Claire Shipman

Dick Cheney has begun a media tour to promote his memoir, "In My Time," with excerpts of his NBC "Dateline" interview showing up on Wednesday’s "Nightly News" and Thursday’s "Today." If history is a guide, Cheney will face a liberal media that has been stunningly hostile and derisive in their coverage of the former Vice President.

Prior to his selection as George W. Bush’s running mate in the summer of 2000, the liberal networks generally treated Cheney — who served as White House chief of staff, Congressman and Secretary of Defense — as a respected Republican leader. But the media turned on Cheney as soon as he joined the Republican ticket, portraying him as an extremist who was “anti-equal rights” and “against education” — even distorting his vote on a non-binding resolution as a vote “against releasing Nelson Mandela from prison,” as if the U.S. House had such power.

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Good Morning America on Friday continued to demonstrate a fascination with the Kennedy family, highlighting Ted Kennedy and his "critical" role as a "politician and a leader." Co-host George Stephanopoulos introduced the piece by recycling, "They called Ted Kennedy the lion of the Senate."

Correspondent Claire Shipman caught up with Vicki Kennedy and recapped the current status of the famous family.  Speaking of the late senator, the reporter enthused, "He was obviously so critical as a politician and a leader in our country. He was also a leader of the Kennedy family for so many decades."        

The stated purpose of the piece was to note the groundbreaking of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston. But Shipman also tossed political softballs to the Senator's widow: "And what would the Senate lion have made of today's shutdown threats?"

The Obama administration launched its air war against Moammar Qaddafi’s Libya after a vote of the UN Security Council, but without any congressional authorization — and apparently not even very much consultation with congressional leaders. A review of the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts from Friday night through Monday night finds virtually no network interest in Obama’s bypassing of Congress — an attitude in stark contrast to their approach to the Bush administration during the run-up to the Iraq war in late 2002. (Video montage below jump.)

With Libya, only the NBC Nightly News has even mentioned the controversy over the Obama administration’s decision to cut Congress out of the decision-making. On the March 20 Nightly News, White House correspondent Chuck Todd offered one sentence taking note of John Boehner’s objections in a laundry list of other congressional complaints:

The White House on Thursday named Jay Carney, the husband of ABC News reporter Claire Shipman, to be the new White House Press secretary. Carney is also an ex-journalist, formally of Time magazine.

Will this appointment prove to be a conflict of interest for Shipman? Will she continue to report on the Obama administration? Shipman whose title is senior national correspondent, often covers political stories and has a reputation as an activist liberal. In 2008, she hailed Barack Obama, the now-boss of her husband, as "brave" for a speech disassociating himself with radical preacher Jeremiah Wright. In 2007, she fawned over Obama's "fluid poetry."

In 2000, she lauded Al Gore as a "pretty conservative Democrat." In 2004, discussing former Communist leader Mikhail Gorbachev, she ltouted him as "generally regarded" for being "the man who broke down the ‘Iron Curtain.'"

For the second time in less than 24 hours, ABC identified Michael Reagan as a "conservative," but failed to identify the left-wing ideology of Ron Reagan Jr. Monday's Good Morning America played up the "clash" between the adopted son Michael and Ron, author of a new book that claims his father, the 40th president, had Alzheimer's during his time in the White House.

Correspondent Claire Shipman explained, "It's another feud in an often fractious family. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Michael Reagan, the former President's son and a conservative commentator, accused his stepbrother Ron of trying to sell out his father to sell books."

As the MRC's Brent Baker pointed out, Ron Reagan Jr. previously hosted a show on the left-wing MSNBC and now appears on the network to provide liberal commentary. On Sunday's World News, reporter David Muir also identified the politics of Michael, but not Ron Reagan.

After watching a montage of mainstream media journalists defending the TSA's invasive pat-down procedures as practically essential to preventing airline terrorism, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell argued it'd be a far different story if those procedures had happened under the Bush administration.

"Imagine the same reporters reporting that story if George Bush had instigated these [TSA pat-down] policies," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell argued on the December 2 edition of Fox News Channel's "Hannity."

[Video of the "Meda Mash" segment follows the page break]

Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Thursday tried to disguise a Democratic activist as just a jobless American who would be hurt by Republican failure to extend unemployment benefits. Shipman sympathetically recounted that Edrie Irvine, who she didn't explain spoke at a Nancy Pelosi press conference on Wednesday, "never thought her very livelihood would depend on a political debate in Congress."

A graphic reading "unemployed" appeared onscreen as Irvine complained, "They are talking about tax cuts for the rich and are holding people like me hostage." Who is Ms. Irvine? According to her bio on the leftist Democracy For America web page, she's a "tree-hugging, bleeding-heart, ACLU-card-carrying progressive liberal and damn proud of it!"

On December 1, Irvine appeared with Nancy Pelosi at a press conference. Pelosi enthused, "Thank you very much, Edrie, for your generosity of spirit to share your personal story with us." On October 2, Irvine also appeared at the liberal One Nation rally and spoke. (One Nation was coordinated by the AFL-CIO and the SEIU, among others.) Shouldn't Shipman have mentioned any of this?

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According to Good Morning America, Michelle Obama is the second coming of Jackie Kennedy. Co-host Robin Roberts enthused on Wednesday, "...First Lady Michelle Obama is drawing comparisons to the first first lady of fashion diplomacy. That, of course, being Jackie Kennedy." An ABC graphic lauded the "American icon."

Correspondent Claire Shipman highlighted Michelle Obama's trip to India with her husband and hyped, "It's a charm and style offensive that has all of us reaching for that inevitable comparison. India just as besotted by this glamorous First Lady as it was by that ultimate style icon Jackie Kennedy, almost half a century ago."

Shipman has been reporting on the Obamas since 2007 and has made little attempt to hide her enthusiasm. On January 18, 2007, she rhapsodized about the "fluid poetry" of Barack Obama. On May 6, 2008, she gushed, "...I think it says it all that [Michelle Obama's] Secret Service code name is renaissance."

Good Morning America on Sunday skipped the hateful signs at Jon Stewart's rally in Washington D.C., Saturday. Reporter David Kerley instead played a clip of the comedian and hyped, "Comedy on the mall, a little Daily Show with its star offering a bit of a sermon."

Although journalists were quite eager to play up extreme signs at Tea Party rallies, Kerley did not show a sign featuring Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and others with Hitler mustaches.

He did not feature this picture, taken by the Media Research Center's Kevin Eder (@Keder). It read, "Death to right-wing extremists. (But in a nice way.)"  For more extreme signs, go here. Instead, Kerley reverently parroted, "You know, one last thing that Stewart said, most of his barbs were headed right toward the media. He said when everything gets amplified too much, nothing gets heard."

Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Friday used no liberal labels in a friendly piece to promote Jon Stewart's rally in Washington, Saturday. Yet, on August 28, she warned viewers about the "right-wing" Glenn Beck and his protest in the nation's capital.

Shipman credulously asserted of Stewart and fellow comedian Stephen Colbert: "But what are we to make of a couple of comedians who say they have no political agenda drawing huge crowds to Washington a few days before elections?"

The ABC journalist simply parroted Stewart's claims: "[Stewart] insists he's not the answer to Glenn Beck. He's been talking about a different message." Even though Shipman reported that liberals such as singer Sheryl Crow and actor Sam Waterston will be attending, she never used ideological labels.

On Thursday's Good Morning America, reporter Claire Shipman knocked Christine O'Donnell for a "cringe-inducing" answer during a debate, Wednesday, but downplayed and ignored awkward moments from the candidate's Democratic opponent. Shipman derided, "But, while she was quick to accuse her opponent of politics as usual, she stumbled on a question that many consider to be Politics 101."

Co-host George Stephanopoulos teased, "And in last night's debate, what seemed to stump Tea Party star Christine O'Donnell?" Asked by Nancy Karibjanian, one of the moderators, what Supreme Court decision she most disagreed with, the Delaware Republican didn't have an answer.

An ABC graphic dismissed it as a the "Tea Party star's Palin moment." After playing the clip Shipman chided, "Ouch. It was cringe-inducing, George." [MP3 here. Click on read more to see video.]

ABC's Claire Shipman waxed ecstatic over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday's Good Morning America, as she reported on Mrs. Clinton's efforts in the Middle Eastern peace process. Shipman exclaimed how the Secretary had a "distinct, quite public moment of triumph" in her meetings with leaders from both sides, and noted how Clinton has become an "international political celebrity."

Anchor George Stephanopoulos, former communications director for President Bill Clinton, introduced the correspondent's report, which aired 44 minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour. Stephanopoulos noted past administrations' failure "to broker a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians" and then proclaimed how it was Mrs. Clinton's "turn to try to make diplomatic history." Shipman began by highlighting how Hillary "remains one of the most popular members of the administration" and how she was now "squarely center stage" with the possibility of bringing "something different to this Middle East process."

On Saturday’s Good Morning America on ABC, during an interview with Dr. Alveda King – a niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. known for her pro-life activism – substitute host Ron Claiborne challenged her to defend her participation in conservative talker Glenn Beck’s "Restoring Honor" rally in two out of the three questions he posed to her. The ABC host asked if she was "comfortable aligning yourself" with Beck – considered "inflammatory and divisive" by "many people." After failing to get Dr. King to criticize the conservative talker, Claiborne seemed to appeal to her to "understand at least" why some agree with Democratic Congressman John Lewis’s assessment of the Beck rally as an "affront" to the Civil Rights Movement. Claiborne's second and third questions:

Many people call Glenn Beck's political views and style inflammatory and divisive. Are you comfortable, are you comfortable aligning yourself with someone who once called President Obama a racist?

Well, Congressman John Lewis, who, of course, stood beside your uncle 47 years ago and marched many times for civil rights, has said that Beck's rally is an affront to what the Civil Rights Movement stood for. When you hear that kind of talk, can you understand, at least, how some people could interpret it that way?

The interview with Dr. King came right after a report filed by correspondent Claire Shipman which, similarly to her report from Friday’s GMA, assigned such labels at "right-wing" and "controversial" to Beck, while the Reverend Al Sharpton’s own controversial history was not mentioned, nor was his liberal ideology.

Just as they did in the morning, on Friday night the broadcast network stories on Glenn Beck's “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, DC were pegged to left-wing complaints his event is scheduled for the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's “I Have a Dream” speech, except the reporters refused to identify the ideology of Beck's critics while showing no such reluctance to tag him and/or his allies.

“The rally in Washington. Followers of conservative radio and TV host Glenn Beck already gathering in the capital,” fill-in anchor Erica Hill teased at the top of the CBS Evening News. “In Washington,” she introduced the subsequent story, “followers of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck are already gathering on the Washington mall for tomorrow's rally...” Reporter Wyatt Andrews, however, refrained from labeling: “Critics, like the Reverend Al Sharpton, say that Beck, who has described the President as [Beck: “a racist”] and who has railed against government programs for the poor, has no business invoking Dr. King.”

Over on ABC's World News, Claire Shipman warned: “While the comedians poke gleefully at the 'Beckapalooza,' as [Jon] Stewart calls it, civil right leaders worry the day will be tarnished.” Yet seconds later she found it necessary to apply a label: “Martin Luther King's niece, a conservative activist, will appear supporting Beck tomorrow, as will Sarah Palin.”

Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Friday launched a pre-emptive one-sided attack on Glenn Beck's August 28 rally in Washington D.C., including selectively editing clips from the conservative host. The ABC journalist featured a snippet of Beck asserting, "Blacks don't own Martin Luther King." [MP3 audio here.]

On his radio show, Friday, Beck complained about the "hatchet job." Shipman clearly distorted the context. He actually said, "Whites don't own Abraham Lincoln. Blacks don't own Martin Luther King. Those are American icons, American ideas and we should just talk about character." (H/T to The Right Scoop and Noel Sheppard.)

Playing the segment on the radio, Beck hyperbolically declared, "That's what Goebbels did. The truth didn't matter." Now, while ABC should be criticized for the dishonest editing job, it is over-the-top to play the Nazi card.

Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Tuesday delivered a one-sided report on unemployment benefits and the fact that they end after 99 weeks. Reporting on those who have reached the limit, the so-called "99ers," she asserted, "...There's no hope in sight right now."

Shipman featured three clips of those who are at the cap and one of Democrat Debbie Stabenow, who is advocating for an extension. However, the ABC morning show found no time for anyone with the opinion that nearly two years of unemployment benefits is enough.

Instead, Shipman offered only stories of struggling people who have reached the 99 week limit: "We found a demoralized construction worker at loose ends at home for four years, while his wife works. A school a administrator who was rejected for a job at McDonald's. And an accounts specialist, unemployed for two years, now living in a shelter with her four children."

The Monday morning shows on CBS, ABC, and NBC all worked to portray President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as a moderate and open-minded legal scholar, downplaying her liberal views. All three network programs also minimized her controversial decision to ban military recruiters on campus while Dean of Harvard Law School.

On CBS's Early Show, legal correspondent Jan Crawford touted Kagan as "an intellectual heavyweight and consensus builder." Crawford noted how Republicans had "several lines of attack" against Kagan and would "try to paint her as a liberal activist." Crawford herself recently described Kagan as having "stood shoulder to shoulder with the liberal left."

On ABC's Good Morning America, correspondent Claire Shipman did a fawning segment on Kagan in the 8AM ET hour, describing the former Dean as "intellectual" and "full of personal charm" during her tenure at Harvard. Shipman claimed that Kagan had "a determination to be open-minded," despite banning military recruiters from the university's campus over the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. On that issue, Shipman explained that despite Kagan's decision being unpopular "among student military vets....Iraq War veteran Kurt White says they were won over by Kagan's persistent outreach, another example of her political skills." Shipman failed to mention that White would be testifying on Kagan's behalf during the confirmation hearings.

Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Wednesday continued to tout the "storybook" nature of Al and Tipper Gore's failed marriage, reminiscing, "Al and Tipper. Tipper and Al. Their very togetherness, always part of the appeal."

Recounting the news of their separation after 40 years, the journalist seemed to wonder if any marriage could survive: "Of course, storybook endings aren't easy to come by. But this twist makes them all seem that much more out of reach." [Audio available here.] In a follow-up piece, ABC's Cokie Roberts contributed an odd aside about how political wives tend to not sing the praises of their husbands enough.

She opined, "And [a politician's] wife knows he puts on his pants one leg at a time. You know? And she's there reminding him of the mortgage payments and of the fact that he's just a regular person, not a god. And you know, who needs that? It's much more fun to be a god than a regular person."

ABC's Good Morning America on Thursday gushed over "rising star" Charlie Crist's decision to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent in the Florida Senate race. Next to a graphic that read "Declaration of Independence," co-host George Stephanopoulos speculated, "Is this trouble for Republicans? Will more independents rise up?" [Audio available here.] 

Stephanopoulos also oddly called the Florida governor a both a "GOP star" and a "rising star," despite the fact that Crist's popularity has been fading within the party for almost a year. However, when then-GMA host Diane Sawyer interviewed Joe Lieberman on August 9, 2006, she was highly critical of the Democrat's decision to leave his party.

Sawyer scolded, "Senator, I heard you say 'I'm a Democrat.' But you're talking about running as an independent and there are members of the party who've already said, commentators, that this is a selfish decision. How can you run against the party?...You're going to be all alone out there."

Good Morning America on Wednesday continued to tout the Republican National Committee's strip club controversy, even highlighting the glee of other journalists over the plight of Chairman Michael Steele. At the same time, the morning show displayed no further interest in the arrest of a man who plotted to kill prominent Republican Eric Cantor.

For the second day in a row, reporter Claire Shipman touted the story of an RNC staffer who submitted expense accounts after taking a donor to a strip club in Hollywood. Shipman's piece featured a clip of CNN anchor John Roberts gloating, "It's a story of dirty, sexy money" and of fellow cable host Rick Sanchez imploring, "Someone need to tell me how to spend $2000 at a topless club."

Other journalist snippets included Chris Matthews chiding, "The latest embarrassment for the RNC during the reign of Michael Steele." On Monday, after Shipman detailed expenses Steele reported including limo usage and private jet travel, she opined, "It's the sort of spending controversy that sounds so, well, pre-recession."

Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Wednesday highlighted "enraged" and "livid" health care protesters, but mostly offered examples of angry liberals lobbying for a bill. After video of demonstrators chanting "Stop Blue Cross!" played, Shipman touted, "California demonstrators, livid over a huge increase in insurance rates."

The ABC reporter described the preparations for the upcoming health care summit between Republicans and Democrats and then trumpeted, "And an increasingly engaged and enraged public will be watching it all. Look at Anthem insurance after raising premiums 39 percent, they got those protests and a grilling from California lawmakers."

Regarding Thursday's health care face-off between Barack Obama and congressional Republicans, Shipman hyped preparations for the event as "reminiscent of a Cold War Kremlin summit." She didn't say which side was which, but the segment certainly featured very little of those opposing the health care bill.

Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Friday highlighted the upbeat mood of the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference, but also fretted about the "Republican-edgy" tone. This came after she mentioned unidentified conference promises of a "Nancy Pelosi pinata and a Harry Reid punching bag."

Former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos lectured that for Republicans to retake the White House, "...They're also going to have to reach out to the center. That's the big challenge."

Shipman agreed and derided this as a "big tent problem." She added, "This gathering pulls together so many different kinds of Republicans. A lot of enthusiasm here, George. Can they get their message and agenda together?"

Good Morning America’s Claire Shipman on Thursday highlighted Keith Olbermann’s slam of Pat Robertson as "the devil" for comments he made about the earthquake in Haiti. Co-host also George Stephanopoulos questionably spun Reverend Robertson as "one of America's top religious leaders." [Audio available here.]

After explaining how Robertson asserted that the people of Haiti, long ago, "swore a pact to the Devil" and have been "cursed" ever since, Shipman featured this over-the-top rant from the lefty Olbermann: "Sir, because of your tone deafness and your delight in human misery and your dripping, self satisfied, holier-than-thou, senile crap, I'm now likely to believe that you are the Devil."

Will anyone try to spin the Obamas' first state dinner (with Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh) as a ritzy affair utterly clashing with today's hard times? They did with the Bushes in 2001, as we reported in the September 11, 2001 morning Cyber Alert. MRC's Ken Shepherd found Newsweek magazine's snarky Conventional Wisdom box introduced its up and down arrows with this Bush-bashing blurb:

The Bushes held their first state dinner. POTUS served buffalo meat, wore cowboy boots and welcomed Clint Eastwood. Meanwhile, the rest of America priced horse meat.

On Tuesday's Good Morning America, two ABC personalities expressed their excitement about being on the Obama guest list:

CLAIRE SHIPMAN: Of course, we're all looking forward to see what magic will happen tonight. And if anybody has any complaints about not being on the guest list, Mrs. Obama makes all of the final decisions. But I know there's one lucky person up there in New York who is on the guest list. Our own Robin Roberts. Robin, looking forward to it?

DIANE SAWYER: Expect dancing until dawn?

According to ABC correspondent Claire Shipman, the botched Olympic bid by Barack Obama is actually a "good" thing for the President. Writing an online column for True/Slant, Shipman (see file photo at right) bizarrely spun, "It would have been great had he come home a winner. Great for all of us. But maybe not so much for him. Why? Because then he would have then [sic] really irked his critics." (H/T to DB of Biased BBC.)

Continuing this theory that a loss by Obama will calm some sort of seething rage, the Good Morning America reporter added, "They’re [critics] already secretly and not so secretly peeved that he’s been voted the world’s prom king. Another victory would have just started a wave of dangerous, uncontrollable seething." [Emphasis added.]

Who voted him the world’s prom king? Could it be journalists such as Shipman who, in January of 2007, referred to Obama’s campaigning as "fluid poetry?" So, it’s not surprising that she would try to find some silver lining for the President. Additionally, her husband is Jay Carney, the Communications Director to Vice President Joe Biden. Shipman raised this point in the column, even as she tried to see the upside to Obama’s embarrassing failure at Copenhagen:

ABC’s Claire Shipman on Thursday fawned over Jimmy Carter, celebrated his 85th birthday and the "incredible" presidential library bearing his name. Offering few tough questions, the Good Morning America correspondent instead thrilled, "This is really incredible. I mean, the center looks amazing."

Appearing with Carter and wife Rosalynn in Atlanta, Georgia, she completely ignored the Democrat's comments in September that an "overwhelming portion" of anti-Obama protests are based on racism. Instead, Shipman focused on new additions to the library and cooed, "What are you hoping people are going to learn from some of these displays?"

Our national media are treating the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy as an historic event, more historic even than the deaths of presidents like Gerald Ford. Is this level of attention warranted?

We can all grant that Ted Kennedy was a major legislator with his hands in a lot of historic government action. He was at times a very eloquent speaker and was always a passionate fighter. To his side of the aisle, he was their inspirational leader.

Now add the personal story: Two of his brothers were mercilessly assassinated. He was the final Kennedy from that generation. Clearly, when the media spent countless hours mourning the death of John F. Kennedy Jr., a man who never had a political career, the death of an actual Senator of 46 years should be a greater event.

It is not the amount of coverage that bothers, it is the quality of reporting. "[The Kennedys] are the closest thing we have in this country to royalty, the clan's iconic images engraved on our national consciousness." That's how ABC's Claire Shipman put it on the August 26 Good Morning America, echoing what others have been saying across the dial. CBS anchor Harry Smith began this way: "He bore the unspeakable grief and overwhelming hopes of a nation."

ABC’s Chris Cuomo and Claire Shipman on Thursday marked the tenth anniversary of the death of "the prince of Camelot," John F. Kennedy Jr., lamenting the loss of such strong presidential talent. Reporter Claire Shipman mournfully proclaimed that JFK Jr.’s "very existence had somehow come to represent a critical link to our fairy tale past. And always, always the possibility of another chapter." [audio available here]

And yet, this seems to be a case of selective anniversary journalism. July 18, 2009 will be the 40th anniversary of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick, who drowned after Ted Kennedy drove the car she was in off a bridge. Kennedy swam to safety and then failed to call the police until the following day. Will ABC and other networks reminisce about the things the 29-year-old might have accomplished?

There's no doubt about it. Celebrity is the media's top priority.

Michael Jackson's June 25 death overshadowed all other news for almost two weeks.

Nightly news programs on ABC, CBS and NBC featured at least one story each night about Jackson since his death. More than half of those broadcasts aired since June 25 lead with a story about Jackson. A Pew poll found cable news devoted 93 percent of its coverage to Jackson on June 25 and 26. The broadcast networks joined CNN, MSNBC and Fox News in airing Jackson's July 7 memorial from Los Angeles' Staples Center.

Despite a separate Pew poll that found 64 percent of people believe there was too much coverage of Jackson, the media continue to hit the story hard. CNN's Don Lemon even labeled critics of the coverage "elitist," and said, "Michael Jackson is an accidental civil rights leader, an accidental pioneer. He broke ground and barriers in so many different realms in artistry, in pictures, in movies, in music, you name it. So, no, I don't think it's overkill."

"Good Morning America's" Claire Shipman on Wednesday conducted a fawning, mostly content-free interview with Supreme Court pick Sonia Sotomayor's brother about his sister's love for Salsa dancing, among other light topics. The ABC reporter asked Juan Sotomayor only one question on the substance of the nominee's comments that a "wise Latina" judge would come to a better conclusion than a white man.

After Shipman prompted, "I read somewhere she says she likes to party," the judge's sibling informed viewers, "She loves to party. She loves dancing. Had her 50th birthday party and she learned how to Salsa." Americans were also instructed on such pertinent information as the fact that, as a young girl, Sotomayor "loved reading Archie, and Casper and Richie Rich." Shipman, however, dwelled on Juan Sotomayor's anger towards criticism of his sister. She related, "And when we asked Juan what he thought about some conservative critics suggesting his sister is a racist, I thought he might jump out of his seat."