Early Show

Unlike last week's brief but welcome departure from biased coverage on gas prices, CBS's Early Show was back to form with its biased reporting today, this time with correspondent Mark Strassmann faulting businesses for factoring higher gas prices into the price of goods and services: "And as prices keep going up, more businesses want customers, want you, to pay fuel surcharges, as if paying for your gas wasn't enough, now you're expected to pay for other people's."

Of course, it shouldn't have to take a brilliant economist to tell Strassmann that all businesses always pass on all their input costs to consumers in the final price of their goods and services, including the costs of fuel as well as wages, health care, taxes, and regulation, and that if not for a separate "surcharge," the additional fuel cost would just be factored and hidden into the "regular" price.

Read the entire transcript below:

ABC and CBS's morning shows ignored, and NBC only ran one newsbrief item on Friday morning, about the now-pulled and patently false NARAL Pro Choice America advertisement about Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts.

NARAL's 30-second ad, discredited by the non-partisan Annenberg Center Fact Check, ran only on CNN and a few local stations in Maine and Rhode Island (the home states of three pro-choice liberal-leaning Republican senators). Nonetheless, the controversy over the misleading and distorted claims was discussed on cable and hotly debated in the blogosphere, so ignorance of the controversy by the broadcast news desks is not the issue here.

It's impossible to imagine this lack of media scrutiny were it a conservative, pro-life group making false claims about the Supreme Court nominee of say a President John Kerry.

CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante mistakenly characterized seasoned anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's pilgrimage to Crawford, Texas, where Mrs. Sheehan daily protests the war and demands to speak with President Bush. Plante filed a report in the 7:00 a.m. half hour of The Early Show from Crawford which, while noting that opposition to Sheehan from other Iraq military families is starting to grow, mainly focused on support she is receiving from left-wing activist groups like MoveOn.org. Where Plante, and co-host Julie Chen mislead the viewer, however, is how they leave the impression that Sheehan is a political novice who has inspired professional activist groups on the Left to rally to her side. Plante fails to relay how Sheehan has been a vocal anti-war leader and Bush critic for quite a while now, including joining far-left Rep. John Conyers in June in calling for investigations into the Downing Street Memo.

In a rare departure from the media's template on gas price reporting, you know, raise the specter of price gouging, blaming SUVs and other "gas guzzlers," et cetera, CBS's Julie Chen actually mentioned that lack of oil refining capacity is seen by experts as one factor in high gas prices.

Chen relayed this as the second item in her 8:30 a.m. newsdesk briefing on today's edition of The Early Show.

Julie Chen: "The price of gas makes hitting the highway expensive, especially in California. In Hollywood, drivers are now paying $2.99/gallon for regular unleaded. But so far, it's not stopping people from filling up."

Unidentified man at gas station: "Three bucks a gallon isn't nice but, if it bothered me, I'd think of some way around it, right? Drive less."

The broadcast networks and CNN on Monday morning trumpeted the vigil outside of President Bush's Texas ranch by a virulent Bush-hater, but didn't really fully convey her hatred. NBC's Katie Couric showcased her at the top of Today: “And a mother's vigil. Her son died in Iraq. Now this woman is camping outside the Bushes' Texas ranch and demanding a meeting with the President today, Monday, August 8th, 2005." On CBS's Early Show, news reader Julie Chen snidely played off of Bush's vacation: "President Bush may be on vacation in Crawford, Texas, but one mom wants to make sure he doesn't forget there's a war going on in Iraq.” On Saturday, CBS anchor Thalia Assuras had noted how “while President Bush has heralded the sacrifice of the fallen, his words were met with anger today.” That story featured Cindy Sheehan's accusation: “I'm never going to be able to enjoy another vacation because he killed my oldest son."

Full August 9 CyberAlert item follows. For today's MRC CyberAlert,  click here.

Political news often lacks the sizzle and spice that morning shows desire. It's hard to hold good ratings if you dwell on the meat and potatoes of public policy that is fairly complex. But everyone understands an allegedly corrupt Democratic congressman getting busted by the feds.

FBI agents raided the Washington and New Orleans homes of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) yesterday as part of an ongoing public corruption probe, law enforcement authorities said.

Agents conducted early-morning raids at Jefferson's homes in the 1300 block of F Street in Northeast Washington and in the 1900 block of Marengo Street in New Orleans, authorities said. His car on Capitol Hill was also searched.

When is a baby a baby? Apparently for the media not when in the womb, even if that child is "planned and wanted" as former Clinton Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders was wont of saying. Reporting on the recent birth of Susan Anne Catherine Torres, the daughter of Virginia woman Susan Torres, who suffered a stroke resulting in brain death in May, CBS Early Show correspondents used medical jargon to refer to baby Susan when she was as yet unborn:

CBS
The Early Show
3 August 2005 (Wednesday)

Julie Chen, co-host, from Los Angeles studio: "In Virginia, a remarkable delivery, as we noted, a woman who had been brain dead for nearly three months gave birth to a baby girl on Tuesday. CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras reports."

Thalia Assuras, narrating taped video, the opening seconds of which were not heard: "...May, the day before Mother's Day, but even in death, the 26-year old gave life again Tuesday by Caesarean section, to one pound thirteen ounce namesake Susan Anne Catherine Torres, a sister for brother Peter."

Jason Torres, husband: "I just hope they see it as the last beautiful act from their mother."

Assuras: "Husband Jason Torres spoke to CBS News in June about his decision to maintain his wife on life support at the Virginia Hospital Center at Arlington, Virginia, until the fetus reached viability. The minimum of 24 weeks in the womb for survivability was surpassed in July."

CBS News isn't alone. The Associated Press and Reuters (yeah, the same guys who call terrorists "militants"), also insisted on the term fetus to describe baby Susan when she was yet unborn.

CBS's The Early Show this week offered balance in its treatment of embryonic stem cell research in its two part series, "Two Faces of Hope," but came short of fully delivering. Monday's installment by Hattie Kauffman centered on Cody Unser, a paralyzed stem cell research advocate, with no critics allowed talking head time to cast doubt on the promise of embryonic stem cell research. Tuesday's mostly positive portrayal of frozen embryo adoption by correspondent Tracy Smith, however, featured a critic of embryo adoption, as well as Smith asking her story's subjects, J.J. and Tracy Jones, if they had allowed their adopted son to be used as a "political pawn" at a White House event they attended in May which encouraged embryo adoption.

The Early Show once again ignored the release of a positive economic report. The NFP (Nonfarm Payroll) numbers showed decent gains for June and healthy revisions up for both April and May. After the numbers came out, TES still had time for six stories, including one about a family with a new set of identical triplets to add to their identical twins. At least TES didn't accuse the Bush administration of drafting a couple of the newborns to join the labor force.