American Morning

CNN Mocks Obama Golfing During Oil Spill: 'Just Plug the Darn Hole Mr. President'
By Noel Sheppard | June 23, 2010 | 4:45 PM EDT

CNN on Tuesday actually noticed the absurdity of folks bashing BP CEO Tony Hayward for yachting on the same day President Obama was golfing.

National correspondent Jeanne Moos surprisingly began her "American Morning" piece, "It's the yachting versus golf smack down, round one."

After showing average Americans complaining about Hayward's R&R, Moos quipped, "But before you could spell BP CEO, President Obama's golfing came under attack."

Children were shown expressing their displeasure with the Golfer in Chief, "In the two hours it takes to golf or to go yachting another one to 10,000 gallons of oil can leak out."

This led Moos to marvelously conclude, "Just plug the darn hole Mr. President" (video follows with transcript and commentary, h/t Hot Air's Ed Morrissey): 

CNN Fails to Label Liberal Group Poised to Sue McDonald's Over 'Happy Meal' Toys
By Alex Fitzsimmons | June 23, 2010 | 2:56 PM EDT
As NewsBusters sister company CNSNews.com reported, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a liberal consumer advocacy group, is threatening to sue the McDonald's Corporation for "unfair and deceptive" marketing practices unless the fast food company stops giving away toys in its "Happy Meals." CNN's "American Morning" on June 23 covered the story half-jokingly, but failed to identify the liberal tilt of organization.

Co-host Kiran Chetry reported: "The Center for Science in the Public Interest is delivering a warning to McDonald's about toys being used to make 'Happy Meals' more appetizing to kids. They say 'Happy Meals' are unhealthy."

Making no effort to apply an appropriate label to the organization, co-host John Roberts continued: "The group accuses the fast food giant of 'unfair and deceptive' marketing practices toward children. McDonald's, of course, as you could image, rejects the accusations."
While Networks Ignore Obama Golf Outing, CNN Humorist Gets Story Right
By Alex Fitzsimmons | June 22, 2010 | 12:20 PM EDT
CNN correspondent Jeanne Moos has a penchant for quirky, off-beat reporting, but what happens when the eccentric newswoman gives a more accurate picture of important events than the serious journalists?

While media outlets relentlessly denounced BP CEO Tony Hayward for taking Saturday off to participate in a yacht race, they mostly glossed over or completely ignored President Barack Obama's Saturday golf outing with Vice President Joe Biden.

It was left to CNN's resident humorist to connect the dots.

"It's the yachting versus golf smack down, round one," declared Moos. "BP's CEO gets pummeled for taking a day off to watch his yacht race...CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller says already President Obama has played 39 rounds of golf, compared to the 24 George Bush played his entire presidency."
Network News Shows Largely Skip President's $50 Billion Spending Request
By Matthew Balan | June 14, 2010 | 3:46 PM EDT
Bill Weir, ABC News Anchor; & Jake Tapper, ABC White House Correspondent | NewsBusters.orgThe network morning and evening news shows have all but ignored President Obama's Saturday letter to congressional leaders asking for $50 billion in additional spending to prevent the "massive layoffs of teachers, police, and firefighters." Only Sunday's Good Morning America on ABC has covered the President's request so far.

The chief executive's June 12 letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader John Boehner urged "swift action" on the multi-billion dollar proposal to prevent the public sector layoffs and "give our nation's businesses added impetus to hire and grow."

ABC anchor Bill Weir brought up the President's letter with White House correspondent Jake Tapper 13 minutes into the 8 am Eastern hour of Sunday's Good Morning America:
CNN Spins Arizona's English Ed. Standard as Accent 'Crackdown,' 'Ban'
By Matthew Balan | May 24, 2010 | 5:46 PM EDT
Arizona State School Supt. Tom Horne; & Thelma Gutierrez, CNN Correspondent | NewsBusters.orgCNN did its part to perpetuate the liberal talking point about Arizona's supposedly racist campaign against illegal immigrants by airing a report three times on Monday that spun the state's standards for English teachers as an "accent ban" or "crackdown." Anchor Kyra Phillips even opined that it was "just wrong to judge a teacher by his or her accent as to judge on their hair or skin color."

The network's American Morning program first aired correspondent Thelma Gutierrez's report 27 minutes into the 6 am Eastern hour. Three minutes earlier, anchor John Roberts previewed the upcoming segment by noting that "some schools in Arizona [are] cracking down on English teachers who have accents." Roberts then introduced Gutierrez's report, stating that "state education officials want immigrant teachers with heavy accents removed from classes for students who are still learning English. They say they're simply following federal guidelines that were set up by the Bush administration back in 2002. But critics are calling it an ethnic witch hunt."

The "guidelines...set up by the Bush administration" line by Roberts was actually a reference to the No Child Left Behind law which passed with bipartisan support in Congress in 2001, and signed into law by then-President Bush in January 2002. Gutierrez mentioned this during her report as she introduced the Arizona state education official defending his state's guidelines: "State School Superintendent Tom Horne says, as part of No Child Left Behind, he's been monitoring ELL teachers for bad grammar and mispronounced words for the past eight years." But instead of mentioning this detail, the CNN anchor labeled it as being from the Bush administration.
CNN: 'Pressure' of Foreclosure Contributing Factor to NYC Terror Plot?
By Matthew Balan | May 4, 2010 | 4:40 PM EDT
Jim Acosta, CNN Correspondent; & Kiran Chetry, CNN Anchor | NewsBusters.orgOn Tuesday's American Morning, CNN's Jim Acosta sympathized with the suspect in the failed Times Square terror plot, Faisal Shahzad, citing how a guest claimed that his family's house in Connecticut went into foreclosure in 2009: "One would have to imagine that that brought a lot of pressure and a lot of heartache on that family" [see video here].

Acosta remarked on Shahzad's familial difficulty at the end of an interview of Brenda Thurman, one of the suspect's former neighbors, which began 47 minutes into the 8 am Eastern hour.  During the interview, the CNN personality, who was filling in for anchor John Roberts, asked Thurman about her foreclosure claim: "What sense did you get from the family? I mean, you just said a few minutes ago, I think- that it's pretty significant that this house that he apparently owned was foreclosed on in Shelton, Connecticut....Did you get a sense from the family as to- I mean, that must have been extremely difficult on them."
CNN Rolls Out Sob Stories From Latino Soldier, Businesses on Impact of AZ Law
By Matthew Balan | April 28, 2010 | 6:39 PM EDT
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN Correspondent; & PFC Jose Medina, US Army | NewsBusters.orgCNN and CNN.com highlighted opposition to Arizona's new anti-illegal immigration law on Monday and Wednesday by focusing on sob stories from a soldier of Latino decent whose family entered the U.S. illegally when he was two, and from Latino businesses apparently "already feeling the effects" of the law.

Correspondent Thelma Gutierrez's interview of Private First Class Jose Medina first aired during the 6 am Eastern hour of Monday's American Morning program. Anchor Kiran Chetry noted that "Thousands of people staged a peaceful protest outside the state capitol in Phoenix....An immigrant soldier [Medina] about to ship out to the war zone was among yesterday's [April 25] protesters." Gutierrez continued that the soldier "sat down with us to talk about his feelings and fears over this new immigration law in Arizona that could affect his family."

During the interview, PFC Medina recounted that when he first entered the military, people who ask him where he was from: "I was proud to say I'm from the great state of Arizona, because I was raised here, I grew up here. I don't know if I can say that so proudly. I don't know if I want to live here any more." The CNN correspondent highlighted how the passage of Arizona's SB1070 was "personal" for the soldier, and asked him slanted questions about the legislation.
CNN's Lavandera Zeroes in on Tea Party's 'Lack of Diversity'
By Matthew Balan | March 31, 2010 | 6:48 PM EDT

Ed Lavandera, CNN Correspondent | NewsBusters.orgOn Wednesday's American Morning, CNN's Ed Lavandera focused on the "overwhelmingly white" turnout at the rallies sponsored by the Tea Party Express organization and played up the criticisms that there is an "anti-minority undertone" at the demonstrations.

Lavandera, who is covering the Tea Party Express' cross-country tour, highlighted the race issue from the beginning of his report, which first aired 13 minutes into the 8 am Eastern hour: "The crowds turning out for the Tea Party Express rallies are overwhelmingly white. Is this lack of diversity a problem for the Tea Party movement? We're taking a closer look."

The correspondent noted some of the apparently "subtle efforts to make the tea party appear diverse," such as a hip hop performance and speeches by black tea party activist Lloyd Marcus. Marcus stated that "there's not a lot of black folks here, basically, because they haven't seen the light yet. They are still hypnotized by the first black or African-American president. But they haven't really looked at the man and what he's doing." This assertion is supported by a Gallup poll from earlier in March that found that President Obama's approval rating among blacks is at 89%, down slightly from 96% in August 2009.

CNN Condemns Threats Against Pro-ObamaCare Reps, 'Death of a President' OK
By Matthew Balan | March 25, 2010 | 2:44 PM EDT
John Roberts, CNN Anchor | NewsBusters.orgOn Thursday's American Morning, CNN's John Roberts repeatedly decried the "troubling language" against pro-ObamaCare congressman which "violate any sense of common decency." But his own program over three years earlier helped promote a controversial 2006 movie which forwarded an imaginary assassination attempt against then-President George W. Bush.

Just after the top of the 6 am Eastern hour, Roberts responded to a report by correspondent Carol Costello on ten Democratic representatives' request for extra security after their reportedly received threatening messages: "Wow. It really is, as you said, at the top, it is troubling, some of the language out there."

An hour later, at the top of 7 am Eastern hour, the anchor expanded on his earlier thought as he introduced a report from correspondent Brianna Keilar: "The message from emotional voters to Capitol Hill this morning could not be clearer: 'Go to hell.' From profanity-laden voicemails to faxes with Nazi insignias on them, thousands of Americans are venting their anger, in some cases, extremely inappropriately. The shouting is not bound to the Beltway. At least ten members of Congress with home districts stretching all the way from New York to Arizona have reported either harassment, vandalism, or outright death threats."
CNN's 'American Morning' Leans Toward Supporters of ObamaCare
By Matthew Balan | March 22, 2010 | 3:36 PM EDT
John Roberts, CNN Anchor; & Kiran Chetry, CNN Anchor | NewsBusters.orgMonday's American Morning on CNN slanted toward guests who supported ObamaCare versus opponents, by a margin of six to two. The program also devoted three segments specifically to interviewing supporters, versus only one to opponents.

Correspondent John Zarella interviewed customers at Lester's Diner in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, asking them for their take on health care "reform." During a segment 43 minutes into the 6 am Eastern hour, Zarella questioned two supporters of ObamaCare. Over an hour later, the CNN correspondent found two who objected to the proposed legislation, thereby covering both sides of the debate.

Anchor John Roberts, on the other hand, shifted the balance to the left by interviewing two supporters of ObamaCare who have an autistic child during a segment 13 minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour. Roberts sympathetically introduced Esther and Paul Hawkins: "Six months after President Obama signs the health care reform bill into law, insurance companies will not be allowed to deny coverage for kids because of preexisting medical conditions. The bill widens that measure to the rest of us by the year 2014. Now, critics say that's only going to add to the growing cost of delivering health care, but for some parents with uninsured kids, it's an awfully big relief."
CNN's Roberts: Why Is a 'Mandate for Having Health Insurance a Bad Thing? There's a Mandate for Having Car Insurance'
By Mike Bates | March 16, 2010 | 8:34 PM EDT
On CNN's American Morning today, anchor John Roberts pressed one of President Barack Obama's talking points on the Democratic health care plan.  Roberts talked with former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who opposes ObamaCare.  Currently the chairman of FreedomWorks, Armey criticized "the audacity of the government mandating to the American people: you must all buy a product that I define for you."  Then Roberts went to work:
ROBERTS: But why is it mandate for having health insurance a bad thing? There's a mandate for having car insurance.

ARMEY: Well, first of all, you have to understand, America is a nation that was founded on the concept of personal liberty, that liberty is a gift given to mankind by the Lord God Almighty and it's the duty of governments to protect your liberty.

ROBERTS: Do you have car insurance?

ARMEY: Not to trespass against your liberty.

ROBERTS: Do you have car insurance?

ARMEY: Do I have car insurance? Of course, I have car insurance.

ROBERTS: You have to have car insurance.
CNN's Acosta Omits Liberal View of Protesters, Highlights 5th Grader
By Matthew Balan | March 10, 2010 | 6:47 PM EST
Jim Acosta, CNN Correspondent | NewsBusters.orgCNN's Jim Acosta omitted the left-wing affiliation of pro-ObamaCare protesters during a report on Wednesday's American Morning, referring to them as only "health care advocates and labor groups." Acosta, like his colleague Nancy Cordes at CBS, also highlighted child protester Marcelas Owens, and labeled him a "brave young man."

Kiran Chetry and John Roberts introduced Acosta's report, and the anchors also failed to mention the political bent of the protest, which was organized by the Health Care for America Now coalition (HCAN's members include the AFL-CIO, NAACP, and Planned Parenthood). Chetry remarked that "thousands though rallied in Washington against what they call 'insurance industry bullying.'" Roberts stated that the demonstration was "one for the books."