On Tuesday evening, the new host of the "Tonight" show, Conan O'Brien, got a great plug from President Obama all made possible by "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams (video embedded right).
On Thursday, CNN's John King told WOR radio's Steve Malzberg that Williams asking the President to do such a promo wasn't from his school of journalism and was "way over the line."
What follows is a partial transcript of this exchange (ten-minute audio available here with relevant section beginning at 7:40):
STEVE MALZBERG, WOR RADIO: You're sitting down with the President. You have unlimited access, or, or great access to him like Brian Williams had the other day. Do you then ask him to do a promo for an upcoming CNN show the way they did for the Conan O'Brien show? Is that appropriate?
JOHN KING, CNN: The answer on that would be no. No. Never. No.
MALZBERG: Okay, well that's simple. To the point. Boom, boom, boom. I love it. Hey, John...
KING: It's my school of journalism, it may not be everyone else's school of journalism, but it's my school of journalism is that I interview all these guys with respect. I respect the office, I respect the people, I respect anybody that puts themselves out there like that. But, I, you know, I need to protect myself and my integrity and my credibility, and the President of the United States, you know, God bless him, God bless the one before him, and God bless the next 200 to come. I'm not going to ask them for an endorsement or a product endorsement. I think that's way over the line.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.
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"way over the line" is
June 5, 2009 - 13:02 ET by GregE"way over the line" is correct and King was correct to point it out. And it was stupid. The media tries to get Obama somehow worked into everything they can. The messiah cometh.
Now if we could just get the other 497,678,098,451 liberally biased things that the media has done, regarding politicians, that are "way over the line" we may get somewhere.
GregE... ...and O makes
June 5, 2009 - 13:32 ET by bigtimerGregE...
...and O makes sure he inserts himself everywhere he can too....24/7.
I am so sick of seeing him all places... all of the time.
Talk about control...I've never seen anything like it.
Did anybody catch his speech this morning...anybody watch Merkel...if looks could kill, or better yet, the non-looking at him toboot.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
I almost puked when I saw
June 5, 2009 - 13:13 ET by mattmI almost puked when I saw the promo last night.
I wonder how many Obama jokes we'll hear from Conan the Contrarian....
BTW - If NBC can't think of someone better to host the Tonight Show than Conan O'Brien, they're not looking hard enough.
Corrupted Media
June 5, 2009 - 13:15 ET by slickwillie2001Considering the corrupt relationship between GE/NBC/MSNBC and the Bamster administration, this is trivial. What would the liberals think if Exxon-Mobil bought the ABC network? Why does GE get a pass?
State Run Media
June 5, 2009 - 13:21 ET by Sergeant ROCKCould you imagine a Halliburton/FNC connection????
OHHHHHHHHHHH.....!!!
... THE HUMANITY!!!
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
Just about everything NBC
June 5, 2009 - 14:14 ET by Chris NormanJust about everything NBC News does these days isn't from any school of journalism and is almost all "over the line" - especially on MSNBC.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
The pot calling the kettle...
June 5, 2009 - 15:01 ET by sam12663...black. As far as I'm concerned, 95% of all these media hacks have no credibility. John King claiming journalistic integrity is like Larry King giving fashion advice; it just don't fly.
President Obama is nothing more than a lying empty suit; a Hollywood style special effects smoke and mirrors show that has shown itself to be a total fraud.
WAKE UP AMERICA! SAVE OUR CONSTITUTION!