On Wednesday night, the CBS Evening News punted on the latest batch of Hillary Clinton’s State Department e-mails released hours earlier while their competitors at ABC and NBC did cover them, but only through the veil of defending Clinton against Speaker of the House candidate Kevin McCarthy’s comments on the Benghazi Committee that NBC’s Andrea Mitchell touted as “an unlikely political lifeline.”
Clinton Global Initiative
By Matthew Balan | May 22, 2015 | 5:43 PM EDT
Friday's New Day on CNN played up that the Hillary Clinton e-mails revealed by the New York Times "dispute the narrative that has been around for two years that she was trying to cover something up" about the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, as Alisyn Camerota put it. The CNN anchor also wondered, "Isn't this the opposite of what the GOP has been saying about her – that she...tried to keep it secret?"
May 15, 2015 | 5:00 PM EDT
Amanda Rentería, national political director of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, has received another cushy interview, this time at the hands of none other than Univision anchor Jorge Ramos.
Following on the heels of a puff piece on Telemundo, the six and a half minute interview with Rentería on Univision also failed to bring up the flurry of financial and ethical controversies swirling around Rentería’s candidate, in relation to the Clinton Foundation (including Univision’s own close ties to the Foundation).
By Matthew Balan | May 15, 2015 | 3:02 PM EDT
On Friday's CNN Newsroom, liberal anchor Carol Costello actually didn't buy the spin of a Hillary Clinton supporter on her skirting of questions from the press. When Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman did his best to shield Mrs. Clinton, Costello interjected, "I want our political candidates to take tough questions." She later underlined that "she's not answering questions! About her foundation – there are really important issues out there that she needs to address!" Costello later complimented Jeb Bush: "At least he's out there answering hard questions!"
By Scott Whitlock | May 15, 2015 | 9:40 AM EDT
Even as he apologized on Friday for donating $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, George Stephanopoulos tried to spin the contributions as innocent, swearing, "I have made substantial donations to dozens of charities, including the Clinton Global Foundation... I made them strictly to support work done to stop the spread of AIDS, help children and protect the environment in poor countries."
By Scott Whitlock | May 15, 2015 | 8:06 AM EDT
After coming under heavy criticism for donating $75,000 to the foundation of Bill and Hillary Clinton, George Stephanopoulos on Friday made an on-air apology. Addressing the revelation that he failed to inform viewers or his bosses at ABC, Stephanopoulos conceded on Good Morning America, "I should have made additional disclosures on air when we covered the foundation and I now believe directing personal donations to that foundation was a mistake."
By Matthew Balan | May 14, 2015 | 5:46 PM EDT
On Thursday's CNN Newsroom, Brian Stelter asserted that George Stephanopoulos is "one of the biggest stars on all of television," as he reported on the ABC anchor's $75,000 in donations to the Clinton Foundation. Stelter later claimed that Stephanopoulos has "done a lot to earn people's respect and trust. He's one of the most well-respected anchors at ABC." During his report, the correspondent never mentioned the recently-revealed issues surrounding the Clinton Foundation.
By Scott Whitlock | May 14, 2015 | 4:05 PM EDT
On Thursday it was revealed that former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos donated $75,000 to the foundation of Bill and Hillary Clinton. In a conflict of interest, the same Stephanopoulos grilled the author of a new book questioning the finances of the Clinton Foundation. (He also failed to report the donations to his bosses at ABC or his audience.)
By Matthew Balan | May 14, 2015 | 2:53 PM EDT
ABC's George Stephanopoulos acknowledged his tens of thousands of dollars of donations to the Clinton Foundation in a Thursday interview with Politico's Dylan Byers. Byers reported that "Stephanopoulos...said that, contrary to earlier reports, he has given a total of $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation." The Good Morning America anchor also announced that "he will not moderate the ABC News-sponsored Republican primary debate in February after failing to disclose those contributions."
By Scott Whitlock | May 14, 2015 | 11:56 AM EDT
Showcasing an extreme conflict of interest, it was revealed on Thursday that George Stephanopoulos donated $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation and did not disclose the contribution to the public or his employer, ABC . A look back at past interviews shows a cozy Stephanopoulos fawning over the charity. On September 24, 2014, the Good Morning America host praised, "The annual Clinton Global Initiative brings together world leaders...and celebrities, re-imagining the world and taking action."
By Matthew Balan | May 11, 2015 | 4:23 PM EDT
On Monday's New Day on CNN, the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza asserted that there was no wrongdoing in former President Bill Clinton helping his brother-in-law, Tony Rodham, get a job with former DNC head Terry McAuliffe (who's now the governor of Virginia): "Bill Clinton was not in office. It doesn't seem to conflict with her [Hillary Clinton's] job as secretary of state. If Bill Clinton helped out the brother-in-law, I don't see that as a scandal."
By Matthew Balan | May 1, 2015 | 11:16 PM EDT
ABC and NBC's evening newscasts on Friday both spotlighted how a former New Jersey government official pled guilty as a result of Bridgegate. On World News Tonight, ABC's Ron Claiborne touted how "this scandal has taken a tremendous toll on Governor [Chris] Christie's presidential prospects," even after pointing out how "nowhere in today's indictments is Governor Christie said to have known about the alleged plot." By contrast, both programs continued their week-long blackout on the Clinton Foundation scandal.