On Monday’s CBS Evening News, as anchor Katie Couric read a short item on AOL’s purchase of the left-wing Huffington Post Web site, she neglected to mention the ideological lean of the Web site as she merely called it "one of the leading news Web sites."
NBC’s Brian Williams did tag the Web site as "liberal" as he also read a an item on the acquisition. Williams: "A big payday for Arianna Huffington as AOL becomes the new owner of Huffington Post, the liberal Web site she created six years ago."
ABC’s World News, which devoted much of its program to anchor Diane Sawyer’s interview with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, did not mention the deal.
By contrast, as previously documented by NewsBusters, it was NBC’s Today show which ealrier in the day neglected to use an ideological label to describe the Huffington Post while ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s The Early Show did note the Web site’s liberal lean.
Below are complete transcripts of the items read on both the CBS Evening News and the NBC Nightly News from Monday, February 7:
#From the CBS Evening News:
KATIE COURIC: In other business news, AOL’s got the Huffington Post. As AOL tries again to reinvent itself in the post-dial-up era, it announced today it will pay $315 million for one of the leading news Web sites. AOL is hoping to pick up post readers and boost ad revenue. Post founder Arianna Huffington will take control of AOL’s editorial content.
#From the NBC Nightly News:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: A big payday for Arianna Huffington as AOL becomes the new owner of Huffington Post, the liberal Web site she created six years ago. It’s now a sprawling online media property with over 20 separate sections. Purchase price, $315 million. The deal puts Huffington in charge of all AOL’s editorial properties on the Web. AOL, one of the Web trail blazers, has been struggling of late in the Google era.
