Scott Whitlock
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MSNBC, the network where journalists smeared opponents as “murderers,” has now discovered decorum and “decency.” Anchor Katy Tur launched into a lecture on Monday about the cost of the Donald Trump presidency to America: “If there's one thing that's suffered because of Trump's campaign and now his presidency, it's decency.”
All three networks on Monday hyped the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem with varying degrees of worry, but it was CBS This Morning that fretted over the “impotent anger” directed towards Israel and the high unemployment in Gaza. Holly Williams tried to spin the riots and violence as mostly peaceful: “Most of the Palestinians here today are peaceful, but some are attempting to cross the border. They're throwing stones and lighting fires.”
Jerry Seinfeld isn’t interested in Donald Trump jokes. The comedian behind the legendary Seinfeld sitcom sat down with David Letterman for an upcoming episode of the Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. Perhaps hopefully, Letterman wondered, “Do you do Trump stuff when you go out?”
As Americans across the country get ready to celebrate Mother’s Day, This Week in Media Bias History fans will remember that liberal journalists celebrate Hillary Clinton every day. On May 10, 1993, Time correspondent Margaret Carlson hailed the then-First Lady as “an icon of American womanhood.” On another topic, journalist Eleanor Clift on May 11, 2014 absurdly claimed that U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens “was not murdered.” His death in Benghazi was due to “smoke inhalation.”
All three networks on Friday morning found time for the gossipy, unverified report that Donald Trump yelled at Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. But NBC and ABC are STILL ignoring the news that five top ISIS leaders have been captured in Iraq and 40 more were killed in an air strike.
George Stephanopoulos is still working hard to defend powerful men accused of sexually harassing women. The former Bill Clinton operative turned journalist on Thursday interrogated Linda Vester, the woman who accused Brokaw of unwanted sexual advances and groping. Stephanopoulos, who stood by Clinton as numerous women accused him, lectured Vester: “Tom Brokaw is pretty angry.”
What should be the focus of coverage when three United States prisoners are freed from North Korea? If you’re the journalists at CNN overnight, you make sure to mention the Robert Mueller investigation, Stormy Daniels and to worry about Donald Trump getting credit for these Americans returning.
In a not-exactly shocking conclusion, NBC has cleared NBC of having a culture that tolerated and excused sexual harassment at the network. Though NBC had no problem exonerating itself, the journalists at the network scoffed when House Republicans found no evidence of collusion for GOP President Donald Trump.
ABC, NBC and MSNBC suffered a collective freak out on Tuesday in the wake of the news that the United States would be pulling out of the Iranian nuclear deal. The networks chided an “isolated” U.S. that will not be “trusted” and is undermining U.S. “commitments” as a result.
The news that the National Rifle Association has chosen Oliver North as the organization’s next president left NBC “baffled” on Tuesday. Both the Today show and CBS This Morning focused heavily on the “controversial” figure’s connections to the Iran-Contra scandal from 30 years ago.
Media outlets don’t need conservatives for intellectual and political variety. They can just get... other liberals. That’s the argument put forward on New York magazine's website, Sunday. Writer Eric Levitz argued that because some conservatives tried — and failed — to stop Trump from obtaining the GOP nomimation in 2016, their ideas are irrelevant.
ABC’s Nightline on Friday donated over seven minutes of air time to hype the new season of The Handmaid’s Tale as a Taliban-esque dystopian fantasy set “against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s America.” Reporter David Wright breathlessly explained how the show as “The new American regime is a theocracy that oppresses women in particular. They're not allowed to read or write or think for themselves.”
As fans of This Week in Media Bias History know, certain quotes from liberal journalists about liberal politicians are extra cringe-worthy in retrospect. On April 29, 1991, Time magazine fawned over Senator Ted Kennedy, praising him as the “prince” of “American politics,” a man who became “one of the great American lawmakers of the century.” Is leaving Mary Joe Kopechne to drown something a “prince” would do? In contrast, on April 28, 1996, CBS’s Ed Bradley derided the Reagan years as a “nightmare.”
According to The View’s Joy Behar, “civilized” girls should still be separated from “Lord of the Flies” boys when it comes to scouting. The liberal co-host on Friday dissented from the idea that girls should be apart of the Boy Scouts, saying: “I would say my opinion of this, and it's not popular one, I don't think. I think that girls do not benefit through having boys in their midst at these young ages.”
Perhaps feeling the heat over her kind words for accused sexual abuser Charlie Rose, CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King backtracked on Friday and said of the investigation: “Let the chips fall where they may.” On Thursday, King declared she was “sick” of covering the sex allegations against her “friend” and former colleague.
Poor Gayle King. She’s really irritated at having to constantly cover the latest sex harassment and abuse allegations against Charlie Rose, her former colleague and co-host at CBS This Morning. Responding to a Washington Post expose that 27 women have accused Rose over a 30 year period, King whined: “I don't know what to say about this.... I don't know what more we can do to Charlie Rose except a public flogging. He's gone.... I’m sick of handling it.”
According to the networks, it’s not news that the last Democratic presidential nominee thinks being a capitalist is now harmful inside the party. ABC, CBS and NBC on Thursday morning all skipped Hillary Clinton blaming her capitalism as yet another reason she did so poorly.
Jimmy Kimmel doesn’t even try anymore. If you are a conservative, he hates you. If you’re a liberal, he’ll turn into a lame PR machine that sounds more like an Access Hollywood hack. On Tuesday, the comedy host featured far-left Senator Elizabeth Warren for two segments. Kimmel offered no tough questions and, instead, traded compliments with the “fun grandma.”
Maybe Mika Brzezinski shouldn’t announce every thought that pops into her head. On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, she suggested that Donald Trump has a sexually transmitted disease and “raided” his former doctor’s office to cover it up. MSNBC panelist Elise Jordan kicked off the discussion by suggesting that working for the administration is “the political equivalent of an STD.”
Katie Couric, half of the former Today show duo with Matt Lauer, explained away the sketchy, secret button used by her disgraced ex-colleague: “A lot of NBC executives” have that. Appearing on The Wendy Williams Show, Couric waded into dangerous territory: “I think the whole button thing.... a lot of stuff gets misreported and blown out of proportion.”