NBC, CBS, and ABC Highlight Sanford’s GOP Label; Downplayed Label Fo
In the wake of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s admission to having an affair, evening and morning newscasts on NBC, CBS, and ABC all immediately identified him as a Republican. In contrast, in March of last year, the networks rarely identified disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer as a Democrat in the wake of his affair with a prostitute. In a 2008 study of evening and morning network…
Big 3 Nets' Evening News: It's Summertime, and the Viewers Are Leaving
Media Bistro broke it Tuesday morning, and gave us all of the details shortly after noon. The news: CBS and ABC's evening newscasts both came in with record low viewerships during the week of June 15.ABC's fall to less than 6.5 million total viewers is probably more of a surprise than CBS's plunge below 5 million. Is there a health care propaganda backlash? But the biggest news, as usual, is the…
CBS Sees Both Sides Extreme in Iran, NBC Sees Mousavi as Moderate
On Thursday evening, the CBS Evening News and the NBC Nightly News presented opposite takes on whether Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi is really a moderate, or whether he is actually about as extreme and dangerous as current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. CBS’s Mark Phillips argued that Mousavi is merely more moderate in "tone" than Ahmadinejad while taking similar policy…
NBC Paints Cancer Victim as Emblematic of Need for 'Public Option
Centering its story around a man unable to get “affordable” health insurance after a battle with cancer, Thursday's NBC Nightly News devoted its “In-Depth” segment to the “public option,” what anchor Brian Williams innocuously described as “a government insurance program similar to Medicare, but available to those under 65.” NBC didn't mention conservative concern such a program would become a “…
NBC Chafes Obama's Honeymoon Over, But 'It's Not Personal, It's Profes
“The honeymoon is coming to an end for President Obama,” NBC's Chuck Todd fretted Wednesday night in summarizing a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. “But,” Todd rebounded, “it's not personal. It's professional as now the public appears to be judging the President on some of his actions.” Citing “growing concern about the budget deficit and some of this government interaction into the economy…
'Nightly News': Don't Let the Mild Weather Fool You, There's Still Glo
With a cooler-than-usual winter and a mild temperatures leading up to the beginning of summer, global warming alarmists are finding they are losing steam in the debate. But "NBC Nightly News" won't give up the fight. On the June 15 broadcast, anchor Brian Williams noted the peculiar weather patterns along the East Coast. "The weather along the eastern seaboard has been more like Scotland in…
NBC's Myers Highlights Obama Hypocrisy in Appointing Fund-raisers
Saturday’s NBC Nightly News aired a report filed by NBC News correspondent Lisa Myers in which she looked into President Obama’s tendency to award lavish jobs as ambassadors to some of his top campaign fund-raisers – whose qualifications in foreign policy are questionable – and in which she noted that Obama had criticized President Bush for appointing donors to positions in government. Myers: "It…
ABC: 'Potential Wave of Domestic Terror' vs NBC: 'No Spike' in Hate Gr
Which way is it? Highlighting three murders this year, ABC's Pierre Thomas on Thursday night delivered an ominous and speculative story on how “radicals of the ultra-fringe, filled with rage about illegal immigration, fear of losing their guns, abortion and race making law enforcement increasingly nervous about a potential wave of domestic terror.” In contrast, on the NBC Nightly News, Pete…
Broadcast Nets Panic over Second-Guessing of Obama Administration's Ch
If you stand in the way of President Barack Obama's agenda, beware because there may be a litany of consequences that could result from your act - regardless if the obstacle is legitimate or not. On June 8, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a stay to review an appeal by a trio of Indiana pension and construction funds that own a part of Chrysler's secured debt. They claimed the…
Jon Stewart: Brian Williams 'Clearly Has the Hots' for Obama
NBC's Brian Williams "clearly has the hots" for President Barack Obama.So said Comedy Central's Jon Stewart Thursday in a total skewering of NBC's "Inside the Obama White House" special report. Not only did "The Daily Show" host totally lambaste Williams for using "this kind of unprecedented access" to the president to "cross-promote" other NBC programs, but also marvelously depicted the entire…
Outrageous: Brokaw Wonders What Israel Can 'Learn' From Buchenwald And
**Video Below The Fold** The folks at Powerline realized the implications of an outrageous news clip featuring NBC's Tom Brokaw conducting an interview with the Obammessiah. Apparently, this hard news journalist thought he'd get deep and ask a pertinent question about Israel, the Palestinians, and just what it might be that the Jews can learn from Obama's visit to Buchenwald and how they should…
'Nightly News' Laments Budget Cuts in Wake of California Ballot Initia
Every time voters face a ballot initiative of some sort that would raise their taxes, proponents of such measures will trot out any of the following components to champion the cause - school children, policemen, firemen or the release of criminals from jails. But this time, the June 3 "NBC Nightly News" waited until after California voters denied passage of initiatives that would raise their…
NBC's Brian Williams Bows To President Obama
How much is "Nightly News" host Brian Williams in the tank for President Obama?Well, as part I of NBC's special report "Inside the Obama White House" came to a close Tuesday, Williams, while saying good night to the president, actually bowed his head.I kid you not (embedded video and partial transcript below the fold):
Flashback: Wacky Network Quotes from 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre
Tomorrow, June 4, is the 20th anniversary of the Chinese army massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Back in 1989, the big networks provided in-depth coverage of the massive protests that swelled in mid-May, and harsh coverage of the brutal reaction from the communist authorities.But, as the Media Research Center noted at the time, the networks also used the occasion for…
