By Noel Sheppard | July 21, 2013 | 5:32 PM EDT

On Sunday, NewsBusters wondered how much heat PBS's Tavis Smiley would get for making negative comments about Barack Obama.

The answer came quickly when MSNBC's Toure Neblett tweeted, "Tavis gets value out of being the Prez of the Black Haters of Obama Club. Example: without that he wouldn't have been on MeetThePress today":

By Noel Sheppard | July 21, 2013 | 12:51 PM EDT

Unlike most of the Obama-loving media, PBS's Tavis Smiley has been deeply critical of the President's comments Friday regarding race and the George Zimmerman verdict.

Smiley continued his criticism on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday saying, "I don't know how he argues he can't lead us in a conversation on this, but he can on gay marriage?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

By Paul Bremmer | July 16, 2013 | 5:27 PM EDT

Tavis Smiley is furious that President Obama has not done more to combat racism in America, and that anger was on full display Monday night. On his self-titled PBS program, Smiley unleashed a pair of long-winded leftist rants barely disguised as questions to his guest, Dr. Tricia Rose from Brown University.

Rose, who directs Brown’s Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, had suggested that Obama was incapable of ending structural racism in America by himself. Hearing that, Smiley erupted: “[I]f you’re right about this, then what the heck is the value of us celebrating a black president?”

By Noel Sheppard | July 14, 2013 | 2:21 PM EDT

As NewsBusters has been reporting, the liberal media are out in force Sunday expressing their disgust with the George Zimmerman verdict.

On ABC's This Week, PBS's Tavis Smiley had the nerve to say, "I think this for many Americans, George, just another piece of evidence of the incontrovertible contempt that this nation often shows and displays for black men" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

By Jack Coleman | July 2, 2013 | 1:25 PM EDT

Hearty perennial crank and occasional academic Cornel West continues his scorned lover's feud with the president.

West is one of Obama's most vociferous critics on the left, previously having condemned Obama as a "war criminal," a "Republican in blackface," and unworthy of being sworn into office with Martin Luther King Jr.'s Bible. (Audio after the jump)

By Noel Sheppard | June 20, 2013 | 10:06 AM EDT

Count PBS’s Tavis Smiley amongst those in the media finally beginning to realize what an absolute joke MSNBC is.

During an interview with new CNNer Morgan Spurlock Wednesday, Smiley mentioned MSNBC chief Phil Griffin’s recent comments about his network not being the place for breaking news and concluded, “They do spin. They spin… If I don’t like your spin, I’ll go to Fox News” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

By NB Staff | May 28, 2013 | 12:07 PM EDT

Are liberal African-American pundits still blindly loyal to Barack Obama? Though you may not see this covered on MSNBC, there IS a growing division.

Case in point: Establishment Suck-Up Al Sharpton versus Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West. While the former spends every broadcast moment lashing out at those who dare to question the Dear Leader, Smiley & West take a different approach, holding Obama to a higher standard. As you'll see below, the difference is clear.

By Paul Bremmer | May 15, 2013 | 5:38 PM EDT

Last night on his PBS talk show, Tavis Smiley sat down for a cozy conversation with Jeremy Scahill, national security correspondent for left-wing magazine The Nation. Scahill was critical of the Obama administration, as well as the journalists who fail to hold him accountable, throughout much of the interview. However, he did let his mask of objectivity slip at a few points, revealing the liberal face underneath.

Scahill was outraged over the administration’s secrecy surrounding its national security operations, particularly drone strikes. Smiley asked him why the administration has not been more forthcoming about its use of drones, and Scahill partially blamed congressional Republicans:
 

By Paul Bremmer | April 24, 2013 | 11:49 AM EDT
 

Last week, before the Senate voted on the Manchin-Toomey gun control bill, Tavis Smiley declared that the idea that expanded background checks might not pass made him want to throw up. Well, the Senate has voted down the measure, and Smiley didn’t throw up on-camera. But he did hack up an angry rant on his PBS talk show Monday night.

The host focused on the idea that the overwhelming majority of Americans favor expanded background checks: "If there are polls and studies and surveys that show – and I’ve seen them, so I know this is true. If there are polls and studies and surveys that show that 90 percent of the American people want – or would have wanted, still want – some sort of background check, it raises the question how the president lost on this issue."

By Noel Sheppard | April 19, 2013 | 11:56 AM EDT

Harrison Ford made a brutal critique of the news industry Thursday.

Appearing on PBS's Tavis Smiley Show, the actor said the "divisiveness and fractiousness in our society" is caused by "what passes for journalism" today "fostering and supporting our prejudices" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

By Paul Bremmer | April 18, 2013 | 5:44 PM EDT

This week, the Senate voted down the proposed Manchin-Toomey gun control bill that would have expanded background checks for potential gun buyers. Somewhere in Los Angeles, Tavis Smiley is cleaning up the mess he made.

On his PBS talk show two days before the Senate vote, Smiley was grilling socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) about the likelihood that gun control legislation would pass. Sanders told Smiley, “I think we stand a reasonable chance to at least pass legislation greatly expanding background checks.”

By Paul Bremmer | March 14, 2013 | 10:28 AM EDT

Tavis Smiley invited ultra-liberal Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on his show Monday night for a friendly chat about the American economy. Predictably, Krugman used the appearance as an opportunity to bash Republicans, and on a taxpayer-subsidized television program no less.

Krugman and Smiley both complained that the American people have not yet become “sufficiently outraged” over the budget cuts brought by sequestration. Smiley demanded to know why the outrage has not appeared and when it will come. Don’t worry, Krugman reassured him, pain from the sequester will take time to kick in. The outrage will come once people start losing essential government services.