Takes Bombing for Williams to Note 'Letup in Violence of Late in Iraq
June 17th, 2008 9:58 PM
It took a bombing which killed 51 Iraqis for NBC anchor Brian Williams to acknowledge “there's been a letup in the violence of late in Iraq.” Unlike his ABC and CBS colleagues, two weeks and a day earlier Williams failed to report the death toll for Americans in Iraq in May was the lowest for any month since the war began. On Tuesday night, however, he announced: Last night here we reported there…
NBC Trumpets Gore's 'Return to Electoral Politics' to Endorse Obama
June 16th, 2008 8:44 PM
Just under a year after NBC turned over more than 75 hours of air time on several of their channels to Al Gore's “Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis,” Monday's NBC Nightly News championed Al Gore's “major endorsement” of Barack Obama -- as if a Democratic politician backing the Democratic nominee is newsworthy. (ABC's Jake Tapper gave the then-upcoming event a sentence while the CBS…
Ruling a 'Big' & 'Stinging' Defeat, Could Prove 'Embarrassing' to Bush
June 12th, 2008 9:53 PM
The broadcast network evening newscasts gave as much emphasis Thursday night to the biting dissent as the majority opinion in the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees, but told the story through the prism of the Bush administration getting rebuked by the decision characterized as “historic” and “landmark” -- with ABC's Martha Raddatz ominously warning “it could be very…
Olbermann Hits 'Worst Person' Katie Couric for Charging Anti-Hillary B
June 12th, 2008 6:06 AM
On Wednesday's Countdown show, during the show's regular "Worst Person in the World" segment, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, who rarely hits liberals during the segment while he often targets conservatives, turned his ire toward CBS News anchor Katie Couric for her recent charges that some media figures were guilty of anti-Clinton, or pro-Obama bias. Olbermann accused Couric of taking out of "…
Media Prism: Repubs 'Block' Lower Gas Prices by Rejecting Tax Hike
June 10th, 2008 10:07 PM
The three broadcast network evening newscasts on Tuesday framed coverage, of a Democratic Senate plan to somehow lower gas prices by imposing a “windfall profits” tax on oil companies which they would just pass on to consumers, around how Republicans “blocked” the effort. No one cast any doubt on the presumption the oil companies are earning “windfall” and/or “excessive” profits. Fill-in NBC…
'GMA' Features Professor Who Blames Greenhouse Gases for Current Heat
June 9th, 2008 5:29 PM
Think it's hot outside? "Good Morning America" wants you to think it is your fault - at least that's why an expert featured on the June 9 show told viewers it is hotter outside. Stanford University professor Dr. Stephen Schneider said that methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are making hot temperatures even hotter. "While this heat wave like all other heat waves is made by…
Inaccurate Olbermann Ridicules O'Reilly for Relaying Accurate Item fro
June 6th, 2008 10:38 PM
Erroneously recounting a Tuesday NewsBusters post I wrote about how, unlike ABC and CBS, the NBC Nightly News did not report the lowest U.S. death level in May for any month since the war in Iraq began, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Friday night made FNC's Bill O'Reilly his “Worst Person in the World” runner-up for “picking up some of his features from the hilariously inept right-wing Web site…
CBS & NBC Focus on KSM's Torture Claims, Only ABC Tags Him 'Evil
June 5th, 2008 10:50 PM
CBS and NBC on Thursday night were as interested in highlighting the claims of torture, from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and four 9/11 terrorist attack co-conspirators who were arraigned by a military commission court in Guantanamo Bay, as to informing viewers about the charges against them. ABC didn't consider the torture allegations relevant and so didn't mention the topic as Jan Crawford…
Anchors Rejoice: Obama Making History, 'Son of Gun, I've Done This
June 4th, 2008 10:10 PM
The ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts all led Wednesday night with celebratory interviews with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama -- with ABC and NBC plastering “MAKING HISTORY” on screen -- as the three anchors luxuriated in Obama's success. ABC's Charles Gibson wondered: “I'm curious about your feelings last night. It was an historic moment. Has it sunk in yet?” Gibson followed up by…
NBC Nightly News Spikes News About Fewest Troop Deaths of War
June 2nd, 2008 10:28 PM
As lead-ins to short reports on the posthumous presentation of a Medal of Honor, ABC and CBS on Monday night managed to squeeze in -- more than 20 minutes into their evening newscasts -- brief mentions of how in May the fewest number U.S. servicemen were killed in Iraq in any month since the war began five years ago. But not NBC Nightly News. (And Sunday's Today and Nightly News, as well as…
'Nightly News': Increase in Spam Sales Indicates a Bad Economy
May 30th, 2008 10:52 AM
You've got to give the media credit for continuing to find new and innovative ways to make the U.S. economy look bad. This time an increase in Spam sales are being touted as a sign that people are suffering as they are being forced to trade in their fancy meats and poultries for something less expensive - a sign of "our times," according to "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams. "And in…
Media Ran Charges Israeli Troops Killed Boy, Ignore Evidence Israel In
May 29th, 2008 8:45 AM
When France 2 TV helped stoke a new wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Western sentiment and violence by presenting the world footage it claimed to show the Israeli military targeting and killing a Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Dura, a scene that has been invoked by Osama bin Laden and many other terrorists and suicide bombers, the American news media also ran the story, showing the footage numerous…
Across the Board, Networks 'Cherry-Pick' Housing Data
May 28th, 2008 4:44 PM
As of late, the networks just can't get enough of bad housing news, seizing each opportunity to make a point how bad the American economy is. Each of the network news broadcasts on May 27 - ABC, CBS and NBC - took the news that home prices fell 14 percent in the first quarter of 2008, despite the news that new home sales rose an unexpected 3.3 percent in April from March, to portray the…
CBS’s Couric: Iraq War Coverage ‘One of the Most Embarrassing Chap
May 28th, 2008 11:37 AM
On Wednesday’s CBS "Early Show" evening news anchors, ABC’S Charles Gibson, NBC’s Brian Williams, and CBS’s Katie Couric, were all on to promote an upcoming cancer research telethon, but near the end of segment, co-host Harry Smith asked about former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s new book in which McClellan claims the media did not ask tough questions leading up to the Iraq war…