CBS was the only network on Wednesday evening to report President Obama's plan to bypass Congress and force businesses to pay employees extra for overtime work. NBC and ABC both ignored the news.
Yet CBS reported the news in a positive manner, noting how "an estimated 10 million workers stand to benefit from the President's plan." White House correspondent Major Garrett said it was "part of President Obama's push to reduce income inequality."
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CBS Hypes That Millions 'Stand to Benefit' From Obama's Attempt to Bypass Congress on Overtime Wages
March 12, 2014, 8:10 PM EDT
March 11, 2014, 10:08 PM EDT
On Tuesday evening, the networks continued relaying the White House's plea to young voters to sign up for ObamaCare, touting President Obama's mock interview with comedian Zach Galifianakis where Obama plugged for his own health care law. ABC's Diane Sawyer called it a "bold move" and both CBS and NBC hailed the interview as a success. CBS's Scott Pelley said, "it worked. The video became the number one reason people visited HealthCare.gov today."
The networks ignored, however, the bad news of the day for the law, that enrollment numbers for young people are still far below what is needed.
March 7, 2014, 3:49 PM EST
CNN anchor John Berman asked medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta Friday if just a "stroke of the pen" could "change this problem" and legalize medical marijuana.
"Can't they change this? Can't a stroke of the pen change this problem?" Berman asked of the government. Dr. Gupta, a medical marijuana advocate, agreed: "you say the same thing that I do. This is baffling to me."
March 6, 2014, 11:56 PM EST
On Thursday's OutFront, CNN's Erin Burnett teed up Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings to call for Rep. Darrell Issa's ouster as chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
After a hearing where former IRS chief Lois Lerner dodged questions on the scandal she is at the center of, CNN joined NBC in focusing its outrage instead on Issa, who cut Cummings' microphone when the latter began railing against the proceeding. Burnett called that a "new low" for Congress on Wednesday, and then on Thursday she relayed the call for Issa's removal from the Congressional Black Caucus.
March 6, 2014, 10:07 PM EST
MSNBC's Chris Matthews compared CPAC to the cantina from Star Wars in a bizarre rant on Thursday's Hardball. Matthews trashed the gathering and took aim at "the Joe McCarthy imitator" Sen. Ted Cruz.
Matthews couldn't get the event name right, though: "Do you remember the bar scene in Star Wars with all those wild-eyed creatures from every part of the solar system? Well today here in Washington the whole tapestry of weirdness was reenacted at the annual convention of something called CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Committee [sic]."
March 5, 2014, 9:41 PM EST
After being the lone network to report ObamaCare's newest delay on Wednesday morning, CBS dropped the story on Wednesday evening's newscast. Both NBC and ABC reported the news -- very briefly -- but only NBC provided criticism from Republicans.
"The White House announced late today that some will now be able to keep their plans for another two years before they have to meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Republicans immediately cried foul, calling it a political move to prevent cancellation notices from showing up in the mail just before the mid-term elections this fall," reported NBC's Brian Williams on the Nightly News.
March 5, 2014, 9:11 PM EST
Although President Obama's former IRS chief refused to answer questions about the IRS scandal she is at the center of, NBC's Brian Williams instead lamented the behavior of GOP congressman Darrell Issa at Wednesday's hearing.
"In Washington today, a public and startling example of the kind of behavior Congress has become known for and Congress has become gridlocked over," Williams began. NBC played a clip of the fiery exchange between Issa and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Mary.) where Cummings cried foul over the hearing followed by Issa cutting his microphone.
March 4, 2014, 10:49 PM EST
President Obama will be enacting yet another delay for ObamaCare, but the networks were silent about the prospect of it on Tuesday night. The administration is set to allow insurers to keep offering health plans that don't meet ObamaCare standards, and the delay will be tailored around the November Congressional elections.
The Hill clearly saw the move as political – "easing election pressure on Democrats" – since it would avoid the "firestorm" of many health plans being cancelled right before the November elections. CBSNews.com reported the news, but none of the network evening news casts touched the story on Tuesday.
March 4, 2014, 8:38 PM EST
On Tuesday evening, ABC again skipped its own poll showing voter disapproval of both President Obama and Senate Democrats up for re-election.
Obama's approval rating was underwater at 46 percent, while voters preferred Republican senate candidates to Democrats 50-42. The poll noted that "Anti-incumbent sentiment is largely economic in nature; as such, while there's dissatisfaction with both parties, it's pointed more at the Democrats, given their control of the big chair at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave."
February 28, 2014, 3:45 PM EST
Once again, The Daily Show rolled out its conservative-hating schtick and mocked opponents of ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion in a simplistic liberal attack on Thursday.
Correspondent Al Madrigal put it point-blank to Ashley Landess, who opposes the expansion in South Carolina: "It's hard not to seem like a total [bleep] when you're saying this stuff to people. When this guy has asthma, and he's all (wheezes), you know, it's hard to argue that," he said of a subject who needed the access to Medicaid to get tests for his asthma. He treated supporters of the expansion with kid gloves; opponents like Landess were vilified.
February 28, 2014, 12:14 PM EST
In a clear double standard, CNN was in an uproar on Thursday and Friday over an Arizona GOP legislator's racist jokes about Latinos but has yet to report a Florida Democrat's gaffe about immigrants.
"As if lawmakers in the state of Arizona didn't already have enough negative national attention, there is this," Anderson Cooper piled on. He played state representative John Kavanagh's "racist roast" of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and added that his jokes "set off a firestorm in the Latino community." Yet a few days ago, Florida Democrat Alex Sink emphasized the importance of immigration reform because of the need for landscapers and hotel workers and CNN has said nothing.
February 27, 2014, 10:33 PM EST
All three networks boosted President Obama's image on Thursday evening by touting his new program for young minorities and his "personal and emotional" testimony at its launch.
"A personal and emotional event at the White House for the President today, as he spoke before a star-studded East Room audience and launched a program aimed at giving young men of color a shot at success," NBC's Brian Williams reported on the Nightly News.
February 27, 2014, 6:39 PM EST
Actor Liam Neeson ranted against New York City's ultra-liberal Mayor Bill DeBlasio on Wednesday's Daily Show, citing his ban on horse-drawn carriages and keeping city schools open during a recent snow storm.
"I'm a little bit pissed off at our elected new mayor," Neeson revealed to host Jon Stewart. "He made my kids go to school in all that snow." Neeson added later that despite poll numbers supporting the contrary, "He [DeBlasio] wants to close this horse and carriage industry in New York."
February 26, 2014, 8:08 PM EST
CNN's Wolf Blitzer hounded Rep. Michele Bachmann over Arizona's religious freedom bill on Wednesday and "disagreed" that religious beliefs of business owners are being violated when they are forced to act against their consciences and serve all customers.
"Americans are very tolerant people. And there is religious freedom in our country," Blitzer insisted. When Bachmann responded that "This is not tolerating people's religious beliefs," he chimed back in, "On this one, I disagree."
February 26, 2014, 12:40 AM EST
On Tuesday evening, the networks continued their blackout of a CMS estimate that ObamaCare would raise health premiums for 11 million people -- almost two-thirds of small business plans.
The CMS report was released on Friday but the networks have been silent on it so far. The story wasn’t omitted from a busy news schedule, as the CBS Evening News carved out over two minutes to reminisce on the fiftieth anniversary of the Cassius Clay-Sonny Liston championship bout. The ABC World News ran a segment on “sleep whisperers” and insomnia.
February 25, 2014, 9:08 PM EST
On Tuesday's Nightly News, NBC's Brian Williams outright framed the Arizona bill protecting the religious freedom of business owners as akin to segregation and Jim Crow laws. CBS and ABC at least gave the supporters' view, reporting the fight as between religious freedom and gay rights.
"Good evening," Williams began the news cast. "It's just one state out of our 50, but tonight what's happening in Arizona is being compared by some to the epic battles this nation has fought over lunch counters, separate drinking fountains and restrooms."
February 20, 2014, 12:31 AM EST
Wednesday’s Daily Show mocked conservatives by painting Russia as their “conservative paradise” of bigotry, sexism, and economic inequality.
Correspondent Jason Jones quipped that “it seems the red scare has become the ultimate red state” and told unhappy U.S. conservatives like “this antiquated (bleep)” Rush Limbaugh to pack their bags and move there. Jones tarred all conservatives with controversial soundbites from a few. [See video after jump.]
February 19, 2014, 6:45 PM EST
CNN's Carol Costello might as well have read from a Think Progress cheat sheet when she battled conservative economist Stephen Moore over wages and economics on Wednesday. Moore, for his part, gave her a lesson in economics.
Starting with the recent CBO estimate that President Obama's minimum wage proposal would cost a half million jobs, Costello argued that it was just an estimate and that the net job loss could be zero. "So many people would say I'm willing to take that bet," she offered. That was only the first in a string of Costello's liberal economic claims.
February 18, 2014, 9:36 PM EST
Chris Matthews quoted the communists on Tuesday to argue that the unlimited spending allowed by Citizens United is turning U.S. elections into a sham.
"This is becoming, I will argue, like the country the communists accused of us being back in the Cold War, run by the Rockefellers. We'll get there," Matthews warned. "In the four years since the Citizens United decision, we've seen how unlimited political spending, cash, can empower the few over the many," he ranted.
February 18, 2014, 8:29 PM EST
CBS was the only network on Tuesday evening to highlight a CBO report that President Obama's proposal to hike the minimum wage would cost 500,000 jobs.
The CBO report was released Tuesday afternoon and estimated that the wage increase would boost 900,000 Americans above the poverty line but would also result in the loss of half a million jobs. CBS was the only network to report the news; neither NBC nor ABC touched on the CBO report.