NBC Host to Michele Bachmann: Have You Ever Influenced Debate in Washi
On Friday's NBC Today, fill-in co-host Lester Holt interviewed Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and was skeptical of her political relevance: "Can you name an instance where you have moved the needle, where you have significantly altered the outcome of a particular debate?"
Bachmann pointed to her stand on the debt ceiling as evidence: "In particular now, on the last two months when…
Networks Take Cue from Obama, Start Attacking S&P Only After He Does
The recent decision by Standard & Poor's to downgrade the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from AAA upset many on the left, especially those within the Obama administration. The White House lashed out at S&P and some in the news media did too. So Business & Media Institute decided to look back at six years of network (ABC,CBS and NBC) coverage of S&P.
BMI found out that bulk of…
Donny Deutsch on NBC's 'Today': 'Why Can't You Write an Unflattering B
During a panel discussion about the Michele Bachmann Newsweek cover, left-wing advertising executive Donny Deutsch acknowledged that "It is politically biased," but didn't see any problem with that: "Who says the media's not biased?...Why can't they make a statement? Obviously that was a real picture...It's not a flattering article....why can't you write an unflattering biased article?" …
NBC Pushes Obama From Left, Worries Liberals Are Growing 'Angry' and
At the top of Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer declared: "President Obama faces new criticism from members of his own party, is he doing enough to manage the [economic] crisis?...Should he, for example, demand that Congress cut short its summer vacation to address the situation?" In the segment that followed, the headline on screen read: "Dems Urge Obama to Get Tough With GOP &…
ABC Ignores Failure of $14 Million Effort by Liberals to Recall Wiscon
ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday ignored the $14 million failure of labor and liberal groups to win back the state senate in Wisconsin through a recall vote. Both CBS's Early Show and NBC's Today covered the effort to retaliate against that state's legislation stripping collective bargaining rights for public workers.
Early Show's Elaine Quijano covered the story in a full report (…
NBC's 'Today' Decries 'End of Civility' in America, Alludes to Joe Wil
During a discussion on Tuesday's NBC Today of a nasty divorce custody case, psychologist Gail Saltz bizarrely shoe-horned in this observation: "This is reflective of a national problem....We have taken on this 'Do whatever feels good in the moment,' with no regard for a moral compass...calling the president a liar..." Co-host Matt Lauer declared: "The end of civility."
The husband involved…
NBC Gives Most Coverage to Newsweek Cover Controversy, But Uses it to
While anchor Brian Williams described Newsweek's controversial cover photo of Michelle Bachmann as "clearly a misfire" on Monday's NBC Nightly News, on Tuesday's Today, correspondent Andrea Mitchell saw an opportunity to portray Bachmann as "extreme." Meanwhile, CBS completely ignored the story and ABC only provided a news brief on the topic.
On Tuesday's Today, while Mitchell described the…
NBC: Global Warming to Blame for Deadly Polar Bear Attack
On Monday's NBC Today, correspondent Martin Fletcher reported on a deadly polar bear attack in Norway and explained: "The attack began at dawn with a bear looking for food....it's believed that with global warming, food is scarce. A post-mortem showed this polar bear was 110 pounds underweight, with almost no fat reserves. It must have been starving."
Fletcher began the report by declaring…
On Saturday's 'Today,' GOP Blamed for Debt Downgrade and Washington Gr
At the top of Saturday's NBC Today, CNBC's chief Washington correspondent John Harwood told co-host Lester Holt that the downgrade of U.S. debt provided President Obama with "a tangible consequence to point to for Republican brinksmanship on the debt and deficit reduction deal."
Harwood observed: "Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, always said, 'We don't want co-ownership of the economy…
NBC's Ann Curry Fought With Navy Dad on Vietnam; Oozes We're 'Evolving
NBC Today co-anchor Ann Curry is the cover story of the September issue of Ladies Home Journal and discussed how she fought with her U.S. naval officer father about the Vietnam War, (unsurprisingly) taking the liberal, Walter Cronkite-inspired anti-war position:
"When I was a teenager," she says, "Dad and I would have dinner table debates about the Vietnam War. I was deeply affected by Walter…
NBC's Gregory Accuses GOP of 'Politicizing' Debt Downgrade, After Allo
On Sunday's Meet the Press on NBC, host David Gregory allowed Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to blame Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt on the Tea Party without challenge. However, minutes later, in an interview with Arizona Senator John McCain, Gregory was quick to accuse Republicans of "politicizing" the issue by criticizing Democrats.
After quoting a statement from House…
Scarborough Tells 'Terminally Stupid Ideologues' to 'Stop Using the Te
As NewsBusters reported Sunday, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) set off a liberal firestorm when he called Standard and Poor's U.S. credit rating change the "Tea Party Downgrade."
On Monday's "Morning Joe," host Joe Scarborough told "terminally stupid ideologues" that "really don't understand" anything because they're "so dogmatic [they] can't think for [themselves]" to "stop using the Tea Party…
Latest Notable Quotables: Deriding the Tea Party as Terrorists 'Strapp
MRC has just posted the latest edition of Notable Quotables, our bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes in the liberal media. This week, NQ is chock full of quotes from journalists slashing the Tea Party as the Republican Party’s “Hezbollah faction,” who have “strapped explosives to the Capitol” and “waged jihad on the American people.”
Oh, and New York…
Under Deal, Debt to Rise $12 Trillion and 95% of Network Stories Leave
If you've been watching the news media react to the debt ceiling deal you might thing some drastic spending cuts were signed into law. After all, ABC made it sound like Congress took a "machete" to the budget and NBC's "Today" wondered if those spending cuts could harm the economy.
What has been completely missing from much of the network reporting was an admission that the deal "doesn't cut…
