Tag Results for politics

It’s now clear that the New York Times was sloppy in its report on Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal (photo). Maybe the fact that he told the truth about his Vietnam-era military service doesn’t negate his saying something totally misleading a few minutes later. But the Times should have gotten out the whole story at once. You can consider me one Times reader who feels manipulated this morning.

To review: On Monday night, the Times posted a story reporting that Blumenthal had, on several occasions, falsely claimed to have served in Vietnam when he was in the Marine Corps. “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” he said at a speech in 2008. Weirdly, the Times also reported that he’d apparently misled people about having been captain of the Harvard swim team. In fact, he was never a member.

Yesterday, in a follow-up, the Times reported that former congressman Chris Shays had grown increasingly uneasy over the years as he watched Blumenthal transform himself from a humble Vietnam-era veteran into someone who had actually served in the war. “He just kept adding to the story, the more he told it,” Shays was quoted as saying.

But then, later yesterday, the tide turned. The Associated Press reported that Blumenthal truthfully described his military service in the same speech in which he said “I served in Vietnam.” In the opening moments of the speech, he correctly described himself as “as someone who served in the military during the Vietnam era.”

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Super Bowl commercials are expected to be entertaining not controversial. But this year, CBS has drawn fire for deciding to air a commercial with University of Florida star Tim Tebow discouraging abortion.  CBS did reject a spot for a gay dating site.

Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown became a national sensation as the first Republican to win a US Senate race since the 1970s. Since his victory on Jan. 19th, the coverage of Brown has been non-stop. How is the media shaping Brown's image?

Lou Dobbs had been with CNN since the network went on the air in 1980.  But Dobbs abruptly departed the network on Wednesday. Once a financial journalist, Dobbs has increasingly became much more opinionated on his program, particularly on the topic of immigration. Did Dobbs no longer fit CNN’s straight down the middle approach?

Former president Jimmy Carter stirred the national debate when he claimed that protests against President Barack Obama are rooted in racism. How can the media differentiate between legitimate ideological protests and racist opposition?

On a special edition of Beat the Press, Emily Rooney and her panel reflect on the media coverage of Sen. Edward Kennedy over his long political career. A group of veteran reporters looks back at his early political life, his personal and family tragedies, as well as some of the lighter moments between the Senator and the press. Guests include Sam Allis of The Boston Globe, Joe Sciacca of the Boston Herald, Dan Rea of WBZ Radio and political analyst John Henning.

The national health care debate continues and the press appears to be paying greater attention to the real issues being considered in Washington, instead of the usual raucus behavior at town hall meetings. But at this stage of the health care debate is the media's coverage adding anything, or is it too little too late?

The former Republican VP nominee resigned as governor of Alaska resigned last week and while blasting the press. Palin says the mainstream media is detached from ordinary Americans and that a different standard applies to her. Did the press treat  Sarah Palin fairly?