This Is CNN: Low Ratings, High Profits

Although it remains in distant third in the U.S. television ratings behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC, CNN has consistently been a good revenue generator for its parent company Time Warner. In fact, in terms of profits, CNN is on track for record numbers this year. How is that possible in the face of continued failures in both the daytime and primetime dayparts? The short answer is CNN's self…
Matthew Sheffield
June 15th, 2012 3:18 PM

Eleanor Clift Shocker: 'Independent Voters Souring on Obama

This is quickly becoming Obama's summer of discontent. On Friday, the perilously liberal Newsweek columnist Eleanor Clift offered readers a shockingly dour piece about the state of the current White House resident's reelection campaign titled "In Focus Group, Independent Voters Souring on Obama":
Noel Sheppard
June 15th, 2012 2:49 PM

The Horror: NYT's Timothy Egan Forced to Watch Fox News

I only am escaped alone to tell thee: Timothy Egan, a liberal reporter turned columnist for the New York Times, was forced to watch Fox News at the gym and lived to tell his readers about the horror in a Thursday post at nytimes.com, "The Clown and the Cop." Trapped with a Fox News big screen in my stable of fellow trotters at the gym a few weeks ago, I took in the worldview that may give the…
Clay Waters
June 15th, 2012 1:09 PM

NBC's Gregory: Obama Must Tell Voters 'Things Got Really, Really Bad

Appearing on Friday's NBC Today, Meet the Press host David Gregory advised the Obama campaign on how defeat Mitt Romney: "What the President's got to do is say, 'Hey, don't forget about George W. Bush. Things got really, really bad under him.'" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] Co-host Matt Lauer was skeptical: "I hear him saying that all the time....do you think that…
Kyle Drennen
June 15th, 2012 12:56 PM

ABC, NBC Tout 'Star-Studded' Obama Fund-Raisers for 'Prez in the City

ABC and NBC on Friday both excitedly touted Barack Obama's "star-studded" celebrity fund-raisers in New York City, gushing over the "Prez in the City." Neither network wondered if $40,000 per plate dinners with millionaire celebrities might make the President seem out of touch, a charge often leveled at Republican Mitt Romney. On Good Morning America, reporter Jon Karl enthused, "Call it…
Scott Whitlock
June 15th, 2012 12:37 PM

CNN Features Immigration Activist Who Gushes Over Obama's Executive Or

After the Obama administration announced Friday it will not deport young illegal immigrants that meet certain criteria, CNN's first interview went to an immigration rights leader who raved to the network that "Today is, I think, the happiest day of my life." The activist, Gabby Pacheco, appeared in the Time magazine illegal immigration cover story that CNN featured multiple times on Thursday…
Matt Hadro
June 15th, 2012 12:12 PM

Huffington Post Presents 'Eight Ways For Tiger To Pick Up Girls' at U

Golf's U.S. Open is considered the sport's premier family event as it historically concludes on Father's Day. To "celebrate" this, the Huffington Post currently has a headline on its front page that reads "Eight Ways For Tiger To Pick Up Girls While He's Here" (photo courtesy AP).
Noel Sheppard
June 15th, 2012 11:49 AM

Labeling Logic: On Obama-Care, NYTimes Pits 'Conservatives' Against 't

Given two chances, New York Times reporters Jonathan Weisman and Michael Shear couldn't identify the universal-health-care backers Families USA as liberal in their Friday piece on what happens after the Supreme Court's imminent ruling on the constitutionality of Obama-care: "Parties Plan Next Move Once Supreme Court Rules on Health Care." Yet they had no problem spotting conservatives on the…
Clay Waters
June 15th, 2012 11:24 AM

Bozell, Hannity Discuss Matthews's Offer of Help to Elizabeth Warren

With a program entitled Hardball, MSNBC audiences should expect, well, "hardball" questions of politicians no matter what their ideological leanings, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted on the June 14 edition of Fox News Channel's Hannity. Instead, host Chris Matthews recently and quite openly confessed his eagerness to aid Democrat Elizabeth Warren's campaign to defeat Sen. Scott Walker (…
NB Staff
June 15th, 2012 11:05 AM

Former RNC Chair Steele Tells Chris Matthews He's 'A Good Sycophant' f

We at NewsBusters have been calling MSNBC's Chris Matthews a sycophant for Barack Obama since at least February 2008 when the so-called journalist bragged on the air about getting a thrill up his leg at the sound of the former junior senator from Illinois' voice. It was therefore quite pleasing to hear former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele tell the Hardball host that to…
Noel Sheppard
June 15th, 2012 10:02 AM

Even MSNBC Analysts Pan Obama Economy Speech as 'Unbelievably Diffuse

Minutes after President Barack Obama finished speaking about the economy on Thursday afternoon, two analysts for the “forward-leaning” MSNBC cable news channel criticized the 54-minute speech by saying that it “didn't work” and he “lost his audience by the end.” MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall began the segment by asking liberal columnist Jonathan Alter what he thought of the president's address.…
Randy Hall
June 15th, 2012 9:13 AM

NYT's Shear Digs Up Racism Accusations: 'Much More' Than 'Macaca' Doom

New York Times reporter Michael Shear filed a "Political Memo" Thursday on the return of former Virginia Sen. George Allen, who lost in 2006 after the media and the Washington Post in particular harped on a daily basis after Allen referred to opponent's opposition research person as "macaca." Shear felt the need to kneecap Allen out of the starting gate by injecting all the old controversies…
Clay Waters
June 15th, 2012 8:11 AM

AP: Obama Tells Celebrities They're the 'Ultimate Arbiter' of America

Does Middle America really want their country run by celebrities, a kitchen cabinet of divas and Clooneys and Snookis? That’s what was implied in an AP story by Ben Feller titled "Obama to Celebrities: 'You're the Ultimate Arbiter of Which Direction This Country Goes.'" "President Barack Obama soaked in the support — and the campaign cash — of Manhattan's elite entertainers Thursday as his re…
Tim Graham
June 15th, 2012 6:09 AM

Stephanie Miller Show Decries Media Coverage of Edwards Trial: 'They'r

On Wednesday's edition of The Stephanie Miller show on "progressive" radio and Current TV, Miller and her impressionist sidekick Jim Ward expressed "how frustrating the mainstream media can be" for treating the John Edwards mistress-payments trial as a serious, newsworthy matter instead of just  dismissing the whole thing as a "lousy case." But then it got funnier when they said the media…
Tim Graham
June 15th, 2012 5:15 AM