ABC Yawns: Not Interested in Whether Waterboarding Helped Kill bin Lad
May 4th, 2011 12:11 PM
ABC's World News on Tuesday continued to demonstrate the network's lack of interest in whether enhanced interrogation methods such as waterboarding played a part in the killing of Osama bin laden. The Diane Sawyer-anchored program was the only newscast to avoid the topic.
In contrast, Nightly News host Brian Williams interviewed CIA director Leon Panetta, grilling, "Can you confirm that it…
ABC Not Interested in Whether Enhanced Interrogation Helped Kill Bin L
May 3rd, 2011 12:44 PM
In the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden, ABC has shown very little interest in whether enhanced interrogation, such as waterboarding, led to the terrorist's ultimate demise. NBC, however, dealt with the subject in an in-depth manner and CBS at least mentioned it.
While interviewing former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday never…
NBC's Richard Engel Rants: Iraq War a 'Distraction' From Getting Bin L
May 3rd, 2011 12:43 PM
On NBC's Nightly News on Monday, chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel used a report on the history of the war on terror to attack the Bush administration for going to war in Iraq: "...when civil war in Iraq broke out, American troops were stuck....it was a distraction from the United States' original mission to find Bin Laden, stop Al Qaeda, and prevent another 9/11." [Audio available here…
Mainstream Media Try to Pour Cold Water on John Paul II Beatification
May 2nd, 2011 7:04 PM
Several media outlets on Sunday did their best to cast doubt on the legacy of Pope John Paul II as the Catholic Church beatified the late pontiff. NPR highlighted how the pope apparently "alienated many Catholics who began leaving the church in droves." CNN brought on a liberal theologian who claimed that John Paul II "led us backwards rather than forward." NBC played up the "avalanche of…
Brian Williams Wonders If Tornadoes Caused by ‘Something We Have Don
April 29th, 2011 7:24 AM
Like clockwork, an unusual weather event occurs and some shallow journalists immediately leap to speculating about global warming – even accusing humankind of causing the event. On Thursday night, looking at the tornadoes across the South, ABC’s Sam Champion ridiculously claimed “everybody is asking if climate change played a role here.” Brian Williams blamed humans: “What's going on here? Is…
NBC Uses Left-Wing Hollywood Fantasy to Cheerlead for Obama
April 28th, 2011 12:49 PM
In a report designed to separate fact from fiction on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, White House correspondent Savannah Guthrie decided to blur fantasy and reality as she compared President Obama's press conference announcing the release of his birth certificate to a moment from the 1995 movie, "The American President." [Audio available here]
After a clip was played of Obama declaring: "We…
New York Mag Gushes: 'Isn't It Time We Took the Comedy of Brian Willia
April 25th, 2011 3:37 PM
According to New York magazine, Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is a "versatile" humorist who now has a "second career" making people laugh. In a gushing, 3600 word piece, writer John Swansburg went so far as to fawn, "He’s a confident, kempt success in a profession dominated by neurotics and Apatovian man-children. Isn’t it time we took the comedy of Brian Williams seriously?"
For proof…
Gas Prices Top $1-a-Gallon Higher than Year Ago; Media Don’t Blame O
April 25th, 2011 10:20 AM
The average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline hit $3.86 on April 25, more than $1-a-gallon higher than a year earlier and less than 25 cents away from the record high price of gasoline set in July 2008.
In fact, per gallon prices are more than $2 higher than when Obama took office Jan. 20, 2009. Yet the president has been nearly exempt from criticism on the issue of rising prices,…
Donald Trump Steering Clear of CBS News Interviews
April 20th, 2011 3:54 PM
Potential presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose controversial stance on President Obama's birth certificate has made waves in the mainstream media during the past weeks, for one reason or another, has avoided interviews on CBS's morning and evening news programs so far in 2011. In fact, Trump hasn't done an interview on either The Early Show or CBS Evening News in over two years.
Since Oil Spill, Rising Gas Prices Linked to Obama Drilling Ban in Jus
April 20th, 2011 9:58 AM
On April 20, 2010, a horrific oil spill took place in the Gulf of Mexico on British Petroleum's (BP) Deepwater Horizon rig. Since that day, gas prices have risen nearly $1-a-gallon to $3.83 per gallon. President Barack Obama's anti-oil policies, including a drilling moratorium are at least part of the reason for that dramatic spike. But you will rarely hear that from the mainstream media.
It…
Holy Week: Media Worship Earth Day, Attack Easter
April 20th, 2011 9:49 AM
Easter is the quintessential Christian holiday - the celebration of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Although it has been celebrated by billions of people around the world for nearly 2,000 years, the mainstream media would rather celebrate the liberal holiday known as "Earth Day" and connect Easter to the abuse scandal that surrounded the Roman Catholic Church. Some major Findings:
NBC Touts Cuban Celebration of Bay of Pigs Invasion Anniversary
April 18th, 2011 6:11 PM
On Saturday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt marked the 50th anniversary of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion as "one of the most infamous events in American history." In the report that followed, correspondent Mark Potter proclaimed: "This weekend Cuba is remembering a critical moment in history still felt today. Huge crowds have come out to celebrate in ways not seen here for years."…
NBC’s Engel ‘Worried’ About ‘Ferociously Anti-Israel’ Arab S
April 13th, 2011 10:15 PM
On Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel informed viewers that he is "worried" that a major war between some of the Arab countries and Israel could be in the not too distant future because of the "ferociously anti-Israel" sentiment of the "Arab street" that is likely to gain power in countries like Egypt. He ended up concluding: "But I think, over time, this…
NBC Notes Bob Dylan Criticized for Letting China Censor His Concert
April 11th, 2011 7:37 AM
On Sunday’s NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt informed viewers that Human Rights Watch recently aimed criticism at singer and former anti-war activist Bob Dylan, charging that he "should be ashamed of himself for letting" the Chinese government "tell him what to sing."
After recounting the irony of Dylan performing a concert in Vietnam after opposing the Vietnam War in the 1960s, Holt…