GOP House Revolt Over Oil Drilling Gets Ignored or Buried

August 2nd, 2008 12:12 PM
On Friday, NewsBusters wondered how much attention media would pay to the Republican revolt that occurred after Speaker Pelosi adjourned the House for a five week vacation without allowing a vote on offshore oil drilling.It turns out that if you rely on the evening news programs of the three broadcast networks, you didn't hear about this extraordinary event at all (photo courtesy AP). And, if you…

CBS’s Reynolds: Obama ‘Firing Back’ After ‘Below-the-Belt Atta

August 1st, 2008 1:20 PM
On Friday’s CBS "Early Show" correspondent Dean Reynolds described how the Obama campaign was defending itself against the latest McCain ad: "Spurred by what it considers below-the-belt attacks on his character, fitness, and even his fame...Barack Obama is firing back." Reynolds went on to highlight a new Obama website designed to counter McCain’s "low blows": "And Obama's campaign has just…

CBS Scolds McCain for 'Infamous' Ad; Empathizes with Obama

August 1st, 2008 6:53 AM
ABC, CBS and NBC all aired stories Thursday night about McCain's Britney Spears/Paris Hilton anti-Obama TV ad as well as John McCain's charge that Barack Obama is playing the race card, but only Katie Couric characterized the McCain spot as “infamous” before Dean Reynolds empathized with Obama by citing his “exasperation” with McCain's ad, based on headlines over liberal newspaper editorials…

Only ABC Runs Full Iraq Status Story After Fewest U.S. Deaths Ever

August 1st, 2008 12:38 AM
Not surprisingly given the past pattern, of the broadcast networks evening newscasts on Thursday, only ABC's World News devoted a full story to the fewest Americans killed in Iraq in any month since the war began. CBS and NBC gave the great news a few seconds before pivoting to full stories on the rise of female suicide bombers and the sexual assault problem in the military. ABC anchor Charles…

CBS Turns Doubled GDP into 'Disappointing' News, ABC & NBC Silent

July 31st, 2008 10:15 PM
Second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) doubled to 1.9 percent, up from 0.9 percent in the first quarter, the Commerce Department announced Thursday morning as consumer spending rose 1.5 percent in the quarter ending June 30, up from 0.9 percent in the first quarter, and U.S. exports soared 9.2 percent, way up from 5.1 percent in the first three months of 2008. Yet the CBS Evening News…

Nets Agitated by McCain's 'Nasty' & 'Childish' Anti-Obama 'Attack' Ad

July 30th, 2008 10:21 PM
The McCain campaign's new television ad comparing Barack Obama to shallow celebrities such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton so upset the network news operations that they all ran full stories, with ABC and NBC leading with the “attack ad.” Though all tried to frame their stories as balanced looks at attacks against each other by both campaigns, it was the McCain ad which prompted the stories,…

Katie Couric Quotes 'Sex and the City' to Face 'Sexism

July 30th, 2008 2:26 PM
Couric uses "Sex and the City" as a way to handle the alleged sexism she frequently faces, at least her 12-year old daughter’s take on "Sex and the City." Appearing on the July 30 edition of "The View" to promote awareness for cancer research, Couric first took questions about her career and recent allegations of sexism in the media and politics. When Joy Behar asked how she deals with such…

Obama's Overseas Adventure Does Little for Evening News Ratings; Long

July 30th, 2008 1:48 AM
So the Big 3 networks sent their evening news anchors on the road to follow Barack Obama around last week on his Excellent Overseas Adventure. If the nets' managements harbored any hopes that doing so might significantly increase their overall audience, or meaningfully increase the number of viewers in the key 25-54 demographic, those hopes were dashed when last week's ratings were released…

Nets Don't Hesitate to Properly Identify Stevens as Republican

July 29th, 2008 8:44 PM
The ABC, CBS and NBC evening shows on Tuesday night properly identified indicted Senator Ted Stevens as a Republican -- though not very creatively as they all employed the identical language in describing Stevens as “the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate” -- but they weren't so eager to name the party of Democrats in trouble in recent years. ABC anchor Charles Gibson teased World News…

FNC's Hume Reports Al-Jazeera Throws Birthday Party for Terrorist

July 29th, 2008 3:32 PM

CBS Hypes Warren Buffett’s Call For Higher Taxes...Again

July 29th, 2008 1:28 PM
Following a segment on Monday’s CBS "Evening News," on Tuesday’s CBS "Early Show," correspondent Chip Reid again touted Obama economic advisor Warren Buffett calling for more taxes on the rich: "Barack Obama met with his team of economic advisers Monday...But there's one who couldn't make it and had to put in his two cents by phone...Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world. Despite his…

CBS Relays Obama-Backer Buffett's Specious Claim Rich Under-Taxed

July 29th, 2008 3:35 AM
Missing a golden opportunity to correct a specious presumption of Barack Obama and his liberal supporters that the wealthy are under-taxed, CBS reporter Chip Reid on Monday night highlighted how “ending the Bush tax cuts for people making more than $250,000 a year and using the money for a tax cut for the middle class” is one of Obama's highest priorities and one supported by “Warren Buffett, the…

Essay: It’s the Media, Stupid

July 28th, 2008 4:34 PM
The networks suggest Obama is driving the narrative, but it's the liberal press themselves doing the driving for Obama (Editor's Note: This essay originally appeared today in Human Events.) Just Another Clown Delivering the News The Big Three networks just foisted a week long Obamathon upon the American people, a political, "journalistic" perversion of Jerry Lewis's annual televised good…

Couric: ‘Glimmer of Hope’ in Israel’s Agreement to Release Terro

July 27th, 2008 7:14 PM
When the Israeli government and the terrorist group Hezbollah carried out a prisoner release agreement in which Israel released five Lebanese prisoners while Hezbollah released the bodies of two Israeli soldiers who had been killed, there was a substantial contrast in the way the broadcast network evening newscasts reported the story. While ABC’s Charles Gibson and Simon McGregor-Wood reported on…