Today

NBC's Matt Lauer, suddenly turned into a deficit hawk, when he invited on Newt Gingrich on Tuesday's Today show, to discuss the GOP's refusal to extend unemployment benefits without paying for them, as he complained to the House Speaker that those same Republicans didn't offer spending cuts to offset the Bush tax cut and pressed: "Is it funny math?" and "traditionally speaking when you cut taxes…

Geez, can't anybody here play this game? During his visit to Holland, Michigan on Thursday, President Obama spoke with NBC's Chuck Todd. NBC aired the interview on the NBC Nightly News and The Today Show. (On Friday morning, NB's Geoffrey Dickens covered a separate aspect of that interview relating to the recess-appointed Donald Berwick.) In reporting on that interview, the Associated Press…

NBC's chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd, in an interview with the President that was aired on Friday's Today show, actually questioned Barack Obama about his controversial recess appointment of the pro-health care rationing Dr. Donald Berwick to head Medicare, something, as Newsbusters has documented the networks have vastly ignored. However, Todd never explained to viewers why the…

A segment that was billed as a guide to help some of Today's unemployed viewers find work, on Wednesday's show, turned into a platform for the president of the liberal National Urban League to attack those who opposed the President's plans, as he railed against those in Congress who have been filibustering extension of the unemployment benefits. Today co-anchor Matt Lauer, who hosted the segment…

Laura Ingraham was invited on Tuesday's Today show, to plug her new book The Obama Diaries, and predict how the midterm elections will go but she couldn't get out of the segment without Today co-anchor Matt Lauer suggesting Republicans are just as unpopular as the Democrats. During the segment Lauer read from a Washington Post poll that stated 6 in 10 Americans don't have faith in President Obama…

NBC proved that it will respond quickly to charges of bias - at least if the charges come from a left-wing activist group. When NBC announced the "Today" show's annual summer wedding contest, the network made it clear homosexual couples would not be eligible since New York does not license same-sex marriages. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation issued a press release condemning the…

"Mommy, why is that lady dancing on stage in her bra?" might have been a common question in American households that were tuned in to NBC's "Today" show July 9. The broadcast featured performances by and an interview with Lady Gaga, a pop star whose fashion sense is aimed at making eyes pop and jaws drop. For "Today," Gaga donned a white bustier with "strategically placed" rhinestone crucifixes…

NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams on Thursday became the first evening news broadcast to cover the recess appointment of Donald Berwick to run Medicare. Anchor Brian Williams asserted that "Republicans are angry, claiming it's antagonistic." He also observed, "Berwick has spoken about the need to ration medical care to control costs." NBC has offered the most reporting on Berwick: 20 seconds…

Over the span of two days, the network morning shows have given just 20 seconds of coverage to the recess appointment of Donald Berwick, a pro-rationing doctor who will run Medicare. In contrast, Good Morning America, Today and Early Show devoted 52 minutes of coverage to every detail of Lindsay Lohan's sentencing. On Wednesday and Thursday's GMA, ABC hosts discussed Lohan for 14 minutes. CBS's…

Barack Obama's decision to make a recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to run Medicare has been vastly ignored by the mainstream news media, despite the fact Berwick has made controversial statements favoring rationing of medical care. As CNSNews.com's Terry Jeffrey reported Dr. Berwick, at a talk celebrating the 60th birthday of Great Britain's National Health Service, told the audience to…

During the 'Early Wrap' segment on Friday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith discussed the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan with a panel of media pundits: "The almost unknown, practically under the radar, the Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, before committees this week being funny. She was downright funny."GQ Magazine's Washington correspondent Ana Marie Cox…

To mark the one year anniversary of Sarah Palin stepping down from her duties as governor of Alaska, NBC's Norah O'Donnell, on Friday's Today show, recounted for viewers what the former vice presidential candidate is doing, namely "cashing in." Accompanied by a "cha-ching" sound effect O'Donnell ran down Palin's various TV and book deals. And while O'Donnell also noted Palin has been very…

The June jobs report was released July 2 showing a tiny decline in the unemployment rate to 9.5 percent, but a depressing 125,000 overall non-farm payroll jobs lost. CNN's "American Morning" reacted with an appropriately downbeat report, but the onscreen chyron led with the better news -- showing the lower unemployment rate rather than the job losses. Christine Romans also pointed out that…