ABC Highlights 'Anything but Helpful' Government Healthcare 'Mess

September 11th, 2008 4:08 PM
Grandma may be calling but this government program isn't answering.ABC's "Good Morning America" exposed many problems with Medicare's hotline number 1-800-MEDICARE September 11, including telephone operators "who couldn't answer the [questions]," "gave out the wrong information" or were completely unreachable.The onscreen caption for the ABC report read "Investigation Exposes Health Care Mess."…

ABC's John Berman Suggests Palin Politicizing Son's Iraq Service

September 11th, 2008 3:44 PM
On Thursday's "Good Morning America," reporter John Berman raised the issue of whether Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was politicizing her son's military service. Observing that Governor Palin will be giving a speech on September 11 at a deployment ceremony to send her son off to Iraq, Berman critiqued, "And it [the speech] will be open to television cameras. It's such a drastic difference from the…

Kate Snow Whines Over 'Illogical,' 'Ridiculous' McCain lipstick Ad

September 11th, 2008 12:41 PM
"Good Morning America" weekend anchor Kate Snow on Thursday derided the McCain/Palin ticket for focusing on a comment by Barack Obama that "you can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig." Sympathetically covering the Illinois senator's contention that he wasn't referring to Sarah Palin and her claims to be a lipstick-wearing hockey mom, Snow whined that the topic was "illogical" and…

CNN's Chetry: 'Please Tell Me It's Not Lipstick Again

September 10th, 2008 11:40 PM
 On CNN's American Morning today, White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reported on Barack Obama's campaigning in Virginia.  Afterwards, anchor Kiran Chetry had a question:CHETRY: All right. And Suzanne, what's on tap for the campaign today? And please tell me it's not lipstick again.MALVEAUX: Let's hope not. He's going to be in Norfolk, Virginia. That is in southeast Virginia, and it's home…

Brian Ross Investigates Angry Librarians Opposed to Palin

September 10th, 2008 5:41 PM
Wednesday's "Good Morning America," featured a one-sided segment on whether Sarah Palin, as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, tried to have some books banned from the town's library. Despite the fact that no one featured in the segment could cite a specific book, co-host Robin Roberts labeled the event "a battle that brought her toe-to-toe with a local librarian over which books were appropriate and…

'Good Morning America' Thinks You’re Not Smart Enough to Buy Health

September 9th, 2008 5:51 PM
ABC's "Good Morning America" isn't afraid to call 'em like they see 'em. On health care, Chris Cuomo set up his resident health expert to deliver an outright insult to the American people. Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) advocates more patient choice and flexibility in buying health insurance, but ABC’s medical editor, Dr. Tim Johnson, scoffed at that notion in a September 5 story.“The idea…

NYT's Tom Friedman on ABC: Slams McCain Energy Plan, Wants More Taxes

September 8th, 2008 12:48 PM
"Good Morning America" on Monday featured liberal New York Times columnist Tom Friedman as an energy expert to "fact check" John McCain's policies on the subject and advocate for higher taxes. GMA co-host Diane Sawyer never referred to Friedman's economic policies as liberal, despite the fact that he repeatedly made assertions such as this: "But, you know, there's really no effective plan to make…

Always a Spinmeister: ABC’s Stephanopoulos Offers Democratic Spin Tw

September 5th, 2008 11:14 AM
One week ago, former Clinton campaign spinner George Stephanopoulos found nothing to criticize when he reviewed Barack Obama’s speech and the overall Democratic convention for Good Morning America. But on Friday, the ABC host relayed the Obama campaign’s negative take on McCain and stressed how voters don’t think Sarah Palin has as much experience as Joe Biden, and that she doesn’t help her…

Network News Anchors Shocked at Bias Charge: We're Professionals

September 4th, 2008 3:55 PM
All three network news anchors appeared together on each of the morning shows on Thursday and blithely dismissed the notion that members of the media have shown bias and sexist attitudes in response to Sarah Palin's nomination for vice president. "World News" host Charles Gibson, who visited along with NBC's Brian Williams and CBS's Katie Couric, told "Today" host Meredith Vieira that the role of…

Forbes Names Vieira Most Powerful On-Air Personality

September 4th, 2008 2:24 PM
When an anti-business media personality makes a business magazine's "Most Powerful" list, there is definitely something wrong. Forbes magazine released its list of the 100 most powerful women in its September 15 issue. Meredith Vieira, host of NBC's "Today," came in at number 61 as the top journalist. Vieira beat CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric (ranked 62), ABC News veteran Barbara…

Nets Push Biden to Get Tough; Biden Says Press Has Been ‘Sexist’ a

September 4th, 2008 12:35 PM
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden made the morning show rounds on Thursday to respond to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s convention speech, and journalists at NBC, MSNBC, ABC and CNN all encouraged Biden to strongly confront his Republican counterpart, as if Palin has been enjoying some sort of honeymoon from criticism over the past few days.CNN’s John Roberts pressed Biden: “Before…

Media Tout 'GOP Slamfest,' 'Hard-Edged Attack' on Obama

September 3rd, 2008 1:42 PM
Unlike the celebratory response to the opening nights of the Democratic convention a week ago, the three network morning shows offered restrained recaps of Tuesday night’s speeches at the Republican convention, and continued to portray Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a liability for the GOP ticket.On Wednesday’s Today, NBC’s David Gregory had the GOP taking “swipes at Senator Obama’s limited…

ABC Pounds Away At Palin Pregnancy, 'Skeleton In the Closet

September 2nd, 2008 12:52 PM
ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday aggressively pushed the story about how Sarah Palin’s teenaged daughter is pregnant, leading their broadcast with that topic rather than the hurricane that slammed into Louisiana yesterday morning. ABC’s David Wright suggested the McCain camp was trying to bury the “skeleton in the closet” by putting the news out as the hurricane hit: “This was a political…

No Labels for Liberal Joe Biden, But for Sarah Palin

August 30th, 2008 11:55 AM
Just as my colleague Brent Baker found on Friday night, the big broadcast networks on Saturday morning showed no shyness about labeling Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin a “conservative,” with NBC Today co-host Amy Robach calling her “a staunch conservative,” CBS’s Chip Reid tagging her “reliably conservative,” and ABC’s Kate Snow finding Palin to be “quite conservative.”But…