In what was an otherwise softball interview with Chelsea Clinton on Tuesday’s NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie did briefly press the former first daughter (and former NBC correspondent) on Hillary Clinton’s struggling presidential campaign: “You are one of her most trusted advisers as well as her daughter....And there was a recent poll that was really striking because it asked voters what is a word you associate with Hillary Clinton... ‘dishonest,’ ‘untrustworthy,’ ‘liar.’ Why do you think that is? What's not getting through, in your mind?”
Today
By Scott Whitlock | September 14, 2015 | 11:58 AM EDT
ABC on Sunday and Monday hid the damaging details of its own poll, minimizing Hillary Clinton's plunging popularity. Instead, World News and Good Morning America shifted the focus to Donald Trump and his continued surge. Clinton's "dramatic" fall appeared only on ABCNews.com. It was left to competitors CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today to probe the numbers. With an on-screen graphic crediting ABC, CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose explained, “Only 42 percent of Democrats in the national poll are backing her now.”
By Scott Whitlock | September 8, 2015 | 4:57 PM EDT
CBS on Monday and Tuesday ignored Barack Obama's latest executive order, this one effecting 300,000 workers. NBC and ABC skimped on the story, offering just seconds. On the NBC Nightly News, Kate Snow trumpeted: "With the stroke of the President's pen on this Labor Day, about 300,000 workers will get something many have fought for: guaranteed paid sick leave."
By Jeffrey Meyer | September 6, 2015 | 8:42 AM EDT
Appearing on Sunday’s Today, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd conceded that President Obama obtaining the 34 Senate votes to sustain a presidential veto on the Iran deal was not a victory but rather “about avoiding defeat. It’s surviving.” NBC’s Peter Alexander surprisingly framed the Iran vote not as a victory for the White House and actually wondered “is this a victory or is it more that he’s just avoiding defeat here?”
By Scott Whitlock | September 4, 2015 | 12:56 PM EDT
Despite a combined eight hours of air time, the three networks on Friday allowed a scant one minute and 48 seconds to the latest details of Hillary Clinton's evolving e-mail scandal. This, despite the revelation that a top Clinton adviser announced he will plead the Fifth Amendment. In contrast, ABC, NBC and CBS devoted a staggering 41 minutes and 54 seconds to various rock concerts.
By Kyle Drennen | September 3, 2015 | 12:49 PM EDT
On Thursday, NBC’s Today led with breaking news that Hillary Clinton staffer Bryan Pagliano would invoke the Fifth Amendment and not testify to the House Benghazi Committee about setting up the former Secretary of State’s private e-mail server. Savannah Guthrie wondered: “Is there something to hide? And what does it mean for the Clinton campaign?” Today devoted 6 minutes, 20 seconds to Clinton’s e-mail scandal. By contrast, ABC and CBS could each only muster less than a minute of coverage to the story.
By Jeffrey Meyer | September 3, 2015 | 10:43 AM EDT
After Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland became just the 34th supporter in the Senate of the Iran deal, the “Big Three” networks all cheered the impeding vote as a major “victory” for the president while offering up zero soundbites from the majority of Congress and public who oppose the deal.
By Kyle Drennen | September 2, 2015 | 10:57 AM EDT
Ahead of Pope Francis’s upcoming visit to the U.S., Wednesday’s NBC Today touted a new Pew Research Center poll finding that a minority of Catholics do not believe abortion to be a sin. Willie Geist used the Pope adjusting the process of forgiving abortion as a segue: “...the Vatican announced priests may now forgive women who’ve had abortions....The Pope isn't alone when it comes to a bit of a change of heart.” Geist proclaimed “a third of Catholics say terminating a pregnancy is not a sin.”
By Kyle Drennen | September 1, 2015 | 12:52 PM EDT
With the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal ongoing, on Tuesday, NBC’s Today and CBS This Morning assured viewers that the Democratic front-runner was in no “legal jeopardy.” On Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie asked Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd: “I mean, the central accusation, what people are worried about, is did she mishandle classified information?...is there a smoking gun on that issue?” Todd replied: “No, there's not.”
By Jeffrey Meyer | September 1, 2015 | 11:14 AM EDT
On Tuesday, CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today acted as unofficial White House spokesmen and eagerly promoted President Obama’s visit to Alaska in which he pushed his climate change agenda. ABC’s Good Morning America, however, did not cover President Obama’s climate change speech. CBS’s Gayle King touted how Obama “gets a firsthand look at the effects of climate change on his three-day visit to Alaska...He painted a dark picture of the future without action...”
By Scott Whitlock | August 31, 2015 | 12:14 PM EDT
Barack Obama bypassed Congress yet again, Sunday, but NBC and ABC barely noticed or offered much of an objection. The President unilaterally changed the name of Alaska's Mount McKinley to Mount Denali. Republicans swiftly objected, including Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senator Rob Portman, among others.
By Kyle Drennen | August 31, 2015 | 12:05 PM EDT
On Monday, NBC’s Today devoted a full report to Donald Trump and Republican members of Congress criticizing longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Fill-in co-host Willie Geist declared: “One of Hillary Clinton's top aides, Huma Abedin, is in the headlines this morning, with Republican lawmakers and Donald Trump taking aim at her position, and in Trump’s case, her marriage.”