Bias by Omission

Wednesday's CBS This Morning played up how "the Vatican is under fire from the mother of a woman who ended her own life." Jan Crawford's spotlighted Deborah Ziegler's "sharply-worded letter" to opponents of euthanasia, especially Pope Francis and the Catholic Church. Ziegler's daughter, Brittany Maynard, committed suicide on November 1, 2014, after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and…

Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director and moderator of Meet the Press, appeared on Newsmax TV’s The Steve Malzberg Show on Tuesday, November 18 to discuss a variety of issues including the existence of liberal media bias. Speaking specifically on the lack of network news coverage surrounding the Jonathan Gruber controversy, Todd dismissed Malzberg’s assertion that this was an example of media…

NBC's Today on Tuesday was the sole Big Three morning or evening newscast to cover the latest development in the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. News anchor Natalies Morales devoted 21 seconds to the city government enforcing a court order to clear out part of the demonstrators' encampment. The protesters have spent nearly two months at the site

While all three major broadcast networks covered the failed vote in the U.S. Senate to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline on Tuesday night, ABC and NBC neglected to mention that political motivations were behind the vote to aid the reelection efforts of vulnerable Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana that will take place on December 6.  After previously being held up in the Senate for…

As I noted yesterday, the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, finally broke down on Friday and mentioned the name "Jonathan Gruber" in a news story — a Friday afternoon item which, among other things, dishonestly attempted to distance the Affordable Care Act advisor from his long acknowledged and celebrated (until recently) "architect" role. As of early this evening, the only other…

On Tuesday night, NBC Nightly News continued its streak of ignoring comments made by ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber into an 11th day while ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir finally brought up Gruber’s comments on the “stupidity of the American voter” and the "advantage" of having a “lack of transparency” in getting ObamaCare passed. Anchor David Muir discussed the story for one…

The New York Times wants America to ignore Jonathan Gruber. Pay no attention to that architect behind the curtain! Scott Whitlock at NewsBusters noted earlier today that a Times editorial on Jonathan "stupid voters" Gruber claims that the MIT economist was not an important player in the law's creation. The Times now insists that "In truth, his role was limited." The trouble is, Times reporters…

Appearing on Fox News's Special Report Monday, columnist Charles Krauthammer suggested that the reason President Obama waited a week to comment on the Jonathan Gruber ObamaCare scandal was because the White House knew it could count on the liberal media to ignore the story: "...they've had six years experience of the press essentially conspiring with them....the administration issues statements,…

On Monday, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir and NBC Nightly News continued to ignore the news surrounding videos unearthed of ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber praising “lack of transparency” as a “political advantage” and insulting voters as stupid regarding the law’s passage and contents. With tonight’s omissions, the blackout of coverage on Gruber from these two programs now stands…

CBS and NBC's morning and evening newscasts on Saturday and Sunday ignored Pope Francis's condemnation of abortion and euthanasia during a Saturday meeting with Catholic doctors in Italy. Their omission is glaring when compared to their hype over a supposed "seismic shift towards gays and divorcees" in a proposed document from a bishops' meeting. Surprisingly, ABC's fluff-filled Good Morning…

On Saturday (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted the hypocritical fury of Linda Greenhouse at the New York Times that the Supreme Court has taken on the King v. Burwell case over the legality of Obamacare subsidies in states which don't have their own Obamacare exchanges. I need to address another item of Greenhouse gas contained therein, namely her claim that the Affordable Care Act requires…

As of Saturday afternoon and a full eight days after the first video of ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber surfaced, major broadcast networks ABC and NBC and the Los Angeles Times have persisted in keeping their audiences in the dark on this story.  Over the course of Friday evening and Saturday morning, news outlets that previously had ignored Gruber arrived on the scene included the …

Linda Greenhouse covered the Supreme Court for the New York Times for 30 years until accepting a downsizing buyout in 2008. She continues to write bi-weekly columns there. Greenhouse is absolutely appalled that the King v. Burwell lawsuit has gotten to the Supreme Court. As will be seen, she's also quite selective in her outrage.