Barack Obama wanted 15 minutes of air time on Sunday night, the most heavily watched night of the week, to speak to the nation about the San Bernardino shooting. It was appropriate for the president to request it, and for the networks to grant it, but everyone knew he would say nothing new of substance because on the matter of Islamic terrorism, he never does.
And he didn’t. And in so not doing, he wowed the press again. The stenographers underlined his good intentions.
Appearing as a panel member on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, PBS host Gwen Ifill made a negative characterization of GOP presidential candidates' reactions to recent terrorist attacks as she declared that, "For Republicans, it's going to be a variation of what we've seen so far, which is, 'How can we be more alarmist than the last guy?'"
She then moved to take jabs at GOPers Chris Christie and Donald Trump as she suggested that the discussion was moving away from, "What can you really do about it?"
While NBC’s Lester Holt was wondering before President Obama’s speech Sunday night if it would “be a defining moment for this presidency,” his counterparts on ABC and PBS picked up where he left off afterward by enthusiastically praising how “struck” they were by “a stern and direct” Obama “laying out" what Obama called "a strong and smart strategy” to deal with terrorism.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, PBS NewsHour co-anchor Gwen Ifill acted as a Democratic Party spokesperson when she hit Ben Carson for accusing the media of having a double standard in covering his personal biography.
National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service have attempted on Fridays to run a “Week in Politics” segment and PBS even has a long-standing show called Washington Week. But on Friday, all these programs discussed a “week” utterly without any analysis of the 2015 elections.
Try to imagine how the media would have covered it if the transgender “equal rights” initiative won in Houston, pot was legalized in Ohio, Kentucky elected another Democrat governor, and the state senate went Democrat in Virginia. Wouldn’t that be brought to bear on how it might affect the presidential race in 2016 and the march of liberal inevitability? But conservatives won, so who has any time on a taxpayer-funded outlet?
On Thursday, October 22, 2015, President Barack Obama signed a veto message of the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA establishes budgets and policies for the Defense Department, and in the last 53 years it has only been vetoed four times. Coverage of the veto signing and its significance has been rather dismal despite Obama summoning the White House press for a public signing. ABC and NBC aired nothing. Here are the brief mentions the other networks offered on the funding for our troops and their salaries, as well as benefits and training. CNN, PBS, and CBS provided brief statements on the NDAA and its planned veto by the President. Meanwhile, Fox News devoted a portion of time greater than the other networks combined.
The ombudsman for PBS on Thursday chastised anchor Gwen Ifill for mocking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Twitter. After it became clear that the Senate could not override a presidential veto of the Iran deal, Ifill tweeted, "Take that, Bibi." PBS Ombudsman Michael Gelter derided the comments by the NewsHour host as "inexcusable."
Despite most Americans and members of Congress being opposed to President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, on Wednesday, the press proclaimed that the White House eking out just enough Democrats to sustain a veto against legislation stopping the deal was a “major victory” for the commander-in-chief.
On Friday’s Washington Week, PBS’s Gwen Ifill and her two panelists, Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty and CNBC’s John Harwood, did their best in trying to defend Hillary Clinton from the ongoing controversy surrounding her use of a private e-mail server while Secretary of State.
Apparently Tom Steyer knows his Bible better than he knows math. Or perhaps he just hasn't had a heart to heart with his accountant in several years.
Liberal climate change activist and political donor Tom Steyer likened himself to David, fighting against the "Goliath" of conservative political donors, in a May 26 interview with PBS NewsHour. He lamented, "when you look at the relatie dollars, it really is a David and Goliath situation, and we're very definitely the small shepherd boy with five rocks and a sling."
On Sunday, ABC’s This Week previewed the Super Bowl by discussing the tumultuous year the NFL has gone through, from child abuse charges to Deflategate. During a panel discussion at the end of the broadcast, Gwen Ifill, anchor of PBS NewsHour, lamented the fact that millions of Americans “may know, the evidence may be in front of them, but it's almost sad that many Americans just don't want to be bothered with it.”
The State of the Union coverage on PBS last night had a slightly bizarre analysis as the speech ended. PBS NewsHour anchor Gwen Ifill jumped in over the applause and said Obama “talked about this being a breakthrough year for America and he seems to be taking on a victory lap.”
Later, David Brooks said it was a "very liberal speech" and professed amazement that Obama pretended he hadn't been crushed in the midterms.