This week, NewsBusters is presenting the Media Research Center’s “Best Notable Quotables of 2015,” our annual awards for the year’s worst journalism. Today, the “What Difference Does It Make?” Award for denying Hillary’s scandals. Winner: ABC chief anchor and longtime Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos, who treated author Peter Schweizer as a hostile witness during an interview about Schweizer’s book revealing potential conflicts of interest between contributions to the Clinton Foundation and Hillary’s work as Secretary of State.
CBS This Morning
ABC Skips WashPost Smear on Cruz Girls; CBS, NBC Excuse It as a ‘Feud,’ Part of ‘Increased Scrutiny’
By Curtis Houck | December 23, 2015 | 12:31 PM EST The morning after Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes published (then unpublished) an illustration depicting Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s daughters as toy monkeys, calling them “fair game” since they appeared in a campaign ad, ABC’s Good Morning America ignored the story completely while CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today excused it as merely a “feud” and part of “increased scrutiny” for Cruz as he ascends in the polls.
By Brad Wilmouth | December 22, 2015 | 5:45 PM EST
Appearing as a guest on Tuesday's CBS This Morning, Yahoo News political columnist Matt Bai brought up 1960s era segregationist Alabama Democratic governor and former presidential candidate George Wallace during a discussion of Donald Trump's popularity: "There is a very dissatisfied conservative piece of the electorate, you know. It goes back really as far as George Wallace."
By Kyle Drennen | December 18, 2015 | 11:11 AM EST
In a focus group with American Muslims on CBS This Morning, participants told political strategist Frank Luntz that Republicans discussing terrorism was so offensive that their children could not be exposed to GOP debates. One woman warned: “I actually did a call out to Muslim parents across the country to not watch the Republican debate in front of their children because I knew that, that – subjecting our children to hear the hateful stereotyping and the lumping of Muslims with terrorism in front of our children is actually something that psychologically impacts them.”
By Scott Whitlock | December 17, 2015 | 11:41 AM EST
All three network morning shows on Thursday covered the breaking news that Defense Secretary Ash Carter used private e-mails for government work. But only ABC deemed it an “embarrassment” for Barack Obama himself. Good Morning America’s Mary Bruce asserted, “This is no question this is an embarrassment for the White House and will likely draw attacks from Republicans who say the administration isn't doing enough to safeguard sensitive information.”
By Matthew Balan | December 16, 2015 | 6:00 PM EST
ABC's morning and evening newscasts, along with those of competitors CBS and NBC, have yet to cover on the latest Washington Post/ABC poll finding that 53 percent of Americans oppose a new assault weapons ban. This is the "first time in more than 20 years of ABC News/Washington Post polls, with the public expressing vast doubt that the authorities can prevent 'lone wolf' terrorist attacks and a substantial sense that armed citizens can help."
By Kyle Drennen | December 16, 2015 | 12:13 PM EST
Interviewing Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on Wednesday, the hosts of both NBC’s Today and CBS This Morning pushed the idea that the 2016 Republican field was so divided that there would have to be a brokered convention to pick the party’s nominee. In 2008, instead of discussing a possible brokered convention, all three morning shows excitedly promoted the idea of unifying Democrats around an Obama-Clinton “dream ticket.”
By Kyle Drennen | December 15, 2015 | 3:37 PM EST
On Tuesday, NBC left it to CBS to report its own poll showing a significant drop in President Obama’s overall approval rating and specifically regarding his handling of terrorism. CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King covered the numbers from the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll: “43% approve of Americans approve of the job that he's doing, and that’s the lowest number in more than a year. But 60% disapprove of the way that he’s handling the current situation with ISIS.”
By Kyle Drennen | December 14, 2015 | 12:41 PM EST
On Monday’s CBS This Morning, while covering Ted Cruz’s rise in the polls, correspondent Nancy Cordes noted the Republican presidential candidate’s “outspoken opposition to ObamaCare and his willingness to take on both sides of the Washington establishment resonates with Iowa conservatives,” but warned: “That approach has made Cruz deeply unpopular with leaders in his own party, who worry that he could be just as polarizing of a nominee as Trump.”
By Kyle Drennen | December 14, 2015 | 11:13 AM EST
In the latest edition of its Note to Self series, Monday’s CBS This Morning featured left-wing actress Jane Fonda reciting a letter to herself in which she praised her own activism against the Vietnam war: “Your biggest strength will be that you won't shutdown and become cynical. You'll become an activist.”
By Matthew Balan | December 12, 2015 | 10:05 AM EST
On Friday, ABC and CBS's evening newscasts touted how Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "personally welcoming Syrian refugees" as they flew into Toronto. ABC's David Muir heralded, "Trudeau greeting fathers, mothers, and children — telling them — quote, 'You're home.'" CBS's Scott Pelley spotlighted the "noteworthy landing — 163 refugees escaping the war in Syria were welcomed to Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau."
By Scott Whitlock | December 11, 2015 | 12:52 PM EST
The liberal, pro-gun control governor of Connecticut came under very little scrutiny, Friday, in an interview for CBS This Morning. Daniel Malloy has signed an executive order that would ban anyone on the federal no-fly watch list from purchasing a gun in his state. Instead of offering constitutional or due process questions, co-host Charlie Rose touted, “Connecticut's governor vows this morning to do what the U.S. Senate would not when it comes to gun control.”