Media Coverage Gives Recession 4:1 Odds
January 16th, 2008 3:43 PM
In spite of recent polls of economists by leading financial publications predicting a less than 50-percent chance the U.S. economy will enter a recession in 2008, the media's coverage of "recession" since the beginning of the year makes it seem inevitable.ABC, CBS and NBC reported "more signs of a looming recession," "deepening troubles," "new fuel for recession fears," "rattled consumers," "an…
AP Writer Omits Fake Documents, Panel Finding from Rather Lawsuit Stor
January 13th, 2008 10:15 AM
Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS may go forward. By omitting key facts of the original "Rathergate" story from his report Thursday, Associated Press Writer Samuel Maull managed to give the former CBS news anchor's contentions an appearance of credibility. Here is how Maull's report began (HT Little Green Footballs; more permanent link to same story used here): A judge said Wednesday that he…
Clintons Put Crying in Politics, Press Eat it Up
January 10th, 2008 11:11 AM
In the 1992 blockbuster movie "A League of Their Own," coach Jimmy Dugan, played by Tom Hanks, marvelously shouted at one of his weeping female players, "There's no crying in baseball!" Sadly, on Monday morning, Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D-NY), followed by her husband and former President Bill Clinton Tuesday evening, put crying in politics. And the press ate it up. In…
Morning Show Montage: How They Teased 'Comeback Kid' Stories
January 9th, 2008 11:33 AM
The Clinton and McCain victories in New Hampshire were topic A on the network morning shows today, so I thought we'd compile a montage video of the teases that the "Early Show," "Good Morning America," and "Today" ran.Video (1:40): Windows Media (3.29 MB) and MP3 audio (475 kB). Some samples:
‘CBS Evening News’ Does 180 on Thimerosal/Autism Link
January 8th, 2008 1:57 PM
It’s better late than never, might be what vaccine manufacturers are thinking right now. The pharmaceutical industry had maintained all along that there’s no proven link between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and autism. CBS had been unwilling to concede that notion until last night. “In health news tonight, new research finds no link between mercury in vaccines and autism in…
Shazam: Smith 'Pyles' On
January 4th, 2008 8:37 AM
Of all the ways Harry Smith could have opened this morning's historic Early Show, he chose to do so by waving today's Boston Herald with its one-word front page "Shazam!" above a photo of Mike Huckabee. Smith described Barack Obama simply as the "big winner" on the Democratic side.View video here [with apologies for low audio level].
See No Bias: CBS Stabs Transparency in the 'Public Eye
January 3rd, 2008 2:35 PM
R.I.P., Public Eye. [Sept. 12, 2005- Dec. 21, 2007] We hardly knew ye. Yes, confirms TVNewser, CBS's eye on itself, the Public Eye ombudsblog, is sadly no longer with us (h/t Eat the Press):TVNewser has learned the CBS News blog PublicEye, once described as a "de facto ombudsman" of CBS News, has ceased operations. CBS Interactive cut several staff members last month, including Matthew Felling…
Hillary Will Be at the Laff Shack All Week
January 3rd, 2008 11:40 AM
If things don't work out for Hillary with this presidential thing, she can always do stand-up out in LA. Or not. If you didn't catch her side-splitter on last night's Letterman, you can view it here, as rebroadcast on MSNBC this morning.For those taking nitrates who might not want to risk a sudden drop in blood pressure by watching the clip, here's the text of Hillary's rib tickler:Dave has been…
Faulty Media Polls Fuel Iowa 'Expectations' Game
January 2nd, 2008 2:52 PM
As you’ve already been told a thousand times, with only a day to go before the Iowa caucuses, the polls are showing a statistical three-way tie between Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards atop the Democratic field, and a similarly close two-way race between Republicans Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.But the polls are probably wrong. Or maybe they’re right -- we won’t really know until…
FNC Cites MRC Quotes, Matthews Has 'Man Crush' on Clinton
December 31st, 2007 8:44 PM
FNC's morning anchors highlighted a few of the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 2007" on the Monday edition of "Fox and Friends." Included were a quote of MSNBC's Chris Matthews comparing Bill Clinton's speaking ability to that of "Jesus at the temple" when the former President spoke at Coretta King's funeral, and a quote of comedian Bill Maher commenting that if [Vice President Cheney] died, "…
Holt To Huck: Wish You Had a 'Do-over' on Pakistan Comments
December 29th, 2007 8:53 AM
Could it have been just a couple days ago that Chris Matthews claimed that the media had made a "mascot" out of Mike Huckabee? You wouldn't know it from this morning's Today show. Weekend host Lester Holt kicked off the show's political segment by implying that among presidential candidates, Huckabee was the big loser in his handling of the Pakistani situation.LESTER HOLT: The murder of Benazir…