CBS’s Crawford Dismisses Christine O’Donnell’s Response to Accus

December 31st, 2010 4:14 AM
 On Thursday’s CBS Evening News, as correspondent Jan Crawford filed a report on the allegations that former Delaware Republican Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell misused campaign money, the CBS correspondent seemed dismissive of O’Donnell’s reaction to the accusations as Crawford harkened back to the 2010 campaign and described some of O’Donnell’s recent words as the Delaware Republican's…

Gainor Column: Time to Focus on Real Star of Christmas

December 24th, 2010 7:33 AM
More than nine out of 10 Americans celebrate Christmas - even atheists, agnostics or believers in other faiths, according to surveys by LifeWay Research and USA TODAY/Gallup. They might be roasting chestnuts over an open fire, decking the halls with boughs of holly or trying to get the Chipmunks Christmas song out of their heads, but they are celebrating.

Enthralled White House Press Corps Pose Sycophantic ‘Questions’ to

December 22nd, 2010 8:38 PM
“There weren’t a lot of hard questions in this news conference,” FNC’s Bret Baier observed on Special Report in the understatement of the night. Indeed, in the first question posed at the late Wednesday afternoon session, Caren Bohan of Reuters reflected the collective glow of the White House press corp basking in Barack Obama’s glory: You racked up a lot of wins in the last few weeks that…

ABC Finds ‘Dream Dies’ for Illegal Immigrants Because of Conservat

December 20th, 2010 1:27 AM
 As ABC’s World News Sunday recounted President Obama’s failed effort to provide citizenship for immigrants who entered the country illegally as children if they go to college or enter the military, the issue was framed as conservatives standing in the way of the "dream" of such immigrants, and, as anchor Dan Harris introduced a report on the measure that failed in the Senate - dubbed the Dream…

Network Reporters and Sunday Hosts Rue Increased Deficit from Tax Comp

December 19th, 2010 7:03 PM
Nearly 80 percent of the $858 billion “cost” of the compromise tax bill signed Friday by President Barack Obama is, per a Congressional Research Service estimate, from the $675 billion over the next ten years the government would have received if income tax rates were raised, a perspective widely adopted by network reporters and hosts who assumed just keeping rates at their current levels…

Culture Notes: Christmas Without Christ

December 16th, 2010 10:08 AM
2,000 years ago, there was no room for Mary and Joseph at the inn in Bethlehem. Fittingly enough, in the past two years, there was no room for their baby at the network evening news shows. Every year, millions of Americans celebrate the most important Christian holiday by reflecting upon the significance of the birth of Christ. Families attend church, count blessings and exchange gifts, and yet…

ABC Poll Finds Health Care Law Is Massively Unpopular, Network Offers

December 14th, 2010 12:36 PM
A December 13 ABC News/Washington Post poll found Barack Obama's health law at a new low in popularity, but Monday's World News and Tuesday's Good Morning America offered only meager coverage of the development. Released the same day a Virginia judge ruled part of ObamaCare to be unconstitutional, the only mention on Monday came when Jake Tapper briefly highlighted the findings. At the end of…

Same Media That Fretted Over 'No Compromise' GOP, Now Distressed Obama

December 8th, 2010 5:09 PM
In the wake of November's election results there was much discussion in the press over whether or not the newly strengthened Republican Party would be willing to compromise with Democrats. However, since Monday's announcement of a deal on extending current tax rates, many in the media have been critical of President Obama for giving in to the GOP. Before the votes had even been cast in the…

By 6-to-1 Margin, Networks Paint Debate As Over 'Tax Cuts,' Not Raisin

December 7th, 2010 11:55 AM
Even with Monday’s deal between President Obama and top Republicans, no American’s income tax rates will actually decline on January 1 (although, if the deal passes, workers will notice a modest reduction in their payroll taxes in 2011). Yet throughout this debate, the broadcast networks have insisted on framing the debate as about “tax cuts” and “tax breaks,” not about forestalling a tax…

ABC Knocks Obama for 'Caving' and 'Moving Right' on 'Tax Cuts for the

December 6th, 2010 3:37 PM
World News anchors and reporters on Sunday chided Barack Obama from the left, complaining that he was "caving" and "breaking one of his biggest campaign promises" by preventing tax rates from increasing in January. ABC's Washington editor Rick Klein worried, "President Obama has been clear this was a critical position and he is caving on it, in, in allowing all the tax cuts to be extended."…

ABC’s Muir and Klein Fret Tax Agreement Will Make Deficit ‘Even Wo

December 5th, 2010 8:48 PM
 During a discussion of the agreement to prevent tax rates from increasing in January, on ABC’s World News Sunday, anchor David Muir and ABC’s senior Washington correspondent Rick Klein fretted that the federal budget deficit would increase - against the wishes of the voters - as a result of both the blocking of a tax increase and the extension of unemployment benefits. But neither acknowledged…

Nets Expound on ‘Cost’ of Maintaining Tax Rates, Stress How ‘Tax

December 3rd, 2010 7:49 AM
Framing the debate through a liberal prism hostile to continuing the current income tax rates, ABC and CBS worried Thursday night about the “cost” of not raising taxes, as if all money belongs to the government, as both expounded on how not ending the Bush rates will fuel massive deficits. “If all the Bush tax cuts end for the top two percent of earners, $700 billion will be added to government…

Nets Paint GOP as Obstinate, Highlight Failure to Offer ‘Mea Culpa

November 30th, 2010 10:01 PM
Covering President Barack Obama’s White House meeting with congressional leaders, ABC and CBS portrayed incoming House Republicans as the ones obstinate about tax rates, refusing to compromise – meaning agreeing to Obama’s wish to raise income tax rates on many – or match Obama’s conciliatory tone, though NBC’s Chuck Todd pointed out how Obama “seemed unwilling” to even agree with a Democratic…

ABC, CBS Inaccurately Report Pope's Condom Remarks as 'Change in Polic

November 24th, 2010 1:58 PM
On Tuesday evening, ABC and CBS furthered the mainstream media's largely inaccurate reporting on Pope Benedict XVI's recent remarks on the morality of condom use. While the pontiff stated that condoms are "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection," World News anchor Diane Sawyer stated that "the Pope shifts his rules on condom use." Evening News anchor Katie Couric labeled…