Jonathan Karl

ABC’s Karl Hits Tom Cole From Left on ObamaCare, Boosts Hillary on Benghazi
By Jeffrey Meyer | February 9, 2014 | 12:06 PM EST

ABC’s Jonathan Karl, alongside Martha Raddatz, filled in for George Stephanopoulos as host of This Week on Sunday February 9 and used the opportunity to hit Congressman Tom Cole (R-OK) from the left on a myriad of issues. As of late, the ABC reporter has been especially tough on the Obama White House, but seemed to relish the opportunity to use Democratic talking points to attack the GOP congressman on Sunday.

Following a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report which found that ObamaCare will discourage 2.5 million Americans from working in order to seek ObamaCare subsidies, Karl pressed Cole that despite the CBO report “being a gift to you guys but did you overplay it?”

Bozell Column: Obama, The Media's Favorite Autocrat
By Brent Bozell | January 29, 2014 | 12:33 PM EST

Everyone proposes drinking games for the State of the Union speech. But it’s not just the president that can drive you to drink. It’s the opportunistic media elites deciding which branches of government have too much power, depending on which branches the Democrats presently control.

After a lot of stalemate in 2013, the partisan media think it’s high time for the executive branch to go completely around the legislative branch. They think that now that Congress has proven itself unwilling to provide Barack Obama with the historical greatness he deserves, they should and must be driven around like roadkill. They’ll have no talk of an imperial presidency, let alone autocracy.

ABC’s Karl Challenges Jay Carney Over Press Access to Obama: ‘So Jay Carney Would Fight With Jay Carney?’
By Jeffrey Meyer | January 26, 2014 | 12:52 PM EST

For the past several months, ABC’s Jonathan Karl has been engaged in an ongoing battle with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. The Chief White House Correspondent for ABC News has been one of the few reporters from the “big three” networks who has been consistent in questioning the Obama White House.

Filling in for George Stephanopoulos as moderator of This Week on January 26, Karl continued his tradition of pushing Jay Carney for answers during an exclusive interview with the press secretary. During the interview Karl called out Carney for the lack of access the Obama Administration gives the media, and asked the former Time Magazine reporter turned Obama propagandist whether “Jay Carney would fight with Jay Carney?”

Networks Play Up Robert Gates's 'Devastating Critique' of Obama, Biden
By Matthew Balan | January 8, 2014 | 7:36 PM EST

ABC, CBS, and NBC ballyhooed former Defense Secretary Robert Gates's attacks on President Obama and other high government officials on their Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning newscasts. NBC's Brian Williams and CBS's Norah O'Donnell also trumpeted the former Cabinet official's "devastating critique" of the President in his upcoming memoir. All three networks also played up Gates's self-identification as a Republican.

NBC's Today and CBS This Morning brought on former Obama administration officials on Wednesday morning. Both guests did their best to counter their former colleague. Matt Lauer touted David Axelrod's "important perspective" on the issue, and asked, "Did you get a sense that he was a guy who...was disgruntled in any way?" The CBS morning show turned to former chief of staff Bill Daley, who slammed Gates for going public: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

ABC Touts ObamaCare's Popularity, While NBC Reports Website Problems
By Matt Hadro | December 24, 2013 | 12:03 PM EST

For the second straight morning, ABC's Jonathan Karl was merely a White House stenographer when reporting on ObamaCare's year-end deadline, touting enrollment numbers and parroting White House talking points.

Tuesday's Good Morning America framed the latest ObamaCare delay as a result of the law's popularity, as opposed to NBC reporting that it was, at least in part, due to website issues. "A crush of visitors to the website yesterday caused the White House to expand this year's deadline for signing up through the end of today," co-host George Stephanopoulos reported.

ABC’s Karl Slams ObamaCare: Mocks 'Barack O-Breezy' Trying To Sell Health Care
By Jeffrey Meyer | December 23, 2013 | 3:54 PM EST

In what appears to be a bright spot of journalism over at ABC News, reporter Jonathan Karl has been repeatedly hitting the White House hard in recent weeks over its failed ObamaCare rollout, going so far as to mock its advertising attempts to sign up young people for health care.

While Karl hit the White House hard on Sunday's World News, he was far from tough on Monday’s Good Morning America, and offered up a puff-piece cheering on ObamaCare’s enrollment numbers. Last week, Karl confronted White House Press Secretary Jay Carney over newly released ObamaCare ads, asking the press secretary, “I mean is anybody going to buy health care because Barack O-Breezy tells him to buy it because it’s hot?” [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Gingrich Schools Reich: 'Every Major City Which Is a Poverty Center Is Run By Democrats'
By Noel Sheppard | December 15, 2013 | 12:57 PM EST

ABC This Week viewers were treated to a classic conservative versus liberal debate Sunday.

When former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich tried to blame the increase in poverty in the past five years on Republicans, former Speaker of the House and current CNN host Newt Gingrich called it "baloney" firing back, "Every major city which is a center of poverty is run by Democrats" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary):

ABC Finds the Positive In Obama's Low Approval Numbers; 'He Has Stopped the Free Fall'
By Matt Hadro | December 11, 2013 | 12:54 PM EST

ABC's Good Morning America provided the most positive spin it could from new Obama approval numbers, declaring that "he has stopped the free-fall" and reporting only the two least negative disapproval ratings for the President.

"And meanwhile, the President getting some new polls out this morning that show he may have stopped the bleeding from that botched rollout of the ObamaCare website," reported co-host George Stephanopoulos. ABC failed to mention Obama's 50 percent disapproval, just vaguely noting "his disapproval rating still higher than his approval rating."

ABC News Twice Says Scott Walker 'At One Point Was the Most Divisive Politician in America'
By Noel Sheppard | November 17, 2013 | 7:33 PM EST

As NewsBusters has reported for years, the liberal media believe one of their jobs is to discredit and defame any potential Republican presidential candidate they believe is too conservative.

ABC's This Week did its part Sunday when during a segment about Republican Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, substitute host Martha Raddatz and chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl both said he "at one point was the most divisive politician in America" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CBS Spotlights House GOP Hammering ObamaCare Managers; ABC, NBC Minimize
By Matthew Balan | November 14, 2013 | 6:56 PM EST

On Wednesday's CBS Evening News, Nancy Cordes zeroed in on the three Republican congressmen who grilled top administration officials during a hearing on ObamaCare, ballyhooing that "none of them were really able to explain why this product they worked on for years was so flawed". Cordes played extended clips from the hearing totaling 51 seconds – nearly twice the combined number of ABC's World News and NBC Nightly News, which each played 13 seconds from it.

The correspondent played up one clip in particular from White House chief technology officer Todd Park, who gave indications that HealthCare.gov might not be fixed by the target date of November 30 [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]:

ABC, CBS Notice Obama's 'Lowest Ever' Approval Rating; NBC Out to Lunch
By Matthew Balan | November 13, 2013 | 6:48 PM EST

On Tuesday, ABC's World News and CBS Evening News both reported the latest poll numbers from the "respected" Quinnipiac University, as CBS's Scott Pelley labeled the institution, regarding President Obama's "lowest ever" approval rating, along with Americans' dim view of the politician's honesty. ABC's Diane Sawyer noted that "for the first time in his presidency, a majority of American voters – 52 percent...say President Obama is not honest and trustworthy."

Both evening newscasts reported these numbers as they led into their coverage of former President Clinton's recent word of advice to Obama on his health care law – that "the President should honor the commitment...[he] made to those people, and let them keep what they've got." NBC Nightly News also devoted air time to Clinton's remarks, but failed to mention the current President's drooping approval number. [MP3 audio from the ABC and CBS reports available here; video below the jump]

CBS, ABC Point Out 'Very Troubled' HealthCare.gov is 'Far Short' of Sign-Up Goal; NBC Punts
By Matthew Balan | November 12, 2013 | 7:03 PM EST

ABC's Good Morning America and CBS This Morning on Tuesday both picked up the Wall Street Journal's Monday revelation about the HealthCare.gov website – that "fewer than 50,000 people had successfully navigated the troubled federal health-care website and enrolled in private insurance plans as of last week".

CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell zeroed in on the "newest blow to ObamaCare – how the White House enrollment expectations could be off by 80 percent." On GMA, Jonathan Karl underlined that this figure is "far short" of the Obama administration's target of 500,000 enrollees. However, NBC's Today ignored this development. Instead, the morning show devoted an entire segment to trying to get Vice President Joe Biden to be a co-host. [MP3 audio of the CBS report is available here; video below the jump]