Admitted: Katie Couric Played 'Out of Position' at CBS

September 23rd, 2011 11:27 PM
Broadcasting & Cable magazine's cover story this week was on Katie Couric and her new afternoon talk show (not arriving until next autumn). Her longtime NBC producer and friend Jeff Zucker, axed by NBC in the Comcast merger, is now helping her put the show together. But when asked if Couric was destined to be a failure in the evening news, where the gummy smiles and perky trills aren't in…

ABC Trumpets ‘Fairness’ of Obama’s ‘Buffett Rule’ Tax Hike Q

September 20th, 2011 8:43 AM
“President Obama has declared it is time to take action on taxes because people in the middle class are paying a larger percentage of income tax than the super-rich,” ABC anchor Diane Sawyer announced Monday night without bothering to note, as neither did CBS nor NBC, that the super-rich are already paying a disproportionate share of income taxes. ABC reporter Bianna Golodryga, who is…

CBS Shows Who Won NY 9th in the ‘1920 Republican Landslide

September 15th, 2011 2:18 AM
Andrew Petersen. That’s the last Republican to win New York’s 9th Congressional District. CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley provided that bit of trivia, and displayed a picture of him, on Wednesday night as he relayed how Petersen was “swept into office in the 1920 Republican landslide...”

CBS and NBC Cheer Obama's 'Extraordinarily Bold' Speech, 'Robust Defen

September 9th, 2011 1:24 PM
Throughout coverage of President Obama's address to Congress Thursday night, anchors and correspondents on both CBS and NBC gave fawning reviews of the new jobs plan, in some cases, even before the speech began. In contrast, ABC took a much more skeptical tone, with a focus on the President's falling poll numbers.   Evening News anchor Scott Pelley opened CBS's coverage by proclaiming the…

GMA Skips Hoffa's Call for War Against Tea Party 'Sons of Bitches

September 6th, 2011 12:52 PM
Good Morning America on Tuesday skipped any mention of James Hoffa's call for war against the Tea Party and the union leader's exhortation to "take these son[s] of bitches out." The ABC program was the only network evening or morning show to ignore the heated rhetoric entirely. All three evening newscasts on Monday and CBS's Early Show and NBC's Today offered brief references to Hoffa's…

CBS Frets Over 'Dark Stain' of Bush CIA's 'Troubling' Activities in Li

September 4th, 2011 12:09 PM
On Saturday's CBS Evening News, correspondent Barry Petersen filed a report which highlighted Human Rights Watch's analysis of government records in Libya which document that, during the Bush administration, the CIA sent prisoners to Libya as part of its renditioning program. Anchor Russ Mitchell saw the papers as potentially "troubling" as he introduced the report:

CBS's Plante More Sympathetic To Obama On 'Speech Spat' Than O'Donnell

September 1st, 2011 5:06 PM
CBS's Bill Plante hyped the supposedly "testy confrontation" between President Obama and Speaker Boehner on Thursday's Early Show over scheduling a presidential address to Congress: "This may prove that there is no argument too petty in today's Washington." By contrast, on Wednesday's CBS Evening News, Norah O'Donnell placed more blame on Obama for giving Boehner only a "15-minute heads-up…

Big Three Nets Ignore Rep. Carson's Lynching Smear of Tea Party

August 31st, 2011 1:02 PM
Representative Andre Carson's inflammatory attack on the Tea Party has yet to have receive any attention from the Big Three networks. As reported by Politico on Wednesday, Rep. Carson accused Tea Party-friendly members of Congress of wanting to bring back Jim Crow and went so far to accuse his colleagues of wanting to bring back lynching: "Some of them...would love to see you and me...hanging…

NBC Skips Obama's Major Shift on Immigration, Covers 500 Pound Pig

August 22nd, 2011 5:04 PM
NBC has yet to cover a major shift by the Obama administration that would halt deportation of illegal immigrants who have not committed a crime. According to the Washington Times, up to 300,000 cases could be impacted by this decision. Despite ignoring the development, NBC did find time to cover the story of Boris, the 550 pound pig. Natalie Morales explained, "His owners have him on a diet…

CBS News Covers Tracks After Pro-Obama Merchandise Store Revealed

August 18th, 2011 6:18 PM
As reported by the Blaze earlier today, CBS News's online store is selling seven different Obama-related items, but complementary Republican merchandise is suspiciously absent. The online store includes paperback and hardback copies of Obama's memoir, "Dreams From My Father," and five memorabilia books and DVDs of his campaign and election. When the Blaze looked into the matter, CBS News had…

CBS Comes to Obama’s Defense on Vacation Time After They Cue Him Up

August 18th, 2011 1:59 AM
Just as criticism builds over President Barack Obama’s plan to spend the next week-and-a-half on Martha’s Vineyard while the economy flounders, the CBS Evening News came to his defense, suggesting he’s been a workaholic compared to his Republican predecessors. While “Obama has taken 61 days of vacation so far,” anchor Scott Pelley noted over a photo montage of those he cited, “at this point…

Network Newscasts Apoplectic Over Perry, ‘White House Tells Him to W

August 17th, 2011 8:47 AM
“Republican presidential contender Rick Perry rustles up a controversy when he appears to threaten the head of the Federal Reserve,” CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley teased Tuesday night in taking literally Perry’s remarks about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. CBS then played a clip of Perry: “We would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.” Brian Williams teased the NBC Nightly…

CBS Omits Tea Partier's Face-off With Obama; Played Up 'Voter Anger' a

August 16th, 2011 1:54 PM
On Monday's CBS Evening News and Tuesday's Early Show, CBS failed to cover an Iowa Tea Party activist's confrontation with President Obama. Both ABC's GMA and NBC's Today mentioned the encounter. Just days earlier, CBS and ABC spotlighted how left-wing protesters heckled Mitt Romney at an Iowa appearance and how the Republican apparently made a "gaffe" in reply. NBC correspondent Chuck Todd…

MRC Study: Nets Pile on 62 Conservative Labels for GOP Candidates vs

August 16th, 2011 9:00 AM
This year’s crop of GOP presidential candidates includes strong conservatives, just like the top Democratic candidates four years ago — Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards — were all staunch liberals. But a major, glaring difference between today’s campaign coverage and the early coverage of the 2007 Democratic nomination race is the impulse of journalists to repeatedly brand the…