NBC and ABC Barely Touch Kagan Hearings, CBS Promotes Her As 'Very Agi
While ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today spent little time on the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on Tuesday, the CBS Early Show featured a report from legal correspondent Jan Crawford, who cheered Kagan finally being able respond to Republican "attacks" in a "very agile" way. Good Morning America devoted only a single news brief early in the 7AM ET hour to the…
Kagan Hearings, Day 1: Evening Newscasts Downplay; NBC Offers Just
All three network evening newscasts on Monday downplayed the start of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings, with NBC Nightly News squeezing in just 24 seconds for Kagan at the tail end of a story about the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor the 2nd Amendment. For their part, CBS and ABC offered full stories outlining Kagan’s first day before the Judiciary committee after…
CBS: Robert Byrd 'One of the Hardest Working Senators in Modern Histor
On Monday's CBS Early Show, correspondent Whit Johnson reported breaking news of the death of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd and proclaimed: "By all accounts, he was one of the hardest working senators in modern history." Johnson touted Byrd's "four volume history of the Senate" and described him as the "unequaled master of the Senate rules." Part of the "hard work" Johnson cited was the…
Networks Defend 'Consensus Builder' Kagan; Downplay Military Recruiter
The Monday morning shows on CBS, ABC, and NBC all worked to portray President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as a moderate and open-minded legal scholar, downplaying her liberal views. All three network programs also minimized her controversial decision to ban military recruiters on campus while Dean of Harvard Law School.On CBS's Early Show, legal correspondent Jan Crawford touted…
VIDEO: Media Routinely Used 'Conservative' Label on Bush Nominees to S
When President Bush nominated John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court in 2005, the media did not hesitate to describe both men as "very conservative," but when President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan this year many in the press couldn't seem to identify any liberal ideology. The Media Research Center has produced a video compilation of examples to further…
Morning Shows Skip Sexual Assault Charge Against Al Gore
All three morning shows on Thursday ignored allegations of "unwanted sexual contact" by Al Gore against a woman in 2006. This is despite the fact that the claim was reported by the AP, the New York Times and the Washington Post. CBS's Early Show, NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America failed to mention the charges made by an Oregon massage therapist that Gore tried to have sex with her. Yet,…
Media-Backed Obama Mortgage Program Flops
Obama's home loan modification program was talked up by the bailout-friendly news media as a potential "ray of light" for struggling homeowners. But on June 21, Associated Press reported the mortgage assistance program is "falling flat." The broadcast networks supported the mortgage modification and housing bailout when Obama launched it in 2009, after criticizing Treasury Secretary…
MRC Study: Media Blackout of Supreme Court 'Battle
When President Obama picked Elena Kagan to replace Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, the broadcast networks referred to the upcoming Senate confirmation process as “contentious” a “meat grinder” and a “battle,” warning Kagan was “in for a fight.”But a Media Research Center analysis of the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts in the six weeks since Kagan was nominated shows the broadcast…
CBS's Katie Couric Fawns Over Left-wing Feminist and Her Outrageous Cl
"[Carly Fiorina's] position on taxation would deprive women of childcare."The Hyde Amendment "penalizes poor women terribly.""You can't be a feminist who says other women can't" have an abortion.These are just some of the outrageous statements left-wing feminist Gloria Steinem made during an interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric on the latest installment of "@katiecouric," which was posted to…
'Early Show' Panelists on Marriage: 'Who Wants to Sign up for That
Apparently unmarried men don't have to bother ‘putting a ring on it' anymore. A CBS' "Early Show" panel on June 23 made marriage look like an obsolete tradition by highlighting several couples who've cohabited for years-with little or no intentions of ever saying "I do." CBS co-host Erica Hill cited statistics showing a record-high 6.4 million couples currently cohabitate in the United States…
Media Praise Obama's 'Brilliant' Handling of McChrystal Controversy
President Obama's decision to relieve General Stanley McChrystal of command in Afghanistan and replace him with General David Petraeus was met with a chorus of praise in the media, as anchors and pundits on CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC all sang in unison that it was a "brilliant" move. [Audio available here] During live special coverage leading up to the announcement in the 1PM ET hour on CBS, White…
On Networks, 'Controversial' Law Means Conservative Law
Liberals may like to boast of fighting the establishment and taking on the status quo, but it's conservative laws that are 30 times more likely to be deemed "controversial" - at least by the mainstream media. In the past five years, when ABC, CBS, or NBC news reporters claimed a law was "controversial," they were most likely referring to legislation backed by the right. This analysis looked…
While Networks Ignore Obama Golf Outing, CNN Humorist Gets Story Right
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
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…
