CBS's Pelley Glowingly Wonders How the Pope 'Inspired' Obama; Omits Re
March 29th, 2014 2:22 PM
Friday's CBS Evening News featured a previously unaired portion of Scott Pelley's softball interview of President Obama on his recent meeting with Pope Francis. The Vatican noted on Thursday that "there was a discussion on questions of particular relevance for the Church...such as the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection" – a reference to the Catholic…
Networks Ignore Ultra-Low Support For ObamaCare; CBS Hypes 'Surging' W
March 28th, 2014 8:49 PM
Friday's CBS Evening News picked up where the Big Three morning shows left off earlier in the day and trumpeted how "visitors have been surging to [HealthCare.gov] – about one-and-half million a day." Scott Pelley did give a bit of slightly bad news during his 16-second news brief, noting that "today, the ObamaCare website was taken down for about 20 minutes, to fix a problem that affected log-…
CBS Frets Over 'Tough' Abortion Law Being Upheld, Skips What Ruling Ac
March 28th, 2014 4:10 PM
While the CBS Evening News on Thursday and Good Morning America on Friday allowed mere seconds to explain a court ruling upholding "tough" "new abortion restrictions" in Texas, only Fox News fully detailed what the decision and law actually do. [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Evening News guest anchor Sharyn Alfonsi briefly informed, "A federal appeals court today upheld Texas' new abortion…
Networks Cheer ObamaCare 'Sign-Up Surge' as 'Milestone,' Ignore Lack o
March 28th, 2014 3:42 PM
On Thursday evening and Friday morning, ABC, NBC, and CBS all touted a "surge" in sign-ups for ObamaCare ahead of Monday's March 31 deadline. What none of the networks mentioned was that the percentage of young, healthy enrollees was still short of the minimum necessary to sustain the health care law. On ABC's World News on Thursday, anchor Diane Sawyer hailed the enrollment numbers as an "…
Networks Hail Bush 41 Getting 'Profile in Courage' Award for Hiking Ta
March 28th, 2014 10:45 AM
All three network evening newscasts on Thursday found time to cheer the JFK Library Foundation announcing former President George H. W. Bush would the 2014 recipient of its annual Profile in Courage award. So what specific accomplishment did the organization cite from the Republican's decades of public service? His decision to hike taxes in 1990 that cost him re-election and paved the way for…
NBC, ABC Ignore ObamaCare's Deadline Extension; CBS Waters Down the Co
March 26th, 2014 8:22 PM
Both ABC and NBC ignored the latest delay for ObamaCare on Wednesday evening's news casts, and CBS whitewashed any controversy until the end of its report.
The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it would extend ObamaCare's enrollment deadline until mid-April for anyone who would have trouble signing up at the last minute. Not only was the administration changing its long-established…
Networks Hype Obama 'Talking Tough' to Russia, But Only ABC Presses Hi
March 25th, 2014 9:06 PM
While on Tuesday evening the networks hyped President Obama "talking tough" to Russia and "belittling" them, only ABC pressed him on whether he was wrong about Russia during the 2012 campaign.
ABC's White House correspondent Jonathan Karl asked the President, "In the light of recent developments, do you think Mitt Romney had a point when he said that Russia is America's biggest geopolitical…
MRC Study: Network TV Gives Obamacare Less Than One Percent of Evening
March 25th, 2014 10:52 AM
Unquestionably, ObamaCare is the central political issue of 2014. As the midterm election campaign moves forward, liberal politicians will have to justify their support for a program that has cost millions of individuals their insurance; will raise premiums for most small businesses; imposes hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes; and will cost, according to the non-partisan Congressional…
Networks Ignore Bad News for ObamaCare One Week Before Enrollment Dead
March 24th, 2014 9:46 PM
With only a week to go before ObamaCare's sign-up deadline, the networks ignored the law entirely on Monday evening even though the latest estimate has the administration one million sign-ups short of its revised goal.
As NewsBusters reported, the networks skipped the story on Monday morning as well. That continues their trend of shelving bad news for ObamaCare, including the low enrollment…
ABC, CBS Trumpet Mrs. Obama's 'Ping-Pong Diplomacy' in China; Omit Pre
March 21st, 2014 10:02 PM
Friday's CBS Evening News and ABC's World News both glowingly harkened back to a prominent past example of bilateral exchange between the U.S. and China, as they reported on Michelle Obama's trip to the East Asian country. But they continued their blackout on covering the White House's ban of journalists accompanying the First Lady. During a news brief, CBS's Scott Pelley trumpeted how "…
Networks Ignore Obama's Plug for ObamaCare on Ellen DeGeneres Show, Bu
March 21st, 2014 4:44 PM
While the networks swooned over President Obama's mock interview with comedian Zach Galifianakis, only ABC noted Obama's appearance on Thursday's Ellen DeGeneres Show where he plugged ObamaCare.
And ABC focused only on the shallow, touting Obama's exchange with DeGeneres over her "selfie" at the Oscars. Interestingly, they left out the President plugging his health care law. Neither NBC nor…
Networks Shield Government from Blame for 176 Deaths During Government
March 21st, 2014 12:41 PM
When lives are lost due to a faulty product the media point fingers all the way up to the top of the company. Just not when the government owns the company.
The broadcast networks have aired 42 reports on the GM safety recall of faulty ignitions; malfunctions that resulted in more than 300 deaths. But in the course of their reporting, ABC, CBS and NBC only once said something that could…
NOAA Scientist Disagrees with Networks’ Claim of ‘Historic’ Cali
March 19th, 2014 11:10 AM
This winter the networks have seized on all sorts of extreme weather, making it appear new, exciting or unusual. In the case of the California drought the broadcast networks have been hot and bothered claiming it is “historic.”
ABC, CBS and NBC evening news shows hyped the California drought, describing it as unprecedented and the “worst drought on record.” But Dr. Martin Hoerling, a federal…
Networks Spotlight Medal of Honor Recipients Under Obama; Ignored Hero
March 19th, 2014 12:30 AM
On Tuesday, all three broadcast network evening newscasts devoted full reports to President Obama honoring 24 members of the military – only three still living – with the Medal of Honor. CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley trumpeted how the President "righted a historic wrong. He presented the nation's highest military award to 24 Americans, after a review determined that they had been passed…
