American Morning

Five of Six Networks Press Unyielding Gibbs on Crediting Bush; White House Press Secretary Unleashes on Fox & Friends
By Rich Noyes | August 31, 2010 | 3:00 PM EDT
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs made the rounds of the six broadcast and cable morning news shows on Tuesday morning to help set the table for the President’s speech marking the end of major combat operations in Iraq. Of the six network anchors Gibbs spoke with, only CBS’s Harry Smith failed to ask whether President Obama would extend credit to President Bush for the successful surge strategy (a strategy then-Senator Obama denigrated as futile).

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos recited House GOP Leader John Boehner’s dig at politicians who “fought tooth-and-nail to stop the surge strategy,” and then rejected Gibbs claim that Boehner’s was “made up history.” NBC’s Matt Lauer recited Obama’s own words to Gibbs: "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq are gonna solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse."
CNN and Time Promote Accusation That 'Bigotry' is Driving Mosque Debate
By Matthew Balan | August 19, 2010 | 6:36 PM EDT
Bobby Ghosh, Time Magazine Deputy International Editor | NewsBusters.orgCNN's American Morning and Newsroom programs on Thursday brought on Time magazine's Bobby Ghosh to highlight his "Is America Islamophobic?" article and help promote his accusation that "hate speech" and "bigotry" have "come out into the mainstream" during the course of the debate over the proposed New York City mosque near Ground Zero.

During his American Morning appearance, anchor Kiran Chetry hailed Ghosh's article, which is the cover story of the upcoming August 30th issue of Time, as "a very thoughtful piece." Anchor Ali Velshi, who conducted the second interview of the Time deputy international editor, went further than his colleague: "Okay, you're American- Time magazine is required reading....Bobby Ghosh...wrote the Islamophobia piece that I think everybody is going to have to read because if you are in this country, it's part of the dialogue that we are involved in at this point."

But only days earlier, in an August 3 Time.com article about the imam behind the mosque, Ghosh stated that the "last legal hurdle to the proposed Islamic center near the site of the World Trade Center has been removed, but ignorance, bigotry and politics are more formidable obstacles....Criticism [of the mosque] spans the gamut, from the ill-informed anguish of those who mistakenly view Islam as the malevolent force that brought down the towers to the ill-considered opportunism of right-wing politicians who see Islam as an easy target." So the "thoughtful" Time editor whose latest is "required reading" even had the gall to criticize the families and the friends of those who died on 9/11, or who are generally emotionally-touched by the carnage of the attack.
Some Media Tag Serial Stabber as ‘Israeli National,’ Others See ‘Israeli Arab’ or ‘Palestinian Christian’
By Brad Wilmouth | August 14, 2010 | 11:14 PM EDT

When reporting on the nationality of a criminal from another country who has already been arrested, it normally would be considered unnecessary or even uncalled for to take the extra step of explicitly identifying the suspect’s ethnicity or religious affiliation as well. But, given that Israelis, the vast majority of whom are Jewish, often face sharp criticism and negative press reaction over conflicts with their Arab neighbors – inflaming anti-Semitic sentiment – if an Israeli citizen who is non-Jewish is implicated in a violent crime, informing viewers that he is non-Jewish would seem to be in order.

But so far in the media coverage of serial stabber Elias Abuelazam’s arrest, some major news shows on both broadcast and news networks have avoided explicitly informing viewers that he is not a Jewish Israeli, while others have been more upfront with viewers on the subject. CNN’s The Situation Room, the NBC Nightly News, FNC’s Fox and Friends, and CBS’s The Early Show all have directly relayed to viewers at least once that Abuelazam is an Israeli Arab. But ABC’s World News, the CBS Evening News, FNC’s Fox Report, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN’s American Morning and NBC’s Today show have all avoided such a direct identification of ethnicity.

CNN's Moos: Booing Scouts Weren't 'Courteous and Kind' to President Obama
By Matthew Balan | August 10, 2010 | 7:48 PM EDT
On Tuesday's American Morning, CNN's Jeanne Moos picked up on the viral video of Boy Scouts booing President Obama's taped message to the recent National Jamboree, but got in a light jab at the youth for their behavior: "Booing would seem to go against some of the 12 tenets of Boy Scout Law. A Boy Scout is 'trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind'- wait a minute, 'courteous and kind'?"

The correspondent, known for her light reports for the network, concluded the 6 am Eastern hour with "unique take" on the video, as anchor John Roberts put it. Moos noted that "45,000 Scouts were celebrating the 100th anniversary of Scouting" in the United States at the Jamboree, which was held at the U.S. Army's Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, and that "two months earlier, the White House informed the Scouts that the President had prior commitments."

Moos continued that the "Scouts...booed the President's message, and this 23-second video made its way on to conservative websites, which slammed the President for forsaking the Boy Scouts to appear on 'The View.'" She later gave the Obama administration's explanation for the apparent snub: "The White House says 'The View' had nothing to do with it- that the President was already scheduled to be on the road that day."
Only Fox News Hits Gibbs With Questions on Possible Plans to Bypass Congress on Immigration
By Scott Whitlock | July 30, 2010 | 12:57 PM EDT

Robert Gibbs on Friday appeared on all three network morning shows, as well as Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, but only FNC quizzed the White House press secretary about whether the White House would try and force immigration reform without Congress.

Co-host Steve Doocy challenged, "There are some memos circulating...up on Capitol Hill, and probably at the White House as well, about how the administration is exploring the way to get around Congress by using discretionary authority to allow people who are in the country illegally to stay in the country."

When Gibbs dodged the question, Doocy pressed the subject: "Robert, if you haven't seen the memo, do you know whether or nor there is that talk? To use discretionary authority on the part of the administration to get around Congress to allow people who are in the country now illegally to stay?" All of the other cable and network morning shows ignored the topic.

CNN Highlights Pornography's Destructive Effects on Society?
By Matthew Balan | July 28, 2010 | 7:16 PM EDT

John Roberts, CNN Anchor; & Professor Gail Dines, Wheelock College | NewsBusters.orgCNN refreshingly devoted an entire segment on Wednesday's American Morning to highlighting pornography's destructive impact on society, especially Internet porn. Guest Gail Dines detailed the harmful impact of pornography on men's sexuality, and anchor John Roberts even cited a study that found that 56% of divorces "involve one party...who has an obsessive interest in pornographic websites."

Roberts brought on Dines, a professor at Wheelock College in Boston and author of "Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality," at the end of the 7 am Eastern hour. After citing the gargantuan number of pornographic websites on the Internet, the anchor first asked, "You say in your book and in studies that you've done that pornography today is not your father's Playboy, that it's mostly gonzo porn that's really changing our attitudes towards sexuality and women. What are you worried about?"

Dines answered that her concern was the "level of brutality and cruelness, in pornography's affecting the way that men think about women, and it's affecting the way they think about themselves and the way they construct ideas about sexuality. Because the more men view pornography, the more they begin to think like the pornographic world."

CNN Anchors Fawn Over Shirley Sherrod, Ask If She Wants Breitbart's Site Shut Down
By Matt Hadro | July 22, 2010 | 7:14 PM EDT
It wasn't exactly a media-friendly question. CNN co-anchor Kiran Chetry asked Shirley Sherrod on Thursday's "American Morning" if she wanted another news outlet to be shut down entirely – Andrew Breitbart's website, to be exact. "Would you like [Breitbart's] site to be shut down?" Chetry asked Sherrod. Sherrod answered yes, "that would be a great thing."

In lieu of Sherrod's recent travails, CNN co-anchors Chetry and John Roberts brought the embattled former USDA official on-air for an interview. They briefed the audience on Sherrod's rocky background in the race-embittered South, which included having a cross burned in her family's yard and her father being murdered by a white man who was never indicted for the crime.        

Then the anchors turned to Breitbart's publication of the edited video showing Sherrod delivering her remarks to NAACP members. Chetry asked Sherrod if she would consider a defamation suit against Breitbart, to which she said she would. Sherrod said later that she would like to help President Obama understand better what some African-Americans have gone through in terms of racially-motivated abuse.

Then the dialogue morphed from that of a sympathetic interview into a full-fledged shower of praise for Sherrod.
CNN's Ed Henry Touts Bill Clinton as 'Best Democratic Politician'
By Matthew Balan | July 14, 2010 | 6:30 PM EDT
Ed Henry, CNN Correspondent | NewsBusters.orgOn Wednesday's American Morning, CNN's Ed Henry lauded former President Clinton as "one of the best politicians the Democrats have ever had...in the last quarter century" and touted his apparent credibility over current President Barack Obama. Henry also speculated that if "Al Gore...had used President Clinton more in 2000, he may have been president."

Substitute anchor Drew Griffin brought on the White House correspondent 26 minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour to discuss the Obama White House's intention to "aggressively use the former president on the campaign trail over the next few months. One party official familiar with the plan calls it a- quote, 'no-brainer.'" During the second half of the segment, Griffin asked, "How can Bill Clinton do it all? I mean, he was picked by President Obama, basically, to rebuild Haiti. Now, they seem to be yanking him off of that and heading him out to the campaign trail, just to save the Democrats in the House in November."
Biden Wrong So Far: June Data Shows 125,000 Lost Jobs, But Media Still Ignore Failure of Stimulus
By Julia A. Seymour | July 2, 2010 | 10:55 AM EDT

The June jobs report was released July 2 showing a tiny decline in the unemployment rate to 9.5 percent, but a depressing 125,000 overall non-farm payroll jobs lost.

CNN's "American Morning" reacted with an appropriately downbeat report, but the onscreen chyron led with the better news -- showing the lower unemployment rate rather than the job losses. Christine Romans also pointed out that it was the "best unemployment rate since July 2009," though later in the segment she admitted the rate is still "horrible."

NBC's Ann Curry offered a very brief report on the jobs data on "Today," also highlighting the lowest unemployment rate "since last July."

The report also contradicted Vice President Joe Biden's predictions of 100,000 to 200,000 jobs gained each month for the rest of 2010. This month, Biden is off by about 275,000 jobs

CNN and MSNBC Applaud Elena Kagan's Capitol Hill Comedy Hour
By Alex Fitzsimmons | June 30, 2010 | 6:03 PM EDT
In covering Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings, CNN and MSNBC have repeatedly lauded the Supreme Court nominee for her "flashes of humor" and "disarming ease."

In tune with the reverberations of the network morning shows' echo chamber, correspondents like CNN's Dana Bash and anchors like MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Tuesday praised Kagan for her ability to inject humor into otherwise "hollow and vapid" hearings and charm hostile Republican senators into docility.

"But just on a color note, what struck me, Candy, has been the way Elena Kagan has tried to use a sense of humor to really disarm the senators, particularly Republicans," noted Bash.

Maddow's guest, Dahlia Lithwick of the liberal Slate magazine, gushed over Kagan's "gut-wrenching" sense of humor, her masterful ability to balance "seriousness and levity and humor," and her "disarming and charming and kind of likeable" personality.

"A likeable liberal. Dear me, I know," quipped Maddow.
CNN's Acosta and Costello Parrot Obama Talking Points on Offshore Drilling Moratorium
By Alex Fitzsimmons | June 25, 2010 | 4:45 PM EDT

CNN's Carol Costello and Jim Acosta revealed their disdain for a federal judge's decision to overturn the Obama administration's 6-month moratorium on offshore drilling when the expert they interviewed on the June 25 "American Morning" made a convincing case against the moratorium.

Tom Bower, an author who has written extensively on the oil industry, tried to explain the devastating economic impact the moratorium would inflict on an already beleaguered industry, but Costello and Acosta were blinded by ideology: "But isn't safety more important than money?" queried Costello. "Because, I mean, these oil companies make massive amounts of money each day."

Bower, author of "Oil, Money, Politics and Power in the 21st Century," drew the ire of Costello and Acosta for calling the Gulf oil spill an "aberration" and noting the oil industry's "phenomenal" overall safety record.
    
"But that's what they say, it is just an aberration, but the BP disaster happened," argued Costello. "Nobody thought that could happen either. So, it's just not logical, is it, that argument?"

CNN's Carol Costello Hypes Up Greenpeace, Sierra Club, and Liberal Environmental Agenda
By Alex Fitzsimmons | June 24, 2010 | 3:28 PM EDT
On the June 24 "American Morning," CNN's Carol Costello trumpeted a "revitalized" environmental movement that is hoping the Gulf oil spill will "change the way we feel about oil" and is aggressively lobbying Congress to pass radical climate change legislation.

Previewing the "Gut Check" segment, Costello gleefully teased, "Coming up next, environmentalists are revitalized and it's over the Gulf oil spill. Could this disaster be what we need in this country to change the way we feel about oil?"

In lockstep with the Left's environmental agenda, the fill-in anchor pondered whether the Gulf oil spill would crystallize support for a climate bill or would "it be back to business as usual?" Costello articulated the same phrase environmental groups frequently employ to manufacture a false sense of urgency around their liberal initiatives.

Interviewing David Rauschkolb, founder of Hands Across the Sand, a liberal group opposed to offshore drilling, Costello praised the forerunner to Rauschkolb's new group – Earth Day – for "strengthening the Clean Air Act and helping President Nixon create the Environmental Protection Agency." Costello did not reach out to conservative critics who argue that draconian environmental regulations stymie economic growth and breed unemployment.