Special Reports

An in-depth study, analysis or review exploring the media

20th Oct, 2010 7:52pm
Full Report Once upon a time, there was a nation besieged by what many called The Great Recession. The unemployment rate was climbing, businesses and families were struggling, and everyone was holding out for a hero. With his tune of hope and change, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., convinced many he was the champion America was looking for and he could turn things around. The network news media certainly believed him, and aided his ascent to the White House. One of his campaign refrains was about…
19th Oct, 2010 9:45pm
Executive Summary Like the fabled town of Hamelin that hired the Pied Piper to conquer its rat problem, America needed a hero to overcome a faltering economy. According to the news media, that hero was Sen. Barack Obama who made extravagant promises about tax cuts for 95 percent of “working families” and getting the economy back on track. Promises, promises. Obama also signed a $65-billion tax hike into law. Up to $4.2 trillion more in tax increases will hit taxpayers starting January 1. Yet,…
21st Apr, 2010 7:21pm
It’s been a rough five months for the credibility of many of the “leading” climate scientists.  First, the ClimateGate e-mails appeared to show unethical or illegal behavior of high profile scientists and a potential conspiracy to distort science for political gain. These weren’t just a few renegade scientists; in the following months, damning information came to light about the world’s leading climate alarmists and their work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Stern…
21st Apr, 2010 7:16pm
 Executive Summary For years the global warming alarmists’ mantra has been “the science is settled.” But a recent series of shocking disclosures about climate science has shaken the credibility of that claim.  The first scandal – ClimateGate – came Nov. 20, 2009, after someone leaked thousands of e-mails from a major climate science group: University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU). The e-mails were full of startling admissions like this one: “We can’t account for the lack of…
4th Nov, 2009 5:10pm
It's every parent's nightmare. A child hops on the computer for homework or to innocently play a game. But even a short time online can expose that child to an amazing array of obscenity, provocative material and links to porn on one of the world's most popular Internet sites - YouTube. YouTube claims it is 'not for pornography or sexually explicit content.' But that's impossible to tell from its Web site. There's sexual material - including pornography - almost everywhere. Even before clicking…
4th Nov, 2009 5:04pm
After criticism from pro-family groups, the popular video site YouTube announced plans in December 2008 to become more 'family friendly.' Six months later, that site remains a haven for soft-core pornography, obscenity and links to outside porn sites. Despite claims by parent company Google that it would improve, a child surfing the site today could find a universe of objectionable content with little difficulty. The Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute studied YouTube to…
4th Nov, 2009 4:23pm
It's a maxim of journalism that newspapers are supposed to 'comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.' Yet there are few industries more afflicted by problems than the news business, and some journalists and their supporters on the left are flexing political muscle to find more than a little comfort. And they certainly do need comfort. Nearly everywhere they turn, the news is bad. USA Today, one of the top circulation newspapers in the nation, is expected to show a loss of nearly 400,…
4th Nov, 2009 3:44pm
Executive Summary The pattern repeats itself - an industry in chaos, companies going bankrupt, thousands of workers losing jobs. It's time for government intervention. That's been the Obama administration's model for Wall Street, insurance giant AIG and the auto industry. Now it could be the same for the American media. Congress, the Federal Trade Commission and the FCC are all looking at ways to 'help' journalism. On Sept. 20, President Obama threw his support to the concept by saying: 'I'll…
1st Oct, 2009 3:58am
See Executive Summary These are tough times. More than 3 million people have lost their jobs just since February 2009 and consumer confidence fell unexpectedly in September. The unemployment rate has spiked from 8.1 percent to 9.7 percent in the first seven months of Barack Obama's presidency and is expected to climb even higher.Despite that grim news, the major news networks have spun their unemployment reports into "good news" and presented Obama positively. Journalists tried hard to present…
1st Oct, 2009 3:55am
See Full Report Unemployment under President Barack Obama is at a 26-year-high. The last time the economy had 9.7 percent or higher unemployment was under President Ronald Reagan. But despite similar periods of rising unemployment, Obama and Reagan received almost exactly opposite treatment from the network news media. Under Obama reporters have gone to great lengths to spin rising unemployment by finding 'positive trends' in the job losses, even focusing on as few as 25 jobs being 'saved' by…