Free Republic

For America gave Politico reporter Ben Smith a 2010 planning memo for a profile he was writing on the liberal advocacy group. But Smith curiously withheld key parts of the 89-page document when he published his story, “Media Matters’ war against Fox,” in March 2011. The Daily Caller became aware of this after obtaining the same document while reporting the series “Inside Media Matters,” which debuted here late Sunday night. It’s not clear why Smith, who recently left Politico for the website BuzzFeed, didn’t include more specifics from the lengthy document in his March 2011 story if he had the...

Tim Graham's picture CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson has distinguished herself by reporting on the "Fast & Furious" gunwalking scandal in the Obama Justice Department. The conservative media watchdog group Accuracy in Media awarded her their Reid Irvine Award for investigative reporting at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday -- only Attkisson failed to appear. Instead, Michael Calderone at The Huffington Post wrote CBS Washington bureau chief Christopher Isham accepted the award in Atkisson's honor and said that the network "is very proud of Sharyl's groundbreaking reporting." Attkisson is the first reporter from a non-conservative media organization to receive...

Another Romney gotcha. The main stream media put this moron as leading the GOP lineup. I say "Ron Paul 2012" and do away with all these idiots in both partys.

MANKATO, Minn. - A KEYC-TV anchor who made David Letterman's Top 10 List after many speculated she could have been drunk during a newscast has been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. An anonymous caller contacted the North Mankato Police Department on Wednesday morning to report an intoxicated person was leaving a Roe Crest Drive residence in a vehicle. A report describing the vehicle was put out to law enforcement officers in the area and the car was stopped by a Nicollet County sheriff's deputy on U.S. 14. Annie Stensrud, 28, was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated. She...

With a record 46 million Americans now receiving food stamps and rampant abuse resulting in what the Wall Street Journal calls a “food stamp crime wave,” Nation reporter Lizzie Ratner believes that “deep racism” is “at the heart of conservative food stamp critiques”: The deep racism at the heart of conservative food stamp critiques offers at least one clue as to why the Obama administration has been unable or unwilling to champion SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] as a valuable recession antidote: as the nation’s first African-American president, Obama is vulnerable to racist innuendo, which his opponents are only too...

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A woman in the border city of Laredo, Texas who was angry because she had been denied food stamps killed herself and shot and critically wounded her two children late on Monday, authorities said on Tuesday.

What does it take to be a crime reporter in the murder capital of the world? Everything, says Irma Londono. For 17 years, Irma Londono did her part to uncover the truth about drug trafficking in Colombia. As a journalist, Londono disregarded comments that women did not belong in her field, endured challenges to her credibility from corrupt officials and even survived a kidnapping from guerilla rebels. But when threats against her life escalated, the award-winning journalist heeded her mother’s advice and fled to the United States as a political refugee, leaving her family, friends and career behind. “I am...

Where Are the Investigative Reporters? I heard Obama speak of the misfortunate Wall Street protesters inability to secure a position with their newly acquired college degrees. Deep in debt and unable to earn an income to begin to pay back the loans they so desperately needed to become educated. I have seen many pictures, videos, and interviews of the students participating in the scheduled protest events. However, something was not as I would expect a college graduate to appear when seeking employment in their chosen profession. I know the investigative motivation is lacking in the main stream media but perhaps...

"Last night at the Republican debate, some of the hopefuls, they hope to get your job, they defended the practice of waterboarding which is a practice you banned in 2009. Herman Cain said, quote, 'I don't see that as torture.' Michele Bachmann said that it's, quote, 'very effective.' So I'm wondering if you think that they're uninformed, out of touch, or irresponsible?" CNN's White House correspondent Dan Lothian asked President Obama in Hawaii.

NBC is to announce on Monday morning that it has hired Chelsea Clinton to become a full-time special correspondent for NBC News.Ramin Talaie/Bloomberg News Chelsea Clinton will be a special correspondent for NBC News. The appointment is immediate. Ms. Clinton will show up at the news division offices on Monday morning, said Steve Capus, president of NBC News, and will begin work on stories that NBC expects to use as part of its “Making a Difference” series, which runs on “NBC Nightly News.” Ms. Clinton has been a national figure since her father won the presidency in 1992, but...

Vice President Joe Biden’s office has asked the U.S. Senate Press Gallery to investigate conservative journalist Jason Mattera’s tactics during a recent interview, a process that could result in his press credentials being revoked, The Daily Caller has learned. Mattera, the editor of Human Events and a widely known video ambush interviewer, caught Biden by surprise after asking if he would pose together for a joint picture. While embracing the vice president for the photo, Mattera asked Biden if he “regret[s] using a rape reference to describe Republican opposition to the president’s bill.” Because none of those parties are answering...

CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson has been doggedly covering the ATF and DOJ scandal surrounding the gunwalking “Fast and Furious” case. And now she’s coming out with some juicy details about her attempts to get information from the DOJ and the White House regarding the case. On Laura Ingraham’s radio show Tuesday, Attkisson said she was “screamed” and “cussed” at by the White House while trying to get information last Friday, and that a DOJ spokesperson “yelled” at her while she was trying to get clarification on the case. And she named names. Ingraham: So they were literally screaming at you?...

The Fast and Furious scandal, in which the Justice Department knowingly gave Mexican criminal gangs thousands of guns, just keeps escalating. The latest development centers around whether or not Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about having knowledge of the controversial gun trafficking operation. Recently released documents say Holder was briefed about the operation long before he told the Judiciary Committee he was first aware of what was going on. (Holder now claims he misunderstood the question was being asked.) What's more, CBS News investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson -- who's been covering the scandal from the beginning -- says...

One of CNN's most popular citizen reporters was fired from his substitute teaching job after school officials unearthed evidence that he used to be a gay porn star. They didn't have to dig deep. Shawn Loftis ditched his porn career in the spring of 2010 to focus on teaching, but he is still widely known by his X-rated alias, Collin O'Neal, the Miami New Times reported. His hard-core performances won him several awards, and a Wikipedia page lists his porn accolades and some of the videos he's appeared in.

Minutes after President Obama urged Americans this morning to tweet their support for a Democratic debt-ceiling bill, a New York Times reporter prompted the White House to organize the effort with a special Twitter hashtag. Hashtags use the “#” symbol to mark keywords or topics on Twitter. They often help drive messages by linking similar messages together in a common theme. At 10:55 a.m. the Times’s Jennifer Preston suggested that administration officials might create a hashtag, so tweeting Democrats could jointly target Republicans who are now trying to pass their own debt ceiling plan. Preston tweeted to a White House...

This morning, the Daily Caller published a story I was inclined to leave to others: Michele Bachmann suffers from severe migraines. But now the Bachmann camp has suddenly invited a whole lot more scrutiny to the story. At an event today, ABC News reporter Brian Ross tried to ask her about her condition, and according to another reporter on the scene, Time’s Michael Crowley, Bachmann’s handlers got pretty rough and aggressive with Ross: "Ross dashed after Bachmann, repeatedly asking whether she had ever missed a House vote due to a migraine. She ignored him. Ross pursued her into a parking...

ALTUS, Okla. – After a little over 30-minutes in executive session Thursday afternoon, the Altus City Council accepted the resignation of embattled City Manager Mike Nettles.

Ahead of next year's presidential election, the White House has launched a concerted effort to leap over national media and reach out to local journalists in hopes of receiving more favorable coverage. But that effort may have backfired a bit yesterday, when President Obama was caught on camera testily reprimanding a Texas reporter for apparently not giving him sufficient time to answer questions.

When President Obama speaks, don't interrupt. That's what the president told a Texas reporter after a brief but contentious interview in which he was challenged about his unpopularity in the state. "Let me finish my answers next time we do an interview, all right?" he told WFAA News 8 reporter Brad Watson. During the interview, one of four that Obama held with Texas media in the White House on Monday, the president argued that even though the Lone Star state was historically Republican, his election meant that the politics there was changing. "We lost by a few percentage points in...

Over the weekend, FR broke the story about the newspaper pool reporter who was detained in a closet for a total of about two hours so he could not talk to attendees at a Joe Biden fundraiser. Other sites picked up the story, it went super-viral on the 'net, and now has become so big ABC and FOX both covered the story. At ABC, WNT covered the story with Jake Tapper last night, and this morning, this little jewel ran on GMA. The FR-inspired story also ran in traditional newspapers, such as the NY Post, NY Daily News, Times of...

The Wisconsin protesters are getting restless and angrier as the chants of “Fox News lies” grew louder and louder around reporter Mike Tobin. As some of the protesters eagerly tried to block the camera shot, the picture then switched away from Tobin out on the street to inside the Capitol building. Tobin’s voiceover continued as he exclaimed “a guy just hit me.” Tobin said he has received much heckling, and that a teacher even told him she hates him because it made her feel good. The “utter lack of civility and harassment of reporters,” as anchor Gregg Jarrett described it,...

Los Angeles reporter Serene Branson has given her first interview since the Grammy night live report that catapulted the KCBS-TV journalist into YouTube fame. “My head was definitely pounding and I was very uncomfortable and I knew something wasn’t right,” Branson told KCBS anchor Pat Harvey Thursday night. “I was terrified and confused. Confused. What had just happened? At that point they sat me down, then my right cheek went numb. My right hand went numb and I lost some sensation in my arm.” The live report, where Branson become visibly confused and had trouble speaking clearly, led many to...

One of the most memorable performances from Sunday night's Grammy broadcast was also one of the most terrifying: Serene Branson, an Emmy-nominated CBS entertainment reporter began speaking gibberish during the network's post-Grammy newscast. However, after initial fears that Branson may have suffered a stroke on-air, she is reportedly doing OK. "She was examined by paramedics on scene immediately after her broadcast. Her vital signs were normal. She was not hospitalized," the CBS affiliate that employs Branson said in a statement posted late Monday on its website. "As a precautionary measure, a colleague gave her a ride home. And while Serene...

At first glance, the video is funny, just another in the long line of on-air bloopers from news reporters. However, it now appears that KCBS in Los Angeles’ Serene Branson may have suffered something far more serious than a live TV mistake. Shortly after the bizarre moment in the night’s broadcast where she seemed to be unable to speak coherently, Branson was hospitalized with some speculating that she may have had a stroke. In the video, Branson is attempting to cover the Grammys when her words just turn to gibberish and she tries and fails to correct herself. After the...

The Daily Caller has learned CNBC reporter Matt Nesto will not have his contract renewed, which is up at the beginning of 2011. Were Nesto’s politics a factor in the network’s decision not to bring him back? Nesto, known for his market research in appearances on the network throughout the broadcast day, is generally a low-key actor.

He had earlier dismissed Twitter as a forum for ‘glib comment’. And Tory councillor Gareth Compton might now be wishing he had given somewhat more thought to his own posts on the social networking website. For after an ‘ill-conceived attempt at humour’ in which he allegedly called for a Muslim journalist to be stoned to death, Mr Compton has been arrested and bailed, suspended from his party, accused of ‘incitement to murder’ and branded a racist. The 38-year-old barrister had been reacting to a radio show ­featuring newspaper columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown discussing David Cameron’s visit to China. Mrs Alibhai-Brown, 60,...

CBS television network anchor Lesley Stahl is up in arms over Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood – known to Jews as Shiloach, and home to the City of David archaeological excavations. The reporter from the long-running Sunday evening “60 Minutes” program narrated a segment this week on the City of David, produced by Shachar Bar-On. During the segment, Stahl worked hard to cast aspersions on the validity of the archaeological findings in the City of David excavations and the unity of the city, and to delegitimize the presence of Jewish families in the area. The Jewish families are in houses bought by...

How a new report on HIV infection in the Big Apple scared a health reporter into getting tested and having a frank discussion with her "boo." By Tomika Anderson My longtime lover and I were driving through Harlem when we passed a billboard that made me want to slam on the brakes and pull the car over. On it were two women -- one black and one Latina -- their pretty, youthful faces in lights. But under their pictures was a statistic that sucker-punched me: 93.4 percent. As in, 93.4 of all new HIV cases among women in NYC occur...

We’ve often said that the media “protects” President Obama but this video from WIND radio host and Big Blogs contributor William Kelly shows this allegation literally. Kelly, a Chicagoan, was there when Rahm Emmanuel was pressing the flesh, kissing babies, and greeting reporters. Emmanuel didn’t account for unassuming Kelly to fire off serious journalistic questions more pressing than the requisite “how’s it feel to be back?” Kelly didn’t account for was the manner in which Chicago reporters behaved. Are these reporters or palace guards? In the video you see them physically move to shield Emmanuel from Kelly’s questioning, as though...

This 30 second video shows Harry getting testy with a female reporter when asked about the polls. I will, again, put he link to the video in Box #1 for Comments, where it can be readily clicked on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbsGno4NZ9U&feature=channel

Although I’m a programmer, I also consider myself a journalist. GovTrack reports on what is happening in Congress day by day — even if the reporting is just a nice presentation of a lot of raw, unedited facts about legislation. But I often lament the lack of a human touch, which is why in January I started GovTrack Insider, now on a bit of a hiatus. I need your help. The nation needs your help. We all need to be reporters. So here it is: The Summer Citizen Reporter Contest......more

WAFF Report - HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - Huntsville police are searching for a man who broke into a home and got into bed with a woman. A serious story by itself, but the lady's brother adds an unexpected je ne sais quoi.

A gay priest sex scandal has rocked the Catholic Church in Italy today after a weekly news magazine released details of a shock investigation it had carried out. Using hidden cameras, a journalist from Panorama magazine - owned by Italian Prime Minister and media baron Silvio Berlusconi - filmed three priests as they attended gay nightspots and had casual sex. Today there was no immediate comment from the Italian Bishops Conference and the Vatican - which has been rocked by a series of sex scandals involving paedophile priests since the start of the year.

NBC's Lee Cowan, on Thursday's NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, discovered a stunning result of Arizona's new immigration policies - illegal immigrants are now leaving the state. Cowan opened his piece noting a long line now "stretches around the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix every day" but noticed a twist, as the line was full of "immigrants trying to figure out not how to stay in Arizona, but how to flee it."

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2010 – In a memo to senior civilian and military leaders, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates reiterated the need for leaders to take media engagement seriously, and to stay within their levels of knowledge. The memo, issued the afternoon of July 2, was the culmination of weeks of discussion within the Pentagon on leader interaction with the media. In the memo, the secretary said he is concerned that the department has grown lax in following long-established rules and procedures for engagement with the media. “We have far too many people talking to the media outside of channels,...

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh famously said he hoped President Obama would “fail” in January, 2009. Almost a year later, when Limbaugh was rushed to the hospital with chest pains, Washington Post reporter David Weigel had a wish of his own. “I hope he fails,” Weigel cracked to fellow liberal reporters on the “Journolist” email list-serv. “Too soon?” he wondered. Weigel was hired this spring by the Post to cover the conservative movement. Almost from the beginning there have been complaints that his coverage betrays a personal animus toward conservatives. E-mails obtained by the Daily Caller suggest those complaints have...

NEW YORK (AP) - The 40-year-old son of former ABC anchor Ted Koppel has been found dead in an Upper Manhattan apartment, police said Tuesday. Andrew Koppel was declared dead at around 1:30 a.m. Monday in the Washington Heights apartment, Detective John Sweeney said. A medical examiner would determine the cause of death. Koppel worked for the law department at the city Housing Authority, the agency said Tuesday. They would make no other comment...

The Duchess of York is "devastated" and "regretful" after she was filmed apparently offering to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew for £500,000, sources said today. A News of the World video showed Sarah Ferguson promising to introduce an undercover reporter posing as a wealthy businessman to the Prince, who has been the UK's special representative for international trade and investment since 2001. The Duchess who said she could 'open doors' is expected in Los Angeles later today where she is scheduled to pick up an award for her charity work.

NBC News reporter Kelly O'Donnell asked Darryl Postell, a black man at a tea party rally held Thursday in Washington: "There aren't a lot of African-Americans at these events. Have you ever felt... uncomfortable?" Postell replied, "No, no, these are my people, Americans." (VIDEO AT LINK) O'Donnell's question wasn't the only one addressing race at tea parties. Politico asked one white tea party protester about how she could spot an "infiltrator" -- a liberal posing as a tea party protester -- and she said that more "racially-oriented signs" were a giveaway. "This movement is not about race. My husband and...

NBC Reporter To Black Man At Tea Party: "Have You Ever Felt Uncomfortable?" NBC News reporter Kelly O'Donnell questions a black man at the DC tax day tea party.

“There aren't a lot of African-American men at these events,” NBC News reporter Kelly O'Donnell, a white woman, told Darryl Postell, a black man at a Tea Party rally held Thursday in Washington, DC, pressing him, in an exchange she chose to include in her NBC Nightly News story, to address her prejudiced assumptions: “Have you ever felt uncomfortable?” Postell rejected her loaded premise that race must divide Americans: “No, no, these are my people, Americans.” O'Donnell's story noted “skepticism over how the Tea Party is judged and labeled,” letting an attendee assert: “We're not racists, we're not any of...

All too often, it is apparent in news articles involving the Second Amendment, guns, concealed carry, hunting and shooting rights, gun control, etc. that the writer is completely unfamiliar with the subject. When an Ohio radio show producer began working on a story about the U.S. Supreme Court case McDonald v. City of Chicago, she decided that she would not only use the suit as an opportunity to learn more about Ohio's firearm laws, but also as an opportunity to overcome her fear of guns. From the Willoughby, OH News-Herald: Anne Adoryan wants to help people think before they fear....

A "very nervous" Erin Andrews went to court today, where the man accused of stalking filming hours of nude video of the ESPN sportscaster through hotel room peepholes is being sentenced Michael Barrett, 48, accepted a deal to plead guilty to interstate stalking and will be sentenced to 27 months in prison.

REPORTED BOOTED OUT OF SEAN PENN EVENTA Yeas & Nays reporter (Tara Palmeri) was publicly berated and threatened to be escorted out by police on Thursday night when the reporter asked actor Sean Penn a question about his humanitarian work in Haiti. Penn, who recently has been criticized for his motivations in helping to rebuilding Haiti, recently told CBS News he hopes his critics "die screaming of rectal cancer." Members of the media were invited to a gala hosted at the Washington Hebrew Congregation and were allowed to ask one question each of the actor in a closed-door news briefing....

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A Wall Street and finance reporter for The New York Times accused of plagiarism has resigned, the newspaper reported. Zachery Kouwe, who joined the Times in 2008 from the New York Post, resigned on Tuesday, the Times said, citing "two people briefed on the matter." The newspaper said Kouwe met on Tuesday with representatives of the Times, The New York Times Co. and the Newspaper Guild of New York to discuss possible disciplinary action but instead the reporter resigned. A Times Co. spokeswoman, Diane McNulty, was quoted as saying "the Times has dealt with this, as we...

NEW YORK — The New York Times is looking into the work of one its reporters following accusations that he plagiarized from The Wall Street Journal and other sources. The newspaper published an editor's note online Sunday and in papers Monday that said reporter Zachery Kouwe "appears to have improperly appropriated wording and passages published by other news organizations." The Times said Journal editors pointed out similarities between a Journal story from Feb. 5 and Times pieces later that day and on Feb. 6. The Times said that a search found similar examples taken from media outlets such as Reuters...

Police launched an investigation Tuesday after veteran British TV broadcaster Ray Gosling confessed on air to smothering his lover, who was dying of AIDS. A spokesman said officers would liaise with the BBC after Gosling's admission was aired on its 'Inside Out' program, broadcast at 7:30 p.m. GMT Monday. The BBC did not alert the police in advance of the confession, which was reportedly recorded last November. A police spokesman said: "We were not aware of Mr. Gosling's comments until the BBC Inside Out program was shown. "We are now liaising with the BBC and will investigate the matter."

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The New York Times is conducting an investigation after a Wall Street and finance reporter was found to have improperly used wording and passages from other news organizations. Zachery Kouwe, who joined the Times in 2008 from the New York Post, "reused language from The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and other sources without attribution or acknowledgement," the Times said in an editors' note. The Times said Kouwe appeared to have "improperly appropriated wording and passages published by other news organizations" in a number of business articles over the past year and in posts on NYTimes.com's DealBook blog....

Reporter who was assaulted by Obama Goon to be interviewd by Hannity on his radio show today.

Michael Yon is an author and has been a combat journalist for over five years, spending time as an embedded reporter in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Philippines. Yon is also a former Green Beret, making him an ideal liaison between the needs of both military and journalism when reporting in war zones. According to Yon, on January he was returning from Afghanistan via Hong Kong, landing in Seattle. He carried with him nothing more extraordinary than his camera equipment. He didn’t tell them his profession, but said, “They started figuring it out when they found my press credentials from Iraq...