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."
Lester Holt
By Curtis Houck | November 24, 2015 | 8:36 PM EST
In NBC Nightly News’s coverage of President Obama’s Tuesday meeting with French President Hollande, the newscast complained that Turkey’s decision to shoot down a Russian fighter jet had “managed to overshadow” the “crucial meeting at the White House” and further “derailed” an attempt to forge a more cohesive coalition to fight ISIS with Russia.
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 Curtis Houck | November 17, 2015 | 8:52 PM EST
On Tuesday night, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC saw no reason to inform their viewers of Secretary of State John Kerry’s assertion that he could recognize there having been a “rationale” and “particularized focus” for Islamic terrorists to carry out the January attacks in Paris on the offices of Charlie Hebdo but not for the “indiscriminate” attacks that occurred in the very same city on Friday.
By Curtis Houck | November 13, 2015 | 10:48 AM EST
On Thursday night and Friday morning, NBC News tried their best to go after Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson by attempting to make a mountain out of a molehill of his relationship with a man who was convicted nearly a decade ago of insurance fraud while ignoring the ongoing investigation of Hillary Clinton over her private e-mail server.
By Curtis Houck | November 11, 2015 | 9:58 PM EST
The Wednesday editions of ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News each provided their own wrap-ups of the Fox Business Network Republican presidential debate from the night before, but the theme was predictably similar as both networks spun the event as illustrating “fierce opposition” and “dramatic divisions” within the GOP on apparently every issue.
By Brent Bozell | and By Tim Graham | November 11, 2015 | 7:58 AM EST
After the CNBC debate, Republicans were outraged at the vicious personal attacks not even disguised as questions from the moderators. Defenders of CNBC suggested the Republicans were just whining. President Obama joked that if GOP candidates can’t handle TV moderators, they could never handle Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
Then the Obama-lovers at Comcast proves Republicans’ point. When NBC anchor Lester Holt sat down for an interview with the president on November 2, there were no attacks. It was business as usual, just another syrupy Brian Williams-style lovefest.
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 Curtis Houck | November 6, 2015 | 8:40 PM EST
On Friday night, two of the three major broadcast networks saw no interest in telling their viewers that the Supreme Court of the United States had decided to accept another major case on the future of ObamaCare as the high court will hear arguments pertaining to the law’s contraception mandate. Surprisingly, NBC Nightly News not only covered it, but offered a full, one-minute-and-21-second report from Justice correspondent Pete Williams.
By Curtis Houck | November 5, 2015 | 1:17 AM EST
After heavily promoting on Tuesday the Ohio ballot initiative to legalize marijuana before the polls closed, NBC Nightly News offered an about-face of sorts on Wednesday and refused to acknowledge the fact that measure was soundly defeated. Hailing it as “high stakes” in the Buckeye State, anchor Lester Holt hyped in a tease on Tuesday’s newscast: “Legalized pot on the ballot tonight in the biggest swing state of all. Is it a tipping point for the nation? A big money fight with a famous singer caught in the middle.”