Gwen Ifill

PBS to Air Newtown Series in February; Fresh Push for Gun Control?
By Matt Vespa | January 14, 2013 | 6:43 PM EST

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting, PBS has decided to air a series of special programming in response to the tragedy in mid-February.  We'll review the specials when they air, but early indications are that it will be heavily skewed towards more onerous gun restrictions.

The PBS specials, according to Diane Haithman of Deadline Hollywood, will be broadcasted between February 18-22. The series “will include a Frontline special report in collaboration with The Hartford Courant profiling the shooter; a NOVA documentary about violence and the brain, a Need To Know report on the “ripple effects of the shooting incident”, and an update on political action surrounding gun control from Washington Week With Gwen Ifill.”

NewsHour's Ifill Fails to Challenge California Senator's Omissions on Gun Violence
By Matt Vespa | December 18, 2012 | 6:23 PM EST

Liberals politicians and journalists are on a full-blown assault on the Second Amendment ever since Friday's horrific shooting in Newtown, Conn. Gun ban-pushers like Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are making the rounds in the media, including taxpayer-funded PBS. On December 17, NewsHour anchor Gwen Ifill gave Feinstein the floor to push her agenda. Naturally, Ifill failed to bring on an opposing point of view nor did she ask Feinstein tough questions.

NYT's Krugman on PBS NewsHour: Democrats' 'Fiscal Cliff' Proposal Serious, GOP Plan Is 'Blackmail'
By Matt Vespa | December 5, 2012 | 12:48 PM EST

During the December 4 edition of the PBS NewsHour, anchor Gwen Ifill decided to give a lofty eight minute and forty second interview to Obama cheerleader and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman so he can try to convince us that the fiscal cliff isn’t that big of a deal.  Of course, in his estimation, Democratic proposals for higher taxes and higher spending were serious, while Republican alternatives to tackle the deficit were trivial.  In fact, according to Krugman, “Obama is actually very serious in the real sense. It's just the notion he hasn't done anything on entitlement reform is totally unfair. He's done more than anyone has ever done before.” 

And that’s why he needs $1.6 trillion dollars in tax hikes and $50 billion in additional stimulus spending to be "serious" about reining in deficit spending?!

Andrew Sullivan Makes a Fool of Himself on ABC's 'This Week' With George Will and Gwen Ifill's Help
By Noel Sheppard | October 28, 2012 | 2:10 PM EDT

Andrew Sullivan made a fool of himself on ABC's This Week Sunday.

For the entertainment pleasure of viewers, George Will and PBS's Gwen Ifill assisted the Obama-loving Daily Beast columnist (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On PBS, Roll Call Reporter Ties Mourdock to Romney, Remembers Akin Gaffe as 'Horrific'
By Matt Vespa | October 25, 2012 | 5:46 PM EDT

During the October 24 broadcast of the PBS Newshour, Gwen Ifill explored the state of current U.S. Senate races with Rothenberg Political Report’s Nathan Gonzales and Roll Call’s Shira Toeplitz.

The first on the list was Indiana race between Richard Mourdock and Rep. Joe Donnelly.  Here, liberal media creep leeched into Toeplitz’s analysis as she found Mourdock’s comments about life and conception frivolously similar to what she called Todd Akin's “horrific gaffe” on the matter several weeks ago.

PBS NewsHour Omits Obama's Support for Blasphemy Law
By Matt Vespa | September 26, 2012 | 6:46 PM EDT

During the September 25 broadcast of the PBS Newshour, anchor Gwen Ifill invited Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass and former U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns to discuss President Barack Obama’s foreign policy and his recent address to the UN. Reporter Judy Woodruff also had a segment on the president speech. Yet none of the segments dealing with the address mentioned the fact that the Obama administration has expressed support for anti-blasphemy measures that are completely incongruous with the freedom of speech as protected by the U.S. Constitution.

PBS Anchor Gwen Ifill Touts Pro-Obama Polls, Dismisses Mideast Violence As a 'Dust Up'
By Matt Vespa | September 20, 2012 | 11:37 AM EDT

On last night’s broadcast of the PBS Newshour, anchor Gwen Ifill discussed the latest polls with Pew’s Andrew Kohut and Mark Blumenthal, "senior polling analyst" of The Huffington Post.  Her talk about voter engagement and enthusiasm got a little hazy – if not completely insensitive – when she referred to last week’s embassy attacks as a “dust up.” 

Perhaps "dust up" in her mind only refers to the liberal media's insular discussions about foreign-policy developments, but could she sound more cavalier about the deaths of Americans in Libya? 

WaPo Writer Calls Chalian Smear a 'Joke,' But Called Romney's Birther Joke a 'Comment'
By Matt Vespa | August 29, 2012 | 11:22 PM EDT

Last night, Yahoo! News Washington Bureau Chief, David Chalian, slandered Romney by saying that the Republican nominee and his wife, Ann, were "happy to have a party with black people drowning."  These remarks were made during ABCNews.com's webcast of their coverage of the RNC convention.  As a result, Mr. Chalian has been fired by Yahoo!, but some liberal journalists aren't happy about it.

Gwen Ifill of the taxpayer-subsidized Public Broadcasting System (PBS) tweeted this today.

Gwen Ifill Stands Up for Fired David Chalian: ‘God’s Gift to Political Journalism’
By Matthew Sheffield | August 29, 2012 | 3:25 PM EDT

Notorious PBS liberal Gwen Ifill took to Twitter to defend David Chalian, the former Yahoo Washington bureau chief who was fired for claiming that Mitt and Ann Romney are "happy to have a party with black people drowning," claiming that he was unjustly fired. Her defense was markedly over-the-top:

"One mistake does not change this. @DavidChalian is God's gift to political journalism. #IStandwithDavid"

NYT's Stelter: PBS Host Gwen Ifill 'Livid' Over Not Being Chosen to Moderate Presidential Debate
By Clay Waters | August 20, 2012 | 11:02 AM EDT

New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter made a little news at the end of his Saturday report on the picking of the moderators for the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates: "Criticism Greets List of Debate Moderators."

Dismissing conservative concerns of liberal bias on the part of moderators as a predictable Rush Limbaugh talking point, Stelter focused more on liberal concerns about the historical lack of black and female moderators, and reported that PBS political host Gwen Ifill was "livid" about not being chosen (old-time PBS hand Jim Lehrer was coaxed out of retirement to fill the bill insetad).

PBS's Ifill Compares Romney to Gordon Gekko, Uninterested in Discussing Obama's Failed Subsidies
By Matt Vespa | July 17, 2012 | 5:21 PM EDT

Gwen Ifill of the PBS Newshour hosted Jonathan Martin of Politico and Molly Ball of The Atlantic magazine in a left wing cuddlefest that bashed Romney over Bain, his taxes, and Solyndra on July 16.  Ms. Ifill was not the least concerned that this story is mere fodder for the Obama campaign to pivot away from its abysmal economic record, but nevertheless, started off the shooting gallery by asking Jonathan Martin to "help us explain this Bain back-and-forth."

"At the end of this weekend, was there any more clarity about when he left and if he left Bain?" Ifill asked:

PBS Ombudsman Says PBS Anchor Should Have Avoided Sebelius-Honoring Event -- and NewsBusters Criticism
By Tim Graham | April 20, 2012 | 11:51 PM EDT

My Wednesday blog on PBS anchor Gwen Ifill emceeing a gay group's fundraiser that honored HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for implementing ObamaCare drew some attention across the web, including The Washington Post and The Huffington Post. WashPost media blogger Erik Wemple looked askance at the PBS star's appearance of a conflict of interest. But the strongest response came from PBS ombudsman Michael Getler: he declared Ifill should have skipped the event.

Ifill responded to Wemple's questions by claiming she isn't being paid, she wasn't going to honor Sebelius, and she accepted without knowing of the honor. She was just going to say "welcome," announce some anodyne agenda items, and "announce dessert." The Whitman-Walker Clinic is "just using me as a draw." That's still using her name (and PBS cachet) to raise money for gay-left lobbying, legal services, and health services. Wemple wrote: