ABC Pays Tribute to Iraq War Amputee Turned Paralympics Hockey Athlete
ABC's World News named Rico Roman, a member of Team U.S.A. in the Sochi Paralympics, its 'Person of the Week' on Friday. Roman, an Iraq War veteran who lost his left leg after his Humvee struck an IED, is now the "the star forward of the U.S. Paralympic hockey team." Amy Robach spotlighted how the Oregon native "discovered sled hockey – an outlet from the confines of a hospital room."
The…
Networks Mark First Year of Francis Papacy By Urging Church to Abandon
NBC, ABC, and CBS marked the one-year anniversary of Pope Francis being elected leader of the Catholic Church with positive stories about the Pontiff's personal style while impatiently pleading for him to reject the moral values he swore to uphold. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
On Thursday's NBC Today, correspondent Anne Thompson summed up a discussion she had with…
Ronan Farrow Condescends: 'Irresponsible' Catholic Church Dogma Is 'Co
MSNBC's Ronan Farrow marked the one-year anniversary of the election of Pope Francis on Thursday by browbeating the Catholic Church for supposedly thwarting the fight against AIDS in the developing world, and for the Church's apparent lack of action in stopping genocide. Farrow played up how "Church social policies often fly in the face of skyrocketing HIV rates," and bemoaned how "the Church…
CNN's Cuomo Revolted By 'Price Is Right' Music at GOP Victory Party; O
[Update, 3:45 pm Eastern: Cuomo angrily responds to NewsBusters; see below.]
On Wednesday's New Day, CNN's Chris Cuomo played up how Florida Republican David Jolly's campaign played The Price Is Right theme music at his victory rally on Tuesday, and remarked that its use was somehow a perfect sign of the influence of big money in political races: "What a metaphor for what politics has become…
After Promoting Colorado's 'Costco of Weed,' NBC Notices Surge in Ston
While NBC eagerly touted Colorado legalizing marijuana at the start of the year, even promoting one Denver store that hoped to become the "Costco of weed," on Monday's Today, correspondent Miguel Almaguer finally noticed a downside to legalized drug use: "More than half of Colorado's 61 arrests made in January for impaired driving involved someone who was high." [Listen to the audio or watch…
NBC, CBS Cover Obama Spelling Flub; ABC Out to Lunch
Viewers of ABC's morning and evening newscasts on Friday would have been left unaware of President Obama's gaffe of elementary proportions during a White House concert on Thursday evening. Both Good Morning America and World News omitted how the Democrat left out the first "E" in the title of Aretha Franklin's most famous song: "When Aretha first told us what R-S-P-E-C-T meant to her."
By…
CNN Laments Medical Marijuana's Illegality: 'Can't A Stroke of the Pen
On Friday's This Hour, CNN's John Berman bemoaned how medical marijuana is still illegal in many jurisdictions, and hinted that executive action needed be taken to fix this situation. After noting that "one of the problems right now is the federal law," Berman asked, "Can't they change this? Can't a stroke of the pen change this problem?"
Doctor Sanjay Gupta also played up how people with…
CNN Legal Analyst Rips Mall's Hoodie Ban: 'Akin...to Stop and Frisk
Sunny Hostin blasted an Indiana mall's ban of people wearing raised hoodies on Thursday's New Day: "This is...akin, in my view...to 'stop and frisk' – to the pretext of 'stop and frisk' – and I think many courts have found that this type of behavior is unacceptable, and downright unconstitutional."
The CNN legal analyst also contended that "'hoodie' is code for 'thug' in many places," and…
CNN Grasps to Find Silver Lining for Liberals in Pope's Pro-Traditiona
On Wednesday, CNN's Daniel Burke gave liberal-tinged spin/extrapolation about Pope Francis's answer to an Italian newspaper's question about secular civil unions. Burke asserted in a CNN.com article that the pontiff "reaffirmed the Catholic Church's opposition to gay marriage...but suggested in a newspaper interview that it could support some types of civil unions."
However, the journalist…
MSN Pays Tribute to Social Left's Advances in '25 Life Rules That No L
MSN's 'Living' page included an ode to the sexual revolution in their slideshow list of "25 rules that no longer apply." The anonymous writer trumpeted that these "rules, once widely accepted...are no longer relevant," and included "no sex before marriage," "gay people can't get married," and "unmarried couples shouldn't live together."
Most of the rest of their list was mundane, such as "…
Column: Alcohol, Marijuana and the Youth of America (Part
A few weeks ago [click here for column], I began to show from extensive studies and evidence how alcohol use and marijuana use compare in terms of addiction, withdrawal and using motorized vehicles.
This week, I will discuss in greater detail how alcohol and marijuana compare in their effects on our minds, bodies and relationships. And then I want to conclude by addressing the most overlooked…
NPR Hypes Spain's 'Far Right Political Party Similar to the Tea Party
NPR's Lauren Frayer repeatedly emphasized the conservative ideology of the ruling party of Spain on Thursday's Morning Edition, as she reported on proposed legislation there that would be, in her words, "one of the toughest abortion laws in Europe – a near-total ban, except in cases of rape or threats to the mother's health." However, she didn't point out the left-of-center political…
NBC Malfunction: 'Today' Airs Unedited Still of Nude Women
NBC was caught asleep at the switch on Monday's Today, as the morning newscast broadcast a clip that featured two uncensored images of fully nude women – 10 years and a month after fellow Big Three network CBS aired Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super Bowl.
Savannah Guthrie led into an interview of actor Willem Dafoe by playing a clip from his upcoming movie "The Grand…
Tearjerker: CBS Spotlights Gold Star Son's Heartfelt Note to National
Steve Hartman had trouble holding back his own tears on Friday's CBS Evening News, as he profiled the beyond kind act of an eight-year-old boy in Ohio. Myles Eckert, whose father was killed in Iraq when he was just a baby, enclosed a $20 bill he found in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant in a note, and gave them to a member of the Ohio Air National Guard who was having lunch there…
