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Thursday's network newscasts and Friday's morning shows all ignored the report that an unidentified Democratic House member muttered, "F**k the President" during a closed door meeting on a compromise over taxes. Yet, many journalists professed outrage when Congressman Joe Wilson yelled "You lie" at President Obama in 2009. ABC's The Note website on Thursday afternoon explained, "An…

As NewsBusters reported Thursday, Barbara Walters during an interview to be aired hours later claimed the public find the thought of Sarah Palin as president "scary" because she's "uninformed." When the full segment aired later that evening, Palin fired back saying, "I think it's because the media has shaped that persona and allowed that to be out there as a misconception and a misperception…

Good Morning America's Jon Karl on Thursday offered misleading, sloppy reporting on a congressional tax deal, bizarrely suggesting that the proposal "slashes" the estate tax. In a follow-up piece, news anchor Juju Chang asserted that many Democrats "are still opposed, especially to the estate tax cut." In reality, the so-called death tax is currently at zero. Under the deal, it will increase…

Barbara Walters dismissed Sarah Palin as "uninformed" on Thursday, telling the former Republican governor, "...Many people find the thought of you as president a little scary." The View co-host appeared on Good Morning America to promote her upcoming 10 Most Fascinating People special. She derided Palin, "You hear, 'Oh, she's very charming, but she's uninformed.'" [MP3 audio here.] Video…

In the wake of November's election results there was much discussion in the press over whether or not the newly strengthened Republican Party would be willing to compromise with Democrats. However, since Monday's announcement of a deal on extending current tax rates, many in the media have been critical of President Obama for giving in to the GOP. Before the votes had even been cast in the…

Apparently unhappy at the idea of a compromise with Republicans over taxes, Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday attacked the deal from the left, wondering if the "White House [is] open to renegotiating" portions that have made liberals in Congress unhappy. Stephanopoulos, a former aide to Democrat Dick Gephardt, highlighted Nancy Pelosi's opposition to a high exemption…

For much of the spring and summer, the big broadcast networks threw staff and airtime at covering Arizona's attempt to control its borders against rampant illegal immigration. Liberals detested Arizona's "harsh" new law, so the media elite reflexively treated it as a scandal in their coverage.   But now, Congress is debating a liberal immigration plan, the so-called "DREAM Act," that would…

Good Morning America's Jake Tapper on Tuesday spun Barack Obama's reaction to a tax deal with Republicans this way: "The devil made him do it..." The devil, apparently, being GOP representatives. Picking an easy target as an example, Tapper asserted that, as a result of tax rates staying the same, the "family of the average Wall Street banker [who] paid more than $300,000 last year, will keep…

Even with Monday’s deal between President Obama and top Republicans, no American’s income tax rates will actually decline on January 1 (although, if the deal passes, workers will notice a modest reduction in their payroll taxes in 2011). Yet throughout this debate, the broadcast networks have insisted on framing the debate as about “tax cuts” and “tax breaks,” not about forestalling a tax…

World News anchors and reporters on Sunday chided Barack Obama from the left, complaining that he was "caving" and "breaking one of his biggest campaign promises" by preventing tax rates from increasing in January. ABC's Washington editor Rick Klein worried, "President Obama has been clear this was a critical position and he is caving on it, in, in allowing all the tax cuts to be extended."…

 During a discussion of the agreement to prevent tax rates from increasing in January, on ABC’s World News Sunday, anchor David Muir and ABC’s senior Washington correspondent Rick Klein fretted that the federal budget deficit would increase - against the wishes of the voters - as a result of both the blocking of a tax increase and the extension of unemployment benefits. But neither acknowledged…

   On Saturday morning, FNC’s Fox and Friends Saturday and ABC’s Good Morning America highlighted Democratic Senator Bob Menendez’s assertion that negotiating with Republicans taxes is like negotiating with terrorists. NBC’s Today show included a brief mention, but CBS’s The Early Show and CNN Saturday Morning ignored the New Jersey Democrat’s over-the-top rhetoric. FNC included a soundbite…

On Friday, the CBS Early Show failed to make any mention of New York Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel being censured by the House of Representatives on Thursday for 11 ethics violations. ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today did cover the historic punishment, but adopted a very sympathetic tone toward Rangel. In a slightly extended news brief on Good Morning America, co-host George…

A worried George Stephanopoulos on Thursday again pushed for Republicans to accept some sort of Democratic compromise on extending unemployment benefits and the Bush tax cuts. The Good Morning America host even hit a Republican Congressman for his "double standard" on the issue. Stephanopoulos interviewed incoming House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and Democratic Congressional Campaign…