While Networks Ignore Obama Golf Outing, CNN Humorist Gets Story Right

June 22nd, 2010 12:20 PM
CNN correspondent Jeanne Moos has a penchant for quirky, off-beat reporting, but what happens when the eccentric newswoman gives a more accurate picture of important events than the serious journalists?While media outlets relentlessly denounced BP CEO Tony Hayward for taking Saturday off to participate in a yacht race, they mostly glossed over or completely ignored President Barack Obama's…

CBS Fawns Over Pay Czar Feinberg: He Speaks With 'Moral Authority' and

June 21st, 2010 5:20 PM
On the June 20th edition of Sunday Morning, CBS reporter Richard Schlesinger conducted a glowing interview with pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, lauding him as someone who speaks with "moral authority" and who has "become an expert assessor of the value of life itself." Feinberg, who will now be in charge of distributing the $20 billion BP has pledged for the oil spill, previously worked with President…

Network Morning Shows Rage Against BP CEO's Yachting Trip, Ignore Obam

June 21st, 2010 12:40 PM
All three morning shows on Monday railed against BP CEO Tony Hayward for attending a yachting race in England on Saturday, but they found no such anger for Barack Obama's golf outing on the same day, ignoring the story. The pattern was nearly identical on Sunday, with only Good Morning America briefly mentioning the President's recreational activities. On Monday's Early Show, Katie Couric…

Sunday Talk Shows All Start With BP Hayward's Yachting, Ignore Obama's

June 20th, 2010 9:51 PM
As NewsBusters previously reported, America's media on Saturday had a collective hissy fit over BP CEO Tony Hayward having the nerve to participate in a yacht race on his day off.At the same time, no such outrage was expressed concerning President Obama and Vice President Biden going golfing.This double standard continued Sunday as the three broadcast network political talk shows all began with…

ABC Focuses Oil Spill Blame on BP and Coast Guard, Not Obama; CBS Give

June 17th, 2010 5:23 PM
On Thursday's Good Morning America on ABC, co-host George Stephanopoulos laid blame on BP and Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen for mishandling the Gulf oil spill response but depicted the Obama administration as having done everything it could. In contrast, on the CBS Early Show, guests from both sides of the aisle gave the President a 'C' grade for his response.  At the top of Good Morning America…

Obama Requests $50 Billion More, Networks Devote 38 Times More Coverag

June 17th, 2010 10:21 AM
The news media have recently been struck with World Cup fever, with two broadcast networks sending reporters to South Africa to cover the games. At the same time, a bailout request that could cost taxpayers another $50 billion was ignored by most broadcast news programs. ABC, CBS and NBC spent a combined 25 minutes 54 seconds talking about World Cup soccer between June 13 and 15. That was…

ABC's Stephanopoulos Lobbs Softballs to Gibbs; CBS and NBC Provide Cha

June 15th, 2010 1:30 PM
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made the rounds on the network morning shows on Tuesday, ahead of President Obama's prime time Oval Office address on the Gulf oil spill. While he had confrontational interviews on CBS's Early Show and NBC's Today, on ABC's Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos made sure Gibbs's appearance was low-stress.Stephanopoulos kept the questions…

Network News Shows Largely Skip President's $50 Billion Spending Reque

June 14th, 2010 3:46 PM
The network morning and evening news shows have all but ignored President Obama's Saturday letter to congressional leaders asking for $50 billion in additional spending to prevent the "massive layoffs of teachers, police, and firefighters." Only Sunday's Good Morning America on ABC has covered the President's request so far.The chief executive's June 12 letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate…

Jerry Brown Calls Meg Whitman a Nazi, Media Mostly Mum

June 12th, 2010 7:13 PM
California's Democrat gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown on Tuesday called his Republican rival Meg Whitman a Nazi.You probably didn't hear about this because America's media largely ignored it. By contrast, the press had a field day when Republican senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina made a comment about Barbara Boxer's (D-Calif.) hair that was picked up by an open microphone Tuesday evening.Why…

Letterman Guest Robert Klein Suggests Limbaugh’s Good Health is a Ba

June 12th, 2010 12:58 PM
Appearing as a guest on Friday’s Late Show with David Letterman on CBS, left-wing comedian Robert Klein suggested that it was bad that Rush Limbaugh turned out to be in good health after his hospital visit in Hawaii, inspiring laughter from Letterman. Klein: "You lose some, you win some." After Letterman brought up the birther conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in America, Klein…

Media Continue War against BPA; Claim It Causes 'All Sorts' of Health

June 11th, 2010 10:20 AM
Toys, food, packaging. Chemicals are in them all. The media make a living by sensationalizing the potential dangers of just about everything in our modern world. Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical found in many plastic items, was no exception. The news media have been scaremongering about BPA for years, even going so far as to compare it to tobacco at one point, but a cautious tone from the…

CBS's Schieffer: S.C. Politics Like 'Desperate Housewives'; Dems 'Happ

June 9th, 2010 12:39 PM
On Wednesday's CBS Early Show, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer provided analysis of Tuesday's primary elections across the country, describing the South Carolina gubernatorial race "where they continue to draw their political plot lines from, you know, 'Desperate Housewives' or something" and how Nevada Democrats were "very happy" with the victory of tea party candidate Sharron Angle.  …

Evening News Shows Enthuse Over Helen Thomas, a 'Bona Fide Icon' and a

June 8th, 2010 12:47 PM
The three evening news shows on Monday treated the announcement of Helen Thomas' retirement as an occasion to gush over the "bona fide icon" and "trailblazer." At the same time, CBS's Evening News, NBC's Nightly News and ABC's World News didn't find much time for outrage over Thomas' attacks on Jews and Israel. Instead, NBC's Andrea Mitchell played a clip of Thomas ranting to President Bush in a…

CBS Reporter: Thin-Skinned White House Won't Tolerate Reports Elena Ka

June 8th, 2010 11:07 AM
On Sunday’s Face the Nation, CBS legal correspondent Jan Crawford revealed how the Obama White House is “strongly” pushing back against her unsurprising report last week that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan “stood shoulder to shoulder with the liberal left” when she clerked for liberal Justice Thurgood Marshall.Crawford says the White House reaction to her report “has been astonishing....Their…