Bias and Banality on the Morning Shows
September 21st, 2006 12:52 PM
A couple of snippets from this morning's "news" segments on ABC and CBS... On The Early Show, Rene Syler interviewed the President of the Council on Foreign Relations, and former Bush administration official, Richard Haass. After having played the video of Chavez calling Bush "the devil," of crossing himself and saying that he could still smell the sulfur in the air, Syler's first question for…
Bill Maher Apologizes For Claiming CBS Denied Him ‘Free Speech
September 19th, 2006 10:25 AM
Well sports fans, the plot is getting so thick you can drive a truck over it. TV Newser is reporting that Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time” who went on quite a rant Friday night about being denied his free speech rights by CBS, might be mistaken. According to the New York Daily News (emphasis mine): “‘If I or my representatives got it wrong about how the 'Free Speech' segment of the 'CBS…
Gasoline Now at $2.50 a Gallon, Nets Couldn’t Care Less
September 19th, 2006 1:35 AM
Remember last year at this time when you couldn’t turn on your television set without coming across a story on rising gasoline prices? Well, a year later, gas is now $2.50 a gallon, down 50 cents in just one month, twenty-nine cents lower than last year, and the broadcast network news programs couldn’t care less. As reported by Reuters Monday:The freefall in U.S. gasoline prices continued as the…
Dennis Miller Schools Bill Maher on Free Speech and Fox News
September 18th, 2006 11:38 PM
Well sports fans, the plot is still thickening. TVNewser reported on Monday that a fellow comedian has responded to Bill Maher’s “free speech” rant reported by NewsBusters here and here. To refresh memories, Maher said on his Friday evening “Real Time” program “if CBS News doesn’t understand what free speech is, what am I supposed to expect of Fox News?” Deliciously, someone who has worked for…
Warm Liberal Memories: Tom Shales on Goldwater, Couric on Ann Richards
September 18th, 2006 10:44 PM
CBS Denies It Prevented Bill Maher from Discussing Religion
September 18th, 2006 9:59 AM
The plot thickens. After Bill Maher claimed on the Friday evening installment of HBO’s “Real Time” that CBS prevented him from discussing religion on the “freeSpeech” segment as reported by NewsBusters, the executive producer of the “Evening News” has now denied this. As reported by TVNewswer (hat tip to reader Tracheostomy):In an e-mail to TVNewser, CBS responds to Bill Maher:"Bill Maher was…
Bill Maher Prevented From Discussing Religion on CBS’s ‘freeSpeech
September 17th, 2006 1:02 PM
Is CBS’s new “freeSpeech” segment on the “Evening News” really free? Maybe not, as TVNewser reported Saturday (hat tip to Drudge) that Bill Maher – who had been invited on to be one of the free speakers – was told that he couldn’t discuss religion:“On Friday's Real Time on HBO, Maher explained that CBS approached him to do a 'freeSpeech' segment on the new Evening News. He asked if he could talk…
Double Standard on Personal Attacks: Ann Richards' 'Fun-Loving Spirit
September 14th, 2006 11:52 AM
For a media that likes to complain about the incivility and personal attacks that Republicans have supposedly injected into our politics over the past generation, the networks' reactions to former Texas Governor Ann Richards underscore journalists' partisan approach to what is fair and what is foul.In 1988, then-Texas state treasurer Richards laced her keynote address at the Democratic National…