On Thursday night, ABC and NBC cheered the “historic” agreement of an outline for continued talks with Iran and declared that “the United States could be entering a new era in its relationship” with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reflected on the “18 months of tough negotiations” that “end[ed] with an all-nighter” with the possibility that “the United States could be entering a new era in its relationship with Iran and President Obama is telling critics this will make our world safer.”
John Kerry
By Curtis Houck | April 1, 2015 | 3:11 AM EDT
On Tuesday, NBC’s chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell took time out of her NBC Nightly News report from Switzerland on the Iranian nuclear talks to hail Secretary of State John Kerry as someone who “doesn’t give up easily” and gush that a local pizzeria in the town where the talks are being held has decided to name “a pizza after him.”
By Tom Blumer | March 30, 2015 | 1:38 PM EDT
At the Washington Post on March 18, fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave Secretary of State John Kerry "four Pinocchios" for his resume-puffing "whopper" that he helped organize "the first hearings in the Senate" on global warming in 1988.
In the process, Kessler inadvertently perpetuated a related myth and got called out for it. He admirably corrected himself this morning. Additionally, while assigning four Pinocchios for himself, he dished out four Pinocchios to "all concerned." That's a long list, as will be seen after the jump.
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 17, 2015 | 9:03 AM EDT
On Tuesday, CBS This Morning introduced its coverage of the ongoing U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran by promoting President Obama blaming the rise of ISIS on the Bush administration as well as his condemnation of the Republican letter to the leadership of Iran.
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 16, 2015 | 10:12 AM EDT
Speaking from Switzerland on Monday morning regarding the continuing nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, CBS News reporter Margaret Brennan used the term “hardliners” to equate Republicans who oppose a potential deal to those within the Iranian regime.
By Curtis Houck | March 12, 2015 | 12:31 AM EDT
Unlike ABC and CBS, the NBC Nightly News dedicated a full segment on its Wednesday show to the continued reaction concerning the letter signed by 47 Republican Senators and sent to Iranian leaders. Predictably, the segment took to scolding the GOP by promoting a tweet from Hillary Clinton on the matter as well as a petition which calls for charges to be brought against the signers under the Logan Act.
By Ken Shepherd | March 11, 2015 | 9:12 PM EDT
Yet again Hardball host Chris Matthews insisted that 47 Republican senators the other day violated federal law by penning an open letter to the government of Iran regarding ongoing nuclear talks between that regime and the Obama administration. In a March 11 segment on the matter, Matthews played video of Secretary of State John Kerry criticizing Republicans for sending the open letter.
By Curtis Houck | March 5, 2015 | 10:21 PM EST
On Thursday night, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News neglected to mention video that had surfaced earlier in the day of Hillary Clinton attacking the Bush administration in 2007 over their supposed email practices. Instead of mentioning this latest example of hypocrisy by a Clinton, CBS touted a Democratic Congressman who lamented that this story is merely “in the realm of presidential politics” while NBC’s Andrea Mitchell pushed a Clinton-camp talking point and dubbed the scandal as just “fuss.”
By Mark Finkelstein | March 3, 2015 | 12:53 PM EST
In today's speech, Benjamin Netanyahu took a not-so-subtle shot at John Kerry: will the MSM notice? The Israeli PM otherwise went out of his way to be bi-partisan, finding ways to praise President Obama and even Harry Reid.
But Kerry came in for a stinging swipe when Netanyahu said "last year, the same [Iranian foreign minister] Zarif, who charms Western diplomats, laid a wreath at the grave of Imad Mughniyeh. Imad Mughniyeh is the terrorist mastermind who spilled more American blood [at the Beirut Marine barracks bombing] than any other terrorist besides Osama bin Laden. I'd like to see someone ask him a question about that." Wonder just which Western diplomat Bibi had in mind, John? And Netanyahu threw down the gauntlet: do you dare raise the issue with Zarif next time you go for a stroll with him?
By Tom Blumer | February 26, 2015 | 11:12 PM EST
At the Associated Press late Thursday morning, Ken Dilanian, the wire service's intelligence writer, did a marvelous job of covering up the essence of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's Worldwide Threat Assessment testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The trouble is that if he were doing his job as our Founders anticipated he would when they gave the nation's press extraordinary and then unheard-of freedoms, he would have covered the story instead of covering it up.
By Tom Blumer | January 31, 2015 | 9:23 PM EST
Over at American Thinker, Thomas Lifson caught a damning admission the New York Times made in a correction to a Thursday piece by Carl Hulse and Jeremy W. Peters. The correction blew apart their write-up's entire premise, namely that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to make amends with congressional Democrats and having to explain why "the White House had been circumvented before he was invited to speak before Congress."
Trouble is, the White House hadn't been circumvented at all, as the correction clearly indicated (bold is mine):
By Kyle Drennen | January 16, 2015 | 3:23 PM EST
On Friday, while all three network morning shows covered Secretary of State John Kerry arriving in Paris to offer U.S. condolences following the recent terrorist attacks, none of the broadcasts mentioned one of the most embarrassing moments in American diplomatic history that occurred during the visit – Kerry bringing musician James Taylor to a press conference to sing "You've Got A Friend" to the French people.