Matt Hadro was a News Analyst for the Media Research Center's News Analysis Division from 2010 through early 2014

Latest from Matt Hadro
February 4, 2014, 9:02 PM EST

On Tuesday evening, the networks played to the White House spin that ObamaCare won't cut jobs since those expected to move from full-time to part-time work would do so voluntarily.

"We got a report today about ObamaCare that was both surprising and widely misunderstood," CBS anchor Scott Pelley introduced the CBO report that estimates ObamaCare will trim about 2 million full-time jobs by 2017. Pelley cautioned that "Those aren't necessarily jobs being lost. They're also workers choosing to work less."

February 3, 2014, 11:40 PM EST

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews ranted on Monday that Susan Rice was right about Benghazi – even though according to the bipartisan report that he cited, Rice’s key assertion five days after the attacks was false.

“[T]he information is out there that Susan Rice told the truth. It was spontaneous attack on our facility in Benghazi,” Matthews insisted. “She got it right, Susan Rice. Why is the President not just blasting it back at the guy and saying O'Reilly, catch up?” he said of Bill O’Reilly, who pressed Obama on Benghazi in a Sunday evening Fox News interview.

February 3, 2014, 8:05 PM EST

On Monday evening, CBS was the only network to report on hidden subsidies in the new farm bill and give voice to a government spending watchdog. NBC and ABC both ignored the story.

CBS's Sharyl Attkisson listed hidden taxes or spending increases in the bill which included "a new 15-cent fee on every live-cut Christmas tree sold to create a board to promote Christmas trees."

February 1, 2014, 11:01 AM EST

In the month of January, Comedy Central's Daily Show devoted over ten times more coverage to mocking Republicans or conservatives than to mocking Democrats or liberals.

The Daily Show aired 11 full segments that targeted conservatives or Republicans. Only one segment mocked President Obama – from the left – over his speech on the NSA spying program. Four segments mocked both conservatives/Republicans and Democrats/liberals.

January 31, 2014, 4:08 PM EST

In an interview that aired on Friday, CNN's Jake Tapper asked President Obama if he was "naive" back in 2008 when he bragged that his presidency would be remembered as when "the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."

"Do you think you were naive back then, or have you recalibrated your expectations and your ambitions?" Tapper pressed Obama.

January 31, 2014, 12:47 AM EST

Comedian Jon Stewart grilled House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi over the failure of the ObamaCare website on Thursday night’s Daily Show, and got Pelosi to admit "I don’t know" why the company behind HealthCare.gov failed.

Stewart asked, "in terms of like, we're going to set up a health care web site that is an exchange. People are going to come to it. Why is it so hard to get a company to execute that competently?" Pelosi answered "I don’t know." Stewart laughed incredulously. [See video below.]

January 30, 2014, 7:50 PM EST

On Thursday evening's news casts, both CBS and NBC announced the retirement of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) but only CBS labeled him a liberal. ABC ignored the news.

"Democrat Henry Waxman in California, now in his 20th term, was elected with the post-Watergate class of 1974. He became one of the leading liberals in the House," reported CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley. In contrast, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams simply called Waxman a Democrat.

January 29, 2014, 10:20 PM EST

On Wednesday evening's news casts, the networks all hyped GOP congressman Michael Grimm (N.Y.) threatening a reporter after Tuesday's State of the Union address while skipping the Republican response to the address entirely.

Of Grimm's outburst, ABC's Jeff Zeleny quipped, "It was not the State of the Union response Republicans had in mind." It was the response that the networks chose to cover, though. "Later, there was a far less dignified moment with a congressman from Staten Island, New York," CBS anchor Scott Pelley introduced the story.

January 29, 2014, 9:09 PM EST

The networks played right into President Obama's hand Wednesday evening as they touted his push for a minimum wage increase while giving barely any voice to his Republican opposition.

"[T]he President was out there hitting that 'give America a raise' theme hard today in campaign-style events both in Pennsylvania and in Maryland," noted ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl. "Does that idea have a snowball's chance?" asked CBS News anchor Scott Pelley about the minimum wage increase.

January 29, 2014, 12:06 AM EST

NBC's Brian Williams was dripping with praise and support for President Obama after his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, touting areas where he was "strong" and quoting a sympathetic New Yorker interview of the President.

"A lot of things will perhaps be remembered from this speech," Williams announced, as if the address was almost a classic. He touted that Obama was "strong on education, strong on immigration" and "used humor and feistiness the second half."

January 27, 2014, 11:49 PM EST

CNN's Piers Morgan used a Kinder egg to make an analogy about the absurdity of lax gun laws on Monday, but it backfired when his conservative guest didn't take the bait.

Morgan pointed to "your constitutional right to have guns, but I can't eat this chocolate egg, does that strike you as strange?" However, Oklahoma state senator Nathan Dahm agreed that Kinder eggs should be legal and the federal government would be "intrusive" to ban either Kinder eggs or guns.

January 27, 2014, 10:05 PM EST

On Monday's Nightly News, NBC's Brian Williams fretted over "personal" shots at Hillary Clinton from Republicans, and correspondent Andrea Mitchell suggested that the GOP has an ongoing women problem.

"[T]he attacks are already underway in case she [Clinton] joins the race. And it's indeed already getting personal," said Williams, referring to Sen. Rand Paul's remark that Bill Clinton's sex scandal should "complicate his return to the White House as a spouse." Paul wasn't even referring to Hillary, though, and said as much to Meet the Press host David Gregory.

January 24, 2014, 5:49 PM EST

On Thursday's Daily Show, comedian Jon Stewart – who is worth an estimated $80 million – mocked the irony of wealthy business leaders discussing income inequality at the recent World Economic Forum.

"Alright so a group of world's wealthiest people get together in a secluded mountain enclave to discuss concerns over income inequality. Hmm," Stewart remarked. Perhaps Stewart missed the irony that he is TV's highest-paid host, according to Variety magazine, who is lecturing others about income inequality. Two weeks ago, he spent 9 minutes lampooning conservatives and Republicans on the issue.

January 24, 2014, 1:06 PM EST

In an exclusive report Thursday on al Qaeda's resurgence in Iraq, ABC's Martha Raddatz ignored President Obama's boast in 2012 that "al Qaeda is on the path to defeat." Raddatz's story aired on Thursday's ABC World News. In fact, the name "Obama" never came up in the story on Iraq falling apart.

President Obama made his claim at the Democratic National Convention during the height of his re-election campaign. Raddatz's story painted a very different picture of al Qaeda, however, as anchor David Muir introduced it: "America's biggest enemy making its return tonight. And where? Iraq."

January 24, 2014, 12:03 PM EST

For the second straight evening, NBC stuck with Chris Christie's "Bridge-gate" on Thursday as CBS and NBC haven't mentioned the story since Tuesday. And NBC's Nightly News tacked on a story about a dilapidated Trenton high school and connected its disrepair to Governor Christie.

"For his part, Governor Christie tonight is responding to an issue that's been festering for years, right there in the shadow of New Jersey's state house," anchor Brian Williams noted of the school. Nowhere did NBC even wonder about the negligence of the city's Democratic Mayor Tony Mack, who currently is on trial for federal charges of corruption.

January 23, 2014, 3:30 PM EST

On the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, CNN's senior legal analyst smeared the entire pro-life movement in saying on Wednesday's AC360 Later, "They want women to have no control over their own bodies."

Jeff Toobin was referring to the Texas case where a hospital, claiming that it is following state law, has kept a brain-dead woman on life support against the family's wishes in order to bring her unborn child to term. Toobin went on a rant against the law:

January 23, 2014, 11:31 AM EST

CNN's Piers Morgan tried to get Ann Coulter to admit she's a "female Glenn Beck" and "part of the problem" for her "divisive" and "partisan" rhetoric, on Wednesday's Piers Morgan Live.

Glenn Beck recently expressed regret that during his time at Fox News, he "played a role unfortunately in helping tear the country apart." Morgan called Coulter the "female Glenn Beck" for her "partisan rhetoric" and wondered if she regretted that.

January 20, 2014, 6:09 PM EST

New York's Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo declared that "extreme conservatives" who are pro-life, pro-gun, and "anti-gay" are persona non grata in his state, but CNN – the network that employs Cuomo's brother, Chris – has been completely mum on the story.

Governor Cuomo stated last Friday that "extreme conservatives who are right-to life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay....have no place in the state of New York, because that's not who New Yorkers are." Yet CNN hasn't reported the governor's eye-opening discrimination – perhaps because they share a similar distaste for "extreme conservatives."

January 20, 2014, 4:06 PM EST

On Friday's Piers Morgan Live, Obama donor and film mogul Harvey Weinstein denied charges of anti-Catholicism in his latest movie "Philomena," but his anti-Catholic past shows otherwise.

"Well Brent Bozell, was the one a conservative columnist who, you know, accused me of that," Weinstein said of the accusations. He added later, "it's not an anti-Catholic bias. I made 'The Price About Rubies' with Renee Zellweger," and he claimed to be "a story teller" who just tells "heroic stories."

January 17, 2014, 4:54 PM EST

Striking fast food workers want $15 an hour and Comedy Central is all too happy to help boost their cause. Stephen Colbert performed his usual shtick of the satirical conservative and gave a warm welcome to striking KFC worker Naquasia LeGrand on Thursday's Colbert Report.

"It's a multi-billion-dollar company, yes, but let's keep in mind that the chairman – the chairman is only making $11 million this year," Colbert gave his simplistic, comedic critique of big business. "Naquasia LeGrand. The movement is Fast Food Forward," he promoted her cause at the end.