CBS Report Echoes DNC's Partisan Anti-Palin Slam

July 6th, 2009 11:12 AM
As the broadcast network evening newscasts reported Friday on Sarah Palin's decision to resign as Alaska's governor, some of the negative wording on the CBS Evening News sounded eerily similar to the partisan statement attacking Palin that was released by the Democratic National Committee, which was quoted the same evening on FNC's Fox Report, and on Special Report with Bret Baier.As she began…

Katie Couric Named 'Giant of Broadcasting

July 4th, 2009 10:32 AM
Although having the lowest rated broadcast evening news program, Katie Couric was just named a "Giant of Broadcasting."Such was announced by the Library of American Broadcasting (h/t TVNewser):Honoring a lengthening line of excellence tracing back to broadcasting’s beginnings. Under the guidance of Charles Osgood, America’s Master of Ceremonies, at noon on October 1, 2009 (11:30 Reception &…

NBC's Todd: Palin Will Attract 'Car-Wreck Watchers;' All Call Palin De

July 3rd, 2009 8:46 PM
Sarah Palin's “bombshell” holiday announcement that she will resign as Governor of Alaska managed to trump Michael Jackson as the lead on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts Friday night as NBC's Chuck Todd predicted she will now make fundraising appearances for GOP candidates where she'll draw in “car-wreck watchers.” CBS reporter Nancy Cordes reflected the tone of the stories when she…

CBS Doesn't Mention Obama as Unemployment Hits 26-Year High

July 2nd, 2009 8:39 PM
The unemployment rate in June jumped to 9.5 percent, the highest since 1983, as 467,000 jobs were lost, yet the CBS Evening News managed to air a story that didn't mention President Barack Obama or his “stimulus” bill while the NBC story only touched Obama's policies by running a soundbite of the President defending the lack of positive impact so far from his policies: “It took years for us to…

Nets Highlight Obama's Hug at Health Forum; CNN: 'Bold Display of Pres

July 2nd, 2009 12:11 AM
Network reporters swooned over President Barack Obama hugging a woman, who has cancer and lacks insurance, at his Wednesday “town hall” on health care, as both CNN -- where Suzanne Malveaux heralded the hug as “a bold display of presidential concern” -- and NBC failed to point out how all the questions (just seven in total) were pre-selected or from members of pro-Obama groups. Instead, NBC's…

CBS's Logan Relays Concerns U.S. Troops Withdrawing Too Soon in Iraq

June 30th, 2009 3:07 PM
On Monday's CBS Evening News, correspondent Lara Logan relayed to viewers concerns that U.S. troops may be pulling back too quickly for the sake of security in some parts of Iraq. As Logan filed a report about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Mosul, as part of the security arrangement supported by the Iraqi government,  the CBS News correspondent reported that some Iraqi military officers would…

CBS Frames New Haven as 'Conservative' Justices vs 'Civil Rights Leade

June 29th, 2009 8:38 PM
In the midst of pretty balanced ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscast stories on the Ricci reverse discrimination case involving New Haven firefighters, who were victorious, one quibble: CBS's Wyatt Andrews framed the ruling as issued by the Supreme Court's “conservative” justices and opposed not by liberals but by “civil rights leaders,” as if the majority of justices who ruled against the racial…

Rather: Sotomayor Would Be 'Very Good' Supreme Court Justice

June 29th, 2009 12:02 PM
As Dan Rather sees it and decrees it, Sonia Sotomayor will make a fine Supreme Court justice. So the former CBS Evening News anchor told MSNBC's Carlos Watson this morning. The pair were discussing the impact of the high court's reversal today of Sotomayor's pro-affirmative action ruling in the New Haven firefighters case.In Rather's opinion, while Sotomayor would have preferred the Supreme Court…

Iran Fading From Media Attention

June 27th, 2009 11:05 AM
(Photo is of the martyred "Neda")In a passionate Wall Street Journal op-ed this morning ("Silence Has Consequences for Iran"), former Spanish Prime Minister José Aznar who, in case anyone cares, serves on the board of WSJ parent News Corp., says that "It would be a shame .... if our passivity gave carte blanche to a tyrannical regime to finish off the dissidents and persist with its revolutionary…

No Party Tag for Conyers' Wife; Just 20 Secs on 'Cap & Trade' Amidst

June 26th, 2009 8:50 PM
Noteworthy from Friday night's broadcast network evening newscasts which, a day after his death, spent 95 percent of their air time on Michael Jackson -- all but 1:03 of ABC's approximate 22 minutes was devoted to Jackson, all but 34 seconds of CBS and all but 1:22 of NBC, for 2:59, less than three minutes in total for all news beyond Jackson: ♦ Only ABC's World News reported how Monica Conyers,…

NBC, CBS, and ABC Highlight Sanford’s GOP Label; Downplayed Label Fo

June 25th, 2009 12:38 PM
In the wake of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s admission to having an affair, evening and morning newscasts on NBC, CBS, and ABC all immediately identified him as a Republican. In contrast, in March of last year, the networks rarely identified disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer as a Democrat in the wake of his affair with a prostitute. In a 2008 study of evening and morning network…

Couric Trots Out Tony Blair to Defend Obama on Iran

June 25th, 2009 12:08 AM
“President Obama's response to the government crackdown has been criticized by some Republicans as timid,” Katie Couric noted on Wednesday's CBS Evening News as she featured a retort: “Today, in an exclusive interview with CBS News, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair came to his defense saying he believes the protestors understand the tough position the President is in.”Following a single…

Big 3 Nets' Evening News: It's Summertime, and the Viewers Are Leaving

June 24th, 2009 12:27 AM
Media Bistro broke it Tuesday morning, and gave us all of the details shortly after noon. The news: CBS and ABC's evening newscasts both came in with record low viewerships during the week of June 15.ABC's fall to less than 6.5 million total viewers is probably more of a surprise than CBS's plunge below 5 million. Is there a health care propaganda backlash? But the biggest news, as usual, is the…

CBS Confirms ObamaCare Would Oust People from Health Insurance and Doc

June 23rd, 2009 11:56 PM
CBS, of all news outlets, is setting a high standard for ABC to meet Wednesday in its broadcasts from the White House. On Tuesday night, just a week after a “Reality Check” on how President Obama's claim that his government-expansion health care plan won't hike the deficit doesn't match reality, the CBS Evening News aired a story on how his plan would likely force many to lose their current…