A Profile in Bias: Christiane Amanpour, ABC's New Host of 'This Week'

July 29th, 2010 8:34 AM

On August 1, former CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour will become the permanent host of ABC's This Week, replacing Jake Tapper. In preparation, the MRC has compiled the top ten examples of the journalist's over-the-top liberal bias.

Despite asserting in 2009 that "nobody knows my biases," Amanpour has gushed over many left-wing politicians, including Hillary Clinton: "...A lot of the women that I meet from traveling overseas are very impressed by you and admire your dignity." She also justified Barack Obama's Nobel Prize win, lauding, "He's obviously done something very significant" since the U.S. now has a "new relationship with the rest of the world."

Here are some of the highlights of what the MRC has uncovered. For the full top ten list, including video and MP3 audio clips, visit MRC.org's Profile in Bias.

Insulting Rioters = Insulting Obama
"The black people in France are very proud and very hopeful for their future. They also live, many of them, in poor situations. And you know, you've had your own riots here and protests and disturbances in the Banlieue - in the city. At one point, when we were covering those riots, when you were Interior Minister, you called the rioters 'scum.' And I'm wondering whether you feel, today, when you stand next to someone you clearly admire so much, and who has broken so many barriers, that you regret that term or that you wish you hadn't said it?"

- CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour to French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a July 25, 2008 press conference with Barack Obama shown live on CNN. [Audio/video (0:51): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Criticism of Obama's Nobel Peace Prize 'Overdone'

"Can I just say, I think it's overdone, this pushing back against his award. He's obviously done something very significant, and that is, after eight years in which the United States was really held in contempt around the world, the United States has now had a new relationship with the rest of the world."

- Christiane Amanpour, reacting to criticism of President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, December 10, 2009 American Morning on CNN. [Audio/video (0:44): Windows Media | MP3 audio]

Hillary's Dignity, or Dependency?

"A lot of the women that I meet from traveling overseas are very impressed by you and admire your dignity. A lot of the people you meet are people who suffered, people you saw today, and who believe that they identify with you, because they have seen you suffer. And in a speech in Africa last year, you spoke about living for hope and reconciliation, living for forgiveness and reconstruction, and living for a new life - have you been able to apply that to your own circumstances? Have you been able to forgive your husband?"

- CNN's Christine Amanpour to Hillary Clinton in Macedonia after a tour of refugee camps, May 14, 1999.

Scary 'Totalitarian' Christians

"On [Christian youth activist Ron Luce's Honor Academy] campus, students must follow a strict set of rules: No secular music or television. No R-rated movies. No alcohol. No drugs. No dating. [To Luce] When I, you know, read that women have to wear skirts of a certain length and guys aren't allowed to, you know, go on the Internet unsupervised, I mean, I think, you know, totalitarian regimes."

- Correspondent Christiane Amanpour in her August 23, 2007 profile of "Christian Warriors," the last of CNN's 3-part special on "God's Warriors."

For more Profiles in Bias, including Helen Thomas and George Stephanopoulos, go here