Networks Hype Social Media 'Backlash' Against Michael Sam Fueled By 'E

Kyle Drennen
May 12th, 2014 2:21 PM
Despite the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Michael Sam being drafted by the St. Louis Rams as the first openly gay player in the NFL, the Big Three network morning shows on Monday all hyped a negative one-word tweet from another NFL player as evidence of a social media "backlash" against Sam, where "every creep and cretin" could attack him. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the…
 

On CBS, Michael Smerconish Slams Talk Radio's 'Horrific Impact on Pola

Kyle Drennen
May 9th, 2014 1:11 PM
Appearing on Friday's CBS This Morning, Sirius XM radio and CNN host Michael Smerconish hocked his new fictional novel about the talk radio business entitled Talk, and denounced the industry: "I think it's entertainment masked as news and I wanted to expose it because I think it's had a horrific impact on polarization and incivility in the country." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after…
 

Benghazi Watch for Friday: NBC Skips New Investigation; ABC Offers

Scott Whitlock
May 9th, 2014 12:32 PM
The House on Thursday voted to create a select committee to investigate Benghazi, but NBC's Today, a four hour program, on Friday totally ignored the story. In contrast, the show spent two minutes on the topic of how many times a week should people shower. ABC's Good Morning America allowed a mere 12 seconds for the latest details. News reader Amy Robach emphasized, "Republicans on Capitol Hill…
 

Nets Spend 27 Minutes on Climate Change, Just 15 Seconds on Lois Lerne

Geoffrey Dickens
May 8th, 2014 12:19 PM

Not even a full vote by the House of Representatives to hold Lois Lerner in contempt can shake the networks out of their slumber in covering the IRS scandal. On Wednesday the House voted 231-178 (all Republicans voted yes with six Democrats) to hold Lerner in contempt for refusing to testify about the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. Total coverage by ABC, CBS and NBC? Just a 15-second…

 

Networks Give Obama Megaphone to Push Climate Change Alarmism, Dismiss

Kyle Drennen
May 7th, 2014 12:15 PM

After enthusiastically promoting an upcoming White House climate change report on Tuesday, all three network morning shows on Wednesday happily touted interviews with President Obama on the subject and continued to hype the "dire" and "alarming" findings. Meanwhile, critics were dismissed as an anti-science minority. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]   At the top of NBC's…

 

The Burying of a Scandal: TV News Hides the Facts on the IRS’s Targe

Rich Noyes
May 7th, 2014 11:14 AM

Summary: After a partisan report last June absurdly suggested that progressive groups were just as likely to be scrutinized as conservative ones, ABC, CBS and NBC essentially abandoned their coverage of the IRS targeting scandal which broke one year ago this week. After producing 136 stories on their morning and evening news show during the first seven weeks of the scandal, broadcast news…

 

CBS Features Lynne Cheney to Talk James Madison, But Hectors on Hillar

Scott Whitlock
May 6th, 2014 5:46 PM
The hosts of CBS This Morning on Tuesday featured Lynne Cheney to talk about her new book on James Madison. However, predictably, the topics drifted towards a grilling on gay marriage and her daughters' public spat over the subject. Additionally, Norah O'Donnell rather obviously quizzed Cheney on whether being a Secretary of State, like Madison, would still be a good path for the president in…
 

Censorship: NBC Continues to Hide Obama's Scandal Impacting Veterans

Scott Whitlock
May 6th, 2014 12:25 PM
In another example of censoring a Barack Obama scandal, NBC has ignored the brewing controversy impacting American veterans and a shocking lack of access to hospital care. Though the news of up to 40 patients dying in Arizona has been going on for months, ABC finally covered the story on Tuesday's Good Morning America, offering a scant 29 seconds. Reporter Amy Robach informed that the President…
 

Networks Eagerly Push White House Climate Change Agenda Ahead of Obama

Kyle Drennen
May 6th, 2014 11:46 AM

On Tuesday, the NBC, ABC, and CBS morning shows all seized on a new climate change report being released by the White House ahead of a slate of interviews with President Obama conducted by network meteorologists. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] On NBC's Today, weatherman Al Roker stood in front of the White House holding up a draft copy of the report and proclaimed: "…

 

CBS Downplays Ugly Side of Protests Against Condoleezza Rice's Commenc

Scott Whitlock
May 5th, 2014 12:45 PM
In April, CBS and NBC found no time to cover the protests against Michelle Obama's planned graduation speech to high school students in Kansas. But both networks on Monday hyped the bullying of Condoleezza Rice from speaking to Rutgers University. Some of protest signs included an ugly caricature of the first female African American Secretary of State. Instead of discussing this, CBS This…
 

Networks Give 15 Times More Coverage to Correspondents' Dinner Than Be

Kyle Drennen
May 5th, 2014 11:57 AM
On Monday, the three network morning shows provided 12 minutes 24 seconds to Saturday night's White House Correspondents' Dinner but only CBS This Morning reported House Speaker John Boehner on Friday announcing a new investigation into Benghazi – a news brief that totaled a mere 47 seconds. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] This Morning co-host Charlie Rose noted: "…
 

CBS Puffs 'Pot Lobbyist' in D.C.: 'Making Friends in High Places

Scott Whitlock
May 2nd, 2014 3:33 PM
CBS This Morning journalists on Friday continued the show's obsession with legalized pot, offering an uncritical puffing of a new marijuana lobbyist in Washington D.C. Gayle King touted, "Marijuana is now legal in some form in nearly half the country. The growing cannabis industry wants a voice in Washington." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] A CBS graphic promoted, "Making Friends in High…
 

Big Three Newscasts Out to Lunch on Jihadists' Mass Kidnapping of Nige

Matthew Balan
May 1st, 2014 4:38 PM
ABC, CBS, and NBC's morning and evening newscasts have yet to set aside any air time to a mass abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from a school in northern Nigeria on April 16, 2014. Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram raided the government-run institution and forced the students into vehicles. On Thursday, the girls' parents and their supporters led a demonstration to pressure the government…
 

ABC, NBC Ignore Shocking Economic Slowdown

Sean Long
May 1st, 2014 2:51 PM
With a head in the sand approach, the networks failed to report on the latest economic weakness revealed to happen during President Barack Obama’s tenure. The Commerce Department announced on April 30, that the United States economy barely grew in the first quarter: by only 0.1 percent. That was a sharp decline from 2.6 percent growth rate for the fourth quarter of 2013.