NewsBusters Interview: Tim Carney, Author of 'Obamanomics

January 22nd, 2010 11:08 AM
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Americans were treated to a number of populist sermons on the "special interests" who would oppose "reform" at any cost to maintain the "status quo" from which they "profit financially or politically." The drug companies, the energy companies, the Wall Street bankers, and the health insurers were the corporate enemies of a just and harmonious America, or so…

NBC's O'Donnell Refuses to View Scott Brown Win as a Victory for GOP

January 21st, 2010 8:12 AM
NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, over the last three days on the Today show, has refused to acknowledge Scott Brown's success as something for the GOP to celebrate. On Tuesday she accused Brown of ducking the GOP label throughout his campaign, then on Wednesday's show she noted that in Brown's victory speech "Interestingly, Senator-Elect Brown did not talk about being a Republican, instead, he framed this…

Companies Donate $83 Million to Haiti, Get Less Than Three Minutes of

January 21st, 2010 4:39 AM
Americans are generous people, and they prove it every time a disaster strikes like last week's earthquake in Haiti. They have donated more than $275 million to relief efforts in the Caribbean nation in the week since the quake. Nearly one-third of that money came from U.S. companies, a point rarely mentioned on the broadcast news. According to the Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC), 203…

NBC's David Gregory Realizes What Tea Parties Are All About

January 20th, 2010 5:46 PM
A small group of liberal talking heads may be realizing that opposition to Obama is not, in fact, wholly irrational. Though it would be a bit too hasty to proclaim it a trend among the mainstream media, it has been a refreshing break from the smears usually hurled at the right by the nation's pundits. First was Chris Matthews, who stunningly turned right and voiced his concern about an…

Vieira to Scott Brown: You're Derailing Cause of Teddy's Lifetime

January 20th, 2010 10:56 AM

NBC's Meredith Vieira, on Wednesday's Today show, rained on Scott Brown's parade as she wondered if the Senator-Elect's post-victory call to Ted Kennedy's widow Vicki was an awkward moment since, as the Today co-anchor pressed, "You plan to do whatever you can to derail...the cause of his lifetime?" [Audio available here]MEREDITH VIEIRA: You know on a personal note, you said last night the…

NBC Reporter Accuses Scott Brown of Ducking GOP Label

January 19th, 2010 4:22 PM
On Tuesday's Today show NBC's Kelly O'Donnell -- apparently reaching to find something negative to say about the surging Scott Brown --  accused the Republican Massachusetts Senate candidate of running away from his own party as she questioned: "You don't mention the Republican Party much in your campaign. Why is that?" To which Brown quickly asserted: "I think people know I'm a Republican. That'…

NBC’s Jenna Wolfe: Is ‘Unified Opposition’ from GOP Partly to Bl

January 18th, 2010 5:41 AM
On Sunday’s Today show on NBC – during which correspondent Savannah Guthrie filed a report which seemed to credit President Obama for "managing to avoid a depression," while also acknowledging that "the President's once sky-high approval rating slumped as unemployment stubbornly stayed in double digits" – after Guthrie’s report, anchor Jenna Wolfe wondered if Republicans were partly to blame for…

NBC: ‘Historic Upset’ in Bay State ‘Political Crisis’ for Obam

January 18th, 2010 5:04 AM
On Saturday’s Today show on NBC, anchor Amy Robach brought aboard MSNBC’s Joe Scarbarough to talk about President Obama’s handling of the relief effort in Haiti, and the President’s efforts to prevent Republican takeover of the Massachusetts Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. Robach introduced the segment referring to the possibility of a Democratic loss of the seat from Obama’s point-of-…

On NBC, Time's Halperin Smacks GOP for Not Slamming Limbaugh, Woodward

January 17th, 2010 5:41 PM

When Bush Plummets in Polls, It's News--Obama, Not So Much

January 17th, 2010 2:17 PM
It is a strange paradigm among much of the mainstream  media that plummeting poll numbers are of far greater import for Republicans than  they are for Democrats. That, at least, is the logical conclusion of the relative silence of major media outlets on the steep decline in President Obama's poll numbers compared with the decline in President Bush's.According to an Allstate/National Journal poll…

Scarborough: 'I Prefer My Dog To Leno

January 15th, 2010 7:16 AM
Ouch.  Joe Scarborough on today's Morning Joe:JOE SCARBOROUGH: You understand what I'm saying.  I prefer Conan to Leno.  I prefer my dog to Leno. That's just me: well, my dog's very funny.The irony is that--his personal preference for canine comedy notwithstanding--Joe went on to argue that from a business perspective, it makes sense to replace O'Brien with Leno . . .

New Episode of the Notable Quotables Show

January 14th, 2010 4:37 PM

MRC Study: After 'Negro' Comment, 71% of Network Coverage Supported Ha

January 14th, 2010 11:46 AM
The controversy over Harry Reid's crack about Barack Obama's lack of a "Negro dialect" is apparently over, at least according to the broadcast networks. Although the story only broke Saturday afternoon, the last network news story aired Tuesday night on Nightline. An MRC analysis found that from Saturday to Tuesday the networks ran a combined 37 items on Reid's "Negro" remark, including…

Flashback: Nets Repeated Charges of Israeli War Crimes in Gaza, Less A

January 14th, 2010 4:31 AM
It was a year ago this weekend that the Israeli military halted its three-week campaign, Operation Cast Lead, against Hamas militants in Gaza, during which Israel had responded to thousands of rockets and mortars launched from Gaza over several years. During Israel’s military campaign, on a number of major stories, many American television newscasts were more inclined to report accusations made…