'Saturday Night Live' Struggles With Pro-Hillary Perception

After getting a huge amount of publicity for accusing the media elite of being "in the tank for Obama," the popular NBC show "Saturday Night Live" is trying now to combat allegations that it is biased in favor of Hillary Clinton. Matea Gold of the Los Angeles Times reports:Executive producer Lorne Michaels has long maintained that the show risks its comedy credentials if it appears partisan. So…
Matthew Sheffield

CBS ‘Early Show’: Geraldine Ferraro Is Archie Bunker

On Thursday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith talked about race in the Democratic presidential campaign with Republican Ron Christie, author of "Black in the White House," and the Politico's Mike Allen, who declared that: "...there's a certain percentage of what Geraldine Ferraro said that's simply factual, and that is the pioneering nature of Senator Obama's candidacy is clearly part of…
Kyle Drennen

Bringing You More Glam Ways to Like, Save the Planet

In Spring of 2007, magazines such as Vanity Fair and Elle offered readers ways to "green" their lives and help the environment. Now, the April issue of Glamour brings readers another "57 Little Ways to Save the Planet." Announcing "Mother Earth needs our help," the article begins by accusing "we use too much fuel (which causes pollution), chop down too many trees, conserve too little water;…
Genevieve Ebel

NYT Reporter-Blogger: 'Television Bullies' on FOX Give Irish a Bad Nam

In the latest entry on his "Outposts" blog at nytimes.com, former New York Times reporter Timothy Egan tells a potentially interesting tale about the Irish of Butte, Mont. Apparently "the city had a higher percentage of Irish than any other in America -- including Boston." But Egan, the Times's former Pacific Northwest correspondent, also uses "Outposts" as a convenient tree-stand from which to…
Clay Waters

Network News Ratings Tumble Among Viewers Aged

According to Media Life Magazine, the three big network evening news broadcasts have slipped badly in the key 18 to 34 age bracket. At the same time, though, the Cable news nets have picked up among that same demographic. All three network newscasts have lost numbers since last year, with Katie Couric having the worst slide of the three. According to Media Life, the main reason the evening news…
Warner Todd Huston

Joy Behar: 'Everybody Is a Whore

Everyone is a whore according to "View" panelist Joy Behar. Discussing the identity of Governor Eliot Spitzer’s call girl, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, Behar appeared sympathetic and portrayed the woman as a victim. Later in the show, in conversing about former "American Idol" contestant David Hernandez’s alleged background as a stripper, Behar hypothesized that "everybody is a whore, a little bit."…
Justin McCarthy

Foreclosure Filings Drop Month-to-Month, So Burnett Reports Year-over

CNBC contributor emphasizes disappointing foreclosure numbers but ignores decrease highlighted by reporting group.
Nathan Burchfiel

Barack Obama: Media's Favorite Superhero

Barack Obama's good for NewsBusters' job security. Just ask Ace:I've changed my mind: I want Obama as the Democratic nominee. Not only is he much more beatable than I first thought -- corruption, that Marxist harpy of a wife -- but the media bias should he prevail will be (licks fingers) muah!, magnifique. In a humorous riff (mild content warning) on the Barack Obama cover art on Rolling Stone…
Ken Shepherd

'Today' Double Standard: Sex Scandals Only Hurt Republicans

On Thursday's "Today" show when co-host Meredith Vieira asked NBC's Washington bureau chief Tim Russert if there would be any "fallout for the Democrats" from the Spitzer scandal, Russert asserted: "Probably not....that story pretty much leaves the front pages."However, last year, when Senate Republicans David Vitter and Larry Craig were in the news for sex scandals the "Today" show wasn't so…
Geoffrey Dickens

Obama's Spiritual Guide: 'God Damn America

At the end of a Good Morning America segment today about Barack Obama's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., an Obama campaign representative complained that John McCain's pastor had not been similarly "vetted." If that's true, then ABC or some other media outlet surely should and will do so. Let's imagine that upon vetting, McCain's pastor is found to have made statements that were…
Mark Finkelstein

Open Thread

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: the race factor in this election (video of Obama discussing this issue available here).Are you surprised by the amount of focus this is getting during a Democrat nomination process? Is it all due to the Clintons, or would this be a huge issue regardless of who Obama was running against? Does this battle threaten to so divide the Democrat…
NB Staff

Uh-Oh, Hillary: Sinbad Says Bosnia Trip Wasn't Exactly Dangerous

Tim Graham

ABC Finally IDs Spitzer as Democrat, NBC Fails to for Third Night

For the third evening in a row Wednesday, the NBC Nightly News refused to identify Eliot Spitzer as a Democrat, but after ABC's World News failed to cite his party affiliation on Monday and Tuesday night when Elizabeth Vargas anchored, on Wednesday evening substitute anchor George Stephanopoulos finally properly tagged him: “The Democrat resigned today just two days after reports that he…
Brent Baker

Spitzer and the Media: What Might Have Been

Remember all those stories during Monicagate about how being a serial philandering president might not necessarily be a bad thing? NBC's Bob Faw captured that zeitgeist, saying in 1998 that actually, Bill Clinton was in very good company."It might put Mr. Clinton’s conduct with a certain intern in a different light," he said, referring to allegations by liberal historians that Jefferson had…
Matthew Sheffield