CBS Spins Civilian Court Debacle of Detainee as a Setback for the 'Gov

November 18th, 2010 12:09 PM
Of the three morning shows on Thursday, only CBS left out any mention of Barack Obama or Attorney General Eric Holder while reporting on the nearly complete acquittal of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee. Early Show news anchor Erica Hill asserted that "the verdict is in for the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried in a civilian court and it is being seen by some as a serious setback for the…

ClimateGate 1 Year Later: Networks Barely Cover Scandal, But Defend an

November 18th, 2010 9:55 AM
It’s been a year since thousands of emails and files were leaked from a prominent climate science group at the University of East Anglia, with startling comments including this one: “We can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment.” Other leaked emails showed potential manipulation of temperature data, a willingness to destroy information rather than release it under the British…

Networks Allow a Scant Four Minutes For Rangel Conviction, Devote

November 17th, 2010 12:59 PM
Tuesday's evening news broadcasts and Wednesday's morning shows allowed a scant four and a half minutes of coverage to the conviction of powerful Democrat Charlie Rangel over ethics charges. In comparison, these same programs devoted 121 minutes to exhaustively examining every aspect of the announcement that Prince William is getting married, a disparity of 30 to one. NBC's Today featured the…

Undisclosed NBC Conflict of Interest Again Arises in Annual 'Green Wee

November 16th, 2010 3:47 PM
On Sunday, NBC Universal launched its annual "Green Week," as part of the company's "Green is Universal" environmental awareness campaign. As NBC embarks on yet another week of "environmentally themed programming," it falls to media watchdogs to point out the massive conflict presented by NBC parent company General Electric's significant financial interests in the policies "Green Week"…

NBC Reporter Claims Charlie Rangel Had a Long and 'Shining' Career

November 16th, 2010 12:18 PM
It's the kind of a description that causes a double take.

On Today: Bobby Jindal Slams Obama for His Slow Response to Oil Spill

November 15th, 2010 1:31 PM
Bobby Jindal, on Monday's Today show, slammed the Obama administration for its slow response to the BP oil spill off the coast of Lousiana, charging that: "It seemed like the federal government was disconnected from the facts on the ground." However Today co-anchor offered excuses for the President as he queried the Louisiana Republican Governor: "In fairness though, Governor, in those early…

Today Show Highlights Palin's Negative Poll Numbers in Tease of Her Re

November 15th, 2010 12:33 PM
Norah O'Donnell, on Monday's Today, couldn't resist taking a couple of shots at Sarah Palin, in her review of the former Alaska governor's TLC reality show, as the NBC correspondent trumpeted a recent Gallup poll that "More than half of Americans, 52 percent view her negatively, making her the most divisive of all of the potential candidates in the 2012 Republican field." O'Donnell also aired a…

MRC’s Notable Quotables: Tea Party About to ‘Bump Up Against Reali

November 15th, 2010 9:20 AM
As a Monday morning treat for NewsBusters readers, here is a sampling of the quotes from the latest edition of MRC’s Notable Quotables newsletter, a compilation of the most outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes in the liberal media. All of the quotes, plus past issues going back to 1988, can be found at www.MRC.org. Forget What Voters Said, It’s Time for Higher Taxes Host Christiane…

SNL Compliments Glenn Beck: 'He Was Right About Buying Gold

November 14th, 2010 9:33 AM
Glenn Beck has been a favorite punching bag for liberal media members since he moved from HLN to Fox News and started getting huge ratings. The folks at NBC's "Saturday Night Live" have also been on this Beck bashing bandwagon, which made the following sequence during Saturday's opening sketch rather surprising (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Saturday Night Live Unites Bush and Kanye West to Bash the Former Pres

November 14th, 2010 8:33 AM
As NewsBusters has been reporting all week, the media have used the occasion of George W. Bush's published memoirs "Decision Points" to rekindle their hatred for the 43rd president. Not surprisingly, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" took its shots at Bush by uniting him with Kanye West during "Weekend Update" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

ABC, NBC Relay Cindy McCain’s Support for Gays in Military

November 14th, 2010 3:32 AM
 On Friday evening, ABC’s World News and the NBC Nightly News both informed viewers that Cindy McCain - wife of Senator John McCain - supports repealing the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on gays in the military. NBC’s Chuck Todd merely mentioned her disagreement with her husband on the issue while noting that Senator McCain "is the guy holding up" any change in the law. But ABC went further in…

Big 3 Nets' Evening News Election and Pre-Election Week Audiences Down

November 12th, 2010 10:11 PM
Along with the cheerful news that Fox News trounced its cable news competitors on Election Night (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), those longing for more fairness and balance in television news coverage can take some comfort in the fact that the Big Three Networks' evening news shows came in with audiences almost 20% lower during the week before and the week of the 2010 midterm elections compared…

Dennis Miller Chides Newsweek Magazine for Ranking US 11th Best Countr

November 12th, 2010 3:59 PM
Appearing on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" last night, comedian Dennis Miller blasted the beleaguered Newsweek magazine for ranking the United States the 11th "best country in the world," behind left-of-center nations like Finland, Switzerland, and Sweden. Performing on Veterans Day for an audience comprised of American military personnel, Miller showed his patriotic stripes: "Hey,…

Hannity, Bozell Excoriate NBC’s Lauer and MSNBC’s Ratigan in Novem

November 12th, 2010 3:18 PM
NBC's Matt Lauer and MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan last night found themselves just two of the targets in the latest "Media Mash" segment on Fox News Channel's "Hannity" show. NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell appeared on the November 11 program to dissect NBC's biased coverage of former President George W. Bush's new memoir, "Decision Points," an ABC News puff piece on Michelle Obama's fashion…