On Tuesday night, CBS and NBC teamed with Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univision to hide from their viewers news that U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy has been using a private e-mail server to conduct government business and send sensitive material. Surprisingly, ABC’s World News Tonight stepped up to the plate with a scant 50-second report on this new e-mail scandal by chief White House correspondent and a lead in by fill-in anchor and Clinton Foundation donor George Stephanopoulos.
Caroline Kennedy
By Scott Whitlock | March 9, 2015 | 11:37 AM EDT
The media's decades-long love for all things Kennedy continued on Monday's CBS This Morning. Co-host Norah O'Donnell reported from Japan to fawn over U.S. ambassador Caroline Kennedy. Previewing an upcoming 60 Minutes story, O'Donnell enthused, "She's almost greeted like a head of state here in Japan. Incredibly popular."
By Matt Hadro | April 24, 2014 | 9:10 PM EDT
Thursday's NBC Nightly News decided it was newsworthy to air a Democrat's tentative support for a hypothetical Hillary Clinton presidential run. NBC's Chuck Todd pressed U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy on the matter.
"Can you foresee yourself supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 if she chooses to run?" Todd asked Kennedy, who reservedly expressed her support. "Because the last time you didn't support her, that's why I was just curious if this time you want her to do it and this time you would be behind her."
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 24, 2014 | 11:05 AM EDT
President Obama is currently on a week-long tour of Asia and all three networks took the opportunity to promote the tenure of Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. On Thursday April 24, all three morning shows sat down with Kennedy and heaped praise on the long-time Democrat.
ABC’s Jonathan Karl and NBC’s Chuck Todd both used their interviews to plead for Kennedy to support Hillary Clinton’s prospective 2016 run for president, with Todd beaming that “Ambassador Kennedy said she was looking forward to Hillary Clinton running and thought she’d make a great candidate. [See video below.]
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 23, 2014 | 10:43 AM EDT
President Obama began a week-long trip of Asia on Wednesday with a stop in Japan, and NBC's Today dutifully heaped praise on the trip and the American Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy. On April 23, Co-host Matt Lauer gushed at the "Historic trip. President Obama greeted by Ambassador Caroline Kennedy as he arrives in Japan this morning. The first state visit by a president there in nearly two decades and Ambassador Kennedy's first major summit in her new role."
The two-and-a-half-minute segment began with reporter Peter Alexander glowing at "A large crowd, including his ambassador, greeted the president today in Tokyo. But that doesn't compare to the thousands who lined the streets here last fall to welcome Caroline Kennedy, riding in a horse-drawn carriage, she was more dignitary than diplomat. Completing the journey her father could not." [See video below.]
By Scott Whitlock | February 12, 2014 | 5:33 PM EST
According to CBS's Seth Doane on Wednesday, even the "fairy tale" introduction of Caroline Kennedy hasn't kept the U.S. ambassador to Japan from running into some problems in her new job. Doane highlighted a protest of new military bases in Okinawa, Japan. Yet, while the reporter seemed mildly irritated about having to whisper during a Kennedy press conference (and not being able to ask questions), his co-hosts didn't appear too bothered.
Explaining the start of Kennedy's ambassadorship, Doane cited the "ceremonial aspect," narrating, "That was showcased when she was brought by horse-drawn carriage to present her credentials to the emperor. Thousands lined Tokyo's streets in November to catch a glimpse of this fairy tale-like scene." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
By Tim Graham | December 15, 2013 | 9:34 AM EST
Alex Burns at Politico was handed the Kennedy Goo bucket for their latest feature, headlined "Ambassador Kennedy: A Star Is Born." The liberal media establishment are very eager to say Caroline Kennedy is packed with charm in her role in Japan as "political royalty," and if she was a terrible candidate to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate, well, diplomacy is more her bag.
After about three weeks, this "iconic daughter of American political royalty" is already a "rock star" in diplomatic circles. In other words, she was born on third base and servile journalists insist she's hit a triple. Someone left the cap off the sugar dispenser:
By Matthew Balan | September 20, 2013 | 3:25 PM EDT
The Big Three broadcast networks made their slanted priorities clear on their Thursday evening newscasts, as they fawned over Caroline Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearing earlier that day, but failed to cover the emotional congressional testimony of Pat Smith. Smith is the mother of Sean Smith, who died in the 2012 Islamist attack on the U.S. post in Benghazi, Libya.
ABC's Martha Raddatz was awestruck over JFK's daughter: "For one brief shining moment, senators from both sides of the aisle seemed to harken back to the so-called Camelot days." NBC's Harry Smith gushed that "history and legacy were more important this morning than party or partisanship. The daughter of a president said she wanted to fulfill her father's wish." [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
By Kyle Drennen | July 25, 2013 | 12:19 PM EDT
On Thursday's NBC Today, chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell couldn't contain her glee over Carolina Kennedy being appointed U.S. ambassador to Japan: "Caroline Kennedy was almost born to be an ambassador, a picture perfect daughter in a telegenic first family. She captured our hearts all the way through her intense personal heartbreak." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Mitchell acknowledged that Kennedy "has no particular experience in Japan," but quickly brushed it aside: "...she has something that the Japanese consider far more important in an ambassador, and that is a celebrated family name and a direct line to her very good friend in the Oval Office." On Wednesday's Nightly News, Mitchell gushed: "The Kennedy name is magic in Japan."
By Matthew Balan | April 2, 2013 | 3:50 PM EDT
CBS again paid homage to Caroline Kennedy on Tuesday's CBS This Morning as they hyped her possible nomination to be the next ambassador of Japan. During her report, Jan Crawford featured liberal historian Robert Dallek, who gushed over the apparent worldwide reputation of the presidential daughter's family: "The Kennedys, generally, have an extraordinary, continuing hold on the public's imagination, both in this country and abroad."
Dallek later asserted that the U.S. might be "sending somebody as ambassador to Tokyo who is representative of the best in American culture." The correspondent also touted how Kennedy "would have an opportunity to test her political skills, but also, she would be able to put the Kennedy name back on an international stage" if President Obama named her to the key diplomatic post.
By Scott Whitlock | March 26, 2013 | 3:22 PM EDT
Good Morning America's historical coverage is mostly non-existent. Yet, there's one thing the ABC program finds time for every year: Kennedy worship. On Tuesday's GMA, the same program that ignored Harry Reid linking Marine deaths to sequester cuts featured the latest on Kennedy family poetry.
Reporter David Muir gushed, "The indelible images of Caroline Kennedy's childhood: The little girl in the White House hiding under her father's desk, sitting beside her mother in bed. And if you look closely, there is often something else, books." The purpose of the segment was to promote Poems to Learn By Heart, a compilation collected by JFK's daughter. [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
By Matthew Balan | March 8, 2013 | 5:31 PM EST
Charlie Rose, Norah O'Donnell, and Gayle King gushed over Caroline Kennedy on Friday's CBS This Morning. O'Donnell asked Kennedy is she supported a potential Hillary Clinton presidential run in 2016, which prompted Rose to wonder if the daughter of JFK might run herself for the highest elected office in the U.S.
King hyped the potential nomination of Kennedy to be an ambassador to Japan: "Madame Ambassador – does that have a ring to it for you?" O'Donnell tossed the softest of softballs as a follow-up: "Do you like Japan or Canada better?" (audio available here; video below the jump)