Networks Skip Liberal Labels For Dem Convention

August 29th, 2008 4:32 PM
While NBC's Matt Lauer took pains to label John McCain's vice presidential nominee a "staunch" and "stalwart" conservative on Friday, all three network morning shows almost entirely avoided any ideological descriptors for Senators Obama, Biden and the major liberal speakers during the just completed August 25 to 28 Democratic National Convention. Some of the individuals at the convention included…

Matt Lauer Questions Experience of 'Staunch Conservative' Palin

August 29th, 2008 12:35 PM
Just minutes after the news arrived that John McCain had selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate on Friday, "Today" host Matt Lauer broke into regular coverage and began labeling her as a "staunch conservative" and a "stalwart conservative." The "Today" show has, thus far, avoided using ideological labels for Barack Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, during this…

Morning Shows All Hail Obama’s ‘Fiery,’ ‘Historic’ Speech

August 29th, 2008 12:20 PM
After each of the first three nights of the Democratic convention, network news reporters have offered enthusiastically positive reviews, and Friday morning’s coverage of Barack Obama’s acceptance address made it a clean sweep. CBS Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, the only morning show host still in Denver, said he felt the earth moving. “This place rumbled....The stadium was just so alive, and…

Couric, Williams Back Obama’s Economic ‘Turmoil’ By Ignoring Pos

August 29th, 2008 10:38 AM
As my colleague Brent Baker noted last night, the August 28 CBS "Evening News" and NBC "Nightly News" broadcasts completely ignored the Commerce Department's upward revision of second quarter gross domestic product growth. The department announced August 28 the economy grew at 3.3 percent in the second quarter of 2008, up from initial reports of 1.9 percent. The revised number exceeded…

TV Journalists Relieved Obama 'Masterpiece' Took on McCain

August 29th, 2008 5:48 AM
Television journalists were nearly uniformly enthralled with Barack Obama's Thursday night acceptance speech, relieved he showed the toughness to take on John McCain directly, unlike, in their world view, all too-soft past Democratic nominees. Only FNC offered a contrarian view or mentioned the word “liberal” while David Gergen on CNN trumpeted the address as a “symphony” and a “masterpiece” with…

Another Night, Another Round of Cheers for the Democrats

August 28th, 2008 12:49 PM
ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s Early Show led the praise for the third night of the Democratic convention, with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos enthralled by how well it was going for Democrats. “I think every night in this convention has built on the one that came before,” he exclaimed Thursday morning, adding: “The speeches have gotten better every night.”[Check here and here for a re-cap of…

Elite Media Give Big Bucks to Gay Journalist Group

August 28th, 2008 12:19 PM
Rarely do the media put their institutional political bias on public display, but this past weekend, America's news industry titans left no doubt that they're fully behind one of the nation's most radical cultural and political movements.  ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the corporate owners of USA Today, the Miami Herald, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution…

Brian Williams to Michelle Obama: 'What Makes You Angriest' at GOP

August 28th, 2008 11:18 AM
"NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams conducted an embarrassingly fawning interview with Michelle Obama on Wednesday's program regarding the subject of nasty Republicans and just how exciting the Democratic campaign is. At one point, he sympathetically questioned the politician's wife, "What of the attacks has busted through to you? What makes you angriest at John McCain, the Republicans? What…

Williams Channels Fret Kerry Waited to Answer 'Swiftboating

August 28th, 2008 3:00 AM
Hailing 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry's Wednesday night address to the Democratic convention “the toughest speech” by “perhaps the most forceful speaker so far,” one in which Kerry denounced the “Swiftboating” of Barack Obama, NBC anchor Brian Williams channeled the liberal view, which he described merely as that of “people watching tonight,” that Kerry lost in 2004 because he didn't take on…

Matthews Furious—Did Olbermann Lift His Lines

August 27th, 2008 8:49 PM
Another chapter in the ongoing Matthews-Olbermann feud?  Yesterday, a catfight broke out between the two when Olbermann suggested Matthews had stolen an idea from two female pundits, and later made a hand gesture mocking Matthews gabbing [YouTube here, h/t Undercover Black Man].  Were the warring duo at it again this evening?You be the judge.  Click on the image to the right to view the video..…

NBC's Luke Russert Touts Hillary's 'Pretty Damn Good' Speech

August 27th, 2008 5:08 PM
Luke Russert, son of the late Tim Russert, appeared as a correspondent on Wednesday's "Today" show to tout the technological superiority of the Barack Obama campaign and its "online political revolution." Co-host Meredith Vieira pronounced the 23-year-old's reporting "terrific," but really the segment was just another puff piece on liberals such as Obama and Bill Clinton. Regarding the latter,…

FNC's O'Reilly Cites MRC Study on Obama Bias

August 27th, 2008 1:21 PM
Fox News Channel host Bill O'Reilly cited the Media Research Center's latest special report, "Obama's Margin of Victory: The Media," in the midst of the "Unresolved Problems" segment for his August 26 program.:There is no doubt that NBC News continues to be in the tank for Barack Obama. According to a Media Research Center study, NBC is the most lopsided network in favor of Barack. Pro-Obama…

Nets Gush: Hillary ‘Aced’ It; a 'Perfect' Convention Speech

August 27th, 2008 1:19 PM
All three broadcast morning shows hailed Hillary Clinton’s convention speech on Wednesday, as ABC’s Diane Sawyer saw Clinton “bringing down the house,” while George Stephanopoulos declared that “she aced it. I think she's gone farther than any losing candidate has ever gone in a convention like this.”Sawyer gushed: “If her candidacy put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, her speech…

NBC Gushes Over Common Man Joe Biden, the 'Amtrak Senator

August 27th, 2008 12:06 PM
On Wednesday's "Today," frequent MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle filed a fawning, credulous report on "Amtrak Senator" Joe Biden and his daily habit of taking the train home from Washington D.C. after completing his duties in the U.S. Senate. Barnicle, who accompanied Biden during one of these trips back to Delaware, seemed to be repeating talking points when he touted how the journey keeps the…