Gay Bean-Counters Give Networks Cookies for Airtime

August 4th, 2011 11:35 AM
Note to TV networks: Don't even think about downsizing the disproportionate airtime you give gay characters and issues. The bean-counters at GLAAD are watching. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), in its fifth annual "Network Responsibility Index," recently ranked 15 networks based on their inclusion of LGBT characters on original primetime shows that aired…

Why Are the Media Anti-Hero

August 4th, 2011 10:41 AM
In October 25, 2007, a U.S. Army specialist in Afghanistan braved enemy fire in an attempt to save a fellow soldier who had been wounded in an ambush. An insurgent bullet struck his armored chest plate, knocking him down. He got up and rushed back into enemy fire to retrieve his fallen comrade. He threw several hand grenades toward the enemy, and was able to grab his colleague and immediately…

CBS's O'Donnell Suggests Obama's Reelection is a Done Deal

August 2nd, 2011 4:24 PM
CBS's Norah O'Donnell played the role of a clairvoyant on Tuesday's Early Show as she hinted that President Obama's reelection is assured in 2012. Anchor Erica Hill asked O'Donnell how the White House viewed the debt ceiling bill. She replied, "I think they feel like this was... not necessarily a victory for the President. He did get an extension of this debt ceiling through 2012 and through…

CBS and ABC Ignore Biden 'Terrorist' Dust Up; NBC Only Promotes His De

August 2nd, 2011 1:16 PM
On Monday, Politico reported that "several sources" in a private meeting of House Democrats confirmed that Vice President Joe Biden accused Tea Party Republicans of having "acted like terrorists." CBS and ABC completely punted the story on their evening and morning newscasts. NBC made mention of the controversy, but only to further Biden's denial of having made the comment. CBS's omission…

CBS Spins New ObamaCare Birth Control Mandate as 'Good News

August 1st, 2011 4:48 PM
On Monday's Early Show, CBS slanted towards supporters of a new Obama administration mandate which requires private insurance companies to cover contraception as part of women's "preventative services." Anchor Chris Wragge labeled the development "good news," while correspondent Michelle Miller failed to include sound bites from opponents during her report on the new regulation. After using…

Media Reality Check: During Debt Talks, Liberal Media Savaged Tea Part

August 1st, 2011 3:47 PM
For the past month, as the debt talks slogged on in Washington, the so-called mainstream media unleashed increasingly hysterical attacks on the Tea Party and anti-tax hike conservatives — epitomizing the liberal elite’s supreme annoyance at the push to curb federal spending and contain the size of government. The media’s disdainful language has ranged from the merely condescending (wondering…

Ben Stein Slams Tax Cuts, Tea Partiers, Bush, and Obama as ‘Careless

August 1st, 2011 4:20 AM
 During a commentary aired on CBS Sunday Morning, supposedly right-leaning actor and economist Ben Stein blamed the "folly of supply side economics" - singling out President George W. Bush’s tax cuts in addition to President Obama’s spending - for the current federal budget deficit. The CBS contributor also complained that some Republicans have an "inflexible belief" that "low taxes were an…

CBS’s Cordes to Boehner: ‘How Can You Even Allow These Soldiers to

August 1st, 2011 1:19 AM
 On Saturday’s CBS Evening News, correspondent Nancy Cordes seemed to put the burden on Republicans of causing U.S. troops to wonder if they will be paid on time during the budget battle, as a clip of her was shown asked House Speaker John Boehner, "How can you even allow these soldiers to wonder whether they're going to get paid?"

Networks Deride 'Rebellious' 'Hardline Conservatives' Creating 'Chaos

July 29th, 2011 1:42 PM
On Friday, all three network morning shows played up the theme of stubborn House GOP conservatives opposing Speaker John Boehner's debt ceiling plan. On CBS's Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge proclaimed: "House Republicans will meet again this morning after hardline conservatives handed House Speaker John Boehner a major setback." On ABC's Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos…

CBS's Schieffer Wrongly Claims Social Security Checks Can't Go Out Wit

July 28th, 2011 7:08 PM
On three occasions between July 22 and July 26, 2011, CBS's Bob Schieffer carried water for President Obama when he echoed the Democrat's inaccurate claim about Social Security: "Millions of Americans...may not get their next [Social Security] check if the debt ceiling crisis is not resolved." In reality, there is enough federal revenues and authorized expenditures to pay for the program [audio…

MRC Study: ABC, CBS and NBC Cast GOP as Debt Ceiling Villains

July 27th, 2011 9:46 AM
On Election Day 2010, then-CBS Early Show anchor Harry Smith posed a hypothetical question about newly-elected Republicans to Ann Coulter: “There’ll be a routine vote, for instance, to increase the debt ceiling and the Tea Party guys are going to say, ‘Over my dead body,’ and the government comes to a screeching halt. Then what happens?” The conservative author confidently predicted: “Well, the…

Media Skip Over Sen. Bernie Sanders's Anti-Obama Remark

July 26th, 2011 6:42 PM
Over the past few days, media coverage has been dedicated almost entirely to the debt negotiations between President Obama and more outspoken members of Congress. As the Los Angeles Times pointed out, this let slide an interesting statement by the self-described democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said, "I think it would be good if President Obama faced some primary opposition." For…

CBS Promotes Taxing 'Fattening, Non-Nutritious' Food

July 26th, 2011 5:34 PM
CBS's Michelle Miller leaned towards supporters of taxing junk food on Tuesday's Early Show, playing three sound bites from them and none from opponents. Miller only made one vague reference to the opposing side, and she immediately followed it by playing up the supposedly positive result of a tax: "While some say a new tax is the last thing we need, it could mean a healthier America." The…

Media Ignore Alarmist Liberal Ad Warning Kids Will Die if Congress Tri

July 26th, 2011 3:01 PM
Broadcast and cable networks have failed to cover a liberal interest group's exploitative TV spot claiming any cuts to the EPA would be equivalent to spoon-feeding toxic particles to infants, even though the proposed cuts would only pare back funding to pre-recession levels. The video, released in March amid debates in Congress to curtail the EPA's regulatory authority, has since re-emerged…