NBC Beijing Olympic Air Conditioned Outdoor Set: Not So Green
August 18th, 2008 9:10 AM
Do as we say, not as we do - the new theme for NBC's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics? Quite possibly. WTHR, the NBC affiliate for Indianapolis, reported from Beijing and described the set used for the network's two highest-rated news broadcasts - "Nightly News" and "Today" - as air conditioned, even though it is outdoors. "The set is outside, but air conditioning vents make the weather…
'Early Show', 'Today' Continue Edwards Reporting While ABC Drops Ball
August 13th, 2008 4:22 PM
While ABC’s Good Morning America suspended its coverage of the John Edwards scandal following reporting on Monday, the CBS Early Show continued to cover the affair for a third consecutive day on Wednesday. Even NBC’s Today, covering the Olympics in Beijing, managed stories on Edwards on both Monday and Wednesday. Considering it was during an interview on ABC’s Nigthline on Friday that Edwards…
Bozell Column: Our Sick Edwards-Excusing Media
August 12th, 2008 4:04 PM
You know there are some in the liberal media who have simply lost touch with reality when the headline reads "John Edwards Cheats on Wife With Cancer" and they ask with great detachment whether he'll be able to run for office again soon. These people's morality is so bizarre that they showed more outrage at John McCain featuring a picture of Paris Hilton in a commercial for two eye-blinks than…
Flashback to July 2007: ABC Coos Over ‘Presidential Nominee’ John
August 8th, 2008 4:09 PM
On Tuesday’s "Good Morning America," anchors Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer touted the marital relationship between Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife. Co-host Robin Roberts recounted the often repeated story of how the Edwards couple spend their wedding anniversary, including their recent 30th, at the restaurant Wendy’s. Roberts, perhaps in a Freudian slip, even…
Again This Morning, No (D) for Incarcerated Detroit Mayor
August 8th, 2008 2:43 PM
The Big Three networks continued to ignore the party affiliation of the now-incarcerated Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Friday morning, just as they had done in their evening news programs the previous night. The Early Show on CBS chose to ignore the story of Kilpatrick’s arrest on a bail violation entirely, while ABC’s Good Morning America devoted one 16-second news brief to the story near…
Nets Lend Credibility to 'Bombshell' Iraq Deception Allegations
August 5th, 2008 9:47 PM
CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN all jumped Tuesday to publicize the claims in a new book by a left-wing journalist, Ron Suskind, that President Bush knew before the war Iraq had no WMD and that to justify the war the administration forged a letter to prove a connection between Saddam Hussein's regime and al-Qaeda. The journalists were unfazed by denials from former CIA Director George Tenet, which they…
Matt Lauer from Beijing: Chinese Happier Than Americans
August 5th, 2008 1:37 PM
Update at bottom of post.In a pre-taped segment, delivered from the Forbidden City in Beijing, NBC's Matt Lauer pointed out a poll that showed the Chinese are happier than Americans and repeated his line that protestors could be seen as "party crashers," on Tuesday's "Today" show.During an interview with NBC News China analyst, Joshua Cooper Ramo, Lauer made the following observation: LAUER:…
'Today' Promotes Author Who Calls Pre-War Runup 'Worse Than Watergate
August 5th, 2008 11:13 AM
NBC's Meredith Vieira, at the top of Tuesday's "Today" show, greeted viewers with the following teaser and jarring charge that "A scathing new book...claims the Bush administration's case for war...wasn't a mistake but deliberate deception...It is worse than Watergate." Vieira, in the 7am half-hour interviewed journalist/author Ron Suskind about his new book, The Way of the World, and his claim…
NBC’s Matt Lauer: Opponents of China During Olympics are ‘Party Cr
August 4th, 2008 4:26 PM
NBC’s Matt Lauer, broadcasting live from the Great Wall of China on Monday’s "Today" show, referred to the "double-edged sword" of the world’s attention being on China for the Summer Olympic Games and asked a Chinese professor about how that "spotlight" might be "co-opted by party crashers who have a bone to pick with this country. He then asked the professor, "How worried are the people here…
The Biz Flog – 'Nickel-and-Dime' Accusation Ignores Rising Cost of J
July 24th, 2008 11:49 AM
Catchphrases provide little context to media stories. So, when it comes to airlines and the phrase “nickel-and-dime,” reports are just becoming lame. The Biz Flog, the video blog over at the Business and Media Institute, takes at look at the effect the high cost of oil has had on the airline industry, and the effect that has had on passengers seeing higher ticket prices and fees. Instead of…
NBC's David Gregory: Maliki 'Refutes' Notion of Obama 'Naivete
July 22nd, 2008 4:45 PM
NBC's David Gregory, substitute-hosting on Tuesday's "Today" show, argued with Rudy Giuliani that any notion of Barack Obama's foreign policy naivete has been refuted by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. Gregory contended that Maliki's suggestion of a U.S. troop withdrawal by 2010 "validated" Obama's position. Giuliani scoffed that Democratic presidential nominee wouldn't have even been able…
Vieira Uses Gramm to Disqualify McCain's Ability to 'Lead Us Out of Re
July 21st, 2008 1:26 PM
Even though the United States is still technically not in a recession, NBC's Meredith Vieira doubted John McCain's ability "to lead us out of a recession," on Monday's "Today" show. Vieira pointed to McCain's former economic adviser Phil Gramm's "mental recession" comment as a reason to "question" McCain's "judgment," when the Republican presidential candidate appeared on the July 21 "Today" show…
Good Economic News Doesn't Deter 'Today's' 'Doom and Gloom' Spin
July 17th, 2008 2:50 PM
Last seen cheerleading for Barack Obama, NBC's Lee Cowan was in a less cheerful mood when he talked about the economy on Thursday's "Today" show. Before co-host Matt Lauer turned to self-help guru Tony Robbins to help viewers get through the "tough times," Cowan delivered a particularly depressing set-up piece that featured mostly pessimistic talking heads, including one that claimed: "The…