NBC's Myers Details Ethics Investigation Against Rangel
October 15th, 2009 4:35 AM
Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News aired a full report by correspondent Lisa Myers on the ongoing investigation into Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel’s failure to report income over several years to the IRS. Myers detailed some of the numbers:The powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee recently revised six years of financial disclosure statements, revealing more than $600,000 in…
Obama a 'Figure of Hope' to World in Winning 'One of the Last Towering
October 9th, 2009 9:09 PM
ABC, CBS and NBC all led Friday night with the “surprise” pick of President Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize after less than a year in office and acknowledged the choice was meant as a slap at former President George W. Bush, but that didn't prevent the network journalists from touting the honor of the selection and, in one case, worrying about how critics will use the award against him. “…
CBS Skips Any Mention of Massive Deficit Numbers Under Obama
October 8th, 2009 2:14 PM
Wednesday’s CBS Evening News With Katie Couric and Thursday’s Early show completely ignored any mention of the fact that the deficit has risen to a staggering $1.4 trillion, triple what it was a year ago. The Early Show, however, did find time to report the incredibly important news that Levi Johnston will be posing for Playgirl. Just one year ago, on October 7, 2008, Katie Couric made sure to…
Williams Prompts Carter: What, In 'Your Wiring,' Has 'Set You Apart' f
October 2nd, 2009 2:01 AM
Just over two weeks after NBC's Brian Williams pushed former President Jimmy Carter's racism charge (“Former President Carter spoke up and spoke out about what he has seen emerging in some of the public protests against President Obama”), Williams devoted more than two minutes of Thursday's NBC Nightly News to marking Carter's 85th birthday by cuing him up to put in his own words how he “stands…
Jimmy Carter Tries to Deny He Said Obama Critics 'Driven' By Race
October 1st, 2009 12:42 PM
CNN’s Candy Crowley tried to prompt former President Jimmy Carter to explain his charge of racism against opponents of President Obama on Thursday’s American Morning, but the Democrat tried to worm his way out of what he said. Crowley paraphrased, “You said, overall, you thought the protesters were upset that there was a black president,” to which Carter replied, “That’s not what I said” [audio…
Brian Williams Highlights 'Incendiary' Attack on GOP by Dem Congressma
September 30th, 2009 9:05 PM
Uniquely among the broadcast network evening newscasts, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams gave attention to "incendiary" comments made by Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida, who charged that the Republican plan for health care is that people should "die quickly" if they get sick, prompting Republicans to demand an apology.Williams seemed to signal his own disapproval of Grayson’s…
Nets Tout Olympics 'Super-Fan' Obama's 'Swifter, Higher, Stronger' Eff
September 28th, 2009 8:21 PM
President Barack Obama's last-minute decision to fly Thursday to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago's bid for the 2016 summer Olympic games excited broadcast network journalists Monday night. “The Olympic motto is 'swifter, higher, stronger,'” fill-in CBS Evening News anchor Harry Smith reminded viewers before trumpeting: “Apparently, President Obama is taking that to heart. In a change of plans today,…
MSNBC Primetime Ignores Terror Plot Reported by Nets, CNN, FNC
September 28th, 2009 12:26 AM
If a regular fan of MSNBC primetime were to chime into a water cooler conversation with the words, "Terror plot? I haven't heard of any terror plot?" such an MSNBC devotee couldn't be blamed for not knowing about one of the big news stories of the past two weeks.While the arrest of terror suspect Najibullah Zazi -- who admitted to training with al-Qaeda in Pakistan and is believed to have been…
Obama 'Tells the World America's 'Go It Alone' Policy is Over,' Couric
September 23rd, 2009 8:43 PM
ABC, CBS and NBC all led Wednesday night with President Barack Obama's address at the United Nations, but Katie Couric was the most effusive in trumpeting how Obama marked the end of the Bush era as she teased the CBS Evening News: “Tonight, the President tells the world America's 'go it alone' policy is over.” Her glowing lead:Good evening, everyone. President Obama says we have reached a “…
Obama Disappoints NBC By 'Falling Short' on 'Climate Change,' Fret Exp
September 22nd, 2009 10:23 PM
A lover's quarrel emerged Tuesday night in the media's love affair with President Barack Obama. He disappointed NBC by failing, at the UN's “Summit on Climate Change,” to go far enough on global warming. “President Obama's being accused of falling short on the environment today with the whole world watching,” Brian Williams teased NBC Nightly News. Williams framed his lead story through the prism…
'Nightly News' Focuses on Greenland Melt, Ignores Antarctic Ice Expans
September 21st, 2009 2:27 PM
It's no secret General Electric (NYSE:GE) has a lot to gain from the regulation of greenhouse gases, so is it a coincidence NBC, a GE product, offered more anecdotal evidence that global warming is putting the planet in danger? "NBC Nightly News" provided yet another report on Sept. 20 agonizing about anthropogenic climate change melting ice in Greenland. "There are new concerns tonight about…
Obama Blitz Roundup: 'Meanness' on Right, Pelosi's Warning, Only ABC R
September 20th, 2009 5:57 PM
In the series of network interviews recorded Friday at the White House for airing on the ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC Sunday morning interview shows, all highlighted Jimmy Carter's charge that racism is fueling the anti-Obamacare protests – with CNN's John King and NBC's David Gregory following up with Nancy Pelosi's claim the heated rhetoric may incite violence – and CBS's Bob Schieffer asserted the “…
Obama's 'Extraordinary Media Blitz' Begins Friday Night with Focus on
September 18th, 2009 9:21 PM
Television network journalists on Friday night marveled at President Barack Obama's planned “media blitz” for health care reform even as they, the enablers, reveled in it as they made the very “blitz” and clips from the interviews (conducted Friday afternoon for airing on Sunday morning) their top story of the day. Based on those excerpts, the Sunday hosts were most interested in getting Obama's…