As media coverage of Mitt Romney's remarks about women and people of color getting "gifts" to vote Obama washed over media, I had one thought:

I wish he had read my new book.

Selfish as it seems, that thought came because my book, Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields...

In Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation, (Palgrave Macmillan, $28), I've outlined many different areas of media where prejudice and stereotypes are often used to draw audiences.

From the racial signaling favored by Fox News Channel and Andrew Breitbart to the struggle...

It's an odd thought to have watching coverage of a mass shooting in which a dozen people may be dead and up to 50 people may be injured.

But as news outlets scramble to cover a shooting in Aurora, Colo., in which a man opened fire during a screening of...

Coming from someone who has regularly accused liberals of alleging racism to silence critics of Barack Obama, it was a particularly cheeky turn of phrase.

But, as always, Ann Coulter is willing to go there -- somehow tolerated as a telegenic pundit despite her tendency to offer analysis which is...

Last night's jobs speech by President Obama was the kind of political moment he needed: Fiery, challenging, filled with specific proposals presented in a straightforward style.

But I also fear it was also a gigantic bit of Kabuki theater 00 a bold, promising vision destined to achieve very little.

To...

It's no surprise that Donald Trump and Sarah Palin got along fabulously when Palin's tour-that-is-not-a-presidential-election-event pulled into New York City. And it's not just because they are the two most famous people GOP insiders pray never get near an actual Republican primary election.

It's because The Donald and...

Talk about awful timing: In a media moment where even straight-arrow political reporter Bob Schieffer is calling his statements about the president racist, reality TV star and possible presidential candidate Donald Trump presided over an episode of Celebrity Apprentice Sunday in which all three black women still on the show...

For those of us who believe our media reveal deep-seated truths about our society, President Obama's response Wednesday to the allegations he wasn't born in America cracked open a treasure trove of bitter, tough-to-face lessons.

Obama handled the press conference itself deftly, placing most of the blame on...

The holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth is always an occasion to think about issues of equality in American society.

So this morning, I find myself thinking about CNN and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

GLAAD, the activist group which advocates for equal treatment of gay people,...

If anything comes of President Barack Obama's historic visit to Comedy Central's Daily Show, I hope it is this:

People will stop griping about how such appearances cheapen the Presidency.

Because the President's stop by the Daily Show Wednesday -- historic because he is the first sitting president to appear...

Like a wayward boyfriend who just can't stop playing the field, mainstream media outlets often wind up begging the audience for forgiveness when a particularly savvy or lucky charlatan turns their chase for attention-seeking stories against them.

It's always a surreal process to watch as journalists who know...

Days after watching Fox News pundit Glenn Beck wrap himself in the mantle of the nation's greatest civil rights leader for a "Restoring Honor" rally that drew tens of thousands to the National Mall, the point is made once again:

Beck is a master media manipulator.

The rally itself was...

For another project, I found myself looking through some of the classic techniques of propaganda, curious to see how some modern media outlets may echo those well-established methods for dishonest persuasion.

High on the list: transfer (linking your cause to an already well-respected institution or idea), the bandwagon (urging people...

It was a big old, steaming pile of political mess the president stepped in this weekend -- a surprising mistake for a politician who once seemed so savvy about negotiating tough public issues.

But as I watch cable news pundits and opportunistic politicians hysterically decry the notion that...

Believe me, nobody hates a broken record playing as much as I do.

But what can you do when TV networks keep making the same mistakes, over and over, in a world where progress is a constant?

News that former West Wing producer and longtime pundit Lawrence O'Donnell is

I remember back when not-yet-President Obama first tried to strike a blow against the empty imagery that increasingly fills so much of our political life.

This was back when he was running for the job, and declined to put his hand over his heart once when the national...

John Mayer's not the only person in America amazed by the firestorm of controversy ignited by his comments in a recent Playboy interview.

I am, too. Because people keep forgetting an important thing about the cutie pie who wrote "Daughters" and "Your Body is a Wonderland."

He's a...

When NBC needed a new anchor for Meet the Press, I hoped.

After Lou Dobbs finally jumped off CNN, I wondered.

And now, with major anchor changes underway at ABC News and MSNBC, I'm certain.

The TV industry has a fresh chance to build anchor lineups which look more like...

I want to believe Maureen Dowd when she says the whole David Letterman affair is simply about "the erotic pull of proximity." But I'm not sure I'm there yet.

After a week of breathless reportage about the comic's admitted flings with female staffers -- and it's a sign...

Thanks to Jimmy Carter, America is having a dialog about race that has been long overdue.

It took a former president using blunt language to get the nation's chattering class to focus on an issue that has troubled some since the first first Tea Bag protestor tossed...