The favorable coverage of the agreed framework for future talks over Iran’s nuclear program continued on Friday morning as the network newscasts hailed the “legacy defining moment now within reach” for President Obama and compared Iranian “hardliners” to deal skeptics in the U.S. and Israel. Today co-host Savannah Guthrie began the program’s coverage by hailing the “landmark deal” with NBC's Peter Alexander fretting that “Republicans and the Israeli prime minister” are “clearly not on board” as “a legacy-defining moment” appeared “now within reach” for the President.
Margaret Brennan
By Curtis Houck | April 2, 2015 | 10:29 PM EDT
On Thursday night, ABC and NBC cheered the “historic” agreement of an outline for continued talks with Iran and declared that “the United States could be entering a new era in its relationship” with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reflected on the “18 months of tough negotiations” that “end[ed] with an all-nighter” with the possibility that “the United States could be entering a new era in its relationship with Iran and President Obama is telling critics this will make our world safer.”
By Curtis Houck | April 1, 2015 | 3:11 AM EDT
On Tuesday, NBC’s chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell took time out of her NBC Nightly News report from Switzerland on the Iranian nuclear talks to hail Secretary of State John Kerry as someone who “doesn’t give up easily” and gush that a local pizzeria in the town where the talks are being held has decided to name “a pizza after him.”
By Curtis Houck | March 30, 2015 | 11:52 PM EDT
While reporting on Monday’s NBC Nightly News with the latest from the Iranian side of the international talks in Switzerland over their nuclear program, Ann Curry smeared U.S. conservatives by likening them to radical hardliners in Iran’s Islamic regime: “As in the U.S., Iran has conservatives who don't trust the other side and they are ready to pounce if they believe negotiators give up too much.”
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 17, 2015 | 9:03 AM EDT
On Tuesday, CBS This Morning introduced its coverage of the ongoing U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran by promoting President Obama blaming the rise of ISIS on the Bush administration as well as his condemnation of the Republican letter to the leadership of Iran.
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 16, 2015 | 10:12 AM EDT
Speaking from Switzerland on Monday morning regarding the continuing nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, CBS News reporter Margaret Brennan used the term “hardliners” to equate Republicans who oppose a potential deal to those within the Iranian regime.
By Curtis Houck | March 4, 2015 | 12:06 AM EST
On Tuesday night, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC continued to report on the latest scandal involving Hillary Clinton's exclusive use of a private email account while she was Secretary of State in what may have been a violation of federal law. On the CBS Evening News, substitute anchor Charlie Rose flashed his favoritism for his dear “friend” Hillary Clinton by wondering to CBS News political director John Dickerson: “Why is this story getting so much attention?”
Networks Cover Hillary’s Email Controversy; ABC, NBC Won't Cover Clinton Foundation’s Funding Problem
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 3, 2015 | 10:03 AM EST On Tuesday, the “big three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) morning shows all covered a New York Times report exposing how Hillary Clinton potentially violated federal law during her tenure as Secretary of State by conducting all government business with her personal email account, and when asked by the State Department to turn over the emails her staff “decided which ones to turn over."
Statements By Dempsey Open Possibility of Troops In Iraq; Nets Rush to Reiterate Obama's Promise None Will Go
By Curtis Houck | September 17, 2014 | 12:55 AM EDT On Tuesday night, the major broadcast networks worked to quickly remind viewers that President Barack Obama has promised that no United States combat troops will be on the ground in the Middle East to fight the Islamic terrorist group ISIS despite congressional testimony by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, on Tuesday that U.S. troops returning to Iraq could still be a possibility.
ABC, CBS, and NBC each offered reports on Dempsey’s statements and included ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir asking ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl to “keep us honest” on the question of “[b]oots on the ground in Iraq” and lamented: “That's not what the President said last week.”
By Curtis Houck | July 25, 2014 | 5:10 PM EDT
On Friday, both ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today ignored the news that Meriam Ibrahaim, a Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death in Sudan for converting from Islam to Christianity and marrying a Christian man, fled Sudan with an Italian diplomat on an Italian jet to Rome Thursday and received a blessing from Pope Francis in a private meeting at the Vatican.
Meanwhile, CBS This Morning did cover the story and provided a 29 second news brief at the conclusion of the 7:00 a.m. half hour. Co-host Norah O’Donnell reported that: “And an extraordinary turn of events for a Christian woman who had been sentenced to death in Sudan. Well, she is now free and this morning, she's on her way to the United States after meeting with the pope. Meriam Ibrahim flew to Rome Thursday after being allowed to leave Sudan. She and her family had a private moment with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Ibrahim faced execution in Sudan for marrying a Christian. The decision was overturned last month. Ibrahim has in-laws in New Hampshire.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]
'Big Three' Throw Cold Water on Chris Christie’s Iowa Visit: ‘A Long Way From The George Washington Bridge’
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 17, 2014 | 11:27 AM EDT Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) visited Iowa on Wednesday to help raise money for Governor Terry Branstad (R-IA) and test the 2016 political waters but the “big three” networks did their best to diminish his visit to the Hawkeye state.
Starting with NBC Nightly News on Wednesday night, anchor Brian Williams introduced a story on Christie by playing up how “the New York Times calls the trip a delicate post lane closing political strategy for the governor who has been hurt by the G.W. Bridge scandal back home in New Jersey.” [See video below.]
‘Big Three’ Continue To Champion Jose Antonio Vargas: ‘America’s Most Famous Undocumented Immigrant’
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 16, 2014 | 11:12 AM EDT Jose Antonio Vargas, a 31-year-old illegal immigrant, was detained by border patrol agents while trying to board a plane from McAllen, Texas without proper documentation. Following his arrest, the “big three” networks did their best to promote his cause on their Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning broadcasts.
ABC’s Good Morning America did the most to cheerlead for Vargas, with reporter Jim Avila declaring him “America’s most famous undocumented immigrant” without ever referring to him as an illegal immigrant. To their credit, both CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today correctly labeled Vargas as “illegally” living in the United States. All three networks did play up the fact that Vargas was a “Pulitzer Prize winning journalist.” [See video below.]