NYT's Tom Friedman on ABC: Slams McCain Energy Plan, Wants More Taxes

September 8th, 2008 12:48 PM
"Good Morning America" on Monday featured liberal New York Times columnist Tom Friedman as an energy expert to "fact check" John McCain's policies on the subject and advocate for higher taxes. GMA co-host Diane Sawyer never referred to Friedman's economic policies as liberal, despite the fact that he repeatedly made assertions such as this: "But, you know, there's really no effective plan to make…

Always a Spinmeister: ABC’s Stephanopoulos Offers Democratic Spin Tw

September 5th, 2008 11:14 AM
One week ago, former Clinton campaign spinner George Stephanopoulos found nothing to criticize when he reviewed Barack Obama’s speech and the overall Democratic convention for Good Morning America. But on Friday, the ABC host relayed the Obama campaign’s negative take on McCain and stressed how voters don’t think Sarah Palin has as much experience as Joe Biden, and that she doesn’t help her…

Network News Anchors Shocked at Bias Charge: We're Professionals

September 4th, 2008 3:55 PM
All three network news anchors appeared together on each of the morning shows on Thursday and blithely dismissed the notion that members of the media have shown bias and sexist attitudes in response to Sarah Palin's nomination for vice president. "World News" host Charles Gibson, who visited along with NBC's Brian Williams and CBS's Katie Couric, told "Today" host Meredith Vieira that the role of…

Forbes Names Vieira Most Powerful On-Air Personality

September 4th, 2008 2:24 PM
When an anti-business media personality makes a business magazine's "Most Powerful" list, there is definitely something wrong. Forbes magazine released its list of the 100 most powerful women in its September 15 issue. Meredith Vieira, host of NBC's "Today," came in at number 61 as the top journalist. Vieira beat CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric (ranked 62), ABC News veteran Barbara…

Nets Push Biden to Get Tough; Biden Says Press Has Been ‘Sexist’ a

September 4th, 2008 12:35 PM
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden made the morning show rounds on Thursday to respond to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s convention speech, and journalists at NBC, MSNBC, ABC and CNN all encouraged Biden to strongly confront his Republican counterpart, as if Palin has been enjoying some sort of honeymoon from criticism over the past few days.CNN’s John Roberts pressed Biden: “Before…

Media Tout 'GOP Slamfest,' 'Hard-Edged Attack' on Obama

September 3rd, 2008 1:42 PM
Unlike the celebratory response to the opening nights of the Democratic convention a week ago, the three network morning shows offered restrained recaps of Tuesday night’s speeches at the Republican convention, and continued to portray Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a liability for the GOP ticket.On Wednesday’s Today, NBC’s David Gregory had the GOP taking “swipes at Senator Obama’s limited…

ABC Pounds Away At Palin Pregnancy, 'Skeleton In the Closet

September 2nd, 2008 12:52 PM
ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday aggressively pushed the story about how Sarah Palin’s teenaged daughter is pregnant, leading their broadcast with that topic rather than the hurricane that slammed into Louisiana yesterday morning. ABC’s David Wright suggested the McCain camp was trying to bury the “skeleton in the closet” by putting the news out as the hurricane hit: “This was a political…

No Labels for Liberal Joe Biden, But for Sarah Palin

August 30th, 2008 11:55 AM
Just as my colleague Brent Baker found on Friday night, the big broadcast networks on Saturday morning showed no shyness about labeling Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin a “conservative,” with NBC Today co-host Amy Robach calling her “a staunch conservative,” CBS’s Chip Reid tagging her “reliably conservative,” and ABC’s Kate Snow finding Palin to be “quite conservative.”But…

ABC Anchor Impugns Sarah Palin As a Neglectful Mother

August 30th, 2008 10:45 AM
On ABC’s Good Morning America on Saturday, co-anchor Bill Weir bristled with hostility during an interview with a McCain campaign spokesman about the choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate, suggesting she was unqualified and too conservative. At one point, Weir even suggested that by running for Vice President, the Governor would be jeopardizing her…

Cokie Whacks Weir on 'Who's Looking After Baby?' Question

August 30th, 2008 9:49 AM
You might have thought Bill Weir would have learned.  Yesterday, CNN's John Roberts was roundly condemned for suggesting Sarah Palin might neglect her Down Syndrome baby while running for VP.  But Weir, the weekend co-anchor of Good Morning America, posed a very similar question this morning. Coke Roberts, to her credit, called him out on it. Weir's guest during GMA's opening half-hour was McCain…

ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ Revs Up Criticism of Car Rental Gas

August 29th, 2008 4:58 PM
If you break the terms of a contract, you should be expected to pay a penalty, right? Not according to ABC's "Good Morning America." "Good Morning America" criticized fees charged to customers who return rental cars without a full tank of gas - part of a standard car rental agreement. "The only thing more expensive than gassing up your car these days is not gassing up your rental car,"…

Networks Skip Liberal Labels For Dem Convention

August 29th, 2008 4:32 PM
While NBC's Matt Lauer took pains to label John McCain's vice presidential nominee a "staunch" and "stalwart" conservative on Friday, all three network morning shows almost entirely avoided any ideological descriptors for Senators Obama, Biden and the major liberal speakers during the just completed August 25 to 28 Democratic National Convention. Some of the individuals at the convention included…

Morning Shows All Hail Obama’s ‘Fiery,’ ‘Historic’ Speech

August 29th, 2008 12:20 PM
After each of the first three nights of the Democratic convention, network news reporters have offered enthusiastically positive reviews, and Friday morning’s coverage of Barack Obama’s acceptance address made it a clean sweep. CBS Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, the only morning show host still in Denver, said he felt the earth moving. “This place rumbled....The stadium was just so alive, and…

Another Night, Another Round of Cheers for the Democrats

August 28th, 2008 12:49 PM
ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s Early Show led the praise for the third night of the Democratic convention, with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos enthralled by how well it was going for Democrats. “I think every night in this convention has built on the one that came before,” he exclaimed Thursday morning, adding: “The speeches have gotten better every night.”[Check here and here for a re-cap of…