Tibbets Disturbed by Calls for Remorse Which Williams Conveyed
November 1st, 2007 9:38 PM
Reading a brief item Thursday night about the death of retired Brigadier General Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, NBC's Brian Williams noted that “he requested there be no funeral, no headstone left behind, so there would be no place for his detractors to protest.” Interestingly, just over two years ago, Williams himself conveyed the very line of attack on the Enola Gay crew which so upset…
Twice NBC's Andrea Mitchell Confuses Iraq With Vietnam
October 31st, 2007 9:26 PM
In a great illustration of how many mainstream media journalists view the war in Iraq through the prism of the war in Vietnam, twice on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News veteran foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell said “Vietnam” when she meant to say “Iraq.” Offering a brief summary of how State Department foreign service employees are fighting a plan to involuntarily assign 40 of them to…
ABC: Iraqis Adapt to 'New Normal' as 'Violence on Downward Trend
October 30th, 2007 9:25 PM
Both NBC and ABC on Tuesday night noted the smallest number of American servicemen killed in Iraq since March of 2006, but while NBC's Brian Williams stressed the total number killed since the war began, ABC's Charles Gibson segued to a story about “booming” markets and significantly improving life in Baghdad. Eight days ago, ABC uniquely highlighted Fallujah's “extraordinary comeback story.” […
Brokaw Laments Too-Low Taxes on Rich: 'A Fundamental Injustice
October 30th, 2007 9:58 AM
A billionaire and a receptionist walk into an IRS bar. They each order a beer. The IRS bartender charges the receptionist $2.50 and the billionaire $2,260. Who got undercharged? If you're Warren Buffett or Tom Brokaw, the answer is . . . the billionaire.As NB Editor Brent Baker has noted, the NBC Nightly News "decided Monday night to base a story on a four-year-old contention by a professor…
NBC Frets Over Income Gap, Touts Advocate for Higher Taxes on Rich
October 30th, 2007 4:00 AM
Without a peg to anything in the news, NBC decided Monday night to base a story on a four-year-old contention by a professor that the middle class is worse off now than in the 1970s, followed by a piece promoting Warren Buffett's claim the rich don't pay enough in taxes. In fact, the federal income tax system remains quite progressive. “Not fair,” Brian Williams teased with matching text on…
The NewsBusters Weekly Recap: October 20 to
October 27th, 2007 9:42 AM
Aren't they Grand? On Wednesday's "Early Show," Harry Smith gushed over Bill and Hillary Clinton and how two "idealistic kids" transformed themselves into "political rock stars." Smith also took pains to point out that the Clintons are a "still-young couple." Over on ABC, Clinton-fan Kate Snow fawned over Bill and Hillary for being "masters at turning bad news into good." In general, she seemed…
Giuliani Too 'Hawkish,' 'Hard Line' and 'Neocon' for NYT and NBC
October 26th, 2007 3:18 AM
“The people guiding” Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani “in his foreign policy message...are drawing some attention,” NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams announced Thursday evening in advancing the news agenda of a front page New York Times story which ominously warned Giuliani “is consulting with, among others, a particularly hawkish group of advisers and neoconservative thinkers…
Without Proof, NBC Presumes Global Warming to Blame for Wild Fires
October 23rd, 2007 9:00 PM
ABC and CBS stuck Tuesday night with news stories on the impact of the roaring California wild fires, but as houses were still burning NBC Nightly News found it an opportune time to make the case that global warming caused the fires. NBC's sole expert, however, delivered a circular argument in which the lack of scientific proof did not detract at all from his media-shared presumption that…
Will Pete Stark’s Apology to President Bush Get Reported
October 23rd, 2007 6:04 PM
As NewsBusters reported Friday, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Cal.) made some rather disgusting comments on the floor of the House last week about kids being sent "to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president`s amusement." On Tuesday, Stark took to the floor once again, this time remarkably to apologize for his previous statement. As the broadcast networks almost completely ignored Stark's…
NBC First to Praise Medal of Honor Recipient Lt. Michael Murphy
October 16th, 2007 10:06 PM
The NBC Nightly News on Tuesday night became the first broadcast network evening newscast to highlight the first Medal of Honor award since Vietnam for a member of the Navy, announced last week, to Lieutenant Michael Murphy, a SEAL killed in combat in Afghanistan in June of 2005. “His story is already the stuff of legend,” anchor Brian Williams related before Pentagon correspondent Jim…
Sanchez Blasts Media, But Media Only Highlight His Criticism of Bush
October 15th, 2007 9:01 PM
The news media “eagerly reported” comments from General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top commander in Iraq, “calling the war in Iraq a quote 'nightmare with no end in sight,'” FNC's Brit Hume noted Monday night before pointing out how “there has been considerably less reporting of his harsh criticism of the press in the same speech.” Indeed, in his Friday address to a group of journalists, Sanchez…
