Double Standard on Personal Attacks: Ann Richards' 'Fun-Loving Spirit
For a media that likes to complain about the incivility and personal attacks that Republicans have supposedly injected into our politics over the past generation, the networks' reactions to former Texas Governor Ann Richards underscore journalists' partisan approach to what is fair and what is foul.In 1988, then-Texas state treasurer Richards laced her keynote address at the Democratic National…
Vieira Lets Ego - But Not Liberal Politics - Show in 'Today' Debut
In her Today show debut this morning, Meredith Vieira gave a flash of her ego - but not of her liberal politics. There was the obligatory opening love-in with co-host Matt Lauer in which Vieira claimed "I feel like it's the first day of school and I'm sitting next to the cutest guy." But then there was an interesting exchange that might presage conflicts to come. In what is apparently a Today…
NBC's Matt Lauer First Worries With Hillary, Then Attacks Bush Over In
While NBC's Matt Lauer baited Sen. Hillary Clinton to admonish the administration to say we're not safer, he attacked the President for, in fact, trying to make the nation safer. Lauer prompted Clinton: "Are you comfortable that the United States did not break the law in conducting that kind of interrogations in those secret sites?" Then later in the program, as first noted by MRC's Brent Baker…
Media Shocker: NBC’s David Gregory Defends President George W. Bush
I’ve actually had to watch this segment several times, for it really is quite shocking. After careful analysis, it does indeed appear that NBC’s David Gregory, on HBO’s “Real Time” Friday night, actually defended President George W. Bush against continued personal attacks by host Bill Maher.(Update: Our good friend at GOP Video has cordially supplied us a video link of this segment.)As a special…
MRC Study Finds TV Tilts Againsts War on Terror; Koppel Special Pushes
This morning’s Wall Street Journal carries an editorial summarizing the findings of a new study from the Media Research Center that documents how the broadcast networks have skewed their coverage of the War on Terror in favor of those most concerned about civil liberties, not protecting the American people from another homeland attack. Here’s how it begins:The title of a CBS special report…
