NBC Skips Big Win for Second Amendment, Hypes Bigfoot Reality Show Ins
Both ABC's Good Morning America and CBS This Morning on Tuesday covered a big win for the Second Amendment in the courts. But NBC's Today couldn't make time for the ruling by a federal judge that struck down Chicago's ban on retail gun sales. Instead, the morning show devoted almost five minutes to a new reality show about the mythological Bigfoot monster.
Good Morning America's Josh…
As Liz Cheney Drops Senate Bid, Networks Replay 'Divisive,' 'Family Fe
All three networks on Monday morning hyped the news that Liz Cheney is dropping her bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Wyoming. ABC, CBS and NBC used the opportunity to replay the "divisive" "family feud" Mrs. Cheney had with her gay sister, Mary, as she defended traditional marriage. On CBS This Morning, Jan Crawford again quoted Mary Cheney publicly lecturing, "You're just wrong, and on the…
CBS Spotlights Sotomayor's Stay of ObamaCare's Contraception Mandate
CBS stood out as the only Big Three network to devote full coverage to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's Tuesday night stay of the federal government's birth control/abortifacient mandate under ObamaCare. As of Thursday morning, CBS This Morning and CBS Evening News devoted three full reports and a news brief to the ruling against the controversial regulation.
By contrast, NBC's…
NBC's Todd Proclaims: Republicans 'In Just as Bad of A Place, if Not W
Appearing on Wednesday's NBC Today to provide his New Year political predictions for 2014, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd assured co-host Savannah Guthrie that despite the ObamaCare disaster, Republicans would be "in just as bad of a place, if not worse than they were." He explained: "It just doesn't look like it right now because of health care." [Listen to the audio or watch the…
Networks Miss 'Climate Change' Irony of Ship Stuck in 10 Feet of Antar
A Russian research vessel has been stuck in thick ice in the Antarctic since Christmas morning, and predictably the big three networks are enjoying the novelty of such an event. However, despite the obvious news story, ABC, CBS and NBC have all missed one great irony in their reporting.
On Monday December 30, all three networks covered the story, but only CBS even used the words “climate…
MSNBC's Hayes Derides FNC 'Obsession' with 'Knockout Game' That Target
On Monday's All In with Chris Hayes, host Hayes for a second time griped over Fox News giving attention to reports of primarily black teens playing a "knockout game" in which they target white victims for violence, suggesting that the game does not really exist.
As he awarded his choice for the "over-covered" and "under-covered" news stories for the year, Hayes began:
ABC Touts ObamaCare's Popularity, While NBC Reports Website Problems
For the second straight morning, ABC's Jonathan Karl was merely a White House stenographer when reporting on ObamaCare's year-end deadline, touting enrollment numbers and parroting White House talking points.
Tuesday's Good Morning America framed the latest ObamaCare delay as a result of the law's popularity, as opposed to NBC reporting that it was, at least in part, due to website issues. "…
NBC Goes Easy on ObamaCare, Downplays Gov't Coercion of Insurers
NBC's Today softened any criticism of ObamaCare on Monday at the deadline to purchase health coverage for the new year.
White House correspondent Peter Alexander framed long wait times on the Washington, D.C. health exchange as evidence of "a last-minute spike in demand." And even though he reported that current enrollment numbers are "far shy" of what the administration hoped for, Alexander…
No Mentions of Conservatives/GOP in Networks' Coverage of Latest Obama
ABC, CBS, and NBC all devoted air time to the Obama administration's latest "fix for the botched health care rollout"on their Friday morning newscasts, but failed to include any conservative or Republican reaction to this development. Good Morning America minimized their coverage, airing just two news briefs on "the White House offering relief now for people who lost their health insurance…
NBC's Lauer Urges U.S. Olympic Athlete to Stage Gay Protest During Soc
While interviewing openly gay U.S. women's hockey team player Caitlin Cahow on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer hoped for controversy during the games over Russia's "anti-gay laws": "[Openly gay former tennis player] Billy Jean King said that perhaps it is time for a 'John Carlos moment'....that moment in 1968 in Mexico City [Olympics] when [U.S. runners] John Carlos and Tommy Smith…
Big Three Networks Out to Lunch on Benefits Cuts To Disabled Military
ABC, CBS, and NBC's morning and evening newscasts, which hyped the sequester's "deep, across-the-board spending cuts" earlier in 2013, have largely been silent about the reductions in the annual cost of living increases for military veterans – part of the budget deal proposed by Republican Congressman Paul Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray. But more egregiously, these programs have…
Only NBC Does Full Report on EPA Official Sentenced for Million-Dollar
On Wednesday, only NBC's Today devoted a full segment to the upcoming sentencing of top Environmental Protection Agency official John Beale for "bilking the government out of nearly $1 million by claiming he that he worked undercover for the CIA." ABC's Good Morning America only offered a 25-second news brief on the story while CBS This Morning ignored it completely. [Listen to the audio or…
Networks’ Discussions of Fed Stimulus 91 Percent Positive
After spending about $2.3 trillion in stimulus since 2008, the Federal Reserve’s controversial quantitative easing (QE) strategy’s days may be numbered. MarketWatch expected a decision on the policy from the Fed on Dec. 18, following their two-day meeting.
The policy has many critics including the former Fed employee who lashed out at it in a “Confessions of a Quantitative Easer” op-ed.…
'Today' Also Downplays and Truncates Obama's Admission of False 'Keep
Earlier this morning (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), in a post primarily about the Associated Press's whitewashing of President Barack Obama's quote of the year acknowledging that his multi-year guarantee — "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health clinic care plan, period" — was, ahem, "not ... accurate" (Obama's words), I noted that the related web page for NBC's "Today"…
