Not Even NBC Buys, or Can Fit, 'Overseas Contingency Operation

March 26th, 2009 11:43 AM
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams offered this brief update on Wednesday's newscast: “We learned today there's no more Global War on Terror -- at least it's been renamed by the Obama administration. The Pentagon will now call the ongoing U.S. military effort the 'Overseas Contingency Operation.'” That presumes the war, I mean “effort,” will continue.But not even the NBC News graphics staff…

NBC Highlights Downbeat 'State of Black America' Report

March 26th, 2009 2:04 AM
Wednesday's NBC Nightly News highlighted the downbeat “State of Black America 2009” report, but failed to identify the group behind it, the National Urban League, as liberal nor note the left-wing policy prescriptions recommended in the report. Though NBC anchor Brian Williams acknowledged Barack Obama's election “was a reminder of the great strides this nation has made in race relations,” he…

Post-Obamamania, Big 3 Nets’ Evening News Viewership Decline Resumes

March 25th, 2009 3:33 PM
All that cheerleading for Obama-Biden, and all they got was a continuation of their lousy long-term ratings drop. Perhaps one reason why Big 3 network coverage of the 2008 presidential election was so heavy on fawning favoritism towards Barack Obama and Joe Biden combined with all-out attacks on John McCain and Sarah Palin was that the belief that an Obama presidency might revive interest in…

Williams Connects FDR's 'Fireside Chats' to Obama

March 12th, 2009 8:44 PM
Brian Williams certainly has an affinity for FDR. Four months after suggesting the nation could “use a little FDR right about now,” though Rooselvelt's policies failed to end the Depression, on Thursday night he connected the obscure 76th anniversary of Roosevelt's first “fireside chat” in 1933 to President Barack Obama's efforts to fix the economy:76 years ago today, President Franklin Roosevelt…

NBC Perplexed by TARP-Recipients Lending to Foreign Countries

March 12th, 2009 1:02 PM
Too bad this particular report didn't include an expert that was railing against the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) bailout before it was passed last October. They could have said, "I told you so." Global banks lending money to other countries including "the playground of the Middle East" may have angered Congressmen, but Lisa Myers investigation didn't point out that those critics of…

NBC Champions Obama's 'Power Duo' Women

March 11th, 2009 8:40 PM
President George W. Bush had a female First Lady and a woman as Secretary of State, but NBC's Brian Williams on Wednesday night hailed, as the fulfillment of President Barack Obama's promise of “change,” how he has a “power duo” in a woman First Lady and a female Secretary of State. Williams cooed, with “Women of Distinction” as the on-screen heading: President Obama won the presidency promising…

Friendly TV Reception for Obama's Health Care 'Fix

March 6th, 2009 10:43 AM
President Obama's health care summit at the White House played into receptive television news hands Thursday night as NBC displayed “Fixing Health Care” on screen before reporter Chuck Todd appropriated the coach who inspired “win one for the Gipper” by touting how “the President's drive to pass health care got a Knute Rockne-like boost with a surprise appearance” by Senator Ted Kennedy, while…

Obama Names Abortion Extremist to HHS; Media Silent

March 4th, 2009 4:23 PM
Back during confirmation hearings in 2001 for former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson Dan Rather reminded Evening News viewers of Thompson's "hardline anti-abortion stand." Eight years later, there's a whitewash of President Barack Obama's HHS' nominee abortion record. As a Democratic governor in red-state Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius has vetoed several bills that would…

Nets Presume Obama's Tax Hike Will Increase Revenue

February 23rd, 2009 10:06 PM
ABC, CBS and NBC reporters over the past two days have relayed how the Obama administration proposes to cut the annual federal deficit from $1.3 trillion to $533 billion in four years by cutting spending on the war in Iraq and raising the income tax rate for those earning more than $250,000. Not considered: How since the Bush tax cuts the revenue paid by the richest -- and their share of total…

In Gregg Stories, Short Shrift to White House's Census Grab

February 12th, 2009 8:38 PM
ABC, CBS and NBC centered their Thursday night stories, on Senator Judd Gregg's decision to withdraw as Commerce Secretary-nominee, around his disagreement with the Obama administration's “stimulus” plan -- with only passing mention, if any, of the administration's wish to move the 2010 census count from Commerce to the White House. CNN's Jessica Yellin reported at the top of the 6 PM EST…

NBC Relays Ahmadinejad’s Call for ‘Mutual Respect,’ Skips Anti-A

February 11th, 2009 6:47 PM
Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News presented a more whitewashed view of prospects for better relations with Iran compared to ABC’s World News with Charles Gibson as NBC’s Brian Williams portrayed Iranians as receptive to Barack Obama’s recent call for talks between the two nations as long as there was "mutual respect." Williams: "President Obama called on Iran to send a signal that it was ready to talk,…

Williams Pleased Obama, Unlike Bush, Admitted He 'Screwed Up

February 5th, 2009 2:03 AM
NBC anchor Brian Williams, apparently still bristling over former President George W. Bush's failure to admit mistakes (at least in media interviews), twice in 24 hours felt it newsworthy to contrast Bush's reticence with President Barack Obama's “I screwed up” admission over the Tom Daschle nomination. On Tuesday's Hardball, following his interview with Obama, Williams relayed how the White…

Couric & Williams Paint Obama as 'Culture of Washington' Victim

February 3rd, 2009 9:06 PM
All of the broadcast and cable network anchors challenged President Barack Obama in some questions during their Tuesday afternoon Oval Office interview sessions, but CBS's Katie Couric and NBC's Brian Williams also painted Obama as a victim of Washington's culture which forced HHS Secretary nominee Tom Daschle's withdrawal. “You campaigned to change the culture in Washington, to change the…

Nets Ignore Gaza University’s Hamas Links, CBS: Israel ‘Jeopardizi

February 1st, 2009 9:37 PM
Within the first few days of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, the Israeli military struck the Islamic University of Gaza, charging that the school served as a weapons research facility for Hamas. But while CNN, FNC and MSNBC all at some point reported on the school’s links to Hamas, CBS and NBC ignored the terrorist group’s connection in all its reports, while ABC vaguely noted that it was popular with…