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Politico's Josh Gerstein and Patrick Gavin have a long article describing the growing anger of the White House press corps towards the Obama White House. Many of the grievances are petty, though some are serious and substantive (involving lack of transparency and media manipulation), but the passage that I found most revealing is this one: Much of the criticism is off the record, both out of fear of retaliation and from worry about appearing whiny. But those views were voiced by a cross section of the television, newspaper and magazine journalists who cover the White House.

CNN and Fox News have packed up and gone home. You’re seeing less and less about Haiti on television these days. Diane Sawyer is firmly ensconced in New York. The reporters have put away their rugged “disaster coverage” attire until the next big one. There are other things that need coverage from the mainstream media today: Sarah Palin writes notes on her hand, the Oscars are coming up, there is snow in Washington D.C. In Haiti there is still death, destruction and desperation.

This is a video that helps explain the mentality of news reporters. Check out this airhead news reporter doing a report on gun safety. The woman reporter in this video keeps pointing the loaded gun at the cameraman. Even after she fired a round down range at a target she looks at the camera and non nonchalantly shakes the gun with the barrel pointed towards the cameraman. Honestly, you cannot make this stuff up. Watch the video of the airhead reporter here After watching this video, all I could think about was all the gun laws we have. The only...

In a situation that most any conservatives can relate to, a stupid Reporter and his Guide catches an anaconda snake off guard. Well they decide to harass the snake and play with him for a few minutes before tossing him like garbage, away from the camp. Remind you of the way the drive-by media treats conservatives? Well, that's the first thing I thought of when I watched it. Anyway, after a little while the Guide hears the reporter screaming for help. So he rushes to where the Reporter is and finds him under attack from the angry anaconda that tracked...

Sarah Palin is no normal politician, and at the Associated Press, apparently "Going Rogue" is no normal book. When the former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor wrote her autobiography, the AP found a copy before its release date and assigned 11 people to fact check all 432 pages. The AP claims Palin misstated her record with regard to travel expenses and taxpayer-funded bailouts, using statements widely reported elsewhere. But it also speculated into Palin's motives for writing "Going Rogue: An American Life," stating as fact that the book "has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto." Palin...

The report issued by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) is positive for the U.S., however, the issue of national security, seems to be one of the biggest problems for United States reporters seeking information from the government. But that pales when you compare the problems Mexican reporters have in covering the news, especially in the border areas with the United States. Reporter Angela Kocherga gave this first hand report: "Mexico is one of the most dangerous places to work as a reporter these days, we see that by the ranking and see that played out in the field. Now the Majority...

Amid all the adulation over Bill Clinton's "rescue" of the two reporters from North Korea, what have we learned since they were released about the circumstances under which they were captured by the North Koreans? Have the two acknowledged whether they crossed illegally into North Korea and thereby precipitated the crisis?

What’s the difference between a prehistoric dinosaur and a journalist dinosaur? A prehistoric dinosaur didn’t know it was a dinosaur. The “bullpen” at the New York Times in September 1942, my birth month. For the benefit of our young readers, the instrument in the foreground is a “rotary” telephone, and those things spread across the desks are printed newspapers.The old notion of a resourceful “ink-stained wretch” digging for facts out of the public eye, plucking the truth from complex human events, and writing about it all has been pushed aside on the fast track of media celebrity. Journalism’s tent of...

Reported during Your World that Steven Rattner would step down and be replaced by a member of the Auto Task Force. No print story currently available at site.

"Iran said Sunday it has released a British-Greek journalist detained for two weeks during its postelection crackdown..."

PARIS – Iranian authorities have arrested 23 journalists and bloggers since post-election protests began a week ago, according to a media watchdog that says reporters are a "priority target" for Iran's leadership. Among those arrested was the head of the Association of Iranian Journalists, Reporters Without Borders said Sunday. ... The group released a list of 23 Iranian journalists, editors and bloggers arrested since June 14, and says it has lost contact with several others believed detained or in hiding. ..

Is it Just Me? (Rant No. 947)   t | t | t | t by Dr. Jeff Mirus, June 12, 2009   Long-time readers of this column know that I try, at least in anemic fits and starts, to keep up with what the larger culture is doing and thinking. God forbid that I should one day know so little of the world around me that I can’t make a few intelligent comments in the course of a week! So among all the solid Catholic publications I read, it is my habit to toss in a subscription to a...

N.Korea says US reporters 'admit to smear campaign' by Simon Martin Tue Jun 16, 10:44 am ET SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – North Korea said Tuesday that two female US journalists whom it jailed last week for 12 years had admitted a politically motivated smear campaign against the communist state. Official media, giving its first details of their alleged crimes, said they crossed the border illegally "for the purpose of making animation files to be used for an anti-DPRK (North Korea) smear campaign over its human rights issue." A Pyongyang court on June 8 sentenced Laura Ling, 32, and Euna...

Gore held back from going to NKorea to negotiate release of two US reporters Posted: 09 June 2009 1044 hrs WASHINGTON : Former US vice president Al Gore was "held back" from travelling to North Korea to negotiate for the release of his two employees - journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. That is according to Selig Harrison from the Centre for International Policy, who said Gore sought diplomatic backing from the Obama administration in a private meeting on May 11. Ling and Lee have just been sentenced to 12 years in North Korean labour camp. Neither Al Gore nor...

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Amid an avalanche of new interest in Utah's widely recognized concealed-carry firearm permit, two of the state's best-known gun-rights advocates hosted a no-cost class to acquire the permit for Salt Lake media members on Sunday. Applications for Utah concealed-carry permits have skyrocketed this spring according to the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification, the agency tasked with issuing and administrating concealed weapon carry permits. Last February's 2,548 applicants jumped to 8,142 this year and March permit seekers more than doubled from 4,412 in 2008 to 10,878 in 2009. Clark Aposhian, a registered lobbyist, firearm instructor and chairman of the Utah Shooting...

WASHINGTON – It was the hottest ticket in town, a black-tie dinner gathering of Washington's political and media elite but Dick Cheney couldn't make it. The former vice president was busy, President Barack Obama joked, working on his memoir "tentatively titled, How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People."

Face Fwd Comments: Below is the text of 12 of the 13 questions asked Obama.(one I couldn't catch because it came from the floor) The answers don't really matter because because we learned nothing from them. Instead read the questions and you can learn much about how easy the press is treating this president. Here are some questions I would like to have seen asked: Question1: Mr. President, you campaigned on getting the troops out of the middle east within the first three months of talking office, but you have not. Does that mean you were just lying to get...

"Robert Gibbs gave White House reporters a "strong A" Friday for their work over the first 100 days of the new administration." -- Michael Calderone, Politico.comNote to press: Getting an 'A' from the White House means you're not doing your job. In other headlines:Bad students give high praise to easy teachersDirty players love blind referees Crooks give "strong A" to incompetent cops This should be a mark of shame for the self-appointed non-partisan watchdogs supposedly keeping government honest. Instead, they provide fawning coverage that would embarrass Mussolini. Gibbs' praise has branded White House reporters as the supplicant toadies they are....