Charlie Rose

CBS Ignores Obama News Conference, Promotes Michelle Obama Dancing Instead
By Jeffrey Meyer | August 7, 2014 | 12:26 PM EDT

On Thursday, August 7, CBS This Morning’s coverage of President Obama’s Africa Summit consisted of a glowing puff piece on how being First Lady was like being in a sorority.

Rather than acknowledge the existence of President Obama’s news conference from Wednesday night, Major Garrett, CBS News Chief White House Correspondent, played up how “Michelle Obama and Laura Bush shared the summit stage with moderator Cokie Roberts and talked candidly about the hard knocks of political criticism.” [See video below.]

Obama Donor Mellody Hobson Concedes Corporate Tax Rate Is Too High
By Jeffrey Meyer | August 7, 2014 | 10:56 AM EDT

Here’s something you don’t see every day, a donor for President Obama admitting that America’s corporate tax rate is too high.

Mellody Hobson appeared on CBS This Morning on Thursday, August 7 to discuss pharmacy chain Walgreens’ decision to keep its headquarters in the United States. The CBS News contributor opined that even though she agreed with the company’s decision she acknowledged that in America “it's still the highest tax rate of any developed nation.” [See video below.]

Only CBS Acknowledges Gov’t Missing $619 Billion From Agency Budgets
By Jeffrey Meyer | August 6, 2014 | 9:53 AM EDT

On Wednesday, August 6, USA Today reported that the federal website USASpending.gov which is tasked with tracking government money, can’t find $619 billion from different agency budgets.  

Despite the government losing track of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, CBS This Morning was the only network morning show to cover the report on Wednesday morning. ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today ignored the story altogether. [See video below.] 

ABC Out to Lunch on U.S. Attempt to Kindle Political Change in Cuba; CBS, NBC Cover
By Matthew Balan | August 5, 2014 | 5:16 PM EDT

As of Tuesday morning, ABC's morning and evening newscasts have yet to cover the Associated Press report that revealed the Obama administration's covert program in Cuba that attempted "recruit young Cubans to anti-government activism" on the communist-dominated island. The AP outlined that "over at least two years, the U.S. Agency for International Development...sent nearly a dozen neophytes from Venezuela, Costa Rica and Peru to gin up opposition in Cuba."

By contrast, both CBS This Morning and NBC's Today set aside air time to the scoop. NBC's Natalie Morales gave a 32-second news brief on the clandestine program: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Say What?! State-Controlled Anchors in Russia are Just Like Glenn Beck?
By Geoffrey Dickens | August 5, 2014 | 12:01 PM EDT

David Remnick, on Tuesday’s Charlie Rose show, actually compared state-controlled Russian TV anchors to Glenn Beck. The editor of the New Yorker magazine told the PBS host that Vladimir Putin benefits from “a media that’s completely in the hands of the state” and then went on to liken pro-Putin anchors to the former conservative Fox News host and current CEO of The Blaze.

Remnick: “Imagine that Glenn Beck were in every anchor chair but he was appointed by the President of the United States. It’s, it’s that perverse. The sense of ‘they are out to get us’ is profound. And people who used to be on the margins, people who used to be on the kind of nutty margins of the discussion, have now been empowered to be on television, and are very forceful voices.” (video after the jump)

Networks Hype Israel 'Under Growing Pressure': U.S. 'Appalled' By 'Disgraceful' Shelling
By Kyle Drennen | August 4, 2014 | 4:50 PM EDT

All three network morning shows on Monday eagerly touted the Obama administration denouncing Israel after an attack on Hamas targets in Gaza led to civilian deaths. On NBC's Today, correspondent Richard Engel proclaimed: "After another attack on Palestinians taking shelter at a U.N.-run school on Sunday, Washington issued its strongest condemnation yet of its ally. The U.S. State Department said it was 'appalled by the disgraceful shelling.'" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Engel continued: "U.N. officials were shocked Israel chose to attack where it knew so many civilians would be in danger....The U.N. secretary general called the Israeli strike 'a moral outrage and a criminal act.'"

From 2009 to 2014, Networks Have Saluted Obama on His Special Day: 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President'
By Scott Whitlock | August 4, 2014 | 12:05 PM EDT

From 2009 to 2014, every year of Barack Obama's presidency, the networks have observed his birthday, often wishing him a special day. A graphic for CBS This Morning on Monday touted, "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." Co-host Charlie Rose enthused, "President Obama is waking up a year older. The President turns 53 today, but his birthday weekend began Saturday." He reiterated, "Happy birthday, Mr. President." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Guest co-host Vinita Nair parroted, "Happy birthday." Over on NBC's Today, Savannah Guthrie reminded, "By the way, we should mention it's President Obama's 53rd birthday. So, happy birthday to him." Fill-in host Carson Daly offered, "Happy birthday." On America This Morning, the very early ABC show, co-host Devin Dwyer cheered, "Well, happy birthday wishes going out this morning to President Obama." 

Not a Peep on CNN About Investigation Into New York Governor Cuomo
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 31, 2014 | 11:27 AM EDT

Over the past week, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) has been embroiled in a political scandal following his decision to cancel his own Moreland Commission, created to expose political corruption in the state capitol. On July 23, the New York Times reported “that the governor’s office deeply compromised the panel’s work, objecting whenever the commission focused on groups with ties to Mr. Cuomo or on issues that might reflect poorly on him.”

Since the news broke on July 23, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan has threatened to investigate the Cuomo administration for “possible obstruction of justice or witness tampering.” Despite the potential damning investigation against the New York Democrat, CNN — where Governor Cuomo’s brother Chris Cuomo is employed as anchor of New Day — has yet to acknowledge its existence. [See video below.]   

Only CBS Acknowledges President Obama’s Potential Use of Executive Action on Amnesty
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 30, 2014 | 12:55 PM EDT

On Wednesday, July 30, CBS This Morning was the only network morning show to report on how President Obama is considering bypassing Congress and issuing a series of executive actions to legalize potentially millions of illegal immigrants. ABC and NBC ignored the potential executive orders altogether.   

CBS News Political Director John Dickerson highlighted how President Obama is seeking to “to take executive action to deal with the immigration problem. This is not going to be comprehensive immigration reform of the kind we've heard about for the last seven years that will deal with those 11.5 million undocumented workers, but it's going to be as much as he can do.” [See video below.] 

CBS Hypes Democrats Fundraising Off Impeachment, Dismisses Boehner Lawsuit
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 30, 2014 | 10:02 AM EDT

In the wake of Speaker of the House John Boehner’s impending lawsuit against President Obama, CBS This Morning did their best to minimize its merits and instead promote Democratic efforts to raise money off of impeachment. 

On Wednesday, July 30, co-anchor Gayle King introduced a report by Nancy Cordes by highlighting how “Democrats are using the lawsuit debate to raise campaign cash and now the White House says it's worried about impeachment.” [See video below.] 

CBS Fawns Over Laverne Cox; Plays Up How Actor Gives 'Hope' to LGBT Community
By Matthew Balan | July 29, 2014 | 6:15 PM EDT

Tuesday's CBS This Morning broke out the kid gloves for Laverne Cox, and zeroed in on how the Orange is the New Black actor is "the first openly-transgendered woman ever nominated for an acting Emmy." Charlie Rose spotlighted how "there are people contacting you saying, my God – thank God for you being there, because they've been struggling with identity. And all of a sudden, you give them hope."

When Norah O'Donnell touted how her guest's Time magazine cover was "second to the Pope, in terms of interest online," Cox underlined the apparent divine plan behind this success, but then asserted that his biological identity was foisted upon him: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Hamas Leader Compares Palestinians to Nelson Mandela and South Africans During PBS Interview
By Curtis Houck | July 29, 2014 | 3:50 PM EDT

On Monday night’s edition of his PBS show, Charlie Rose aired an interview with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal that he conducted in Doha, Qatar over the weekend and Meshaal took the insane and ridiculous step of comparing himself and the Palestinian people to what Nelson Mandela and South Africa went through under apartheid. This statement is just the latest since excerpts began airing on CBS’s Face the Nation, CBS This Morning, and CBS Evening News on Sunday and Monday.

When asked by Rose for a prediction on how does he believe that the fighting in Gaza will end, Meshaal railed against Israel as carrying out the “occupation” by declaring that: “Every single occupation ought to fail and every single occupation ought to stop and every single settlement ought to perish. Yes, it is difficult, we'll pay a price, Mandela played – paid plenty but he was victorious at the end of the day. Ultimately, the Palestinian people will be independent." [MP3 audio here; Video below]