For the first time on their weekday evening newscasts, the broadcast networks picked up Cliven Bundy's standoff with the federal government – but only after Bundy's racist comments went viral and his conservative supporters denounced them.
Amidst what NBC called a "firestorm," the networks made sure to tie Bundy to the conservatives and Republicans who sympathized with his cause, but were then forced to condemn his racist comments. In fact, ABC's World News aired Fox News host Sean Hannity's support of the rancher but said nothing of Hannity's condemnation of his racist words.
Cliven Bundy
Sleazy: ABC Notes Sean Hannity's Support of Cliven Bundy, But Ignores His Condemnation of Bundy's Racism
By Matt Hadro | April 24, 2014 | 9:48 PM EDT 
By Matthew Balan | April 24, 2014 | 5:00 PM EDT
Norah O'Donnell pursued Texas Governor Rick Perry on Thursday's CBS This Morning over the controversial land dispute between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the federal government. O'Donnell asked Perry, "What do you make of this standoff? What do you think of Clive Bundy? Do you think what he's done was a good thing?"
When the Republican politician replied that Bundy is a "side story," and that "rather than sending armed troops....I hope our government officials...use common sense when it comes to these issues of conflict...dealing with something...in a substantially-less confrontational way," the CBS anchor followed up by spotlighting the rancher's racially-charged remarks: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
Scarborough, Who Branded Zimmerman A 'Murderer,' Condemns Conservatives Who 'Raced Blindly' To Support Him
By Mark Finkelstein | April 24, 2014 | 8:11 AM EDT
If there was anyone in America who recklessly rushed to prematurely proclaim a position on George Zimmerman, it was Joe Scarborough. Before Zimmerman had even been arrested, at a time when even Al Sharpton was being relatively cautious with his language, Scarborough used his Morning Joe platform to brand Zimmerman a "murderer."
But there was Scarborough on today's show with the gall to condemn conservatives who "raced blindly" to embrace Zimmerman. View the video after the jump.
By Tim Graham | April 23, 2014 | 2:13 PM EDT
Sean Hannity went after Comedy Central jokester Jon Stewart Tuesday night at the top of his program. Stewart mocked Hannity on Monday for sticking up for rancher Cliven Bundy. Protesting the government for excessive force brought to the Bundy ranch, Hannity mocked Stewart posing as “such a devout law-and-order type of guy."
Stewart acted shocked that Bundy has any supporters. “So apparently, Sean Hannity thinks laws are served buffet-style and that you can pick and choose the ones that you like best. The ones that you don't like, you don't have to abide.” Isn’t that the liberal view on illegal immigration, marijuana smoking, and hippie sit-ins in government offices? (Video below)
Daily Beast's Goldberg Invokes Oklahoma City Bombing in Discussion of GOP, Cliven Bundy, and Militias
By Brad Wilmouth | April 21, 2014 | 11:07 PM EDT Appearing as a guest on the Monday, April 21, All In with Chris Hayes, Daily Beast columnist Michelle Goldberg -- also of the far left The Nation magazine -- invoked the Oklahoma City Bombing during a discussion of the Cliven Bundy standoff, as she accused the Republican Party of "playing footsie" with militias during the Clinton administration, and suggested culpabilty by Republicans in stoking violence. [See video below.]
By Tom Blumer | April 21, 2014 | 2:53 PM EDT
Last Tuesday, in an incredibly childish piece, even by his non-standards, Politico's David Nather acted as if the resistance at Clive Bundy's ranch was endorsed and supported entirely by the tea party movement and/or Republicans and/or conservatives, so he could then characterize their post stand-off behavior — i.e., pursuit of their longer-term political goals — as some form of abandonment.
I was tempted to ignore Nather's nattering, but a couple of subsequent events are making Nather look even more foolish than usual. The first is the fact that Bundy still has significant armed assistance, something the Politico reporter appears not to have anticipated. The second relates to allegations of misbehavior, including illegal property destruction, by Bureau of Land Management agents. First, let's get to some of Nather's blather (bolds are mine throughout this post):
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 18, 2014 | 10:03 AM EDT
In the wake of the standoff between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the federal government, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) jumped into the controversy and proclaimed that Bundy was “nothing better than domestic terrorists and I think that we are a country that people should follow the law.
Following Reid's controversial comments, MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle jumped to support Reid on Morning Joe on Friday April 18. Barnicle maintained “Those people on the ground in Nevada are terrorists under that definition. Harry Reid is right. The prosecution rests. [See video below.]
By Jack Coleman | April 17, 2014 | 7:34 PM EDT
Does it get more laughable in media when Ed Schultz accuses others of being incendiary?
Schultz's years-long obsession and resentment of conservative commentator Sean Hannity, and of Fox News, surfaced once again yesterday when he criticized Hannity and fellow Fox News personality Mike Huckabee for their remarks about Cliven Bundy, the Nevadan rancher locked in a dispute with the federal Bureau of Land Management over cattle grazing fees. (Audio clips after the jump)
By Rich Noyes | April 17, 2014 | 1:37 PM EDT
The showdown between federal authorities and rancher Cliven Bundy, his family and supporters in Nevada is one of those rare topics from the libertarian-conservative news agenda that actually made its way into the establishment media. Between last Thursday and Monday, ABC, CBS and NBC gave the story a total of nearly 16 minutes of coverage on their morning and evening newscasts.
Network journalists have consistently framed the case as one of a rancher failing to pay the requested fees for his use of government land. But they have failed to use the case to tell the larger story of how environmental rules — in this case, regulations to protect the desert tortoise, have been implemented in ways that help favored interests (land developers, or solar companies) while hurting others (cattle ranchers, for example).
By Tom Blumer | April 13, 2014 | 11:58 PM EDT
Guess who's all of a sudden standing up for law and order? Why, it's radical environmentalists, who despite their general disdain for lawful behavior have felt compelled to speak out in support of the Bureau of Land Management's attempts to round up Cliven Bundy's cattle and ultimately force the Nevada rancher to abandon his family's century-old business.
Martin Griffith at the Associated Press relayed the comments of one such group in a Sunday report in the aftermath of the BLM's abandonment of its roundup efforts, in Griffith's words, "after hundreds of states' rights protesters, some of them armed militia members, showed up at corrals outside Mesquite to demand the animals' release" (There's much to it than that; go this archived Drudge Report page for more; bolds are mine throughout this post):