There are currently 17 declared candidates for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, but viewers of the three broadcast evening news shows this year have mainly heard about just two of them: former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and New York businessman Donald Trump. And even though Trump received virtually no TV news attention until he officially declared on June 16, he’s received far more network news coverage than Bush has received all year.
Chuck Todd
How Nice: Chuck Todd Actually Lets Other Journos Question Guest; Novel for Program Called 'Meet the Press'
By P.J. Gladnick | June 15, 2015 | 12:18 PM EDT Today marks the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. It was on June 15, 1215 that the English King John met his barons on Runnymede field to reluctantly affix his seal to the great charter that granted more powers to the latter. By strange coincidence, yesterday also marked the notable event when Chuck Todd on Meet The Press allowed a couple of panelists to question a guest, Bill Daley.
This was actually nothing new because in its original format, which has been forgotten in recent years, Meet The Press meant exactly that...meet the press, not just the host. Your humble correspondent, often feeling like Captain Ahab in his desperate search for the great white whale, has been harping on this point for nearly a year when he reminded any who would listen about the promise of a return to the original format by NBC News president Deborah Turness:
By Rich Noyes | May 18, 2015 | 9:05 AM EDT
This week, as the Clinton Foundation scandal simmers, NBC travels to Africa to tout the "heartwarming" stories of the Foundation's good works, while CBS belittles the scandals as "distractions" and "noise." Yet, even as they protect Hillary, reporters deride GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina: "I don't think we would be taking her seriously at all if she weren't a woman."
By Kyle Drennen | April 23, 2015 | 12:35 PM EDT
On Thursday morning, NBCNews.com's First Read proclaimed: "Appearance of Scandal: Why Today Isn't a Good Day For The Clinton Campaign." The article began with a rundown of "all of the negative stories as it relates to the Clinton Foundation and money," highlighting two separate reports of possible conflicts of interest and one report of tax problems for the charity. Yet Thursday's Today completely ignored the controversies.
By Kyle Drennen | April 15, 2015 | 12:35 PM EDT
Appearing on Wednesday's NBC Today to grade the performance of the 2016 candidates and potential candidates thus far, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd declared that Hillary Clinton was doing all she could to contain her presidential aura: "You know, the irony here is you have a whole bunch of Republicans who are trying to look presidential. She's desperately trying to not look presidential."
By P.J. Gladnick | April 14, 2015 | 4:02 PM EDT
Wow! How original! Hillary Clinton is taking a trip in a van to Iowa. That pretty much describes the attitude of Meet The Press host Chuck Todd in reaction to Hillary Clinton's "Scooby Doo" van. Chuck tweeted about the supposed spontaneity of such an "original" idea, completely forgetting the brutal reality as we shall see. As a result, poor Chuck was widely mocked in reaction.
By Kyle Drennen | April 13, 2015 | 11:18 AM EDT
Amid a plethora of coverage on Monday's NBC Today fawning over Hillary Clinton's announcement of her presidential campaign, co-host Matt Lauer led off a discussion with Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd by wondering: "What's she running on? What's her message? If the Hillary Clinton campaign could write the headline on the front page of major newspapers this morning, what would they write?"
By Kyle Drennen | March 27, 2015 | 3:35 PM EDT
Despite having savaged Republicans two weeks earlier for voicing opposition to an Iran nuclear deal in an open letter to the totalitarian regime, on Friday, NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell and Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd suddenly realized such a deal would be a bad idea.
By Kyle Drennen | March 22, 2015 | 3:05 PM EDT
Ahead of Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s expected Monday announcement declaring his candidacy for President of the United States, NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd on Sunday teed up California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown to blast the Republican as “absolutely unfit to be running for office.”
By Kyle Drennen | March 16, 2015 | 5:58 PM EDT
Talking to former CBS political analyst Jeff Greenfield at an event for 92Y in New York, NBC's Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd praised his network's handling of the Brian Williams scandal: "Look, I am proud of my news organization, that it proved that nobody's bigger, nobody is above integrity and credibility. Period." That declaration was prompted by Greenfield taking a shot at how Fox News handled similar allegations against host Bill O'Reilly.
By Kyle Drennen | March 12, 2015 | 5:10 PM EDT
On her MSNBC show on Thursday, host Andrea Mitchell kept pushing the blatant falsehood that the open letter by Senate Republicans to Iran regarding nuclear negotiations was an "unprecedented" move: "Let's talk about this letter now, because this is unprecedented." Mitchell's guest, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd, launched into a rant about how politically damaging the letter was for Republicans.
By Kyle Drennen | March 10, 2015 | 1:14 PM EDT
After softening her coverage of the Hillary Clinton email scandal on Monday's NBC Nightly News, on Tuesday's Today, correspondent Andrea Mitchell tried to excuse Clinton's initial unwillingness to address the controversy: "She may be reluctant because of what happened in April 1994. Under pressure, she held a White House news conference about an Arkansas land deal, it led to more investigations."