Tom Brokaw

Brian Williams to Valerie Jarrett: Positive Media Coverage for Obama Will be a 'Tall Order'
By Geoffrey Dickens | September 7, 2012 | 2:16 AM EDT

Brian Williams, on NBC’s Thursday night coverage of the DNC, unleashed the biggest howler of the night when he told White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett: “You, I guess have to play mistake-free ball now for 60 days, hope for nothing but positive coverage. That's a tall order.”

Delivering positive coverage for Obama was certainly not a "tall order" for Williams and his fellow NBC News colleagues, as they spent most of the night praising Team Obama and dumping on Mitt Romney. (Video after the jump)

Hannity Hits Tom Brokaw on Liberal Bias, Former NBC Anchor Feebly Responds
By Geoffrey Dickens | September 5, 2012 | 10:40 PM EDT

At the same time his company’s cable outlet MSNBC was having a Democratic  lovefest during the DNC, NBC’s Tom Brokaw had the audacity to deny liberal bias was a problem right to Sean Hannity’s face.

Appearing on Wednesday’s edition of FNC’s Hannity the former NBC Nightly News anchor was challenged by Hannity about his industry’s “bias.” Brokaw, initially tried to deflect the question as he charged: “I think you have a bias to the right” and then resorted to semantics as he feebly countered: “bias is the wrong word.” (video after the jump)

‘Fed Up’ Gingrich Calls Out Media Refusal to Discuss Extremism Among Democrats
By Brent Baker | September 2, 2012 | 7:09 PM EDT

“I’m frankly, fed up, with the one-sided bias,” a frustrated Newt Gingrich asserted on Sunday’s Meet the Press, citing two blatant examples. First: “Where is the outrage over overt, deliberate racism” in Vice President Joe Biden telling a black audience “if the Republicans win you will be ‘in chains’”?

Second, President Obama “voted three times to protect the right of doctors to kill babies who came out of abortion still alive. That plank says tax-paid abortion at any moment, meaning partial birth abortion -- that’s a 20 percent issue,” a position which Democrats “couldn’t defend...for a day if it was made clear and as vivid as all the effort is made to paint Republicans.”

NBC's Todd and Brokaw: Romney Looking 'Backwards' to Less 'Inclusive' Past
By Geoffrey Dickens | August 31, 2012 | 2:15 AM EDT

Just moments after Mitt Romney finished his acceptance speech, NBC’s Tom Brokaw and Chuck Todd painted the GOP nominee as a backwards-looking candidate who was going back to the GOP’s “extreme” and less “inclusive” past.

On NBC’s live coverage of Thursday’s Republican National Convention, Brokaw recalled covering Romney’s father and observed that while George Romney “fought” to make the GOP “more moderate,” “less extreme” and “more inclusive” his son was becoming  “much more conservative.” For his part, Todd thought Romney’s speech was full of “optimistic nostalgia” and “return to” phrases that reminded him of failed ‘96 GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole’s acceptance speech that looked “backwards.” Todd added: “I think the Obama folks are gonna be responsive to that.” (video after the jump)

On NBC: Williams and Brokaw Use Condi Rice Speech to Depict Republicans as Narrow-Minded
By Geoffrey Dickens | August 30, 2012 | 12:23 AM EDT

On NBC’s live Wednesday coverage of the GOP convention both Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw used Condoleezza Rice's speech to paint the GOP delegation as close-minded on immigration, education reform and Barack Obama’s background. Right after the former Secretary of State's speech, Williams snarked: "Portions of that speech could have been delivered at next week [DNC] gathering in North Carolina. Some candid talk to tepid applause on immigration." He then added that Rice made the "rare utterance at a GOP convention of the American truism that zip code determines education in our country."

For his part, Brokaw took a shot at the GOP crowd as he chided: "What was so striking to me was one other line that she had: 'It does not matter where you come from it matters where you are going.' Well to a lot of delegates, on this floor, it does matter where President Obama came from. Because they've been very critical of his Kenyan father, who had a different faith than many of them would embrace and they've raised lots of questions about where his ultimate loyalty is." (video after the jump)

The Media vs. the GOP: Intolerant, Anti-Women, and Always Too Conservative
By Rich Noyes | August 27, 2012 | 9:02 AM EDT

Bad weather may have forced Vice President Joe Biden to skip his plans to make mischief at this week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, but Democrats don’t have to worry: the liberal “news” media have been “counter-programming” GOP conventions for decades.

It doesn’t matter whether the nominee is a conservative like Ronald Reagan, or a moderate like John McCain — network reporters always seem to scold the delegates and platform as too conservative, hostile to women, anathema to blacks, and an all-around turn-off to voters. [Below the jump: Video montage of the media's anti-GOP bias, 1988-2008]

On NBC's 'Today,' BBC's Katty Kay Laments American Desire for Limited Government
By Kyle Drennen | August 9, 2012 | 10:35 AM EDT

During a report about "why we love the British" on Thursday's NBC Today, special correspondent Tom Brokaw declared: "In one of our election years, the British watch America with a sense of bewilderment." Left-wing BBC anchor Katty Kay sniffed: "When we talk about God, guns, and government, those are the three big things we don't understand." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

She then lamented: "The role of government here [in the United States] is much more complicated, people don't want it in America. In Britain, we expect government to provide things for us."

NBC Wonders If Romney Overseas Trip 'A Week Lost' In the Campaign
By Kyle Drennen | July 26, 2012 | 5:23 PM EDT

Talking to special correspondent Tom Brokaw about Mitt Romney's 10-day international tour on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie suggested the effort was a mistake: "Is it a smart idea, an opportunity to look presidential? Or is it a week lost when he could be driving that message on the economy?"

Brokaw's first reaction was to gush over Barack Obama's 2008 trip abroad: "I actually interviewed President Obama, then-Senator, here in London after a very successful trip. Times were different. There was no Arab Spring at that time, Europe was not yet in an economic meltdown, this was a fresh face after eight years of George W. Bush, who was not popular." Brokaw then added: "But it's mandatory for a presidential candidate to make these kind of tours."

NBC: Chief Justice Had 'Nixon-to-China Alignment' With Court Liberals
By Kyle Drennen | June 29, 2012 | 10:37 AM EDT

On Friday's NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie touted Chief Justice John Roberts joining the Supreme Court majority in upholding ObamaCare as an "almost Nixon-to-China alignment with liberals on the Court." Special correspondent Tom Brokaw applauded the move: "I do think that it lowered the temperature about the debate about the politicalization of the Court. And that's a good thing for the country, however you feel about the decisions that they're making." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]