NBC's Lauer Blames Continuing High Unemployment on Employer 'Discrimin
On Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer teased an upcoming segment on unemployment by fretting: "And just ahead, help not wanted. If you're one of the 14 million Americans looking for work, you may have noticed a growing trend. Employers are posting job ads that say they're seeking only people who are currently employed or just recently laid off. Is that discrimination…
NBC Frets Over Tea Party's 'In-Your-Face Tactics' and 'The Politics of
At the top of Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer declared: "In your face. The Tea Party puts its confrontational style on display during a stop on President Obama's bus tour." Later, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd lamented how "uplifting moments" of Obama's Midwest tour were interrupted by "a bitter taste of the energy and confrontational style of the Tea Party." …
CBS Omits Tea Partier's Face-off With Obama; Played Up 'Voter Anger' a
On Monday's CBS Evening News and Tuesday's Early Show, CBS failed to cover an Iowa Tea Party activist's confrontation with President Obama. Both ABC's GMA and NBC's Today mentioned the encounter. Just days earlier, CBS and ABC spotlighted how left-wing protesters heckled Mitt Romney at an Iowa appearance and how the Republican apparently made a "gaffe" in reply.
NBC correspondent Chuck Todd…
NBC's 'Today' Asks: How Can Obama 'Regain the Magic of
During an interview with former Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer wondered: "How does the President get this excitement going again surrounding his re-election bid so that he can keep this office?" Throughout the segment, the headline on screen read: "Beyond Hope and Change; How Can President Regain Magic of 2008?"
In response to Lauer, Gibbs…
MRC Study: Nets Pile on 62 Conservative Labels for GOP Candidates vs
This year’s crop of GOP presidential candidates includes strong conservatives, just like the top Democratic candidates four years ago — Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards — were all staunch liberals. But a major, glaring difference between today’s campaign coverage and the early coverage of the 2007 Democratic nomination race is the impulse of journalists to repeatedly brand the…
NBC's Chuck Todd: Obama 'Taking Comfort' in GOP 'Race to the Right
On Monday's NBC Today, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd described liberal wishful thinking as "conventional wisdom" as he explained how: "The Obama team has been taking comfort in the fact that they believe this Republican race is moving to the Right, that it's a race to the Right. And they take comfort in that and they think that's going to help them long term."
At the same time,…
American Idol's Ryan Seacrest to Replace Matt Lauer at Today Show
Could Ryan Seacrest go from interviewing pop star Katy Perry on American Idol to just announced GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry on the Today show in the very near future? If some execs at Comcast, which owns NBC, have their way it could happen.
According to Colby Hall at Mediate.com "rumors have persisted" that longtime Today show co-anchor Matt lauer will leave his duties after his…
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…
