CBS Frames Arizona’s Anti-Illegal Alien Law Through Eyes of Opponent

April 24th, 2010 2:58 PM
Arizona’s new law hardly earned a friendly reception Friday night from any of the network newscasts, but CBS went the furthest in presenting it from the perspective of its “victims” as anchor Katie Couric, over video of “Veto Racism” and “Stop the Hate” signs, teased: “Tonight, Arizona's controversial new immigration law. Police will now be able to make anyone they choose prove they're here…

CBS's Week-Long Pressure on Republicans to Support Dem Financial Refor

April 23rd, 2010 3:02 PM
On Friday's CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez declared that when it comes to financial reform legislation, "Democrats have all the leverage right now." Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer appeared on the show and observed that "They think this is the time to picture Republicans as trying to protect fat cat bankers, as it were." In her first question to Schieffer, Rodriguez wondered: "Do…

Big Three Nets' Evening News Ratings Crater to Summer 2009 Levels Two

April 20th, 2010 3:27 PM
Two weeks ago (noted at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), the combined audience for the Big Three Networks' Evening News shows for the week of March 29 fell to just below 20 million. That audience was about 5% less than what Matt Drudge in the summer of 2006 headlined as "TV's Lowest Week." The Big Three's combined audience crawled back above 20 million during the week of April 5. But Chris Ariens of…

White NBC Reporter Confronts Black Man at Tea Party Rally: 'Have You E

April 16th, 2010 12:42 AM
“There aren't a lot of African-American men at these events,” NBC News reporter Kelly O'Donnell, a white woman, told Darryl Postell, a black man at a Tea Party rally held Thursday in Washington, DC, pressing him, in an exchange she chose to include in her NBC Nightly News story, to address her prejudiced assumptions: “Have you ever felt uncomfortable?” Postell rejected her loaded premise that…

CBS Gives Tea Partiers Top Billing, But Sees 'Inconsistency' in the FN

April 14th, 2010 9:59 PM
“A CBS News/New York Times poll out tonight finds 18 percent of Americans support the movement,” Katie Couric announced at the top of Wednesday's CBS Evening News as the newscast provided a surprisingly neutral summary of the findings in the new survey, though reporter Dean Reynolds couldn't resist asserting “there is some inconsistency in the Tea Party viewpoints. For example, for all their…

Couric Quotes Einstein in Hailing Obama's 'Mission Accomplished' at Nu

April 13th, 2010 7:59 PM
ABC, CBS and NBC all provided full stories Tuesday night on how, at the Nuclear Security Summit in DC, President Barack Obama succeeded in getting an agreement to try to secure all loose nuclear material within four years, but CBS's Katie Couric, who made it her lead story, was on a whole other sycophantic level in assigning credit to Obama for discussions which began years ago. The CBS Evening…

Media: Pope Benedict Guilty Until Proven Innocent

April 7th, 2010 12:01 PM
The broadcast networks couldn't ignore Holy Week, the pinnacle of the Christian calendar, so instead they used it this year to smear the Catholic Church as a harbor for abusive priests. ABC, CBS and NBC featured 26 stories during Holy Week about Pope Benedict's perceived role in the sex abuse scandal the Catholic Church is now facing. Only one story focused on the measures the church has…

Evening News Audience For Week of March 29 Falls Below 20 Million

April 7th, 2010 11:14 AM
After a bit of a respite primarily due to NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics, the audience desertion from the Big 3 networks' evening news broadcasts has again resumed. Not that the first quarter of 2010 was all peaches and cream. Last week, Media Bistro noted that ABC's "World News Tonight" had "its lowest-rated first quarter ever." But the results for the first week of the second ratings…

Thanks to Obama, ‘Today American Nuclear Strategy Finally Caught Up

April 7th, 2010 3:15 AM
“The Cold War ended more than two decades ago, and today American nuclear strategy finally caught up with history,” as the Obama administration has recognized “the greatest threat is no longer all-out nuclear war, but the chance that just one weapon will fall into the hands of a terrorist or rogue state,” an effusive David Martin declared on Tuesday’s CBS Evening News.His story, unlike those on…

CBS's Smith: If President's Wild Pitch Hit Batter, ObamaCare Would Cov

April 6th, 2010 12:46 PM
During a fawning segment on a busy day of presidential traditions for Barack Obama, on Monday's CBS Evening News, fill-in anchor Harry Smith used the commander in chief's embarrassing pitch at the Washington Nationals opening game to tout ObamaCare: "If there had been a batter he might have been hit, but we are assured by the White House he would have been covered by the new health care reform…

Networks Praise New Fuel Standards, Call Them 'Nothing Short of Histor

April 3rd, 2010 9:32 AM
New fuel standards make both the left and the media happy. It's easy to tell. There wasn't a single voice of opposition criticizing the latest act of Big Government on major prime-time news outlets ABC, CBS or NBC. "Environmentalists are hailing the move as nothing short of historic," NBC's Lee Cowan said of the federal government's new fuel efficiency standards. The networks did much the same.…

Couric and Sawyer's Ratings Plummet as Williams' Rise

April 2nd, 2010 10:58 AM
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:

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

April 2nd, 2010 2:18 AM
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,…

On Day of Michelle Obama Garden Photo-Op, CBS Trumpets: 'One Thing Tha

March 31st, 2010 8:58 PM
ABC and NBC on Wednesday night managed to contain to a brief item their enthusiasm for First Lady Michelle Obama planting her garden for the season, but not CBS which dedicated a full story to how the hula-hooping First Lady “is enjoying the kind of popularity her husband would jump through hoops for.”Employing some creative puns playing off the gardening theme, CBS Evening News anchor Katie…