The early Wednesday morning edition of ABC’s Nightline provided the first look at the network reaction to Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate and featured correspondent David Wright ripping it as a “bloody” affair with help from liberal comedians and scolding Chris Christie for remarks about Los Angeles mothers placing their children on school buses only to have classes canceled due to a terror threat.
Media Bias Debate
ABC’s Nightline Blasts ‘Bloody’ GOP Debate; Touts Lib Comedians, Chides Christie for Bus Stop Remark
By Curtis Houck | December 16, 2015 | 3:16 AM EST 
By Curtis Houck | December 16, 2015 | 12:40 AM EST
Giving viewers his initial thoughts concerning Tuesday’s 2016 GOP presidential debate on the 11:00 p.m. Eastern edition of AC360, CNN political commentator and former Obama administration adviser Van Jones opined that Marco Rubio seemed “rattled” for “the first time” and “lost his cool” as he faced “competition” from fellow Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.
By Curtis Houck | December 16, 2015 | 12:08 AM EST
Offering his initial thoughts on Tuesday’s GOP presidential debate on the 11:00 p.m. Eastern edition of CNN’s AC360, CNN political commentator and Hillary Clinton super PAC head Paul Begala complained that Republicans possess “dominant emotion” of “fear” that they’ve somehow used to instill fear in Americans following recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.
Chicago Teachers Authorize Another Strike; Press Mostly Fails to Report Current Pay or Union's Demands
By Tom Blumer | December 15, 2015 | 10:44 PM EST The Chicago Public Schools system, from which came Arne Duncan, perhaps the nation's most execrable Education Secretary, is in serious financial trouble. So is the State of Illinois. Having already borrowed against next year's property tax collections, CPS somehow expects the state to bail out its underfunded pensions to the tune of $500 million. Though it has subsequently been narrowed, MRC-TV, in covering the district CEO's resignation over a federal no-bid contract investigation, reported in June that the district was facing "a $1 billion budget deficit" for fiscal 2016.
In the midst of all of this, the district's teachers union has overwhelmingly authorized a strike. In searching several current articles on the topic, the hardest things to find were answers to two questions any reasonable person would ask: 1) How much do teachers currently make? and 2) What are their contract demands?
By Curtis Houck | December 15, 2015 | 8:04 PM EST
Just after the undercard Republican presidential debate began on Tuesday night, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC offered previews of the impending “freewheeling and fiery slugfest” debate and contrasted that with plenty of laudatory rhetoric for “grown up” Hillary Clinton as she spoke in Minnesota about ISIS and “slamm[ed] Republicans for fearmongering.”
By Tom Blumer | December 15, 2015 | 3:00 PM EST
The year isn't even over, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Time's 2015 Person of the Year, has begun to act against the primary reason why the magazine chose her.
To refresh from a NewsBusters post last week, Time's Nancy Gibbs cited three reasons for the choice. The clearly most important one, from their perspective, was Merkel's virtually unilateral decision that Germany "would welcome refugees as casualties of radical Islamist savagery, not carriers of it" without apparent restriction. Now Merkel has, as described by a writer at Time Inc. sister publication Fortune, "backpedaled" from that stance.
By Curtis Houck | December 15, 2015 | 8:47 AM EST
On two occasions during CNN’s live coverage Monday night previewing the sixth Republican presidential debate, CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish attempted to paint the issue of climate change and the deal reached in Paris as posing a “down ballot concern” for the GOP and causing “brand damage” since the party has largely rejected the ideal and declined to embrace the issue as a whole.
By Mark Finkelstein | December 15, 2015 | 7:18 AM EST
UPDATE: Scarborough just discussed blooper on air, mentioning NB and this NewsBusters. Video clip below!
----------------------------------------------------
Ted Cruz: MSNBC's modern-day version of Nikolai Yezhov! Yezhov was the head of Stalin's secret police who fell into disfavor and was executed during a purge. A photo of him standing next to Stalin was famously airbrushed to remove his image.
And so we come to today's Morning Joe, which displayed an image of tonight's Vegas debate stage. Photos of all the candidates appear at their assigned slots. With one exception. Ted Cruz is nowhere to be found! Simple mistake . . . or diabolical left-wing media plot to purge the #2 Republican contender? The truth is out there!
By Curtis Houck | December 15, 2015 | 2:50 AM EST
In what may be the worst series of attacks by the liberal media on Ted Cruz, Monday’s Nightly Show on Comedy Central featured host Larry Wilmore declaring that the “creepy” Cruz may be mentally disturbed with guest Aida Rodriguez firmly asserting that, if elected, Cruz’s agenda would be to “do everything the KKK does.”
CBS and NBC Use Newtown Anniversary to Lament Lack of Gun Control; Compare It to Car Seats, Driver’s Licenses
By Curtis Houck | December 14, 2015 | 11:53 PM EST With Monday marking the third anniversary of the horrifying murders of 20 children and their teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News used the somber occasion to lament the lack of gun control passed by the GOP Congress and compared the need for gun control to seat belts and passing a driving test to obtain a driver’s license.
By Curtis Houck | December 14, 2015 | 9:20 PM EST
The “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC all prominently touted on Monday night President Barack Obama’s visit to the Pentagon to discuss the fight against ISIS, but skimped on reporting any criticism of the administration’s strategy but instead lamenting that he’s had to try once “again to reassure an anxious nation” despite polls showing Americans are concerned about the growing threat of terrorism.
By Curtis Houck | December 14, 2015 | 7:47 PM EST
On her eponymous CNN show on Thursday night, Christiane Amanpour verbally harassed former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair over his involvement in the Iraq War and specifically whether he and former U.S. President George W. Bush “feel pain” and “a sense of responsibility” for the war having supposedly caused recent Islamic terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.