NBC Offers Additional 35 Seconds to Story of Controversial Medicare Ap
NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams on Thursday became the first evening news broadcast to cover the recess appointment of Donald Berwick to run Medicare. Anchor Brian Williams asserted that "Republicans are angry, claiming it's antagonistic." He also observed, "Berwick has spoken about the need to ration medical care to control costs." NBC has offered the most reporting on Berwick: 20 seconds…
CBS Host Admits Levi Johnston Apology 'Highly Under-Reported
Update: CBS earlier declined comment on Johnston apology. On Friday's CBS Early Show, fill-in co-host Erica Hill confessed Levi Johnston's apology for making false statements about the Palin family was "highly under-reported." During the 'Early Wrap' segment, Hill told a panel of media pundits: "My favorite story of the week, which was highly under-reported...is that Levi Johnston came out and…
Evening News Watch: NBC Trick May Have Enabled Big 3 Nets to Avoid Goi
Last week, Matt Robare at NewsBusters noted the fact that the Big 3 networks' combined year-over-year audience fell by a bit more than 1 million during the second quarter. Last week's showing appears to be to a slight pickup over the previous week, but it may have been much worse. Here, per Media Bistro, is how the the week of June 28 as reported by Nielsen compared to the week of June 21, the…
Dems Inaccurately Claim GOP Blocked Berwick Nomination, Media Happy to
The GOP as the party of obstructionism: it's a tried and true media meme, but very often falls a tad short of the truth. Yet on occasion, even stubborn facts are not enough to dispel such accusations.Some in the media have taken President Obama's recess appointment of Donald Berwick to the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as an occasion to bash purportedly obstructionist…
Morning Shows Devote 52 Minutes to Lindsay Lohan, a Scant 20 Seconds t
Over the span of two days, the network morning shows have given just 20 seconds of coverage to the recess appointment of Donald Berwick, a pro-rationing doctor who will run Medicare. In contrast, Good Morning America, Today and Early Show devoted 52 minutes of coverage to every detail of Lindsay Lohan's sentencing. On Wednesday and Thursday's GMA, ABC hosts discussed Lohan for 14 minutes. CBS's…
ABC, NBC and CBS Mostly Ignore Obama's Recess Appointment of Pro-Healt
Barack Obama's decision to make a recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to run Medicare has been vastly ignored by the mainstream news media, despite the fact Berwick has made controversial statements favoring rationing of medical care. As CNSNews.com's Terry Jeffrey reported Dr. Berwick, at a talk celebrating the 60th birthday of Great Britain's National Health Service, told the audience to…
After Promoting Levi Johnston in '09, CBS Ignores His Admission of Fal
In an interview with People Magazine on Tuesday, Levi Johnston admitted: "I publicly said things about the Palins that were not completely true." On Wednesday, the CBS Early Show failed to make any mention of the admission, despite having provided a media platform for Johnston last year by conducting exclusive interviews with him.On the April 8, 2009 broadcast, co-host Maggie Rodriguez conducted…
Examiner's Byron York: The NASA-Muslim Outreach Story 'Has Not Made th
At the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog (HT Instapundit), Byron York documents the results of some Lexis Nexis searching: Total words about the NASA Muslim outreach program in the New York Times: 0. Total words about the NASA Muslim outreach program in the Washington Post: 0. Total words about the NASA Muslim outreach program on NBC Nightly News: 0. Total words about the NASA…
Local CBS Staff Join Hollywood Celebs in ‘The Dream Lives On’ Bost
Less than an hour before CBS’s Craig Ferguson-hosted 10 PM EDT “Boston Pops Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular” national broadcast on Sunday night, local anchors Jack Williams and Lisa Hughes from Boston’s CBS-owned television station, along with a couple of local actors, took to the stage to narrate the music-accompanied “The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers.” (Video:…
CBS Legal Correspondent: Senate Democrats Can Blame Themselves for Kag
There have been a lot of complaints from the left over the opposition Supreme Court Justice nominee Elena Kagan has faced from Senate Republicans in her battle to win confirmation. But Kagan proponents should have seen this day coming when Democrats in the Senate did the same things to try to slow the confirmations of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito. On CBS's July 4 "Face the Nation,"…
Comedian Makes Courtney Love Abortion Jokes
This week comedian Ragan Fox ventured into the abortion-for-laughs arena. Fox is a "gay poet and performance artist," according to Wikipedia, most well known for his Sirius Radio podcast, Fox and the City. CBS announced on June 30 that Fox will soon do a stint on its reality show, Big Brother 12. WiredUpdate.com described Fox's most recent podcast (Warning: PG-13): Today we are going to…
CBS's Chip Reid Rails Against Failure to Extend Unemployment Benefits
CBS's Chip Reid on Thursday railed against the Senate for failing to extend unemployment benefits. The Evening News reporter opined, "So who's fault is that? On the surface, it appears Senate Republicans are to blame. Led by Mitch McConnell, they killed the bill with a filibuster." At no point did Reid or fill-in anchor Scott Pelley discuss whether unemployment benefits should be extended yet…
CBS 'Early Show' Follows ABC's Lead, Touts Kagan's SNL-Worthy Humor
During the 'Early Wrap' segment on Friday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith discussed the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan with a panel of media pundits: "The almost unknown, practically under the radar, the Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, before committees this week being funny. She was downright funny."GQ Magazine's Washington correspondent Ana Marie Cox…
Saving Us from Ourselves: 'Evening News' Justifies Federal Tanning Tax
So you want to crawl under a high-powered lamp and bake your skin so that it has a brownish-orangish glow to it, even though there are potential health consequences. Well, the federal government is here to save you and, according to "CBS Evening News," that's not a bad thing.The new federal 10 percent tax on indoor tanning has provoked odd alliances - such as when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,…
