Newsmedia malpractice

Brent Bozell remembers some of the dishonest reporting accompanying Sonia Sotomayor's nominations to the Supreme Court:

Last year, when Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, CBS anchor Katie Couric said labeling her "won't be easy." CBS reporter Wyatt Andrews found "no clear ideology" in her public record. This week, the Washington Post embarrassed themselves with a front-page story claiming "Obama has not chosen outspoken liberals in either of his first two opportunities to influence the makeup of the court."

Of course, over the last year, she has, as the LA Times reports, "prov[ed] herself to be a reliable liberal vote on the Supreme Court."

For more examples of newsmedia misrepresenting Sotomayor, consider NPR from July, 2009:

Analysts see Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a moderate whose decisions in criminal cases rarely differ from those of her colleagues on the federal bench. Some say her experience as a prosecutor and her record on the bench might make her more conservative than Justice David Souter on criminal justice issues. [Emph. added]

E. J. Dionne Jr. also adopted the Sotomayor-is-a-moderate spin in his opinion column:

And even though they should support her confirmation, liberals would be foolish to embrace Sotomayor as one of their own because her record is clearly that of a moderate.

PREVIOUSLY on the Obama and the rule of law:
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