Charlie Rose

CBS’s Rose Allows Hamas Leader to Compare Palestinian Terrorism to U.S. Defeating British in Revolutionary War
By Curtis Houck | July 28, 2014 | 5:45 PM EDT

CBS This Morning aired multiple excerpts on Monday morning of co-host Charlie Rose’s interview with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, that will air on Rose’s PBS show on Monday night. In the excerpts that were aired, Rose allowed him to compare the Palestinian people in their fighting with Israel to Americans waging war with the British in the America Revolution. Further, Meshaal denied any possibility that, in his mind, a state of Israel could co-exist with any Palestinian state.

In the first excerpt, which aired in the 7:00 a.m. hour, Rose began by citing former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who said that “Hamas was perfectly well aware of what would happen” if they shot rockets toward Israel and that “they have a strategy designed to force Israel to kill their own civilians so the rest of the world will condemn them”. Rose cited Clinton as someone who isn’t Israeli, but was “a man who worked hard to create peace between Palestinians and Israelis.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]

CBS and NBC Finally Notice Criticism of Obama Fundraising Amid Crises, ABC Still Ignores
By Kyle Drennen | July 24, 2014 | 3:50 PM EDT

Both Wednesday's CBS Evening News and Thursday's NBC Today offered full reports on President Obama being criticized for attending Democratic Party fundraisers at a time of international crises. ABC continued to remain silent on the growing controversy.

On Evening News, White House correspondent Major Garrett reported: "President Obama arrived late today in Los Angeles for his fifth meeting with big donors in two days." A clip played of Garrett challenging Press Secretary Josh Ernest: "Could you address what many Americans believe is either the trivial or unnecessarily-distracting obligation of presidents –  including this one – to raise money in the course of conducting important matters of state?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

NBC Continues Blackout of Latest ObamaCare Rulings
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 23, 2014 | 9:57 AM EDT

On Tuesday, July 22 ObamaCare was dealt a mixed bag via two different rulings from federal appeals courts. At issue is the constitutionality of IRS tax subsidies given to individuals who purchase health insurance through the federal exchange rather than through their state-run exchange.  

The conflicting rulings means that ObamaCare is likely headed back to the Supreme Court and could put the entire Affordable Care Act in jeopardy but NBC has yet to acknowledge the case on both its Nightly News and Today show broadcasts. [See video below.]  

Charlie Rose Waits Almost a Full Hour to Ask Hillary (Lamely) About Benghazi
By Geoffrey Dickens | July 21, 2014 | 1:40 PM EDT

PBS’s Charlie Rose opened his 62 minute-long interview with Hillary Clinton, aired in two parts on Thursday and Friday’s Charlie Rose show, by reciting a Maya Angelou poem dedicated to the former Secretary of State. Almost an hour later Rose finally asked Clinton about the Benghazi scandal.

In the second part of the interview, aired at the end of Friday’s show, Rose waited until his last question, with just a little over 3 minutes of interview time left, to finally bring up Benghazi. Even then Rose sheepishly tip-toed up to the topic as he told Clinton that if he didn’t ask the question he was worried “a thousand people will write me.” Sadly, neither Rose or Clinton could even bring themselves to actually mention the names of the four victims (Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty) killed in the September 11, 2012 attacks. (video after the jump)

Ugh: Charlie Rose Starts Interview With ‘Friend’ Hillary Clinton With a Gooey Maya Angelou Poem
By Curtis Houck | July 18, 2014 | 1:00 PM EDT

On Thursday night’s episode of his PBS show, Charlie Rose began by showering guest and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with praises from the likes of Henry Kissinger, the late Maya Angelous and, naturally, Charlie Rose himself! From reading a glowing quote from Henry Kissinger to reading a Maya Angelou poem all about her to Rose announcing “I consider Hillary Clinton a friend,” it was a slobbering start to a softball interview.

After summarizing the premise of her book about her time as Secretary of State, Rose gushed that “few people have spent the past 20 years as she has” with all the positions of power she’s held. It was then that read the following quote from former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “[W]hen I call Mrs. Clinton Hillary, I do that not so much to indicate familiarity, but to use a name that the whole world uses. It shows to what extend she has succeeded in her people-to-people work.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]

89 Percent of Network Stories Omit Obama's Role in Causing Border Crisis
By Geoffrey Dickens | July 1, 2014 | 4:29 PM EDT

While all three networks played clips of Barack Obama on Monday blaming the GOP for the border crisis, they have been reluctant to cite the President’s own failure to enforce immigration laws as a cause for thousands of immigrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.

From June 8 through the morning of July 1 ABC, CBS and NBC have offered a total of 45 stories on the border crisis, on their evening and morning shows, and in only 5 (11 percent) have they brought up Obama immigration policies as a possible cause for the most recent surge of illegal immigrants, including unaccompanied children, crossing the border. (Video after the jump)

ABC's GMA Yawns at Hobby Lobby Ruling; Spotlights 'Running of the Interns'
By Matthew Balan | July 1, 2014 | 3:44 PM EDT

NBC and ABC omitted covering the Supreme Court's final two rulings from their Tuesday morning newscasts, despite the fact that the decisions came down after their Monday episodes aired. Only CBS This Morning set aside air time for the ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, which upheld the religious liberty rights of closely held corporations.

Viewers of ABC's Good Morning America might have guessed that the Supreme Court handed down some decisions, as the morning show devoted a full segment to the "running of the interns," where the summer interns of media outlets run copies of Court's "big rulings" to the journalists outside. GMA even held their own intern race, where the competitors run cups of iced coffee to the anchors inside the studio: [video below the jump]

Rose Soft-Pedals Obama Talking Points, Asks Cheney: 'Give the President Some Credit For Trying'
By Curtis Houck | June 25, 2014 | 4:05 PM EDT

On Tuesday night’s edition of his PBS show, Charlie Rose interviewed former Vice President Dick Cheney and pushed him to “give the president some credit for trying” to negotiate for a contingent of American troops to stay in Iraq after the status of forces agreement expired in 2011. 

Cheney reminded Rose that, in his mind, Iraq “was in pretty good shape” when he and then-President George W. Bush left office. From there, he said that there “was no follow-up” on the part of the Obama administration for a residual presence to give the Iraqi military “intelligence capabilities, some air assets, training and so forth that would allow them to maintain control over their own sovereign territory.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]

ABC, NBC Continue To Ignore U.S. Archivist Claim That IRS Didn’t Follow The Law
By Jeffrey Meyer | June 25, 2014 | 10:21 AM EDT

Yesterday, David Ferriero, the head archivist for the U.S. government, testified before Congress and insisted that the IRS had not followed the law requiring the agency to notify his office three years ago that Lois Lerner’s hard drive had crashed containing official records and emails. 

Despite these new details, only CBS has bothered to report on the latest in the IRS scandal with both ABC and NBC’s morning and evening news programs ignoring the story on June 24 and 25. [See video below.] 

ABC, NBC Ignore Biden's Savings Account Fib, While CBS Hosts Dismiss Its Importance
By Curtis Houck | June 24, 2014 | 4:30 PM EDT

It turns out that Vice President Joe Biden’s claim that he’s not wealthy and does not own any stocks, bonds, or a savings account isn’t entirely true. Unfortunately, only one network did the work to debunk his statement from a speech at the White House Summit on Working Families yesterday.

CBS This Morning was the only broadcast network show on Monday evening or Tuesday morning that looked into Biden’s claims, which CBS News Senior White House correspondent Bill Plante found to be partially false. [MP3 audio here; Video below]

Networks Offer Scant Coverage of Dick Cheney 'Blasting' Obama on Iraq
By Scott Whitlock | June 18, 2014 | 12:35 PM EDT

Former Vice President Dick Cheney co-authored a blistering op-ed, deriding Barack Obama's handling of Iraq. But you wouldn't know it from the network coverage. ABC's Good Morning America completely ignored Cheney speaking out. Yet, the program devoted three minutes to the deeply irrelevant story of jump suits and fanny packs making a comeback.

On NBC's Today, Savannah Guthrie managed a scant 13 seconds as she introduced a separate story. The co-host chided, "Well, as President Obama weighs his decision here, Dick and Liz Cheney are out with a new op-ed this morning blasting the Obama administration's positions during wartime." She noted that Cheney and daughter Liz slammed, "Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many." CBS This Morning offered the most coverage fo the op-ed, 48 seconds. [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

'CBS This Morning' Only Network Morning Show to Cover IRS Scandal
By Laura Flint | June 18, 2014 | 12:05 PM EDT

CBS This Morning was the only broadcast network news show that covered the latest discovery in the IRS scandal on the morning of June 18. Meanwhile, all three networks devoted at least two minutes to report on Dr. Oz’s appearance before the Senate’s Consumer Protection Committee to discuss the unconsented use of his image to endorse diet products online.

While CBS devoted only 30 seconds to the revelation that the emails of six more IRS employees have been reported lost, the network spent 2 minutes and 32 seconds describing how the celebrity doctor was berated by Democratic Senators for peddling diet products on his show that may not actually work. (See video below. Click here for MP3 audio)