com's webcast of their coverage of the RNC convention. As a result, Mr. Chalian has been fired by Yahoo!, but some liberal journalists aren't happy about it.
Gwen Ifill of the taxpayer-subsidized Public Broadcasting System (PBS) tweeted this today.
Gwen Ifill Stands Up for Fired David Chalian: ‘God’s Gift to Political Journalism’
Notorious PBS liberal Gwen Ifill took to Twitter to defend David Chalian, the former Yahoo Washington bureau chief who was fired for claiming that Mitt and Ann Romney are "happy to have a party with black people drowning," claiming that he was unjustly fired. Her defense was markedly over-the-top:
"One mistake does not change this. @DavidChalian is God's gift to political journalism. #IStandwithDavid"
Yahoo Fires David Chalian for Claiming Romneys Want to ‘Party With Black People Dying’
Yahoo has fired its Washington bureau chief David Chalian after NewsBusters exclusively revealed his offensive remarks that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his wife Ann were "happy to have a party with black people drowning."
Chalian made the comment during a live webcast of the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Here is Yahoo's statement:
Yahoo Bureau Chief David Chalian: Romneys ‘Happy to Have a Party With Black People Drowning’
During live coverage of the Republican National Convention here in Tampa, Yahoo News Washington bureau chief David Chalian provided the perfect example of the pervasive anti-Republican bias Mitt Romney faces in his bid to unseat President Barack Obama.
In video broadcast Monday night by ABC and Yahoo over the Internet, Chalian can be heard claiming that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife Ann are unconcerned about the fate of residents of the New Orleans area who are currently being hit by Hurricane Isaac.
ABC’s Terry Moran and Yahoo! News Preach Roberts ‘Saved’ the Supreme Court
The top of the Yahoo home page on Friday asked "Did Chief Justice Roberts save the Supreme Court?” That’s channeling the incessant spin of ABC Nightline anchor Terry Moran, who announced on Yahoo's web show Top Line: “Roberts rode to the rescue of the Obama health care plan, and maybe rode to the rescue of the Supreme Court, a little bit, as well.”
"We live in an era of punditry and hyper-partisanship where everybody’s on one side or the other and screaming,” complained Moran. “And here’s the Court, and John Roberts in particular, saying ‘We do this job. You guys do the rest.’”
Moran seemed to confuse unhappiness on the Left with public opinion in general: "They’ve seen the esteem for the Court diminish over these hyperpartisan years, since Bush vs. Gore. Polls show Americans feel less confident in the Court. The Court has no way to enforce its decisions except in the confidence of the people."
Top Line host and Yahoo! News Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian reminded viewers, "We know from the Obama administration, they were ready to pounce on this Court, and attack it for political partisanship if it went the other way. They’re not under that attack right now from the Left, but do you think that kind of thing weighs on the Chief Justice’s mind?"
Moran replied: “There’s no evidence in the opinion that it does, but knowing John Roberts, I think it does. The prestige of the court is the source of its authority, and justices can’t be happy if it’s just another football in the political wars.”
But if Roberts shifted his opinion to assuage Team Obama, isn't he just tossing them the football to spike?
Moran also suggested it was “much better” for the Supreme Court to stop resisting the New Deal in the 1930s, so there’s a historical pattern of left-wing pressure for the Court to submit to left-wing badgering.
Chalian asked if Roberts has been "Souterized" in the mind of conservatives, and Moran insultingly suggested the Court (and Clarence Thomas, hello?) had been a "pet" of conservatives: "The right is demoralized today, because in some ways, the Supreme Court had become their pet. Scalia is their hero, Thomas is a hero. Alito and Roberts, there was a a sense they would to the, carry out the agenda on the Supreme Court. So it’s possible. But John Roberts is a conservative, and there’ll be plenty of opinions where he makes liberals mad, because deep down, he is a conservative jurist."
Chalian implied that the Court's prestige rests entirely on the approval of liberals and leftists: “It is amazing, this could have been a real Bush vs. Gore kind of moment, right? And it just immediately, that dissipated, the notion of the ruling being seen that way, even if Republicans are indeed disappointed.”
Moran said Roberts made "the country" happy: “That sense that the Court stands in a different position is essential to the authority of the Court and in some ways, to the happiness of the country. Isn’t it nice that there’s one place where there’s not hollering at each other?"
[Hat tip: Mrs. Graham]