Brian Williams Admits NBC Undercovered GOP Side in NH

By Brad Wilmouth (Bio | Archive)
January 10, 2008 - 01:56 ET
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On the Wednesday January 9 NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams admitted that John McCain "didn't get all the attention he deserved" during his network's coverage of the New Hampshire primary, as the NBC anchor read a viewer email which complained that "all the air time and talk was directed to the Democrats, and nothing of any substance was shared about the Republican candidates." Williams introduced the email: "A viewer from Richmond correctly noted John McCain didn't get all the attention he deserved in last night's victory."

The NBC host then read the message in which the unidentified viewer sarcastically asked if NBC knew that "there are two political parties." The message read:

I was disappointed in your coverage of the New Hampshire primary last evening. You do know that there are two political parties, don't you? All the air time and talk was directed to the Democrats, and nothing of any substance was shared about the Republican candidates. As a voter who hasn't yet decided how to vote, it would have been nice to hear from both sides. What ever happened to equal time?

Williams was presumably referring to the NBC broadcast network's coverage which consisted of relatively short interruptions of NBC's regular primetime programming. But notably, MSNBC's election night team mocked and laughed at McCain's delivery charging that he looked down too much as he read his speech, and that "it looked like every advisor that he'd ever had had given him one paragraph."


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So it wasn't just CNN...

January 10, 2008 - 02:22 ET by dodecahedron

So it wasn't just CNN that was focusing exclusively on Democrats.  

Vote for "<insert name of conservative who stands up to the media>" for President in 2008.

}}---> Interesting admission

January 10, 2008 - 04:05 ET by Cool Arrow

Remember Limbaugh's observation about Iowa?

On all the networks it was Huckabee, Huckabee, Huckabee.  They wanted to distract attention from Hillary's embarrassing loss.

A couple of days later it's New Hampshire and the news for the HillBilly is favorable.

I ♣ My Seal

Couric/cbs gave 8 minutes to

January 10, 2008 - 06:35 ET by Norto

Couric/cbs gave 8 minutes to the Dims and 5 to the gop. That was 2 nights ago.

How does it feel?

January 10, 2008 - 07:25 ET by OldSailor88

To be the only  person watching Couric on the evening news.  Thank you for enduring the pain.  We are forever grateful.

On subject now, this is the second story in two days with NBC admitting an Obama and Democrat bias.  On one hand you have to give them credit for being honest, but on the other hand it's disgusting that they can admit to bias and laugh it off.  Then again, look at their ratings. 

Faciem durum cacantis habes

well, I'll be...

January 10, 2008 - 07:01 ET by sentforth5

There are republicans in this race?

Who knew?

Yes, we admit it

January 10, 2008 - 07:40 ET by ToddonCapeCod

"Yes, we admit we underplayed the GOP in New Hampshire.... but just because we read your letter doesn't mean we're going to change!"

I agree....

January 10, 2008 - 08:57 ET by WildBill

 The only reason they read the letter exposing their lack of Rep. coverage was because a lib rep won.  If Fred or Duncan had placed first, you would never have seen such letters of complaint at all. And the coverage woeful at best.

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged." -Abraham Lincoln

They must have gotten this messages....times a 1,000

January 10, 2008 - 09:05 ET by JayTee

In order to even Air this E-mail critique of the obvious, they must have gotten thousands and thousands of E-mails saying the same thing.

In the End, they failed to sell Obama to NH, but you can bet they will keep trying to sell the empty Suit. 

It was the same for Iowa

January 10, 2008 - 09:56 ET by jswanagon

My wife and I were watching NBC on the nights of the Iowa Primary and the NH Primary, and I noticed on both nights that when the news came up about the winners, the state was blue and the picture of the Democratic candidate (Obama for Iowa, Hillary for NH) were plastered on the screen with a big check mark under them and the pundit went on and on about that candidate. And then towards the end of their gush it was kind of like "Oh, and Huckabee/McCain won in the Republican race." Actually, to be honest I didn't even here anything about McCain in the NH coverage, I think my wife said something and I missed it. I had to look it up online to find out who won, I really had no idea by the end of the newsbreak. I remember looking at my wife and saying "There's unbiased media for you." Looking back though, I think the most telling part was that they already had the states painted blue and the big picture of the Democratic candidate, like they won the state or something. It's just like the e-mail from that viewer stated, they do realize that there were two races going on don't they? Both a Democrat and a Republican won, it's kind of how this stage of the game works.

I seem to recall...

January 10, 2008 - 10:40 ET by Prester John

...that back on Election Night 2000 it was all about Hillary winning the Senate seat in New York with an "oh, by the way, the American people are also choosing their next president".

It seems like Fox

January 10, 2008 - 12:33 ET by jezebelle

is doing the same thing. I watched BOR and was getting angry with all the attention to the Dems, not enough on Republicans and NOT one mention of Thompson. I may stop watching everything all together!

They say that they are fair and balanced but that rings false when they are pretending that Thompson isn't even in the race. It makes me angry!

Definitely a Thompson silence...

January 10, 2008 - 13:45 ET by WildBill

I think the media fears that any populist conservative actor will be another Reagan. Best course of action is to ignore him completely.  He was second or third in most national polls before Iowa, but you'd never even know it from mainstream news accounts.  I'm sorry, didn't mean news accounts....should have said biased blather belched by bubbleheads.

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged." -Abraham Lincoln

Hi jezebelle... The only

January 10, 2008 - 13:49 ET by bigtimer

Hi jezebelle...

The only person on Fox that I have make positive remarks regarding Thompson has been Hannity....and that hasn't been a whole lot, but he has lately anyway.

Thompson/Hunter '08!

here is my letter to BOR..keep an eye out

January 10, 2008 - 14:17 ET by jezebelle

and let me know if they air it.

 

What is fair and what is balanced in your coverage of Thompson?

I love ya, Bill. I am an avid
viewer. You have taught me a lot. But, I am disappointed in your coverage of
Thompson. You give him a hard time about not coming on the factor and then he
does and answers your questions with intelligence and strength and then he is
ignored in campaign coverage’s and discussions.

He is a viable candidate and one
that should not be ignored.

To quote Dirty Dancing…”Nobody
puts baby in the corner”