Jonathan Karl

NBC News senior White House correspondent Chris Jansing did her best to provide some White House spin during Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, hailing President Obama as “an energized, combative President” whose policies made for a “carefully choreographed, populist message with the details generally panned by Republicans.” Also within her report, Jansing found time to chide House Speaker John…

On Tuesday night, President Obama gave his sixth State of the Union address, and on Wednesday morning, ABC and CBS did their best to boost his speech and tout his liberal agenda to their audiences. During their respective broadcasts, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today made sure to play up Obama’s “renewed swagger” by giving an “aggressive speech” to Congress and America. ABC’s Jonathan…

During ABC’s preview of the State of the Union, former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos, Jon Karl and Matt Dowd pre-hyped a “triumphant” Obama and his “I told you so attitude” towards Republicans.

On Tuesday, ABC’s Good Morning America previewed President Obama’s 7th State of the Union address and the network did its best to play up President Obama’s recent unilateral actions aimed at normalizing American relations with Cuba. During a brief report that sounded more like a White House press release, ABC’s Jim Avila insisted that “tonight at the State of the Union President Obama will tell…

Ahead of President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, the networks offered previews of his speech during their Monday evening newscasts with ABC and NBC working particularly hard to paint a rosy picture for Obama with rising poll numbers and having “redefined” the “model of how to sell the State of the Union.”

Good Morning America journalists on Monday eagerly promoted good news for Barack Obama. Co-host George Stephanopoulos hyped an ABC News/Washington Post survey "showing the President going to a pretty high approval ratings, going up to 50 percent, the highest he's had in 18 months." 

Barack Obama on Friday conducted an almost hour-long news conference with journalists, but faced no questions on his administration's much-maligned decision not to send a representative to Sunday's massive anti-terror rally in France. 

On Thursday, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning eagerly promoted President Obama’s latest proposal that would require all private companies provide their employees with “at least seven days of paid sick leave.” NBC’s Today did not cover President Obama’s initiative on their Thursday morning broadcast. During the network coverage of Obama’s initiative, GMA co-host Robin Roberts…

On Wednesday, ABC’s Good Morning America had a segment that promoted how, due to budget cuts, the IRS will be forced to “delay those refund checks,” “increase the risk of identity theft,” conduct “46,000 fewer audits,” and maintain an “IRS help line” that “is going to become much less helpful.” Co-host George Stephanopoulos lamented about “fewer audits means less revenue to the Treasury” to run…

NBC's Today on Tuesday offered a scant ten seconds to the White House's backpedaling on skipping the massive anti-terror rally in France. In contrast, ABC's Good Morning America heralded the admission as "rapid" and "remarkable." 

On Monday, all three network morning shows surprisingly devoted full reports to President Obama being strongly criticized for not attending – or not at least sending a top official to attend – an anti-terror march in Paris on Sunday. At the top of NBC's Today, co-host Matt Lauer announced: "While world leaders join millions for a massive anti-terror rally in Paris, the President is under fire for…

On Tuesday night, each of the major broadcast networks devoted time to covering the swearing in of the 114th Congress and the race for House Speaker that saw John Boehner retain his post, but not without 25 conservatives voting in dissent against the incumbent Republican. Overall, the networks lamented how the group presented “a thorny obstacle to Boehner's leadership” and, in turn, will force…

While Republicans officially took control of both the House and the Senate on Tuesday, NBC, ABC, and CBS all touted GOP setbacks. NBC's Today led the way, with correspondent Peter Alexander seizing on comments from the top Senate Republican: "Among incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's main goals for his party: don't be scary."

On December 29, Congressman Steve Scalise (R-La.) admitted that he spoke at a convention of white supremacists in 2002 while serving as a Louisiana state legislator and the “big three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) networks predictably had a field day with the story. On Tuesday, all three networks provided full reports on Congressman Scalise during their morning newscasts totaling 5 minutes 44 seconds. CBS…