NewsBusters Time Machine

The networks found their 2022 October Surprise, a Republican candidate to pounce on and work to destroy the GOP’s chances in the midterms. In less than a week, ABC, CBS and NBC have devoted over 27 minutes to the Herschel Walker story and whether the Georgia Republican senatorial candidate paid for an abortion in 2009. 

This week, the residents of Florida endured the wrath of Hurricane Ian moving up through the state. At this time, the damage isn’t totally known, but certainly looks very worrying. In this case, the governor of Florida is Ron DeSantis, a man running in a contentious 2022 midterm election, as well as being a possible 2024 presidential contender.

It was 35 years ago this September that Joe Biden’s first of three presidential campaigns was embroiled in a plagiarism scandal, one that would torpedo the bid in controversy. While journalists and late night hosts in 2022 don’t seem interested in mocking now-President Biden, it’s worth remembering that Johnny Carson had no problem joking about the Democrat in 1987. 

Given the collapse of CNN+, the jettisoning of anchors like Brian Stelter, it’s clear that CNN itself is the middle of an identity crisis. It’s not the first time the network has gone through cringe-inducing moments. It was 17 years ago this coming Monday that CNN founder Ted Turner embarrassed himself by insisting that despotic North Koran dictator Kim Jong Il “didn’t look evil.”

Joe Biden’s Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, this week tried to spin away the fact that she was an election denier, insisting that Donald Trump wasn’t elected President, that Brian Kemp wasn’t elected governor in Georgia. A look back at Jean-Pierre’s time on MSNBC shows a tendency to lash out with vulgar attacks on Republicans. On October 21, 2017, Jean-Pierre, then a spokeswoman for the…

As of Saturday, Joe Biden has gone 203 days without giving a sit-down interview to a journalist. What’s even more incredible about this gap is that, when he does them, the President is almost always greeted with softballs. In that way, he’s no…

Given what we now know about Matt Lauer and his creepy office with an automatic door lock, his  August 21, 2000 Today interview with Al Gore looks weirder in retrospect. It was 22 years ago this week that the now-disgraced ex-NBC host obsessed over “the kiss” between the then-Vice President and his then-wife Tipper Gore at the 2000 Democratic National Convention: “You really planted…

Stephen Colbert never really got over election night 2016. The “comedian” performed a live show on the night of the Clinton vs. Trump presidential election where he very publicly melted down as Hillary Clinton lost. Four years ago this week, he still hadn’t recovered. Being interviewed for the August 13, 2018 TimesTalk, the Late Show host recounted that he didn’t even prepare for a Trump win…

Now that journalists see Liz Cheney as a heroic Joan of Arc, willing to be burned at the political stake, it’s good to sometimes remind everyone of the seething hatred many in the liberal media had for the daughter of Dick Cheney. One such example is the July 17, 2013 edition of MSNBC’s All In. 

The Biden presidency has seen month after month of record-breaking border crossings. From July of 2021 through June of 2022 there were 2,361,553 border crossings. But during that time, just 146 minutes of coverage on the network evening newscasts. In June, just a scant 15 minutes. Only eight in May.

The vile new TV series Gaslight has mercifully ended. The show, centered  around Richard Nixon and the Watergate burglary, went out in gross fashion recently. Even considering how Hollywood hates Republicans, the Starz series went way beyond, finding it necessary to feature Nixon farting, showering, and a shot of his bare behind. 

This week saw Joe Biden’s cratering poll numbers fall even lower. On Wednesday, four polls came out and the results are bleak. Reuters: 36 percent. Politico: 38 percent. Rasmussen: 39 percent. Economist/YouGuv: 40 percent. Unsurprisingly, the networks skipped coverage of the latest terrible news for the President.

The Biden Administration’s COVID travel restriction policy preventing unvaccinated foreigners from entering the United States is so darn selective it smells to high heaven. Immigration officials are allowing unvaccinated illegal aliens to cross our border, but the greatest active tennis player in the world -- Serbia’s unvaccinated Novak Djokovic -- is barred from our country. 

As conservatives gear up for a contentious midterm election, Republicans such as Ron DeSantis have been battling the bias and dishonesty of the press. As we all know, it’s not a new complaint. But it predates 2022, as well as Trump, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Way back on election night in 1962, after Richard Nixon lost his bid to be governor of California, he called…