CBS and NBC continued to provide positive coverage of Hillary Clinton’s visit to Democratic Senator Tom Harkin’s steak fry event in Iowa on Monday night after both networks gushed over her appearance in their morning shows and NBC’s Meet the Press wondered on Sunday if she might not be liberal enough for Iowa Democrats in 2016. The nearly three minutes of coverage between the two networks was in comparison to their zero coverage of news from investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson that aides to Clinton when she was Secretary of State engaged in a weekend meeting that included the removal of documents related to the Benghazi attacks that portrayed her in a negative light.
Nancy Cordes
CBS, NBC Continue Fawning Over Hillary In Iowa; Refuse to Cover Clinton Advisers Scrubbed Benghazi Docs
By Curtis Houck | September 15, 2014 | 9:57 PM EDT 
By Kyle Drennen | September 15, 2014 | 11:44 AM EDT
After fretting on Sunday's Meet the Press that Hillary Clinton may not be liberal enough for 2016 Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, on Monday's NBC Today, correspondent Andrea Mitchell eagerly touted the Clinton campaign machine: "This time, Clinton organizers say they've learned their lesson, busing in volunteers from all over the country."
A clip played of Mitchell shouting a question to the former secretary of state: "Does it feel great to be back out here?" Clinton replied: "It's great. It was a great day. Couldn't have been better." To former President Bill Clinton, Mitchell enthused: "If she wants to, can she do it this time?" He dodged the question, remarking: "I have nothing to say. It's not my decision." Mitchell concluded: "I think I know which way you would vote." [Listen to the audio]
By Curtis Houck | September 11, 2014 | 10:23 PM EDT
On Thursday’s NBC Nightly News, senior White House correspondent Chris Jansing provided not only spin favorable to President Obama a day after his prime time speech on ISIS, but also suggested that this could help the President in the midterm elections. At the conclusion of her report, Jansing told viewers that: "It's a war the President inherited with decisions made now shaping his legacy and his successor's as well. Something else to watch, while it's too soon to tell how voters will react to the President's plan from last night, if they rally around the Commander-in-Chief it could impact the midterm elections with control of the Senate at stake."
By Kyle Drennen | September 9, 2014 | 11:29 AM EDT
On Tuesday, ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today, offered mere seconds on President Obama's approval rating hitting "near record lows" amid his reluctance to aggressively combat ISIS terrorists. CBS This Morning skipped any mention of the dismal poll numbers for the commander-in-chief.
On Good Morning America, after touting broad public support for the kind of military action against ISIS that Obama would likely announce in a Wednesday night address to the nation, co-host George Stephanopoulos noted: "It comes at a time when he's facing some real popularity problems. We see 56% of the country disapproving of how the President's handling foreign policy." [Listen to the audio]
By Kyle Drennen | September 4, 2014 | 1:00 PM EDT
While both NBC's Today and CBS This Morning on Thursday highlighted Republicans and Democrats in Congress taking President Obama to task for failing to have a strategy to combat the ISIS terror network, ABC's Good Morning America skipped any mention of the growing bipartisan frustration with the White House.
On This Morning, correspondent Nancy Cordes reported: "Lawmakers from both sides tell us they believe the President has the authority to act right away....they want to see signs that he is crafting a plan and they want the White House to share that plan with them as soon as possible....[they] want more than just promises. They want evidence that a strategy is taking shape."
By Curtis Houck | September 3, 2014 | 9:49 PM EDT
On Wednesday night’s NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams completely missed the mark on President Obama’s mixed signals regarding how his administration intends to deal with the threat of the Islamic terrorist group ISIS and omitted remarks from Obama that ISIS can be contained to the point of being “a manageable problem.”
At the top of the broadcast, Williams made this blatant falsehood: “[F]or all those who may be wondering if the U.S. is going to rise up, take the bait and get into the fight to root them out, the answer today from both the President and Vice President appeared to be clear and unambiguous.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]
By Randy Hall | August 30, 2014 | 11:00 PM EDT
Two days after U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand refused to identify the men in Congress who made sexist comments regarding her weight after the birth of her second child as described in her book Off the Sidelines, the Democratic politician from New York received support from an interesting source: feminist Amanda Marcotte.
In a Twitter post on Saturday morning, the staunch activist did not call on Gillibrand to reveal the identities of the alleged sexist members of Congress. In a surprising move, she instead stated: “I’m now convinced that the reason Republicans are demanding Gillibrand name a harasser is so they can castigate her as a lying slut.”
By Jeffrey Meyer | August 28, 2014 | 11:26 AM EDT
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is out with a new book in which she claims several of her male colleagues made comments about her weight following the birth of her second child. CBS This Morning eagerly jumped on Gillibrand’s story which was filled with numerous quotes from anonymous sources, a fact that CBS didn’t bother to question when promoting the Democrat’s allegations.
On Thursday, August 28, co-host Gayle King introduced a segment by proclaiming “polls show that Americans have a very low opinion of Congress and this next story is probably not going to help that very much. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says fellow legislators made rude and sexist comments to her about her weight.” [See video below.]
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 30, 2014 | 10:02 AM EDT
In the wake of Speaker of the House John Boehner’s impending lawsuit against President Obama, CBS This Morning did their best to minimize its merits and instead promote Democratic efforts to raise money off of impeachment.
On Wednesday, July 30, co-anchor Gayle King introduced a report by Nancy Cordes by highlighting how “Democrats are using the lawsuit debate to raise campaign cash and now the White House says it's worried about impeachment.” [See video below.]
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 29, 2014 | 9:57 PM EDT
On July 29, the Senate confirmed Robert McDonald by a vote of 97-0 to be the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs but that evening only the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley covered the story whereas ABC and NBC were nowhere to be found.
Fill-in host James Brown introduced the report on the V.A. by explaining how “the first job for the former CEO of Procter & Gamble will be cleaning up the scandal at the V.A. A new internal audit obtained by CBS News shows it was even bigger than we knew.” [See video below.]
NBC Omits Coverage of Agreement on VA Hospital Bill; Mentions Robots in South Korean Ballpark Instead
By Curtis Houck | July 28, 2014 | 1:50 PM EDT Over the weekend, leaders from the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees reached an agreement on legislation to reform the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs with the full details unveiled during a press conference Monday afternoon. When it came to the major broadcast networks covering this breakthrough in their Monday morning news shows, NBC’s Today decided not to inform their viewers of the story. Maybe it was because NBC was too concerned telling them how Congress wasn't working to notice.
Between the two networks that did cover the latest in the VA scandal, ABC and CBS, ABC’s Good Morning America clocked in with the lowest amount of air time (no surprises here) with only a 16 second news brief during the 7:00 a.m. hour. Meanwhile, CBS This Morning had a report from CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes on the bipartisan negotiations and included numerous details of the plan. [MP3 audio here; Video below]
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 24, 2014 | 12:57 PM EDT
With less than two weeks until Congress departs Washington, D.C. for its summer break, Republicans and Democrats are battling over how to best stop the flood of illegal immigrants from Central America crossing over the Texas-Mexico border.
On Thursday, July 24, CBS This Morning was the only network morning news show to spotlight how “Congress is taking new action to solve the immigration crisis. Republicans in the House and Democrats in the Senate are pushing new plans to deal with the influx of children from Central America.” ABC and NBC’s morning shows were nowhere to be found on the border crisis on Thursday. [See video below.]