Newsweek's Samuels: Why Hasn't Hollywood Drawn Inspiration from the Ob

November 11th, 2010 3:53 PM
According to Newsweek's Allison Samuels, American TV audiences are not "ready for 'super-negros' on the small screen." Samuels made her complaint in light of NBC's cancellation of it's ratings-plagued spy series, "Undercovers," which featured a black actor and actress in the lead roles as glamorous and deadly CIA agents:

Tina Fey Thanks Sarah Palin for Comedy Award, Mocks Conservative Women

November 11th, 2010 9:46 AM
Comedienne and actress Tina Fey on Tuesday thanked former Alaska governor Sarah Palin as she accepted this year's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. According to the Washington Post, she then mocked conservative women "first to nervous laughter and then to not much laughter at all":

Today Film Critic Gene Shalit Retires After 40 Years of Reviewing Movi

November 10th, 2010 6:11 PM
 After 40 years of delivering snarky movie reviews for NBC's Today show, Gene Shalit is calling it quits, with his final broadcast this Thursday and the long-serving movie critic didn't reserve his barbs for bad acting and direction, conservatives and their causes were occasionally targeted as well. From bad mouthing hunters -- saying they exhibited "mankind's stupidity" in his review of the…

Media Apathetic About Glee’s Gay Kiss

November 10th, 2010 4:39 PM
The November 9 episode of Glee titled “Never Been Kissed” was quite the show stopper – unless you’re the media. The unexpected homosexual kiss between male high school students was nothing short of jaw-dropping, and yet the liberal media were “ho hum” on the controversy. Glee’s stereotypical jock character Karofsky, who has been bullying the openly gay character Kurt all season, in a moment…

George W. Bush Delivers a Basic Economics Lesson to Matt Lauer

November 10th, 2010 12:04 PM
In a follow-up interview to his prime time special with George W. Bush, NBC's Matt Lauer invited the former president on Wednesday's Today show and in the process got an education on how tax cuts can create jobs. During the wide ranging interview that covered everything from the Ground Zero mosque to Kanye West, it was Lauer's questions about Bush's tax policy where he revealed his bias. Noting…

Today Show Mourns Over No More Kennedys in Congress

November 8th, 2010 1:25 PM
For the Today show, Democratic Representative Patrick Kennedy's departure from Congress was something to mourn because it represented, as NBC's Matt Lauer lamented, "The end of an era. There's been a Kennedy in Congress since John F. Kennedy entered the House back in 1947." The nephew of the late President was invited on Monday's Today show to commemorate the occasion with he and co-host…

Karl Rove Goes Toe-to-Toe with Matt Lauer on Today

November 5th, 2010 12:30 PM
  When NBC's Matt Lauer threw out the tired, overused, standard media line, on Friday's Today show, that the public is tired of all the "vitriol" and wants the Republicans to just work with Barack Obama and the Democrats, his guest, Karl Rove, threw Obama's words back in Lauer's face as he pointed out it was the President who called Republicans "enemies." When Lauer asked if the GOP could …

Brian Williams Bizarrely Fixates on Portrait of Bill Clinton During Ob

November 3rd, 2010 3:30 PM
Nightly News host Brian Williams on Wednesday oddly obsessed over a portrait of Bill Clinton that could barely be seen in the background as Barack Obama finished his first post-election press conference. During live coverage, as Obama walked away from the podium, Williams apparently spotted the Clinton portrait and pontificated, "Interesting bit there at the end, with Bill Clinton literally…

NBC's Gregory Blames Angle's Loss on...Dissing the News Media; Whitake

November 3rd, 2010 2:59 AM
Just after NBC News called Nevada for incumbent Democratic Senator Harry Reid, Meet the Press host David Gregory credited his victory to how “Tea Party-backed” Sharron Angle disrespected journalists, citing how she “made some very unwise decisions, namely, saying things like 'I'm not going to give any interviews until after I'm elected.'” Gregory contended: “I don't think that inspires a great…

NBC's Brokaw & Williams Throw a Wet Blanket on Tea Party: They're Abou

November 2nd, 2010 10:59 PM
Former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw threw a bit of wet blanket on the Tea Party's big night, after quoting Tea Party activist Matt Kibbe's declaration that "the people want less from their federal government," Brokaw skeptically added: "We've heard that before, when it bumps up against reality of closing a base or shutting down an agricultural substation...it gets pretty tough to do."…

From the MRC Archives: A Viewer's Guide to Election Night Spin

November 2nd, 2010 3:09 PM
The actual voting results are just part of what makes for an Election Night in today’s mass media world. Perhaps as important — in some years, more important — are journalists’ first stab at interpreting the results, telling audiences what they voted for (and against). If history is a reliable guide, listen for: smug journalists slamming “angry” or stupid voters; claims that there’s no…

Today Show Tries to Set Up Sarah Palin for a Big Fail

November 2nd, 2010 1:59 PM
 On Tuesday's Today show, a couple of correspondents laid down the potential story line of a big defeat for Sarah Palin if the Republican Tea Party candidate she endorsed, Joe Miller, doesn't win his bid for the Senate seat in Alaska as NBC's Chuck Todd proclaimed: "Sarah Palin's political future is a little bit on the line" and added "this would be a big embarrassment," while NBC's Kristen…

What Were the Media Predicting Back in

November 2nd, 2010 11:11 AM
Sixteen years ago, the Republicans picked up 54 seats in the House of Representatives, taking control of that chamber for the first time since the 1950s. So how good were the media’s predictions back then? Trolling through the MRC’s archives, I came across these quotes from coverage just before the 1994 vote:

FNC’s O’Reilly Factor Picks Up MRC Study Documenting Slanted Campa

November 2nd, 2010 10:04 AM
On Monday’s O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly and former CBS News correspondent Bernie Goldberg talked about MRC’s study of the broadcast networks’ Campaign 2010 coverage, which has only talked about conservatives and Tea Party Republicans as “extremist” or “fringe,” not liberals or congressional Democrats. Goldberg argued that the problem is that “too many liberal journalists they don’t…