Rather Warned Us Years Ago: Some Americans 'Sue at the Drop of a Hat
September 19th, 2007 4:33 PM
Dan Rather’s lawsuit against CBS should be dismissed, both in court and in public opinion, as a shameless and ridiculous effort to retract his on-air apologies for his smearing of President Bush with bogus National Guard documents in 2004. The New York Times reports Rather is suing CBS for what he claims is the network’s "‘biased’ and incomplete investigation of the flawed Guard broadcast." That’…
CBS and ABC Lead by Hailing Hillary Clinton's Universal Health Care So
September 17th, 2007 9:38 PM
The CBS and ABC evening newscasts led Monday night -- even before O.J. Simpson -- by trumpeting Hillary Clinton's universal health care plan, a proposal fill-in CBS anchor Harry Smith insisted addresses a vital need: “It's a huge problem. An estimated 47 million are not covered.” Of course, CBS didn't bother explaining how a significant number of those can afford insurance or are illegal aliens.…
Global Warming Obsessed Media Unfazed by Soaring Wheat Prices
September 15th, 2007 4:07 PM
As NewsBusters reported Wednesday, wheat prices soared last week to their highest levels in history. As many consumer products are made from this grain, and media love to carp and whine about inflation, one would have expected great focus to be given to this issue. However, as some of the upward pressure on wheat prices is directly attributable to biofuels, a global warming obsessed media…
Salon Responds to NewsBusters: ‘Am I in Bed With MoveOn
September 12th, 2007 5:26 PM
Tennis lovers saddened by the conclusion of the U.S. Open Sunday should take heart, for a great match is being waged in the blogosphere between editors at Salon and NewsBusters. Initially at issue was whether or not "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric has become a shill for the Bush administration and the war in Iraq as avowed by Salon editor-in-chief Joan Walsh on Sunday. As set two got…
Laura Ingraham's New Book Dishes on CBS News, MSNBC
September 12th, 2007 2:51 PM
In the 1990s, Laura Ingraham was an exception to the rule, a conservative allowed into the rarefied air of network news. She was a Sunday night commentator on CBS Evening News -- matched on the left by Sen. Bill Bradley -- and then a host of a live morning show on MSNBC. In her brand spanking new book Power to the People, just out yesterday, Laura dishes on what it was like in the lion's den:…
Is Salon’s Editor in Bed With MoveOn
September 11th, 2007 3:26 PM
On Sunday, NewsBusters published an article about Salon editor-in-chief Joan Walsh voicing displeasure with CBS anchor Katie Couric's "softball," "puff piece" reports from Iraq last week. Moments after the piece was published, I received an e-mail message from MoveOn civic communications director Adam Green providing me with a video posted hours prior at YouTube by his organization, and forwarded…
As Support for 'Surge' Rises, CBS Loses Interest in Its Polling
September 10th, 2007 9:33 PM
On the day of the long-anticipated report from General David Petraeus on the “surge,” the CBS Evening News ignored how its latest poll discovered the third straight month of an increase in the percent of Americans who believe the surge has “made things better” in Iraq. As the percentage has gone up, CBS's interest in the result has gone down. In July, anchor Katie Couric led with how only 19…
Salon Editor Bashes Katie Couric’s Reports From Iraq
September 9th, 2007 1:47 PM
"CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric couldn't possibly expect to be criticized by a fellow, female, liberal journalist when she went to Iraq last week to report firsthand what was going on in that embattled nation. Yet, on Sunday's "Reliable Sources," Salon editor-in-chief Joan Walsh ripped the leading member of the media sisterhood for "lobbing kind of softball questions," and not "working…
A Few Seconds on CBS and NBC, But Not ABC, on Capture of Democratic Do
September 7th, 2007 8:54 PM
CBS and NBC, but not ABC, squeezed in brief updates Friday night about how Norman Hsu, the fugitive Hillary Clinton/Democratic candidate high dollar donor, failed to appear in a California court on Wednesday for a bail hearing and was captured Thursday night in Colorado. Both the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News, which aired full stories late last week on Hsu but not since, allocated about…