News Hour

David Brooks: 'Obama Has Run An Amazingly Scandal-Free Administration'
By Tom Blumer | May 31, 2015 | 6:12 PM EDT

One doesn't know what to do with the rubbish which follows beyond noting it and hoping that the ridicule which results will somehow and in some way have some kind of impact.

Despite 6-1/2 years of horrid governance and dozens of acknowledged scandals, several of which a few of the credible remaining outposts of liberal thought have actually agreed are scandals, David Brooks, the New York Times's resident fake conservative, asserted on Friday's PBS NewsHour, as if it's an indisputable fact, that "President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only he himself, but the people around him."

Tom Steyer Tells PBS He's 'David' Standing Against Koch 'Goliath'
By Alatheia Larsen | May 27, 2015 | 12:17 PM EDT

Apparently Tom Steyer knows his Bible better than he knows math. Or perhaps he just hasn't had a heart to heart with his accountant in several years. 

Liberal climate change activist and political donor Tom Steyer likened himself to David, fighting against the "Goliath" of conservative political donors, in a May 26 interview with PBS NewsHour. He lamented, "when you look at the relatie dollars, it really is a David and Goliath situation, and we're very definitely the small shepherd boy with five rocks and a sling."

PBS Ombudsman: Judy Woodruff Donating to Clinton Foundation ‘Doesn’t Look Good’
By Kyle Drennen | May 22, 2015 | 3:20 PM EDT

In a Thursday column, PBS ombudsman Michael Getler took NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff to task for failing to disclose a 2010 donation to the Clinton Foundation: “It is always a bad idea for a journalist to give money to a political campaign or anything even remotely connected to the activities of a politician or party, or an organization that they might cover. You just shouldn’t do it.”

PBS Anchor Judy Woodruff Also Admits Donating to Clinton Foundation
By Tim Graham | May 15, 2015 | 11:55 AM EDT

The Wall Street Journal reported on the Stephanopoulos scandal on Friday, and found another national TV anchor in the database. “Judy Woodruff, the co-anchor and managing editor of PBS NewsHour, gave $250 in 2010 to the foundation’s aid efforts for victims of the Haiti earthquake.” She was a senior correspondent then, before Jim Lehrer retired.

Woodruff initially recalled the donation as being for $1,000, but based the $250 amount as the one on her 2010 tax return. Woodruff tried to make it sound bipartisan:

PBS NewsHour Laments Smell of 'Imperialist Meddling' and 'Bullying' Venezuela -- by Obama?
By Tim Graham | April 10, 2015 | 12:43 PM EDT

On Thursday night’s PBS NewsHour, they devoted two segments to the forthcoming Summit of the Americas and like Andrea Mitchell, PBS correspondent Margaret Warner felt it necessary to document how Latin American countries think Team Obama’s actions toward Venezuela “smacked of U.S. bullying” and even “imperialist meddling.”

It might seem a bit perverse, but the government-funded channel was calmly explaining to viewers that standing up for dissidents is a diplomatic fiasco.

Conservatives, Ick: PBS NewsHour Explores How Cultural Issues Will Punish Republicans in 2016
By Tim Graham | April 3, 2015 | 10:26 AM EDT

The PBS NewsHour hosted a panel discussion on Thursday night on the controversy over religious freedom in Indiana. To their credit, PBS brought on a Baptist minister, Tim Overton, to speak for Christians who are upset at the current liberal trend. But National Journal correspondent Ron Brownstein pushed hard on the politics -- on how Republicans are going to suffer as “we expand the circle equality. That is the American story...there’s no reversing that.”

On NPR and PBS, David Brooks Bashes Ted Cruz: Too Smart, Too Smoothly Insincere
By Tim Graham | March 30, 2015 | 3:51 PM EDT

Tim Russert used to say “If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press.” Of David Brooks, we might joke, “If it’s Friday, Brooks is bashing Ted Cruz.” On both NPR and PBS Friday, the purported conservative-leaning balance to public broadcasting’s natural socialist impulses insisted the problem was that Cruz was just too smart.

On NPR’s All Things Considered, the headline for the week-in-politics segment was “Sen. Harry Reid's Retirement, Cruz's Appeal To Far-Right.”

Mark Shields: GOP Was ‘Post-Orgasmic’ Following Netanyahu’s Speech
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 9, 2015 | 12:04 PM EDT

On Friday, March 6, liberal columnist Mark Shields used his weekly appearance on PBS NewsHour to harshly criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress. Speaking to co-host Judy Woodruff, Shields proclaimed that Netanyahu “made a very impassioned, I would say, eloquent indictment, criticism of the president’s policy. The Republicans were rapturous. They were adulatory. Even they were post-orgasmic.”

David Brooks: CPAC is the ‘Hardest of the Hardcore’ Conservatives
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 1, 2015 | 3:39 PM EST

On Friday’s PBS NewsHour, New York Times columnists David Brooks and Mark Shields used their weekly appearance to trash the attendees of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) as representing the extreme far right of the Republican Party. 

PBS's Mark Shields: Scott Walker's Idea of Foreign Policy Is 'Beat Ohio State'
By Tim Graham | February 21, 2015 | 9:58 AM EST

Anyone who thinks the PBS NewsHour is a calm, rather nonpartisan forum on politics where no one does any trash-talking hasn’t seen Mark Shields on Fridays.

On Friday, Shields trashed Jeb Bush as a bumbler, and then just insulted governors Scott Walker and Chris Christie as “total novices” on foreign policy, like he’s a standup comedian. But eight years ago, Shields said only "serious candidates" were running.

ABC and CBS Ignore Keystone Pipeline Passing Congress; NBC Only Gives News 11 Seconds
By Curtis Houck | February 12, 2015 | 2:52 AM EST

When it came to the major broadcast networks covering the full congressional passage of the Keystone XL oil pipeline on their Wednesday night newscasts, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir and the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley chose to ignore the story completely and left their viewers in the dark on this issue. Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News made it the second topic covered on its broadcast and while it was the first network evening news mention of Keystone since all three did on January 6

Shields, Brooks Tag Team for Obama, Against GOP Vaccine Gaffes
By Jeffrey Meyer | February 8, 2015 | 3:32 PM EST

On Friday’s PBS NewsHour, New York Times columnist David Brooks and PBS commentator Mark Shields teamed up to praise President Obama’s controversial remarks about Christianity at the National Prayer Breakfast as well as to shame the GOP over two potential presidential candidates' recent vaccine gaffes. Speaking to co-host Judy Woodruff, Brooks slammed Senator Rand Paul and Governor Chris Christie as “kowtowing toward people who are suspicious of institutions and therefore suspicious of belief. And there has to be a leadership test for candidates.”