Shazam: Smith 'Pyles' On
January 4th, 2008 8:37 AM
Of all the ways Harry Smith could have opened this morning's historic Early Show, he chose to do so by waving today's Boston Herald with its one-word front page "Shazam!" above a photo of Mike Huckabee. Smith described Barack Obama simply as the "big winner" on the Democratic side.View video here [with apologies for low audio level].
See No Bias: CBS Stabs Transparency in the 'Public Eye
January 3rd, 2008 2:35 PM
R.I.P., Public Eye. [Sept. 12, 2005- Dec. 21, 2007] We hardly knew ye. Yes, confirms TVNewser, CBS's eye on itself, the Public Eye ombudsblog, is sadly no longer with us (h/t Eat the Press):TVNewser has learned the CBS News blog PublicEye, once described as a "de facto ombudsman" of CBS News, has ceased operations. CBS Interactive cut several staff members last month, including Matthew Felling…
Hillary Will Be at the Laff Shack All Week
January 3rd, 2008 11:40 AM
If things don't work out for Hillary with this presidential thing, she can always do stand-up out in LA. Or not. If you didn't catch her side-splitter on last night's Letterman, you can view it here, as rebroadcast on MSNBC this morning.For those taking nitrates who might not want to risk a sudden drop in blood pressure by watching the clip, here's the text of Hillary's rib tickler:Dave has been…
Faulty Media Polls Fuel Iowa 'Expectations' Game
January 2nd, 2008 2:52 PM
As you’ve already been told a thousand times, with only a day to go before the Iowa caucuses, the polls are showing a statistical three-way tie between Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards atop the Democratic field, and a similarly close two-way race between Republicans Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.But the polls are probably wrong. Or maybe they’re right -- we won’t really know until…
FNC Cites MRC Quotes, Matthews Has 'Man Crush' on Clinton
December 31st, 2007 8:44 PM
FNC's morning anchors highlighted a few of the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 2007" on the Monday edition of "Fox and Friends." Included were a quote of MSNBC's Chris Matthews comparing Bill Clinton's speaking ability to that of "Jesus at the temple" when the former President spoke at Coretta King's funeral, and a quote of comedian Bill Maher commenting that if [Vice President Cheney] died, "…
Holt To Huck: Wish You Had a 'Do-over' on Pakistan Comments
December 29th, 2007 8:53 AM
Could it have been just a couple days ago that Chris Matthews claimed that the media had made a "mascot" out of Mike Huckabee? You wouldn't know it from this morning's Today show. Weekend host Lester Holt kicked off the show's political segment by implying that among presidential candidates, Huckabee was the big loser in his handling of the Pakistani situation.LESTER HOLT: The murder of Benazir…
Wash. Monthly Blog Shows for Left, Name Calling = Political Analysis
December 29th, 2007 5:07 AM
Now With Updates, Kristol Responds to critics and Steve Benen responds to me!
Washington Monthly has a blog called Political Animal that is also picked up by the CBS News website. It is written by Kevin Drum, but recently has been guest penned by a former Clinton intern and Internet gadfly named Steve Benen who makes no bones about the fact that he is an extreme leftist. Looking over his Wash.…
The Worst 'Notable Quotables' of
December 28th, 2007 10:14 AM
Before we ring in 2008, it's worth taking a look back at some of the liberal media's goofiest or most outrageous moments, courtesy of the Media Research Center's Best Notable Quotables of 2007: The Twentieth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting. The awards were determined by a panel of 53 distinguished media observers, including radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, editorial writers…
Media Can't Decide If 2.4 Percent Is Dramatic or Ho-Hum
December 26th, 2007 3:59 PM
The media are always trying to find a way to report the bad side of economic news, so it's shouldn't come as a terrible surprise to anyone that they managed to make positive holiday sales growth a bad thing.According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, retail sales were up 3.6 percent during the holiday season - 2.4 percent excluding gas prices. But because it's not as big an increase as recent years…
All I Want for Christmas Is Reporting on Al Sharpton's FBI Probe
December 18th, 2007 11:46 AM
Imagine for a moment that the FBI raided televangelist Pat Robertson's office for any reason whatsoever, much less say his 1988 presidential campaign. It'd be a story in the broadcast evening news programs, right?So why the utter lack of interest in the December 12 federal probe into Al Sharpton's 2004 campaign? A review of Nexis for ABC, NBC, and CBS network news stories for December 12-18…
Headline: 'Pope Condemns the Climate Change Prophets of Doom
December 12th, 2007 8:04 PM
As a global warming skeptic, when I saw the headline "The Pope Condemns the Climate Change Prophets of Doom," it goes without saying I was as pleased as a child on Christmas Day that had gotten everything he asked Santa for and then some. My glee accelerated after reading the marvelous beginning of this Daily Mail article (paragraph break removed for space considerations): Pope Benedict XVI has…
Plummeting Ratings Cause NBC to Give Refunds to Advertisers
December 11th, 2007 3:20 PM
Better stow all potables and sharp objects, for the ratings of America's top four broadcast networks are so bad that one is giving refunds to advertisers while the other three are offering what is known in the industry as "make-goods." Even better, the problem began before the writers strike. Honestly, you can't make this stuff up. As deliciously reported by Reuters moments ago (emphasis…