Media Report Pelosi's Pre-Bailout Vote Attack on Bush and GOP
September 29th, 2008 8:50 PM
Before Monday's House vote on the largest government bailout in American history, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali.), in potentially one of the most poorly-timed displays of partisanship in recent memory, blamed President Bush and Republicans for the turmoil in the financial services industry (video embedded right). Such ill-advised finger pointing seemed to surprise press members of all shapes and…
Media Fail to Correct Obama’s Claim of No Al-Qaeda in Iraq Before In
September 27th, 2008 4:41 PM
Since Friday’s presidential debate, all three major broadcast networks have highlighted one of Barack Obama’s more commanding moments when he charged that John McCain was wrong in some of his pre-Iraq war predictions, but the media have so far ignored Obama’s incorrect assertion that "there was no Al-Qaeda" presence in Iraq before America’s invasion in 2003. Before the 2003 invasion, various news…
Media Jumped on Pro-Obama Poll, But Was the Sample Screwy
September 26th, 2008 12:51 PM
Wednesday morning, ABC News and the Washington Post released a new poll showing Barack Obama leading John McCain by 9 points, 52% to 43%. The next day, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal released a poll showing a much tighter race — 48% for Obama, 46% for McCain.Any guesses as to which poll excited the press more? And which poll has come under fire for over-sampling Democrats?ABC, naturally,…
NBC News Jealous? Runs Whole Story on Palin Avoiding Press
September 23rd, 2008 9:52 PM
The night before CBS's Katie Couric will sit down with Sarah Palin to discuss foreign policy and just under two weeks after ABC's Charles Gibson got three interview sessions over two days with Palin in Alaska, the NBC Nightly News, the only broadcast network evening newscast snubbed so far by Palin, devoted a full story to how reporters were initially barred from her photo-ops with foreign…
ABC Sportscaster: Tina Fey Should Bash Sarah Palin Every Week
September 23rd, 2008 1:01 PM
For years, NewsBusters has not only pointed out liberal bias in traditional media outlets, but also when it occurs in sports coverage.In a fine example of why this is so important, ABC sportscaster Suzy Shuster on Tuesday published a letter at the Huffington Post begging actress Tina Fey to make weekly appearances as Gov. Sarah Palin on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in order to get Barack Obama…
PBS Ombudsman Raps Anti-Palin Wisecrack
September 19th, 2008 9:33 PM
On PBS's Web site today, ombudsman Michael Getler writes of complaints over an incident during last Sunday's pledge drive. He describes the cheap shot taken by actor Mike Farrell against vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin:According to Joseph Campbell, vice president of fundraising programs, here's what happened:
NBC Raises 9/11 & Pushes Quote to Hurt McCain, ABC Ties in Iraq
September 19th, 2008 8:47 PM
Notes on Friday night coverage of the Wall Street bail out: On the NBC Nightly News, the always hyperbolic Jim Cramer saw “Great Depression II” avoided by the rescue effort, anchor Brian Williams raised 9/11 as he contended “this was the kind of jittery week in New York a lot of people had to go back to 9/11 to remember how they felt then,” prompting an “oh, wow” from CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, and…
On NBC, CNBC's Liesman Raises 'Banana Republic' Spectre
September 18th, 2008 8:27 PM
Comparisons to the current Wall Street financial situation to the Great Depression have not been unusual in the media, but Thursday's NBC Nightly News went a step further into inducing panic. Delivering a healthy dose of hyperbole, Steve Liesman of CNBC prompted a “wow” from anchor Brian Williams when he raised the spectre that the credit troubles could lead, “some” would say, to the “U.S.…
NBC's 'Fact Check' on Palin's False Claims Not So Convincing
September 17th, 2008 9:46 PM
Two weeks after Sarah Palin's convention speech “reporters are still fact-checking what they hear from her, as our own Savannah Guthrie does for us tonight,” NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams announced Wednesday evening. But of Guthrie's five presumed misstatements by Palin, two were remarks made by Palin “aides,” not Palin herself; one, the “Bridge to Nowhere,” was already dissected eight…
NBC Takes Dig at McCain Tech-Savvy, Distorts Adviser’s Blackberry Co
September 17th, 2008 12:03 PM
Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, Ariz., has acknowledged his technological shortcomings, but some in the media continue to portray him as a techno-phobe with no meaningful contributions to that sector of the economy. The September 16 "NBC Nightly News" examined McCain's rhetoric on the campaign trail in the wake of a serious banking crisis. Correspondent Kelly O'Donnell…
CNN's Chetry: 'Please Tell Me It's Not Lipstick Again
September 10th, 2008 11:40 PM
On CNN's American Morning today, White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reported on Barack Obama's campaigning in Virginia. Afterwards, anchor Kiran Chetry had a question:CHETRY: All right. And Suzanne, what's on tap for the campaign today? And please tell me it's not lipstick again.MALVEAUX: Let's hope not. He's going to be in Norfolk, Virginia. That is in southeast Virginia, and it's home…
CBS & NBC React to Palin Bounce with Fact Checks to Discredit Her
September 9th, 2008 9:36 PM
With fresh media polls showing Sarah Palin causing a sizable percent of women to shift to support John McCain from Barack Obama, CBS and NBC on Tuesday night devoted full stories to fact check examinations to discredit her, specifically on the so-called “Bridge to Nowhere,” even though all the newscasts have already run stories on how she was for the bridge earmark during her 2006 gubernatorial…
NBC: McCain's Charge an Assertion, Obama's Shows 'Bluntness
September 8th, 2008 9:18 PM
In back-to-back stories on Monday's NBC Nightly News, reporters displayed a disparity in the use of terms applied to describe the criticism by John McCain and Barack Obama of each other. Up first, Kelly O'Donnell described how McCain “asserted that Obama claims he has stood up to fellow Democrats, but hasn't.” In the second story, Lee Cowan played a clip he set up as showing how Obama “outright…