Brian Williams Sees 'Highly Restrictive' Abortion Laws in Oklahoma

April 28th, 2010 6:37 AM
On Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams characterized as "highly restrictive" two abortion related laws recently passed by the Oklahoma state legislature over the Democratic governor's veto. Neither of the measures would apparently ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy, as one law requires that an ultrasound of the unborn baby be performed and shown to a pregnant woman before an…

CBS Frames Arizona’s Anti-Illegal Alien Law Through Eyes of Opponent

April 24th, 2010 2:58 PM
Arizona’s new law hardly earned a friendly reception Friday night from any of the network newscasts, but CBS went the furthest in presenting it from the perspective of its “victims” as anchor Katie Couric, over video of “Veto Racism” and “Stop the Hate” signs, teased: “Tonight, Arizona's controversial new immigration law. Police will now be able to make anyone they choose prove they're here…

Biden and Bo with TV’s Endearing and Cuddly Moments at the Obama Whi

April 23rd, 2010 9:21 AM
Never missing a chance to highlight events that make Team Obama seem to be loveable characters, ABC and NBC on Thursday night showcased endearing and cuddly moments with Joe Biden and First Dog Bo. You can decide which one is endearing and which one is cuddly.ABC’s Diane Sawyer took time to marvel at how “we heard on The View today that it was the President who told” Joe Biden “we heard” Biden…

Big Three Nets' Evening News Ratings Crater to Summer 2009 Levels Two

April 20th, 2010 3:27 PM
Two weeks ago (noted at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), the combined audience for the Big Three Networks' Evening News shows for the week of March 29 fell to just below 20 million. That audience was about 5% less than what Matt Drudge in the summer of 2006 headlined as "TV's Lowest Week." The Big Three's combined audience crawled back above 20 million during the week of April 5. But Chris Ariens of…

Today Ignores Pew Poll on Less Trusted Government, Publicizes Pew Resu

April 20th, 2010 10:48 AM
A new Pew poll that shows just 22 percent of respondents trust the government was actually covered by NBC Nightly News on Monday night but for some reason NBC's Today show didn't find that news interesting as they failed to report on the results. However, on Tuesday's Today, they did find a Pew poll they did like, their results on teen texting, as Today co-anchor Ann Curry relayed: "The study by…

NBC Becomes New Gay Advocate

April 14th, 2010 1:53 PM
If anyone at NBC News has a sense of irony, they hide it well. Ironic is about the best you can say about a supposedly reputable, unbiased news organization taking up with a magazine called The Advocate. But there was NBC last month, announcing with a straight face (pardon the pun) a new partnership with The Advocate, a gay-oriented magazine. According to Media Bistro, "The magazine's online…

Brian Williams, Media Critic? Anchor Questions Newsweek's Headline 'Am

April 13th, 2010 10:07 AM
After the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) cracked the 11,000 mark on April 12, some are asking if the economy is back. And while some want to credit President Barack Obama for this so-called recovery, is this financial market rally a true indicator of returning economic prosperity?  The anchor of "NBC Nightly News" asked just that question, pointing out the cover of the April 19 issue of…

NBC's Williams: 'Liberal Lion' Justice Stevens 'One of the Great Quali

April 11th, 2010 7:15 PM
Appearing in the 11AM ET hour on MSNBC Friday, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams gushed over the legacy of retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens: "He was famously called a 'lawyer's lawyer'...He leaves the court approaching his 90th birthday here, with one of the great quality minds, 90 or not, on the Supreme Court. Always had a kind of finely tuned intellect and nuanced…

Nets Upset by Confederate Proclamation, But Skip Obama Planning to Cle

April 7th, 2010 9:17 PM
Words, just words. But which ones excite journalists and which ones don't? A test case Wednesday night as ABC and NBC, matching the focus of CNN and MSNBC throughout the day, aired segments on controversy over Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell leaving condemnation of slavery out of a proclamation issued last week calling April “Confederate History Month,” but neither had any time for an AP report…

Misappropriating Ronald Reagan: Liberals Use Icon to Promote Agenda fr

April 7th, 2010 12:09 PM
Once upon a time, liberals didn't much like Ronald Reagan - his policies, his ideology or even just because they thought he was a lousy executive and an "amiable dunce."  "The Tower commission did not find Reagan a lousy orator; they found him a lousy president," Rep. Barney Frank said of Reagan to Time magazine in the aftermath of the Iran-Contra Affair in 1987. And more recently, those on the…

Media: Pope Benedict Guilty Until Proven Innocent

April 7th, 2010 12:01 PM
The broadcast networks couldn't ignore Holy Week, the pinnacle of the Christian calendar, so instead they used it this year to smear the Catholic Church as a harbor for abusive priests. ABC, CBS and NBC featured 26 stories during Holy Week about Pope Benedict's perceived role in the sex abuse scandal the Catholic Church is now facing. Only one story focused on the measures the church has…

Evening News Audience For Week of March 29 Falls Below 20 Million

April 7th, 2010 11:14 AM
After a bit of a respite primarily due to NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics, the audience desertion from the Big 3 networks' evening news broadcasts has again resumed. Not that the first quarter of 2010 was all peaches and cream. Last week, Media Bistro noted that ABC's "World News Tonight" had "its lowest-rated first quarter ever." But the results for the first week of the second ratings…

Thanks to Obama, ‘Today American Nuclear Strategy Finally Caught Up

April 7th, 2010 3:15 AM
“The Cold War ended more than two decades ago, and today American nuclear strategy finally caught up with history,” as the Obama administration has recognized “the greatest threat is no longer all-out nuclear war, but the chance that just one weapon will fall into the hands of a terrorist or rogue state,” an effusive David Martin declared on Tuesday’s CBS Evening News.His story, unlike those on…

NBC Promotes 'Safe Schools Czar' Kevin Jennings and His Big-Money Anti

April 6th, 2010 7:04 AM
Kevin Jennings, the controversial gay-left activist appointed by Obama to be the "safe schools czar" at the Department of Education, has been completely omitted by ABC, CBS, and NBC -- until last Saturday.The networks ignored Jennings' controversial record -- how he wrote about counseling a teenaged boy to use a condom before meeting an adult man in a bus stop restroom, and how his group the Gay…