Following five straight days where the network evening newscasts slammed Indiana for passing its Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), Arkansas joined the barrage of criticism on Wednesday after Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson requested the legislature make changes to its own version. The CBS Evening News failed to mention how a small Indiana pizza parlor has been forced to at least temporarily shutter after receiving violent threats while NBC Nightly News only said that the shop closed after “so much criticism online.”
Mike Pence
By Tom Blumer | April 1, 2015 | 11:43 PM EDT
Something hasn't seemed right about the Memories Pizza story from the get-go. Now I know why.
In a Tuesday report, TV Station ABC 57 cited the Walkerton, Indiana business's Crystal O'Connor as saying that, in the station's words, they "don't agree with gay marriages and wouldn't cater them if asked to." In other words, they've never been asked to. The non-story which ignited a national firestorm is the result of a dangerously irresponsible ambush. The reporter involved admitted as much in a tweet late this morning:
By NB Staff | April 1, 2015 | 5:19 PM EDT
"How in the world" was the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act four times as newsworthy to the liberal media than the revelation that Hillary Clinton's wiped her email server and thus, "[made] it impossible for investigators to find out what was going on with the Benghazi scandal," Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell asked on his April 1 appearance on the Fox Business Network program Varney & Co.
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 1, 2015 | 11:47 AM EDT
On Wednesday morning, the “Big Three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) networks implemented a new tactic in its effort to smear Indiana’s religious freedom law by hyping a similar law that just made its way through the Arkansas legislature and its opposition from the CEO of Walmart.
By Curtis Houck | April 1, 2015 | 7:17 AM EDT
In a commentary masquerading as a news brief, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley took multiple shots at Indiana and its Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) on Tuesday by complaining about the bill’s length and indirectly using the First Amendment to support opponents of the law: “We may have found the reason for all this confusion.” He complained it contains “eleven paragraphs, 62 lines, and 832 words” and then thumbed his nose at lawmakers by saying that “James Madison did more in 16 words” in writing the First Amendment.
By Curtis Houck | April 1, 2015 | 12:33 AM EDT
For the fifth straight night, the major broadcast networks used their evening newscasts to blast the State of Indiana on Tuesday for sparking an “uproar” and “national outcry” over its Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) while also choosing to heavily promote the arguments of opponents.
Heritage’s Ryan Anderson Spars with Ed Schultz on Indiana’s RFRA; Gets Mic Cut, Told He Needs Counseling
By Curtis Houck | March 31, 2015 | 10:47 PM EDT After appearing on Monday’s All In on MSNBC, the Heritage Foundation’s Ryan Anderson again ventured into hostile territory by joining the Tuesday edition of The Ed Show to discuss Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). At various points during the nearly eight-and-a-half-minute segment, Ed Schultz cut Anderson’s microphone, accused him of not wanting to “have a civil conversation,” and declared those who share Anderson’s position on the Indiana law “need to be counseled up in a big way.”
By Ken Shepherd | March 31, 2015 | 9:10 PM EDT
Leave it to Chris Matthews, during Holy Week no less, to slander Catholic nuns as anti-gay bigots.
The Hardball host made the charge today during the conclusion to a heated debate segment pitting Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy (D) against former RNC chairman Michael Steele on the issue of Indiana's brand-new Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
By Tom Blumer | March 31, 2015 | 8:53 PM EDT
The press won't roast New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for this, but it should — at a very high temperature.
Today, Mr. Self-Righteous, who in the past has suggested that anyone who is pro-life, against same-sex marriage, or for the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment as written and adjudicated should leave his state, banned all "non-essential" state travel to Indiana, home of a recently enacted religious freedom law similar to that found in roughly 19 states — make that soon to be 20, with Arkansas imminently getting on board:
By Matthew Balan | March 31, 2015 | 6:40 PM EDT
The Heritage Foundation's Ryan Anderson defended Indiana's religious freedom law on Monday's All In program on MSNBC, and blasted far-left LGBT activist Dan Savage for likening the new statute to Jim Crow: "It's interesting that Dan says that it's discrimination. It strikes me that all of the businesses that are currently boycotting Indiana are saying that they want to run their businesses in accordance with their values....Why is it the 70-year-old grandmother can't be free to run her business, in accordance with her values?"
By Scott Whitlock | March 31, 2015 | 5:11 PM EDT
All three networks on Tuesday morning continued to pile on Governor Mike Pence and his state's religious freedom law. ABC, NBC and CBS focused almost exclusively on the critics of the law and pushed the idea that the legislation was bigoted. On Good Morning America, Gio Benitez acted as a prosecutor against the law. Talking to Indiana legislators, he demanded, "You're going to directly add into that law that it cannot be used to discriminate against anyone."
By Ken Shepherd | March 31, 2015 | 4:41 PM EDT
If Chris Matthews thought he could trip up and embarrass Russell Moore, the head of the South Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, he was most certainly disappointed.