Couric and Sawyer's Ratings Plummet as Williams' Rise

The folks at ABC and CBS News are certainly not humming Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" this morning given the plummeting ratings of their respective evening anchors Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric.Adding insult to injury, Brian Williams' numbers continue to climb.So reported the New York Times Friday in a piece destined to raise some liberal media eyebrows:
Noel Sheppard
April 2nd, 2010 10:58 AM

Gayle King On Good-for-GOP Poll: 'Don't Read It, Mika

Was Gayle King kvetching about polls when candidate, then President, Obama and the Dems were riding high?  Doubt it.  But now that tide has turned, King pooh-poohs polls, and even asked Mika Brzezinski not to read one on the air.  But never fear, "every time he speaks I get inspired all over again" proclaimed the editor of Oprah Winfrey's O magazine.King's hear-no-evil moment went down on today'…
Mark Finkelstein
April 2nd, 2010 9:22 AM

Open Thread

NB Staff
April 2nd, 2010 8:42 AM

McClatchy Reporter Speed Writes D.C. Tea Party Story in Record Time

Kudos to William Douglas of McClatchy newspapers. That reporter can write and file stories with amazing speed. One such story was this article that Douglas filed about the March 20 Tea Party protest in Washington, D.C. where racial slurs were supposedly hurled. Jack Cashill of American Thinker was so impressed with the speed in which Douglas wrote his story that he wrote this American Thinker…
P.J. Gladnick
April 2nd, 2010 8:05 AM

Former Time Reporter Says RNC Strip-Club Bill Somehow Worse Than Illeg

Former Time White House correspondent (and Carter administration appointee) Margaret Carlson really wants RNC chairman Michael Steele fired. In her Bloomberg News column on Wednesday, she badly exaggerated: "In the world of fundraising scandals, this one makes former Vice President Al Gore’s visit to a Buddhist temple look as quaint as tea at Buckingham Palace."Earth to Margaret: the wayward RNC…
Tim Graham
April 2nd, 2010 7:20 AM

O'Reilly Tackles Charge of Racism at Tea Parties

On Wednesday’s The O’Reilly Factor, FNC host Bill O’Reilly took the time to speak with an African-American Tea Party activist named Kevin Jackson about his experiences at Tea Party events and what he thinks of liberal commentators – presumably referring to a number of MSNBC hosts – who have charged that racism is common among Tea Party activists. O’Reilly asked of Jackson: "Okay, now obviously…
Brad Wilmouth
April 2nd, 2010 7:04 AM

‘Impressive!’ Couric Coos After Obama Sinks a Jump Shot, Smith Fre

Looks like -- hardly a surprise -- CBS’s Early Show on Friday morning will deliver a jovial and empathetic session with President Barack Obama just three days after NBC’s Today show had a friendly sit-down with the President. Thursday’s CBS Evening News previewed Harry Smith’s time with Obama on the White House basketball court, a segment which ended with Obama successfully hitting a jump shot,…
Brent Baker
April 2nd, 2010 2:18 AM

Messed up in Japan

Does playing a video game based on sexual assault sound like a healthy evening in front of the TV?
L. Brent Bozell III
April 2nd, 2010 12:00 AM

Chris Matthews Asked SPLC's Potok When Did Scary 'Black Helicopters' A

On Tuesday night's Hardball, MSNBC's Chris Matthews invited Mark Potok of the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center to estimate when all this frightening and hateful anti-government militia talk started. Potok argued it began with Ronald Reagan, and his supposed description of "the federal government as a kind of enemy."Matthews said one could be concerned about government growing too large, "But…
Tim Graham
April 1st, 2010 10:59 PM

On NBC, Boy Scout Scandal Merits Story, But Club's 100th Anniversary D

When it comes to socially-conservative groups media outlets like to cover the scandals instead of the celebrations. That's exactly what NBC did to the Boy Scouts of America which had its 100th anniversary Jan. 25. NBC "Nightly News" completely ignored the anniversary, but did remember to cover Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day during that broadcast. But NBC will find time for scandal. On April 1, NBC'…
Anthony Kang
April 1st, 2010 9:32 PM

Media Run to NYT's Defense, Accuse Vatican of 'Killing the Messenger

On Thursday's Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC, host Dylan Ratigan went after the Vatican for criticizing the slanted New York Times reporting on the priest sex abuse scandal: "Blame the messenger. The Vatican blasting the New York Times for telling the truth about Church – the Church and its harboring of sex abusers. It's the paper's fault." Ratigan spoke with Democratic strategist Steve Hildebrand,…
Kyle Drennen
April 1st, 2010 6:26 PM

CNN's Cafferty Bashes Pope Benedict XVI For Two Straight Days

CNN's Jack Cafferty slammed the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI during his regular commentaries on Wednesday and Thursday, for a total of three times during the course of a week, as he also targeted them on March 25. On all three occasions, Cafferty also read mostly Catholic-bashing e-mails from viewers.During the March 25 "Cafferty File" segment, the CNN commentator wasted little time in…
Matthew Balan
April 1st, 2010 6:14 PM

Santelli’s Plea to Obama: Use TARP, ObamaCare Tactics to Drill Now a

Green jobs to save the American economy?  If you have listened to the various politicos on the left end of the spectrum, especially before and after the passage of the $787-billion stimulus package earlier, you would think that is the cure-all. But so far it isn't working and there are other fundamental problems that lie ahead according to some energy market analysts, like much higher oil…
Jeff Poor
April 1st, 2010 5:42 PM

Washington Post: Government May Have to Waste Millions of H1N1 Vaccine

Last year many Americans were convinced the H1N1 virus, commonly called the swine flu, would turn into a pandemic. That’s no surprise given the fear mongering media.News media helped make the case for the government to rush a vaccine and the government spent over a billion dollars producing those vaccinations. But now, according to the April 1, 2010 Washington Post millions of vaccines are still…
Sarah Knoploh
April 1st, 2010 5:29 PM