Shocking News From NPR: Oil Companies Aren't Gouging Consumers After A
May 8th, 2006 9:48 AM
For months, the media have blamed virtually anything but free market forces for the rise in oil and gas prices. NBC’s Lisa Myers attributed these increases to greed on a recent Nightly News report stating almost disgustedly “Exxon earned 9.5 cents on every dollar of gasoline and oil sold, cashing in at every stage of the process.” Imagine the nerve of ExxonMobil actually making a profit. Oh the…
Stoking the Outraged: Networks Showcase Consumers Feeling 'Pain at the
May 5th, 2006 11:55 AM
Anyone with a working TV set knows that the broadcast networks have hyped the high gas price story (“Pain at the Pump”) to ridiculous levels. A new MRC study of the ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening news shows found a whopping 183 stories in just three weeks, an avalanche of TV coverage that (helpfully to Democrats planning their midterm election strategy) has buried far more important good…
CBS and NBC Lead by Trumpeting Anti-War Activists Confronting Rumsfeld
May 5th, 2006 12:50 AM
Matching cable news networks interest during the day, two of the three broadcast networks (CBS and NBC, as well as MSNBC's Countdown) led Thursday night with how, at an event in Atlanta, a handful of protesters confronted Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and accused him of “war crimes” and “lying” about Iraq. ABC also aired a story, but put the Moussaoui sentencing first. All three featured…
CBS and NBC Stick With Gas Pains, Ignore Wednesday’s Huge Price Decl
May 4th, 2006 2:44 PM
The wholesale price of oil and gasoline took a huge drop on the commodities markets Wednesday. But, you never would have known it from watching the broadcast networks’ evening news programs. In fact, the pain at the pump mantra continued in earnest at CBS and NBC without even the slightest mention of a greater than $2 decline in oil prices and an almost 9 cent decline in gasoline prices on the…
Broadcast Nets Again Champion Cause of Protest Marches on Behalf of Il
May 2nd, 2006 12:44 AM
All three broadcast network evening newscasts led Monday night with multiple favorable stories about the day of protests to promote the cause of illegal aliens. Bob Schieffer opened the CBS Evening News by trumpeting: “From coast to coast, from north to south, they wanted us to know what America would be like without them and so millions of immigrants missed work, skipped school and marched in…
CBS & NBC Resurrect “Mission Accomplished,” CBS Highlights 44 Poin
May 2nd, 2006 12:07 AM
CBS and NBC on Monday night couldn't resist reminding their viewers of President Bush's “Mission Accomplished” speech. CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer announced: "Today marks the third anniversary of what many thought at the time was one of the cleverest photo-ops ever, even opponents of the Iraq invasion were impressed when the President flew on to an aircraft carrier decked out in a…
ABC & NBC Focus on Exxon Profits, Skip How Government Gets More in Tax
April 28th, 2006 12:23 AM
The broadcast network evening newscasts on Thursday night hyperventilated over “record” profits for ExxonMobil, but failed to point out how government taxes exceed oil company earnings. ABC even fretted about how much ExxonMobil “spent rewarding shareholders,” though it was less than the federal government took in taxes, and NBC excoriated the company for “cashing in” at 9.5 cents per dollar. “…
CBS & NBC Lead with Rove, Then Express Bafflement Over How Bush Can't
April 27th, 2006 12:09 AM
Leading with Karl Rove's grand jury session, on Wednesday's CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer painted CBS's coverage through a set of facts forwarded by Bush enemies as he justified his news judgment, “It is the story that is keeping Washington on edge: Who outed one of the CIA's secret agents whose husband happened to be a critic of the President and his war policy?” Jim Axelrod framed his…
ABC: Snow a "Conservative Commentator Who Called" Bush "'an Embarrassm
April 26th, 2006 9:11 PM
ABC and NBC on Wednesday night delighted in showcasing how incoming White House Press Secretary Tony Snow last year wrote that President Bush had become “an embarrassment.” But in portraying the quote as a declarative accusation, neither ABC's Elizabeth Vargas or NBC's David Gregory put the remark into the context of how Snow was observing that Virginia Republicans not wishing to appear with…
Media Attack Executive Pay, Hide Effort to Seal Their Own Compensation
April 26th, 2006 4:26 PM
Networks focus on ‘staggering’ pay and pensions for Exxon and other corporate CEOs, even as media companies fight SEC rule on disclosing high salaries.Free Market ProjectGas price rage has blended with executive pay rage recently, since the media have been bashing ExxonMobil’s departing CEO, Lee Raymond, for his pay and pension package. “Runaway pay,” said NBC’s Brian Williams on April 20,…
More Incompetent Hype Over “Record” Oil Prices, ABC Pushes “Wind
April 22nd, 2006 7:38 PM
As they did all week, on Friday night the three broadcast network evening newscasts again hyperventilated over the “record” high price for a barrel of oil, though adjusted for inflation, the only competent way to measure any price over time, current $75 per barrel oil is $12 short of the real record high set in January of 1981. ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas falsely cited how “a week of…
