Media Ignore Abortion Connection in Montana Plane Crash Coverage

April 2nd, 2009 4:56 PM
Loss of human life is a tragedy. Media outlets rightly treated the recent Montana plane crash that killed seven adults and seven children as such. But correctly reporting the deaths of fourteen people as a tragedy doesn't mean the media necessarily did their job. If they feel compelled to note that victims were "ultrarich," they should also note the business that made them that way.…

'Today' Can't Get Enough of 'Michelle's Magic' in the UK

April 2nd, 2009 1:32 PM
NBC's Dawna Friesen, reporting from London on Thursday' "Today" show relayed how "Michelle's Magic," has "dazzled everyone," in the United Kingdom and co-anchor Matt Lauer joined in, as he loved the tacky gift of an iPod to the Queen: "I like this idea. I think it's a, it's a very creative idea to bring her the iPod." Friesen also played down Michelle Obama's gaffe of contact with the Queen, "…

ABC & NBC Relay Phony Claims of Israeli War Crimes, Fail to Retract

March 31st, 2009 8:28 PM
In recent weeks, both the NBC Nightly News and ABC’s World News with Charles Gibson repeated charges that Israeli troops had witnessed the deliberate killing of Palestinian civilians by fellow troops during the Gaza War. In recent days, the New York Times has informed its readers that, after investigation, the Israeli military concluded that the incendiary claims were untrue and that the soldiers…

Democratic President Goes to Europe, So ABC Touts Past GOP Goofs

March 31st, 2009 6:13 PM
"Good Morning America" reporter Yunji de Nies on Tuesday touted supposed gaffes of past Republican presidents in a segment on Barack Obama's trip abroad. De Nies intoned, "But one unlucky misstep and everyone remembers." As she said this, video of George W. Bush's 2005 trip to Beijing appeared onscreen. (In the footage, the then-President can be seen trying to go out the wrong door.) More…

NBC's Friesen Hero Worships Michelle Obama on 'Today

March 31st, 2009 1:10 PM
As the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You," played over slow-motion video of Michelle Obama, NBC's Dawna Friesen, on Tuesday's "Today" show, eagerly awaited the arrival of the Obamas in London, for the G20 summit, as she gushed: "Yes, her husband is, of course, the big star of the show, but this is Michelle Obama's first foray on to the global stage as First Lady. And you can bet that her every…

NBC's David Gregory, Unintentional Comedian

March 30th, 2009 4:03 PM
File this one in the "When I Need a Laugh" folder: David Gregory, host of NBC's "Meet the Press," told this week's Parade Magazine, "I don't accept the proposition that I have an ideological point of view that comes through. I work very hard to avoid that." Gregory must have adopted a new attitude toward his work after taking over "Meet the Press" following the death of his colleague, Tim…

NBC's Lewis Shuns Global Warming Skeptics

March 30th, 2009 3:40 PM
NBC climastrologer and all-around nice guy George Lewis said on Sunday's "Today" show that global warming is at least partly the fault of mankind. More disturbing, however, is the fact that exactly zero consideration was given to actual scientific criticism of such a viewpoint. CARTER ROBERTS, World Wildlife Fund: We're definitely asking people to do a couple things. To turn off the lights, but…

On 'Today': Actor Ed Norton Compares His 'Earth Hour' to March On Selm

March 27th, 2009 3:40 PM
NBC's resident Queen of Green, Ann Curry, welcomed actor Ed Norton and Carter Roberts of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to come on Friday's "Today" show to champion their cause to combat "global climate change" by getting everyone to turn off their lights for an hour as a symbolic move that actor Norton compared to the march on Selma, Alabama. Co-anchor Curry called Norton's cause, "really cool,"…

NBC's Mitchell Pushes Hillary to Bring Back Assault Weapons Ban

March 26th, 2009 12:51 PM
NBC's Andrea Mitchell, in a taped interview from Mexico with Hillary Clinton on Thursday's "Today" show, partially blamed the Bush administration for Mexico's current drug cartel violence as she charged that "90 percent of the guns used by gangs," were available because the Bush White House and Congress let the assault weapons ban lapse. Mitchell even went as far to push the Secretary of State to…

Is MSNBC Set to Create Yet Another Left-Wing Propaganda Hour

March 26th, 2009 10:53 AM
If you thought MSNBC could not possibly tilt any further to the left, you may — sadly — be wrong. According to the New York Observer, the cable network may be about to give liberal radio host Ed Schultz his own program. Schultz has already filled in three times this month as anchor of the 6pm ET 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the one-time venue of Meet the Press moderator David Gregory.“Schultz, with…

Post-Obamamania, Big 3 Nets’ Evening News Viewership Decline Resumes

March 25th, 2009 3:33 PM
All that cheerleading for Obama-Biden, and all they got was a continuation of their lousy long-term ratings drop. Perhaps one reason why Big 3 network coverage of the 2008 presidential election was so heavy on fawning favoritism towards Barack Obama and Joe Biden combined with all-out attacks on John McCain and Sarah Palin was that the belief that an Obama presidency might revive interest in…

Admire Obama's 'Like to Know What I'm Talking About Before I Speak

March 24th, 2009 10:45 PM

CBS’s Wragge: Obama ‘Overexposed’ After Tonight Show Gaffe

March 23rd, 2009 5:46 PM
At the top of the Saturday Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge took a critical look at President Obama's recent media tour: "The Obama blitz, the President’s appearing everywhere but is his media tour taking attention away from his message?" In a later report, correspondent Kimberly Dozier highlighted Obama’s Tonight Show Special Olympics gaffe as evidence: "It can and did go a little bit wrong with…

NYTimes' Cooper Somehow Misses Obama 'Special Olympics' Jab

March 21st, 2009 6:00 AM
All day Friday the newspapers, TV stations, radio, and the Internet were abuzz with Barack Obama's failed joke about the Special Olympics Thursday night on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. In shades of John Kerry's failed joke about the unschooled being "stuck in Iraq," the president's apologists said he was merely joking and didn't mean to say anything disparaging about people with developmental…