Harry Smith

NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ Fawns Over Bill Maher, Skips His History of Disgusting Rhetoric
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 16, 2014 | 12:31 PM EDT

Comedian Bill Maher is no stranger to making outrageous and offensive comments, usually directed at conservatives. His weekly HBO program “Real Time with Bill Maher” is an opportunity for the devout atheist and liberal to spew his anti-conservative hate, yet when a major television network profiles his comedy routine, his controversial style is ignored.

NBC’s Harry Smith sat down with Maher for an interview, which aired during the March 16th “Meet the Press” and the NBC reporter treated the comedian to a friendly puff interview without ever bringing up his tasteless comedy routine. Moderator David Gregory hyped the interview and observed how Maher has “been thinking about how dysfunctional politics has become in the country and he’s been dishing on both parties as he takes his message to red state America.” [See video below.]

The Media's Most Outrageous Olympic Outbursts: Saluting the Socialists
By Geoffrey Dickens | February 6, 2014 | 10:00 AM EST

Sports fans checking in on coverage of Team USA at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia might want to brace themselves for unexpected outbursts of liberal preaching from reporters covering the games. Over the years the MRC has documented lefty reporters and writers using the games to celebrate socialist policies, bash expressions of patriotism and even work in jabs against Republicans, like when Bryant Gumbel, in 2006, complained that the “paucity” of black athletes “makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.”

In the spirit of the games, the most outrageous journalists are competing with each other in three events for the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Today's competition: The “We Salute the Socialist Policies of the Host Nation Event.” Click the Read More button to see who takes home the gold! Will it be Matt Lauer? Harry Smith? Or a surprising dark horse?

Big 3 Ignore Benghazi Victims' Parents, Marvel at Caroline Kennedy's 'Shining' Moment
By Matthew Balan | September 20, 2013 | 3:25 PM EDT

The Big Three broadcast networks made their slanted priorities clear on their Thursday evening newscasts, as they fawned over Caroline Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearing earlier that day, but failed to cover the emotional congressional testimony of Pat Smith. Smith is the mother of Sean Smith, who died in the 2012 Islamist attack on the U.S. post in Benghazi, Libya.

ABC's Martha Raddatz was awestruck over JFK's daughter: "For one brief shining moment, senators from both sides of the aisle seemed to harken back to the so-called Camelot days." NBC's Harry Smith gushed that "history and legacy were more important this morning than party or partisanship. The daughter of a president said she wanted to fulfill her father's wish." [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Flashback: In 2009, Media Cringed That Fort Hood Killer Was Muslim Since It ‘Inflames’ Right Wing, ‘Makes It Much Worse’
By Rich Noyes | August 6, 2013 | 4:25 PM EDT

The military trial of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan began Tuesday, with the government arguing that the onetime Army psychiatrist was motivated by “a jihad duty to kill as many soldiers as possible,” while Hasan —  representing himself —  seemed to agree, arguing: “Evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter and the dead bodies will show the war is an ugly thing.”

But in the hours and days after the November 5, 2009 shooting that killed 13 soldiers and wounded more than two dozen others, liberal journalists resisted the idea that this episode was part of the broader war on terrorism and openly fretted about how everyday Americans would respond to news that a Muslim soldier had committed such a massacre. As NPR’s Nina Totenberg mourned at the time: “It really is tragic that he was a Muslim.”

Here are some of the quotes MRC/NewsBusters gathered at the time:

NBC Predictably Asks: 'Is Global Warming to Blame for Storm Damage?'
By Kyle Drennen | November 1, 2012 | 11:55 AM EDT

Right on cue following Hurricane Sandy devastating the east coast, correspondent Harry Smith appeared on Thursday's NBC Today to sound the global warming alarm: "First it was Hurricane Irene, then last October's freak snowstorm, and now Sandy. Mother nature has put an unprecedented strain on the power grid and some experts are wondering if climate change is to blame." The headline on-screen wondered: "Is Global Warming to Blame for Storm Damage?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Previewing an upcoming report for Thursday's Rock Center, Smith warned viewers: "There is a growing consensus that this is all part of a new normal....Many a climate scientist say there is a reason this is happening." A sound bite followed of Ben Strauss from Climate Central: "We're seeing more and more extreme weather events. Leading to greater and greater economic damages. And I'm very suspicious that climate change is an important player for many of these."

Flashback 2008: Hillary Clinton Exposed for Lying About Being 'Under Sniper Fire' in Bosnia
By Noel Sheppard | October 16, 2012 | 3:13 PM EDT

This was originally reported by NewsBusters on March 25, 2008.

In the "Better Late Than Never" category, CBS News has finally reported a misstatement by Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton my colleague Rich Noyes exposed last Tuesday.

For those with short memories:

NBC's Harry Smith Dredges Up Dan Quayle's 'Attack' on 'Murphy Brown' and 'Single Motherhood'
By Kyle Drennen | June 16, 2012 | 12:00 PM EDT

In an interview with actress Candice Bergen for Thursday's NBC Rock Center, correspondent Harry Smith brought up Bergen's long-running 90's sitcom, proclaiming: "Well you can't talk about Murphy Brown and not also say Dan Quayle....What Vice President Quayle said in a 1992 speech was an attack on the character Murphy Brown for glorifying single motherhood."

A portion of the speech played, with Quayle warning against, "Mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice." A sound bite followed of Bergen reacting in character on the CBS show: "What really defines a family is commitment, caring and love." Following the clips, Bergen happily told Smith: "Certainly Dan Quayle made the show number one for a few months. And when I won the Emmy that year, I thanked him for that."