During its coverage of the Iran framework on Monday, NBC Nightly News touted the hopes of proponents and the Obama administration that the “details of a deal may be changing” the minds of “some” critics as President Obama and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz began selling the agreement in press conferences, interviews, and calls with world leaders. Lester Holt began by promoting Obama’s recent interview with NPR in which he said forcing Iran to recognize Israel’s existence as part of a final nuclear deal (as Israel has insisted) would be a “fundamental misjudgement.”
President Barack Obama
By Curtis Houck | April 3, 2015 | 12:39 PM EDT
The favorable coverage of the agreed framework for future talks over Iran’s nuclear program continued on Friday morning as the network newscasts hailed the “legacy defining moment now within reach” for President Obama and compared Iranian “hardliners” to deal skeptics in the U.S. and Israel. Today co-host Savannah Guthrie began the program’s coverage by hailing the “landmark deal” with NBC's Peter Alexander fretting that “Republicans and the Israeli prime minister” are “clearly not on board” as “a legacy-defining moment” appeared “now within reach” for the President.
By Curtis Houck | April 2, 2015 | 11:44 PM EDT
The Washington Post’s editorial board slammed the Obama administration Thursday evening over the framework for additional negotiations with Iran concerning its nuclear program that “fall well short of the goals originally set by the Obama administration” and would allow Iran to “instantly become a threshold nuclear state.” Set to run in the Friday print edition of the newspaper, the editorial also pointed to numerous examples of hypocrisy on the part of the President from previous moments in his presidency when he called for a deal far tougher than the one being discussed.
By Curtis Houck | April 2, 2015 | 2:57 AM EDT
On Wednesday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley devoted a few moments after a news brief on the Iran deal negotiations to explaining the centuries-long divide between the Shia and Sunni branches of Islam and, in the process, also took time to reflect on President Barack Obama’s 2009 speech in Cairo. After noting that the negotiations are taking place “against a backdrop of a disintegrating Middle East,” Pelley fretted that, for Obama, “this isn’t what he had in mind” following the speech where the President had “declared a new beginning for the Arab world.”
By Curtis Houck | March 25, 2015 | 9:39 PM EDT
In their coverage of desertion charges filed against U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the major broadcast networks on Wednesday night failed to mention that National Security Advisor Susan Rice had praised Bergdahl for serving “with honor and distinction.” Standing in sharp contrast to this glaring omission by the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC, the clip of Rice’s claim on the June 1, 2014 broadcast of ABC’s This Week was shown on CNN and FNC newscasts.
By Curtis Houck | March 24, 2015 | 10:17 PM EDT
Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer appeared on the panel for Fox News’s Special Report on Tuesday evening and blasted President Barack Obama for refusing to directly comment on the Wall Street Journal report that Israel has been spying on the negotiations with Iran over its nuclear deal as well as the administration for acting as if Israel’s actions are unprecedented.
By Curtis Houck | March 23, 2015 | 11:23 PM EDT
The CBS Evening News enthusiastically took to promoting ObamaCare in the form of a brief on its Monday night broadcast, hailing the fifth anniversary of President Obama signing the massive legislation into law. Anchor Scott Pelley began by reminding viewers that “[i]t was five years ago today that President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act known as ObamaCare.” Pelley rattled off a few statistics regarding the health care law that he claimed were from “[o]ur research department,” starting with how “more than 16 million Americans have health insurance who didn't have it before.”
By Curtis Houck | March 20, 2015 | 4:24 PM EDT
Leading off CNN’s coverage on New Day of the latest news concerning the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski ruled that “it was Benjamin Netanyahu’s turn to get schooled by the White House” after the Obama administration responded to the Israeli Prime Minister’s reelection and feelings about a two-state solution.
By Curtis Houck | March 20, 2015 | 1:02 AM EDT
During his Thursday monologue, Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon turned to the Obama administration for the source of his current events jokes as President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and even the scandal-ridden Secret Service each saw a few jests sent their respective ways.
By Curtis Houck | March 19, 2015 | 10:21 PM EDT
Despite decisively winning reelection, NBC Nightly News sustained its badgering and excoriating of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the fourth straight newscast with Thursday’s show including an interview Netanyahu gave to Andrea Mitchell that featured numerous, obnoxious questions, ranging from chastising him for promising that he would be opposed to Palestinian state to wondering “[w]hy President Obama should trust you.” Mitchell made no effort to pin the strain of the U.S-Israel relationship on the President.
By Curtis Houck | March 19, 2015 | 1:49 AM EDT
In a Vice News interview posted on Monday, founder Shane Smith used the first of many softball questions to President Barack Obama to ask how does he “handle the controversies, the negativity” and whether or not he’s “a masochist.” With subjects ranging from global warming to political gridlock to marijuana legalization, Smith was far from a tough interviewer and allowed the President to, without any pushback and bash Republicans.
By Curtis Houck | March 18, 2015 | 11:57 PM EDT
After blasting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News returned yet again Wednesday evening to attack and dimish Netanyahu’s victory by chalking it up to “hard-line rhetoric” and “a hard right turn” that returned him to office “at a price.” CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley ruled that the Likud Party leader’s “hard-line rhetoric” had “help[ed] him win reelection, but at a price” with the on-screen graphic reading “[c]ostly win.”