ABC's World News Tonight was the sole broadcast network evening newscast on Friday to cover the U.S. Navy's announcement that it would soon position armed guards outside its off-base reserve centers. CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News, along with Univision and Telemundo's evening news programs, ignored this change in policy. ABC's David Muir noted that "the decision follows the deadly shooting of five people at two facilities in Chattanooga where no guards were present," but failed to mention the possible Islamist motivation for the perpetrator.
World News
By Curtis Houck | August 6, 2015 | 8:36 PM EDT
On Thursday’s network evening programs, ABC’s World News Tonight was the only newscast to make no mention of the 5:00 p.m. EDT debate between the bottom seven Republican presidential contenders ahead of the 9:00 p.m. EDT event featuring the top ten candidates. In addition, the CBS Evening News skipped Carly Fiorina’s attack on fellow candidate Donald Trump for his phone call with Bill Clinton.
By Curtis Houck | August 6, 2015 | 1:54 AM EDT
After all three major broadcast networks covered on Wednesday morning news that the FBI is investigating Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server, ABC and NBC moved on from it by the time their evening newscasts rolled around to instead award nearly two minutes to the Cecil the lion story. Joining ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News in the blackout of this development was Spanish-language network Telemundo and its evening newscast, Noticiero Telemundo.
By Curtis Houck | August 5, 2015 | 9:48 PM EDT
On Wednesday night, the major broadcast networks came out in full force to praise a “defiant” President Barack Obama for having made a “sweeping speech with fiery words” on the Iran nuclear deal that included the President following some in the media by comparing Iranian hardliners to Republicans against the deal (even though some Democrats are opposed to it as well). Hanging on to Obama’s every word, NBC's Chris Jansing hailed him for being “on the attack” and “answering critics of the Iran nuclear deal with an impassioned, nearly hour-long defense.”
By Curtis Houck | August 5, 2015 | 1:46 AM EDT
With the ABC and CBS preoccupied with continuing coverage of Cecil the Lion and NBC promoting Jeb Bush’s comments about women’s health, the major broadcast networks found zero time on Tuesday night to mention the fact that arguably the most disturbing video yet in the Planned Parenthood scandal was released hours earlier by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP).
NBC Hypes Hillary ‘Firing Back’ at Jeb Bush Over ‘Women’s Health’ Comments; ‘She’s Got an Issue’ Now
By Curtis Houck | August 4, 2015 | 10:00 PM EDT NBC Nightly News seized Tuesday on Jeb Bush’s comments concerning women’s health that “may have ignited a new flashpoint in the race for president” and instead of focusing on the Planned Parenthood baby parts scandal, the network gushed over Hillary Clinton “firing back” and “blasting” Bush for his word choice after the Democratic candidate had “been so much on the defensive.”
By Kyle Drennen | August 4, 2015 | 12:55 PM EDT
On Monday, all three network evening newscasts touted President Obama signing an executive order ordering power plants to reduce carbon emissions. On NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt proclaimed: “...a rare moment at the White House. President Obama got unexpectedly emotional as he unveiled a sweeping controversial plan to deal with climate change, which he called ‘one of the key challenges of our lifetime.’”
By Scott Whitlock | August 4, 2015 | 11:48 AM EDT
ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday completely ignored the Senate's vote on Planned Parenthood, yet devoted 18 minutes of air time to boy band One Direction. Only CBS This Morning bothered with the Republican effort to defund the abortion group, allowing a meager 25 seconds. Even in that scant amount of time, co-host Norah O'Donnell managed to spin the undercover footage of the organization in a friendly way: "The health provider is under fire for the way it gives fetal tissue to medical researchers."
By Rich Noyes | August 4, 2015 | 9:05 AM EDT
There are currently 17 declared candidates for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, but viewers of the three broadcast evening news shows this year have mainly heard about just two of them: former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and New York businessman Donald Trump. And even though Trump received virtually no TV news attention until he officially declared on June 16, he’s received far more network news coverage than Bush has received all year.
By Matthew Balan | July 31, 2015 | 9:30 PM EDT
Friday's World News Tonight on ABC failed to mention that 37 out of 1,000 of Hillary Clinton's e-mails from her private e-mail server, which were released earlier in the day, contained information that is considered "confidential." Substitute anchor Elizabeth Vargas did give a 28-second news brief on the "flood of documents from the Hillary Clinton campaign" that include tax forms from between 2007 and 2014, as well as a statement from her doctor that she is apparently "fit to serve as president."
By Curtis Houck | July 30, 2015 | 9:50 PM EDT
After almost nine days of silence on the Planned Parenthood baby parts scandal, CBS and NBC ended their coverage blackout with full stories following the release of a fourth horrifying video from the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) while ABC and Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univision ignored it. However, the stories on the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News were anything but impressive as the duo largely played defense for the abortion providers in bemoaning the defunding “attack in Congress.”
By Curtis Houck | July 30, 2015 | 1:56 AM EDT
The network media’s blackout of the IRS scandal continued on Wednesday night with zero mentions of the Senate hearing held hours before as well as a threat issued by a federal judge to hold IRS commissioner John Koskinen and Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys in contempt of court concerning Lois Lerner’s e-mails. As usual, FNC's Special Report provided coverage that the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC and Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univision did not and led its Wednesday show with a full story from chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel.