Networks Stand with Wisconsin Unions, Ignore $1-3 Trillion Pension Def
February 23rd, 2011 10:18 AM
For roughly a week, a battle has been raging in Madison, Wis. Evening news programs on the three broadcast networks framed these as "citizen uprisings" over pay cuts and "eliminating unions' collective bargaining powers to negotiate wages and benefits."
Reporters also portrayed this as a national union issue, but mostly failed to point out the national problem of pension underfunding…
Wisconsin Unions vs. The Tea Party: A Classic Double Standard
February 22nd, 2011 3:11 PM
Loud protests by Wisconsin public employee unions against a budget reform proposal from new Governor Scott Walker have drawn considerable national network news attention since Thursday, the day Democratic state senators fled the state in a last-ditch gambit to prevent the bill from becoming law. A story-by-story analysis by the Media Research Center shows the Wisconsin protests are a perfect…
Networks that Railed Against Rhetoric of Tea Parties Offer No Comment
February 18th, 2011 4:06 PM
The same networks that assailed the allegedly extreme invective from the Tea Party have, thus far, not found anything interesting about signs implying that Scott Walker, Wisconsin's Republican governor, is a Nazi or a dictator in the style of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.
On Thursday's newscasts and Friday's Today, Good Morning America and the Early Show, the extreme rhetoric of some of the signs…
Nets Champion Wisconsin Public Employees ‘Rising Up’ in ‘Mutiny
February 18th, 2011 2:14 AM
ABC on Thursday night championed a “mutiny in America” by public employees in Wisconsin whom NBC’s Brian Williams trumpeted for “rising up and saying no to some of the most extreme cuts in the nation.” ABC’s Diane Sawyer teased: “Tonight on World News, a mutiny in America. Public workers take to the streets as governors try to cut their pay and perks.” Sawyer framed coverage from the grievance…
Stimulus Two Years Later, Networks Ignore Obama's Failed Job Promise
February 17th, 2011 10:11 AM
Just a few years ago, double-digit unemployment seemed like a crazy idea. But when the economy began to stumble, it was fear of high unemployment and a promise to prevent it that the Obama administration used to usher in the $787 billion stimulus package. As The New York Times reported on Oct. 22, 2009, "The Obama administration's forecast at the start of the year, which predicted that…
ABC Highlights Victims of Obama's Budget Plan, CBS Touts New Spending
February 15th, 2011 4:15 PM
The three nightly news broadcasts on Monday touted Barack Obama new spending as "investments," highlighted victims of White House cuts and ignored key facts about the President's 2012 budget.
Evening News reporter Chip Reid used the preferred White House language, asserting, "But the President unveiled his budget at a technology school to highlight new investments, especially in education…
CNN Shows Muslim Brotherhood Member Defending Violence Against Israel
February 14th, 2011 1:34 AM
Over the past couple of weeks, as prominent Muslim Brotherhood members tried to sell themselves as harmless in interviews shown on the evening newscasts on ABC, NBC, and CNN, Eliot Spitzer of CNN’s Parker-Spitzer managed to coax spokesman Mohammed Morsy into defending violence against Israel by Palestinians, contradicting the Brotherhood spokesman’s claims in the same interview of being…
MSNBC’s O’Donnell Sees ‘Right Wing’ Inciting ‘Anti-Islamic H
February 13th, 2011 6:08 PM
On Thursday’s Last Word show on MSNBC, host Lawrence O’Donnell trashed conservatives for raising concerns about the possibility of a Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt as the MSNBC host claimed that, "The Muslim Brotherhood is the latest excuse for the right wing to whip up anti-Islamic hysteria, including the old standby that President Obama is secretly a Muslim." Minnesota Democratic…
ABC Relays Claims Obama & Dems Will ‘Protect’ GOP from ‘Less Tha
February 13th, 2011 1:02 AM
On the February 12 World News Saturday, ABC correspondent David Kerley highlighted claims by Bob Greenstein of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy that the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Obama would block Tea Party-backed cuts from this year’s federal budget, thus protecting Republicans from their "less than responsible actions."
After Kerley began his piece by…
NBC's Kelly O'Donnell Twice Tags Disgraced Rep as 'Conservative,' All
February 10th, 2011 12:45 PM
All three evening newscasts on Wednesday and the morning shows on Thursday identified disgraced former Congressman Chris Lee as a Republican. On the February 10 Today, Kelly O'Donnell twice tagged the ex-representative, who resigned after shirtless photos of him surfaced online, as "conservative."
The NBC reporter asserted, "The former Congressman is a former businessman, considered an up…
CBS Evening News Skips Liberal Label of Huffington Post
February 7th, 2011 9:49 PM
On Monday’s CBS Evening News, as anchor Katie Couric read a short item on AOL’s purchase of the left-wing Huffington Post Web site, she neglected to mention the ideological lean of the Web site as she merely called it "one of the leading news Web sites."
NBC’s Brian Williams did tag the Web site as "liberal" as he also read a an item on the acquisition. Williams: "A big payday for Arianna…
Anti-Reagan Media Now Lecturing Conservatives on 'Appropriating' His L
February 7th, 2011 12:51 PM
Ronald Reagan endured harsh, vitriolic rhetoric from journalists throughout his career, but that hasn't stopped some in the media from lecturing present-day conservatives on who best represents the legacy of the 40th President. This occurred even as the country celebrated Reagan's 100th birthday. On Saturday's World News, John Berman filed a sarcastic report where he knocked 2012 hopefuls for…
ABC Continues to Quote Ron Reagan’s Attacks on Palin Without Noting
February 6th, 2011 6:20 PM
On World News Saturday and on Sunday’s Good Morning America, ABC continued to quote liberal commentator Ron Reagan’s recent criticisms of Sarah Palin without reminding viewers of his liberal political views and history of attacking conservatives as both shows recounted Palin’s speech in commemoration of former President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday. On World News Saturday, after playing a…
VIDEO: How the Media Have Worked to Distort, Dismantle and Destroy Ron
February 4th, 2011 4:17 PM
As the centennial celebration of President Ronald Reagan's birth approaches, the Media Research Center has released its special report on media bias against the late commander in chief, Rewriting Ronald Reagan: How the Media Have Worked to Distort, Dismantle and Destroy His Legacy. NewsBusters has complied a video montage displaying some of the worst media attacks over the years.
View video…
