The Big Three broadcast network evening newscasts all touched on the revelation that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter used private e-mails for government business and this well after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came under fire for exclusively conducting her official email correspondence that way. That said, only CBS's Evening News downplayed the significance of the story by omitting any Republican criticisms or soundbites.
Jonathan Karl
By Curtis Houck | December 6, 2015 | 9:35 PM EST
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.
By Curtis Houck | November 30, 2015 | 9:56 PM EST
Seeking to boost President Barack Obama and backers of the Paris climate change summit, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC devoted on Monday night over 15 minutes of airtime across six segments touting the summit, a Discovery Channel documentary on climate change, a hashtag campaign, and climate scientists in the Arctic Circle -- to name a few examples. CBS anchor Scott Pelley: "President Obama warned that the world is fast approaching the hour when it will be too late to save the planet from climate change."
By Curtis Houck | November 25, 2015 | 1:43 PM EST
While awaiting President Barack Obama’s remarks on Wednesday concerning national security as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, ABC News chief anchor, former Clinton staffer, and Clinton Foundation donor George Stephanopoulos couldn’t help but repeatedly gush over the President’s supposedly “forceful rhetoric” on ISIS following the Paris terror attacks.
By Curtis Houck | November 19, 2015 | 9:13 PM EST
NBC Nightly News lashed out at conservatives and Republicans on Thursday for creating an “ugly” and “angry debate” with President Obama over whether to accept Syrian refugees while gushing how Hillary Clinton was “[g]oing against the tide” of a bipartisan majority of voters and members of the House in backing the President.
By Curtis Houck | November 18, 2015 | 10:40 PM EST
Following the Wednesday morning newscasts in which ABC, CBS, and NBC praised the “outraged” President Obama for “slamming” Republican wanting to restrict Syrian refugees, the “big three” were back on the case Wednesday night in spinning for the President. However, CBS and NBC did make time to include how polls now show a majority of Americans want to put a moratorium on refugees for the time being, but ABC's World News Tonight ignored the sentiment.
By Curtis Houck | November 17, 2015 | 10:18 PM EST
In a combative exchange that aired on the Tuesday edition of ABC’s World News Tonight, chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl hinted to Republican Senator Ted Cruz (Tex.) that he was “un-American” for suggesting that only Syrian refugees who are Christian should be admitted the United States while a moratorium would be placed on those that are Muslim.
By Matthew Balan | November 6, 2015 | 9:50 PM EST
On Friday's NBC Nightly News, Chris Jansing touted Politico's scoop about Dr. Ben Carson's "scholarship" claim about West Point, underlining how the liberal outlet "call[ed] Carson's story a 'fabrication.'" However, Jansing's report aired more than two hours after Politico removed the "fabrication" term" from their headline." The journalist later hyped that it's "hard to overstate how much Carson uses his personal story to connect with voters — so this heightened scrutiny...may be a very big threat to his campaign."
By Matthew Balan | October 30, 2015 | 10:13 PM EDT
Friday's NBC Nightly News set aside just 34 seconds of air time to the Republican National Committee suspending its planned February 2016 debate with NBC. The evening newscast surrounded this coverage with over two minutes of reporting on other 2016 presidential campaign developments, focusing on the spat between Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. By contrast, ABC's World News Tonight and CBS Evening News devoted full reports to the RNC's suspension of the NBC debate, which was going to be co-hosted by Telemundo.
By Rich Noyes | October 28, 2015 | 10:05 AM EDT
Over the past four weeks, as the broadcast networks have covered the House leadership contest, reporters have gone out of their way to relentlessly paint House Republicans, especially the Freedom Caucus, as ideologues who are outside the American political mainstream.
From September 25 to October 23, MRC analysts reviewed all 82 ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening news stories about John Boehner’s resignation as House Speaker and the race to succeed him. The coverage included a whopping 106 ideological labels of Republicans, including 35 casting conservatives as extreme: “far right,” “hardline,” “very conservative” or “ultra-conservative.”
By Curtis Houck | October 22, 2015 | 11:13 PM EDT
Suddenly worried about government spending, the Thursday edition of ABC’s World News Tonight featured anchor David Muir complaining on three separate occasions about the cost of the House Select Committee on Benghazi while chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl observed that Republicans “really didn’t succeed” in “draw[ing] blood” from Hillary Clinton.
By Curtis Houck | October 21, 2015 | 9:49 PM EDT
Hours after Vice President Joe Biden decided that he would not launch a presidential campaign, the major broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC largely welcomed on Wednesday night Biden’s decision as it stands to benefit Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton one day before her testimony to the House Select Committee on Benghazi.