Anthony Mason
CBS This Morning journalists on Friday warned of a “scary time for a lot of people” as several states are “one closure away from having zero [abortion] clinics.” Reporter Anna Werner also hinted that states such as Georgia would regret their pro-life legislation: “But some states with so-called heartbeat bans are seeing the cost of passing those laws.”
Actor Bryan Cranston joined Friday’s CBS This Morning to promote his leading role as the Howard Beale in the legendary movie-turned-play Network and offered some astute, unbiased observations about the need to take in a variety of news sources, recognizing that news producers make judgment calls (often using their own biases) on “what’s news,” and the industry’s commercialization.
The networks have suddenly discovered Congressman Justin Amash. After mostly ignoring him for the last two years, NBC ABC and CBS hyped the Republican this weekend after the libertarian called for Donald Trump’s impeachment. On NBC’s Today, reporter Kristen Welker identified the Freedom Caucus as “far right.” She touted, “The President is under fire from a member of his own party, Michigan’s Republican Congressman Justin Amash, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus and a frequent critic of the President.” How many Democratic caucuses get branded “far-left?”
With the chaos engulfing CBS over the last couple years, it was announced that a new line-up of hosts will take over CBS This Morning on Monday. Gayle King will stay, but Tony Dokoupil and Anthony Mason will be added, which does not bode well for the show's dwindling objectivity. On Tuesday Mason appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to brag about how he had campaigned for Democrat President Lyndon Johnson... at age eight.
According to the New York Post’s Page Six and Variety, the CBS News is about to undergo some serious personnel changes. In addition to Bianna Golodryga’s previous departure, co-hosts John Dickerson and Norah O’Donnell have been booted from CBS This Morning for correspondent Tony Dokoupil and CBS This Morning: Saturday co-host Anthony Mason to team with Obama donor and family friend Gayle King.
Socialist Bernie Sanders, who has decried millionaires for years, is a millionaire That revelation was ignored by the flagship ABC and NBC morning shows, despite a combined four hours of air time on Wednesday. Only CBS This Morning noticed, offering a scant 49 seconds to the awkwardness of the very wealthy Sanders.
All three networks spent Thursday morning gushing in favor of New Zealand’s new gun ban, touting that it had “widespread, bipartisan support” with “very little opposition.” ABC, NBC and CBS also spent time shaming the U.S. for not adopting a similar buyback measure.
On CBS This Morning Saturday, the show devoted an entire three-minute report to two women in Texas who are resisting Trump administration efforts to build a wall on their property.
The journalists at CBS This Morning on Wednesday conducted a mostly softball interview with one of the most liberal Congressmen in the House. When Representative Jerry Nadler casually insisted that the Trump administration is “willing to have” “kids dying” at the border, the hosts didn’t object to this attack. Instead, Anthony Mason quizzed the Democrat on impeachment: “You are about to take over the Judiciary Committee and you've said that impeachment hearings are something that you only resort to in most extreme circumstances. In your view, what are those circumstances?”
On CBS This Morning: Saturday, the show's anchors cheered on NFL players, inspired by Colin Kaepernick, who spent time advocating liberal causes during this year's elections.
On Saturday morning, CBS and NBC both ran predictable reports arguing that human activity is causing global warming, which is causing hurricanes like Florence to be worse, while those who are skeptical are derided as "climate change deniers." By contrast, global warming skeptic Joe Bastardi appeared on both Friday's Fox News at Night and Thursday's Hannity show on FNC. He argued that, while it is true that climate has always undergone change, past hurricane seasons have actually been worse than those in recent decades, as he doubted that humans are making a significant impact on the climate.
As Fox and Friends Saturday commented on the absence of media attention to National of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan at Aretha Franklin's funeral, the other networks ignored Farrakhan, but CBS and NBC did find time to highlight complaints about one of the pastors putting his arm around singer Ariana Grande on stage and making a joke about her name.