Holder Hailed, But in 2000 Ashcroft Marked as Sop to 'Far Right
Eight years ago when incoming President George W. Bush named Senator John Ashcroft as his choice for Attorney General, the broadcast network evening newscasts applied ideological labels and highlighted opposition to him from liberals, but Tuesday night with President-elect Barack Obama's pick of Eric Holder for the same position, the anchors avoided any ideological tags or controversies and…
Can't Afford Health or Heat...in Liberal Hub of Boston
There's economic trouble in the land with people unable to afford proper health care or heat for their homes ABC and NBC contended on Wednesday night. And where did the network journalists travel to find the heart-rending anecdotes of people in pain thanks to the awful Bush economy? Some Republican area with harsh conservative politicians who have slashed government funding to the poor? No, to…
ABC and NBC Fail to Correct Obama's 'Seance' Gaffe
Friday night stories on ABC's World News and the NBC Nightly News ran a clip of President-elect Barack Obama's gaffe at his press conference in which he related he had talked to all of the “living” former Presidents, as “I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances.” But both newscasts failed to note it was Hillary Clinton, not Nancy Reagan, who reportedly had…
Bozell Column: Media Defeats McCain
The election of Barack Obama was certainly historic, and the great attraction of that historic moment led to more history: an Obama-smitten news media that completely avoided their responsibility to test the nominee with hard questions. It made the gooey 1992 Clinton campaign look like a fistfight by comparison.Obama faced none of the withering scrutiny applied to even the Republican vice…
'America Matured by Choosing Obama,' Makes 'A More Perfect Union
The broadcast network evening newscasts on Wednesday night all marked Barack Obama's victory with stories on celebrations around the world, the joy expressed by African-Americans and how newspapers sold out as people cheered in the streets. NBC anchor Brian Williams hailed: “As one columnist put it, America matured in 2008 by choosing Barack Obama.” CBS, however, aired the most triumphant story…
NBC's Williams Empathizes with the 'Human' in Obama
Just as he did in two earlier interviews with Barack Obama when he held up magazine covers and asked Obama to glow in the moment, in an excerpt from this week's session with Obama aired on Friday's NBC Nightly News, Williams cued up Obama with another visual image -- this time holding up a photograph of Obama in sandals in Honolulu when he went for a walk after visiting his dying grandmother --…
After Discrediting McCain, Williams Again Cozies Up to Obama
A week after NBC's Brian Williams spent his time with John McCain and Sarah Palin in Ohio discrediting the accuracy of their claims and pushing for assurance their campaign wouldn't mention Jeremiah Wright, Williams on Thursday night in Florida returned to the same cozy approach with Barack Obama, though without the memories of mom, he employed in earlier interviews with the Democratic candidate…
NBC Frets Obviously Fake Flyer Will Confuse Its Dumb Viewers
Suggesting Brian Williams and the producers of NBC Nightly News assume a significant portion of their viewership is pretty dumb, the newscast began a story about how, as Williams fretted, “number of rumors and myths and threats that might keep some people away from the polls this year,” by highlighting a flyer, riddled with glaring misspellings and non-words, which made a false announcement about…
New CMI Study Reveals Three Major Media Narratives about Sarah Palin
In a just released study, "A Study in Character Assassination: How the TV Networks Have Portrayed Sarah Palin as Dunce or Demon," CMI analysts found that ABC, CBS and NBC are airing 18 negative stories for every one positive story on Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate. Is it any wonder that polls revealed a 17 percent increase in Palin's unfavorability ratings in just one…
MRC's Worst of the Week: Brian Williams's Liberal Double Standard
Both in January and in May, "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams conducted softball interviews with Barack Obama, holding up a favorable news magazine and asking how his loved ones, like his late mother, would feel about the slobbery covers. In January, he asked: "How does this feel, of all the honors that have come your way, all the publicity?" In May, it was: "Last time we were together, I…
CBS Evening News Spikes Newly Found Obama 'Redistributive' Audio
YouTube postings over the weekend divulged a 2001 radio interview in which Barack Obama regretted that “the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society,” but though John McCain on Monday cited this new evidence of Obama's long-standing advocacy of redistributing wealth, the CBS Evening…
NBC's Williams Hits Palin With 'Abortion Clinic Bomber' Stereotype
NBC's Brian Williams surely made the abortion lobby smile this week when he asked Sarah Palin in an interview, "Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist?" There's few things that abortion defenders love more than painting pro-lifers as violent bombers, arsonists, and assassins. But reality paints a different picture. The facts (pdf):There have been zero murders of abortionists and abortion clinic…
