Dateline Chicago, 1871: Fire Chief Declares 'The System Worked

December 27th, 2009 5:16 PM
Interview with Chicago Fire Chief Alden Brown two days after the Great Chicago Fire:ALDEN BROWN: One thing I'd like to point out is that the system worked. Everybody played an important role here: the local citizens took appropriate action.  Within literally an hour to 90 minutes of the incident occurring, all 128 towns and villages in the Chicago area had been notified to take some special…

CNN Guest's Sexual Joke: 'I Have No Problem Being Right on Top of Dian

December 27th, 2009 11:53 AM
Appearing as a guest on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday, TVNewser’s Gail Shister, who was inducted into the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Hall of Fame in 2008, made a sexual joke about new World News anchor Diane Sawyer that a male guest likely couldn’t have gotten away with. After the Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik had finished discussing the visual effect of ABC zooming in…

Ali Velshi Stops Rep. King From Naming Northwest Airlines Terrorist

December 26th, 2009 12:00 AM
CNN's Ali Velshi on Friday stopped Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) from divulging the name of the terrorist who tried to set off a bomb as a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam began to land in Detroit.Velshi did this claiming, "[W]e have not got any information on anyone being charged. So thank you for bringing us information. But would ask you not to name anybody on TV right now, we do not have…

CNN's Costello: 'Might the Republicans Blame in Part Themselves' for S

December 23rd, 2009 12:15 PM
On CNN's American Morning today, anchor Carol Costello advanced a theory on who's responsible for the Let's Make a Deal environment permeating the Senate as it stumbles to completion of a health care bill.  Here is part of her exchange with CNN political analyst and GOP strategist Ed Rollins:COSTELLO: Might (the) Republicans blame in part themselves for this, because none of them were going to…

Economist Morici: Health Care Bill, CBO Estimates Based on 'Nefarious

December 22nd, 2009 4:39 PM
While Senate Democrats scurry to pass an unpopular health care reform bill by Christmas Eve, CNN did something rare on Dec. 22: they offered two different perspectives on the bill, including a critic's view. That critic was University of Maryland economist Peter Morici, who expressed skepticism of the assumptions built into the health care reform bill, projected that it would raise costs for…

CNN's Erica Hill Cites Network's Senate Health Care Poll, Totals 110 P

December 22nd, 2009 12:52 AM
Anchoring CNN Tonight, correspondent Erica Hill reported the findings of a new poll:While Democrats and the president may be cheering the bill's passage, a majority of Americans still oppose the Senate plan. According to a CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll, 56 percent say they are against the measure. Now that's a slight shift actually in favor of the plan from a weeks ago. When as you can…

Stunning: Gergen Compares Senate ObamaCare Vote to Brown v. Board of E

December 21st, 2009 11:59 AM
CNN senior political analyst David Gergen went so far to compare the Senate’s cloture vote early Monday morning on ObamaCare to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. Seconds after the Senate concluded its vote, Gergen lamented the party line vote, and contrasted it with the unanimous finding of the Supreme Court which ended the segregation of schools [audio clips from segment available…

MRC Announces Awards for the Worst Media Performance of

December 21st, 2009 9:22 AM
The Media Research Center today announced its Best Notable Quotables of 2009: The 22nd Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting, and Discover magazine’s Melissa Lafsky has won the dis-honor of “Quote of the Year.” On August 27, a few days after Senator Edward Kennedy's death, Lafsky posted the following on the Huffington Post blog:Mary Jo wasn’t a right-wing talking point or a negative…

CNN: Sarah Palin's 'Death Panel' Comment Wins 'Lie of the Year

December 20th, 2009 6:44 PM
If President Obama or any Democrat had actually won the dubious honor of committing PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year," do you think CNN would have reported it?Fat chance, right? Before you answer, consider the glee exhibited by CNN's Josh Levs Sunday when he announced Sarah Palin had "won" for her Facebook comment concerning a "death panel" in healthcare reform legislation (video embedded below the…

CNN's Roberts and Guest Advocate 'Broad-Based' Tax Increases

December 17th, 2009 4:29 PM
CNN’s John Roberts and his guest, Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, pushed for President Obama to break a campaign promise to not increase taxes on those who make less than $250,000, and implement a more “broad-based” tax hike. Sachs revealed his leftist stance by blaming the trillions of dollars in debt on not taxing the rich and banks enough and calling for an end to the wars in Iraq and…

CNN's Jeanne Moos Highlights 'Liberal Hate' at Joe Lieberman

December 16th, 2009 6:54 PM
On Wednesday’s Situation Room, CNN correspondent Jeanne Moos exposed some of the left-wing rage being directed at Senator Joe Lieberman, especially on the Internet. Moos’s examples of “liberal hate” at the Connecticut politician ranged from fantasy Hanukkah gifts, such as a muzzle, to a YouTube video of a woman having her cats attack a string which stood in for the senator [Moos's full report is…

Larry King: Put the Bankers in Straitjackets

December 15th, 2009 5:57 PM
CNN’s Larry King equated efforts against further regulation of the banking industry to letting the mentally ill run their psych wards on his program on Monday. King pressed conservative columnist S. E. Cupp: “Banks are lobbying against a bill to tighten regulatory controls. Are you going to let the inmates run the asylum? You don’t think we should regulate banks?” [audio clips from the segment…

Former CNN Reporter Threatens Suit After Bloggers Accuse Him of 'Fake

December 15th, 2009 3:03 PM
A former war correspondent for CNN is threatening legal action against bloggers who suggest that video of him reporting the first Gulf War from a television studio is "fake news." The video shows Charles Jaco and another correspondent dramatically recounting events from the Persian Gulf, and later shows Jaco and the camera crew joking around in what appears to be a television studio (video…

Does Bill Press Understand Difference Between News and Opinion

December 15th, 2009 2:43 PM
Former "Crossfire" host Bill Press apparently cannot distinguish between news and opinion. He is furious that his application for press credentials with the congressional press corps was denied due to content on his website urging readers to tell Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., to vote for health care legislation in the Senate. He cites numerous examples of CPC members that host opinion content, but…