WashPost Uncorks Long Gushy Story On Al Sharpton's Self-Importance

Sunday’s Washington Post devoted a front-page article that extended an eye-opening three whole pages to Rev. Al Sharpton and his “private doubts,” mostly about his own legacy, as he ponders the creation of a museum to promote his significance. Post reporter Eli Saslow chronicled how a haunted Sharpton wonders if he’ll ever measure up to Martin Luther King. This is a little like Pee Wee Herman…
Tim Graham
February 8th, 2015 9:24 AM

NYT Takes Front-Page Swings at Hillary, Jindal From Economic Left

On successive front pages Saturday and Sunday, the New York Times hit from the left presidential prospects from each party: liberal Democrat Hillary Clinton and Bobby Jindal, the conservative Republican governor of Louisiana.
Clay Waters
February 8th, 2015 8:55 AM

Sat Night Funny Videos: Weather Channel Banality, Rand Paul Shushes

Two videos tonight: First, Weather Channel “reporters had very little trouble filling 24 hours of storm coverage,” FNC’s Bret Baier explained Wednesday night in a setting up a compilation video produced by ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, but “how valuable that reporting is, you decide.” Second, on Monday, Senator Rand Paul told CNBC anchor Kelly Evans to “shush.” On Wednesday night, CBS’s Late Show with…
Brent Baker
February 7th, 2015 11:47 PM

Dowd in NY Times: Williams 'A Bomb That Had Been Ticking For a While'

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote a strong attack on Brian Williams (and the other network anchors) for Sunday's newspaper. Could this have been a factor in NBC's Saturday announcement? She began her Williams critique: "THIS was a bomb that had been ticking for a while."
Tim Graham
February 7th, 2015 9:16 PM

Nets Cover Brian Williams Announcement; CBS, NBC Downplay His Lying

On Saturday afternoon, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams released a statement announcing that he will be removing himself from NBC’s evening newscast “for the next several days” following the news that Williams lied about being in a helicopter that was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) over Iraq in March 2003. Later that night, all three of the major broadcast networks devoted…
Curtis Houck
February 7th, 2015 9:06 PM

In 2007, Williams Says He 'Looked Down the Tube of an RPG' in Iraq

This is for the "false memories" and "he's an untouchable 'brand' crowds defending Brian Williams, who this afternoon announced that he has "decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days." At the 2-minute mark of the 2007 interview with a collegiate reporter following the jump, watch Williams speak of his alleged brushes with danger, including how he "looked down the…
Tom Blumer
February 7th, 2015 6:36 PM

Krauthammer Levels Obama's 'Dorm Room' Equating of ISIS, Christianity

The question that came to mind while listening to President Obama's remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast -- where have I heard this before? Conservative columnist and author Charles Krauthammer provided a helpful reminder when he appeared on Hugh Hewitt's radio show yesterday. For Obama to compared the current-day atrocities committed by radical Muslims on a daily basis around the world…
Jack Coleman
February 7th, 2015 5:44 PM

Maher: U.S. Not Moral Equivalent of ISIS but 'We're Not Guilt-free'

The host of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher covered a wide range of topics on his Friday night program, ranging from declaring that the U.S. is not morally equivalent to the Islamic State of Iran and Syria to joking about NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams “not having a good week.” Most of the discussion about war and its consequences took place during the “Overtime” segment of the show,…
Randy Hall
February 7th, 2015 5:10 PM

BREAKING: Brian Williams Steps Aside for 'The Next Several Days'

CNN media reporter Brian Stelter is reporting “Brian Williams is stepping aside from his "NBC Nightly News" amid mounting questions about the accuracy of a story he told about an Iraq War mission in 2003." "I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days," he said in a memo to colleagues.
NB Staff
February 7th, 2015 4:58 PM

NPR Host Asks 'Sniper' Star About Eastwood's Empty Chair 'Interview'

NPR talk show host Terry Gross interviewed American Sniper star Bradley Cooper for Monday afternoon’s Fresh Air, and the weirdest part came when she asked Cooper if he was spooked out of working with director Clint Eastwood after he “interviewed the chair” at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in 2012. Cooper laughed and dismissed her concern.
Tim Graham
February 7th, 2015 4:51 PM

Brian Williams: Natural Result of a Pathological NBC Culture

So now another Brian Williams story surfaces, this time about Katrina. The lying and exaggerating? We're talking pathological -- and the pathology of an entire network’s culture. From exploding GM trucks to pretending Al Sharpton is a journalist, NBC's culture has put "narrative journalism" ahead of the truth. And the results are becoming clear.
Jeffrey Lord
February 7th, 2015 11:50 AM

Only CBS Covers Latest on Brian Williams, Downplays ‘Helicopter Ride’

Of the three morning shows on Saturday, only CBS covered the latest on the evolving Brian Williams scandal. Predictably, NBC’s Today again stayed silent. But so did ABC’s Good Morning America. CBS reporter Anthony Mason noted, “the New York Times reports NBC News is launching an internal investigation into the reporting of anchorman Brian Williams.”
Scott Whitlock
February 7th, 2015 11:38 AM

Blogger: Obama Should Host His Own ‘Inter-Faith’ Prayer Breakfast

The American Prospect’s Paul Waldman advocates that Obama skip next year’s National Prayer Breakfast and instead “hold his own inter-faith breakfast at the White House, one geared more toward understanding and less toward proclamations of the one true faith. Of course, conservatives would be apoplectic if he did that, saying that it just shows how he hates Jesus and hates America. Which is…
Tom Johnson
February 7th, 2015 10:59 AM

On Hannity, Bozell Slams: Brian Williams Is 'Lying About Everything'

According to Media Research Center President Brent Bozell, Brian Williams is “lying about everything." Bozell appeared on the February 6 edition of Fox News’s Hannity and asserted that the NBC anchor has clearly fabricated multiple parts of his claim to have been in a helicopter shot by an RPG in 2003.
NB Staff
February 7th, 2015 10:56 AM