ABC & NBC Trumpet: In 'Stinging Rebuke,' a 'Central Argument' for Iraq
September 8th, 2006 8:50 PM
Friday's broadcast network evening newscasts delivered three different levels of priority to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's report which concluded there were no connections between Iraq and al-Qaeda, hardly fresh news. The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric didn't air a syllable about it , ABC's World News with Charles Gibson teased it and made it the newscast's second story (…
The NewsBusters Weekly Recap: September 2 to September
September 8th, 2006 3:16 PM
Look no further than NewsBusters for complete coverage of Katie Couric’s debut as the anchor of the "CBS Evening News." The MRC’s Brent Baker began the week by noting a previous Couric claim that she’s not biased, but Fox is. Additionally, the new anchor has hired liberal Douglas Brinkley as the show’s historian. On September 5, Couric appeared on "The Early Show," only to apparently forget the…
CBS Interviews Armitage, But Skips Rove and Asks if He Owes Apology to
September 7th, 2006 11:37 PM
The CBS Evening News on Thursday night became the first broadcast network evening newscast to report how former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was the one who revealed how Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, but CBS portrayed the Wilsons and taxpayers as the victims of the probe, not Scooter Libby or Karl Rove (whose name was never uttered), nor questions about the special counsel'…
Months After CNN Featured Him, CBS Showcases Same Anti-Bush Retired Ma
September 7th, 2006 10:05 PM
A small world of self-proclaimed “conservative” retired Marine Colonels disillusioned with President Bush, Republicans and the war in Iraq. Ten months after CNN's John King featured criticism of the Iraq war from retired Marine Colonel Jim Van Riper, in an Anderson Cooper 360 story from North Carolina on supposed declining support for the war in a conservative area, CBS's Byron Pitts traveled to…
Limbaugh on CBS: 'Some Americans, Sadly, Are Not Interested in Victory
September 7th, 2006 8:19 PM
Rush Limbaugh delivered the "freeSpeech" segment on Thursday's CBS Evening News. Anchor Katie Couric set up him up: “With the fifth anniversary of 9/11 coming up, the topic tonight is the war on terror. And there may be no one more opinionated on the subject than radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.” Limbaugh began: “My friends, it's time to face a hard cold fact: Militant Islam wants to kill us…
Bush Earns Unusual Respect from Star Journalists: 'Clever Jujitsu' and
September 6th, 2006 9:31 PM
President Bush's announcement Wednesday, that he wants military tribunals for al-Qaeda operatives he's moved from secret sites to Guantanamo Bay, drew some unusual respect from top broadcast network stars, particularly ABC's George Stephanopoulos and CBS's Bob Schieffer, for its political cleverness. Stephanopoulos declared on World News with Charles Gibson: “Here the administration took an…
CBS's 'freeSpeech' Segment on Couric's 2nd Day: Plugging Amnesty for I
September 6th, 2006 7:21 PM
A night after giving its “freeSpeech” platform over to the liberal Morgan Spurlock to gripe about the lack of “civil discourse,” the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on Wednesday employed the feature to help plug a Thursday protest in favor of amnesty for illegal immigrants. CBS put a soft and sympathetic edge on the topic by showcasing a Los Angeles Times reporter, Sonia Nazario, concerned…
Couric's News: Clunky Segmentation; Asks 'Back to Drawing Board' in Wa
September 5th, 2006 9:08 PM
The new CBS Evening News with Katie Couric showcased her over correspondents (in a change from Schieffer's day she handled the opening plugs for upcoming stories), spotlighted her legs (at the top of the show, as she sat with an interviewee and stood in front of the anchor desk at the end of the program) and marked the Early Show-ization of the evening newscast with stories crammed into gimmicky…
Couric's Unintended Candor: US Didn't Launch War on Terror Till
September 5th, 2006 8:32 PM
In the coming hours and days, my colleagues at MRC and NewsBusters are sure to provide comprehensive, in-depth analysis of Katie Couric's debut this evening as the anchor of the CBS Evening News. From the opening segment, whose message was that things are worse in Afghanistan than you realize, to an interview with MSM foreign policy fave Thomas Friedman decrying tax cuts, to anti-McDonald's…
Katie Couric Needs Your Help
September 5th, 2006 6:36 PM
New "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric needs your help, NewsBusters readers. Tonight on her first show, she said she still hasn't figured out how to end the program.
"All summer long, people have been asking me, How will you sign off at the end of your broadcast? I've racked my brain and so far, nothing has felt right."
After a segment of past anchors' sign-offs, she asked for viewer…
