ABC, CBS, and NBC's Friday evening newscasts all spotlighted how "gun rights supporters, many of them openly armed" protested President Obama as he visited Roseburg, Oregon to comfort family members of the victims of the recent mass shooting there. CBS's John Blackstone played up how "the protesters gathered at the Roseburg airport carried both signs and guns – a potential nightmare for the Secret Service." NBC Nightly News featured footage of a Confederate flag flying from pickup truck of one of the protesters – something ABC and CBS didn't do.
Miguel Almaguer
By Matthew Balan | July 24, 2015 | 9:40 PM EDT
On Friday's World News Tonight, ABC's Ryan Owens played up how Lafayette, Louisiana mass shooter John "Rusty" Houser was "politically active – even running for office as an ultra-conservative, anti-tax crusader in Georgia." Owens also spotlighted how "investigators are scouring Houser's postings on known anti-government websites – hoping, perhaps, to find some answers there."
By Kyle Drennen | July 22, 2015 | 3:07 PM EDT
During a live press conference in the 12:00 p.m. ET hour on Wednesday about the Chattanooga shooting, CNN reporter Aaron Cooper asked FBI Special Agent in Charge Ed Reinhold: “There's been reports that there were some personal or privately owned weapons used in responding to the shooter....Did anybody hit anyone else? Was there any friendly fire incident?”
By Matthew Balan | June 8, 2015 | 6:39 PM EDT
NBC News censored itself on Sunday, after it broadcast the "have a nice day" message left by two prison escapees from New York State on Today. The Post-It note included a caricature of an East Asian man with slanted eyes, a bucktooth grin, and wearing a stereotypical conical hat. Hours later, when NBC Nightly News covered the manhunt for the fugitives, the newscast blurred out the "racially-offensive Post-it note," as John Yang labeled it, three separate times during the correspondent's report.
By Curtis Houck | May 28, 2015 | 9:42 PM EDT
Continuing the media narrative that climate change is the cause of flooding in Texas, NBC Nightly News did its part on Thursday night in not only accomplishing that but also linking climate change to the drought in California and a “weather whiplash” that’s being seen across the country. Anchor Lester Holt began by observing “[t]he relentless rain, while enormously destructive, seemed to have helped reverse years of drought in Texas” while Californians now “are wondering” if it’s their turn “for an abrupt weather whiplash of their own from dry to deluge.” Miguel Almaguer declared: “Scientists say climate change is exacerbating the wild swings.”
By Kyle Drennen | July 30, 2014 | 2:28 PM EDT
Not wanting to let a good crisis go to waste, Tuesday's NBC Nightly News exploited California wildfires to push climate change. Correspondent Miguel Almaguer declared: "The fire season not just expensive, but historic. Nationwide so far this year, more than 32,000 wildfires have burned. 1.6 million acres charred, most of them in the west. Feeding the fires, drought crippling 60% of the west....Crews call this the front lines of climate change, a longer more destructive fire season." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Introducing the story, anchor Brian Williams warned: "In the American west tonight, a huge wildfire is burning in Yosemite National Park. One of more than 200 of them firing up in just this last week in California alone as this drought emergency continues to get worse."
By Scott Whitlock | July 11, 2014 | 5:15 PM EDT
The journalists at NBC's Today on Friday made sure to avoid using the word "illegal" and instead favored "migrant families" and, simply, "immigrants." ABC's Good Morning America followed a similar path, noting the "children crossing the border from Central America." Only CBS This Morning host Jeff Glor referred to "the flood of illegal immigrants."
On Today, news reader Craig Melvin carefully noted, "...The U.S. border patrol has said it has stopped sending Central American children and families to San Diego after they are arrested in South Texas." He added that "protesters blocked a road and forced bus loads of immigrants to reroute." Melvin told viewers that Congress is working on " a possible compromise to deport migrant families more quickly." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Migrant families or illegal immigrants?
By Kyle Drennen | July 7, 2014 | 12:35 PM EDT
In a report on Monday's NBC Today, correspondent Miguel Almaguer portrayed illegal immigrants surging across the U.S. border as bystanders caught up in politics: "As most Americans celebrated Independence Day, thousands of undocumented immigrants from Central America – mostly women and children – find themselves in the middle of a raging debate with an uncertain future..." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Almaguer touted "A show of support for Central American immigrants in San Diego" while also noting "five protesters arrested during a demonstration against those same immigrants" in Murrieta, California.
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 6, 2014 | 9:13 AM EDT
For the past week, NBC’s Miguel Almaguer has been stationed in Murrieta, California covering the flood of illegal immigrants being bused into the town and the protests from residents who argue their town cannot support them.
While his previous reports have centered around the protests in Murrieta, on July 5 and 6 Almaguer ran two reports promoting the journey of one illegal immigrant who crossed the border with her son searching for “the dream of a new life in America.” [See video below.]
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 3, 2014 | 10:21 AM EDT
Ever since the border patrol began sending hundreds of illegal immigrants from Texas to the town of Murrieta, California, despite opposition from local residents, the folks at NBC News have repeatedly failed to use the term “illegal immigrant” to describe the confrontation between the two sides.
On Thursday, July 3, NBC’s Today continued to omit the term “illegal immigrant” from its lexicon. In fact, it has been the only one of the "big three" networks to not use the term when reporting on the situation in Murrieta. Instead, its reporters continue to refer to them as “undocumented immigrants.” [See video below.]
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 2, 2014 | 8:55 AM EDT
On Wednesday morning, NBC’s Today went beyond avoiding using the term “illegal” to describe the immigrants being bussed from Texas into California. The Peacock network has created a Twitter handle to show its support for the illegal immigrants.
Following a report by NBC’s Miguel Almaguer, Today anchor Matt Lauer triumphantly declared: “We want you to weigh in on this. Share your comments using the #RefugeeRiders.” [See video below.]
By Matthew Balan | June 11, 2014 | 10:40 PM EDT
Miguel Almaguer hyped on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News that "since the mass shooting in Newtown a year and a half ago, there's been at least 74 school shootings across the country – roughly one every week." However, the correspondent failed to mention that this figure came from the pro-gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety, which was founded earlier in 2014 by liberal billionaire Michael Bloomberg. [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
On Tuesday, Kyle Becker of the Independent Journal Review spotlighted a series of Twitter posts from author and journalist Charles C. Johnson, which called out Bloomberg's organization for giving an "exaggerated impression of how many school shootings have taken place," as many they represent "all sorts" of different incidents involving guns in or near schools. Becker added: