Some Media Tag Serial Stabber as ‘Israeli National,’ Others See
August 14th, 2010 11:14 PM
When reporting on the nationality of a criminal from another country who has already been arrested, it normally would be considered unnecessary or even uncalled for to take the extra step of explicitly identifying the suspect’s ethnicity or religious affiliation as well. But, given that Israelis, the vast majority of whom are Jewish, often face sharp criticism and negative press reaction over…
ABC and NBC Refuse to Identify Corrupt Rostenkowski as a Democrat
August 11th, 2010 8:51 PM
Dan Rostenkowski (?-Ill), 1928-2010. Reporting the passing of Dan Rostenkowski, the ABC and NBC anchors on Wednesday night managed to gently note his ignominious departure from public life while also including a humanizing anecdote about his life (NBC: He “went back to live in the same house he grew up in in Chicago's north side,” ABC: “In 1985, he famously asked Americans fed up with the tax…
Duplicitous ABC Advances Obama’s Big Spending College Graduation Age
August 9th, 2010 11:01 PM
ABC on Monday night delivered an even shoddier than usual piece of advocacy for President Barack Obama in the guise of a news story, duplicity which started with fill-in anchor George Stephnopoulos, trying to make Obama’s comments seem well-timed and topical, falsely describing statistics, released more than two weeks ago, as “new numbers today show...” Stephanopoulos intoned:Now to a stunning…
Kagan's Confirmation Makes ABC and NBC as Giddy as Liberal Democrats
August 6th, 2010 8:28 AM
“The number that really excited Democrats is three: Think Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan,” NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell excitedly announced Thursday night while leading into a clip of Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who exclaimed as he bounced on his heels on the Senate floor: “Three women will serve together on the United States Supreme Court for the first time in our nation's history!” The news…
Networks Ignore Missouri Voters' Rejection of ObamaCare, Instead Celeb
August 5th, 2010 2:22 AM
In the first voter referendum on ObamaCare, Missourians on Tuesday overwhelmingly (by 71 to 29 percent) backed Proposition C which called upon the state to enact a statute to “deny the government authority to penalize citizens for refusing to purchase private health insurance,” an outcome the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described as “rebuking President Barack Obama's administration.” On Wednesday…
As Obama Affirms End to Combat in Iraq, Only ABC Credits Troop Surge t
August 3rd, 2010 12:20 PM
All three broadcast evening newscasts on Monday ran full reports on President Obama’s declaration that all combat troops would leave Iraq by the end of this month, leaving behind 50,000 troops designated for training and support. But only ABC’s World News bothered to point out how the end of American combat involvement in Iraq can be credited “in large part, because of the final actions of the…
ABC and NBC Showcase Weiner’s Anti-GOP Scream-Fest Expressing ‘the
July 31st, 2010 2:37 PM
Democratic New York Congressman Anthony Weiner’s theatrical temper tantrum rant on the House floor Thursday night, against supposed Republican obstructionism, animated cable news on Friday and Friday night ABC and NBC elevated it to legitimate news as they imputed great meaning to it as genuine frustration with congressional gridlock. ABC anchor Diane Sawyer announced:Every now and then, someone…
ABC Leads by Trumpeting ‘Anger in the Streets’ from ‘Hundreds
July 30th, 2010 1:48 AM
“Anger in the streets and we’re there for the protests,” ABC anchor Diane Sawyer teased in making reaction from a few opposed to Arizona’s immigration enforcement efforts her top story on Thursday night. She led: “Emboldened by a judge's rebuke of that law yesterday, hundreds of opponents of the crackdown took to the streets today. But the state's unyielding Governor stood by the law.” ABC’s…
ABC Heralds 'Relief Replaced Dread, Hope Replaced Fear' While NBC Fear
July 28th, 2010 9:00 PM
“In a matter of minutes, relief replaced dread, hope replaced fear,” ABC's Barbara Pinto trumpeted in framing a Wednesday night look, at reaction to a federal judge's ruling barring implementation of key provisions of Arizona's immigration enforcement laws, around those pleased by it. NBC's Lee Cowan relayed how the ruling “certainly came as welcome news” for illegals, “but while some were…
Media Reality Check: Networks Protest Arizona's Immigration Law With C
July 28th, 2010 1:43 PM
The TV networks have aggressively demonstrated their dislike of Arizona’s state law “cracking down on illegal immigrants,” a law that “pits neighbor against neighbor.” An MRC review of morning and evening news programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC from April 23 to July 25 found the networks have aired 120 stories with an almost ten-to-one tilt against the Arizona law (77 negative, 35 neutral, 8…
On Eve of Law, 'Fear-Driven Exodus' from Arizona Distresses ABC
July 27th, 2010 8:38 PM
Less than two days before Arizona's immigration enforcement law is scheduled to go into effect, ABC delivered another installment in the national media's efforts to discredit it and paint the law as doing more harm than good as anchor Diane Sawyer warned that “undocumented immigrants – many working in this country for decades – are fleeing the state, or hiding in fear.” [Audio available here]With…
Coverage Focuses on U.S.-Caused Civilian Deaths When Taliban Responsib
July 26th, 2010 8:32 PM
CBS's Lara Logan may be in Uganda, but she recognized the skew of media coverage of the WikiLeaks war documents on the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan as she contended “the coverage would indicate that it's more of an issue for the U.S. to kill Afghan civilians than it is for the Taliban to do so.” CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric asked her about how the documents cite “the number of Afghan…
