Robin Roberts in the ABC 'Hot Seat': 'What's on Your Ipod
November 21st, 2008 4:34 PM
Day three of "Good Morning America's" "hot seat" series featured softball viewer questions for co-host Robin Roberts, including subjects such as her iPod and whether she'd ever consider appearing on "Dancing With the Stars." The purpose of the daily segment, which concludes on Monday, is to have the tables turned on the GMA hosts and force the journalists to ask tough questions. More typical were…
In Awed and Hushed Tone, Diane Sawyer Reads Aloud From Obama Essay
November 21st, 2008 11:34 AM
In an odd, non-sequitur of a segment, co-host Diane Sawyer kicked off the 8:30 hour of Friday's "Good Morning America" by reading aloud from an essay that President-elect Barack Obama wrote about Abraham Lincoln for a 2005 issue of Time magazine. Stopping the show cold for a minute and 22 seconds, she solemnly began, "...There was something that made us all stop and think. And you know, it's 60…
ABC's Probing 'Hot Seat': Does Chris Cuomo Wear Underwear
November 20th, 2008 12:32 PM
For the second day in a row, ABC's "hot seat" segment on "Good Morning America" turned into a cringe-inducing display of gushing questions, including a query about Chris Cuomo's underwear habits. The network promoted the series, which kicked off on Wednesday, as a time when GMA's hard-charging hosts would be forced to ask tough viewer questions. An ad touted how weatherman Sam Champion "bravely"…
Not the 'Hot Seat;' ABC Tosses Softballs to Liberal Sam Champion
November 19th, 2008 12:51 PM
On Wednesday's "Good Morning America," ABC weatherman and global warming alarmist Sam Champion went on the "hot seat," a week-long segment on the show designed to force the hosts to answer supposedly tough questions sent from viewer e-mail. However, he ended up fielding softballs such as "Sam, are you really a morning person?" Co-host Diane Sawyer did read one challenging question: "We know you'…
ABC Devoted 64 Minutes to 'Pregnant Man' Story Since March
November 17th, 2008 12:06 PM
Since March 26, 2008, the ABC network has devoted nine segments or 64 minutes and 48 seconds to the "pregnant man" Thomas Beatie, including three stories in the last four days on either "20/20" or "Good Morning America." On Monday, GMA weekend anchor Kate Snow invited Beatie, who was born a woman but kept her reproductive organs after having transgender surgery, to discuss the autobiography "…
'Good Morning America' Attacks Victoria's Secret with Faulty Bra Lawsu
November 17th, 2008 10:58 AM
Victoria's Secret, the well-known lingerie retailer, is being sued by a woman who claims the company's bra had formaldehyde in it and made her "utterly sick." ABC's "Good Morning America" ran a segment Nov. 11 focusing on that 37-year-old Ohio woman, Roberta Ritter. "Victoria's Secret - certainly one of the world's most recognizable brands," anchor Diane Sawyer said. "And this morning, though,…
ABC's Chris Cuomo Hits Ayers on Bombings; Skips Specific Victims
November 14th, 2008 4:54 PM
In part two of "Good Morning America's" Friday interview with former bomber William Ayers, news anchor Chris Cuomo did challenge the ex-'60s radical on whether or not he was a terrorist. But after Ayers contended, "It's not terrorism because it doesn't target people. It doesn't target people to either kill or injure," the journalist failed to offer specifics that would refute that point. Cuomo…
ABC's Chris Cuomo Has Few Follow-ups for 'Campaign Boogeyman' Ayers
November 14th, 2008 12:41 PM
"Good Morning America" news anchor Chris Cuomo on Friday conducted an interview with former bomber William Ayers that qualified as neither a softball or a grilling of the ex-domestic terrorist. Although he did challenge Ayers, he didn't interrupt when the Chicago professor insisted that America fought a "violent terrorist war" or when the '60s radical characterized the U.S. government as…
Will ABC Grill or Toss Softballs to Terrorist Bomber William Ayers
November 13th, 2008 12:38 PM
On Thursday's "Good Morning America," ABC hosts touted the show's exclusive interview on Friday with bomber William Ayers. During the presidential campaign, the program (and network) largely downplayed or sympathetically reported on the connection between the domestic terrorist and (then) Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. So, it will be interesting to see if GMA co-host Chris Cuomo…
Claire Shipman Skips Voucher Question in Fawning Story on Obama Kids
November 12th, 2008 4:36 PM
In a story about what private school President-elect Barack Obama will send his children to, "Good Morning America" reporter Claire Shipman on Wednesday mostly glossed over the obvious point that the Democrat likely won't be putting his daughters through the D.C. public educational system and also ignored his opposition to vouchers. Instead, she fawned that "the D.C. social world is obsessed with…
ABC's Claire Shipman Bizarrely Spins Rahm Emanuel as 'Centrist
November 7th, 2008 12:51 PM
"Good Morning America" reporter Claire Shipman continued a time honored media bias tradition on Friday when she mislabeled Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's newly selected chief of staff, as "centrist." Emanuel, who was elected to Congress in 2002, has a lifetime American Conservative Union score of 13. In 2006, his rank was only four. In contrast, the House member's average from the…