Gibson Frets Over Obama's Money Advantage: 'Is It Basically Fair

June 20th, 2008 8:55 PM
Applying the same invidious approach to campaign spending as journalists so often do to society where they equate outcome with fairness and consider income disparities to be an injustice which must be dealt with by forced redistribution of wealth via the tax code, on Friday night ABC anchor Charles Gibson fretted that Barack Obama's fundraising advantage over John McCain violates “basic fairness…

Nets Take Last Shot at How Europeans Say Good Riddance to Bush, Prefer

June 16th, 2008 9:23 AM
Getting in some last shots at President Bush as his trip to Europe came to an end in London, CBS and ABC on Sunday night focused stories on Bush's unpopularity on the continent where “they're glad he's on his way out” and it's “an understatement to say that Mr. Bush is unpopular.” CBS correspondent Bill Plante asserted “much of Europe thinks of Mr. Bush as a cowboy who has ridden roughshod over…

Ruling a 'Big' & 'Stinging' Defeat, Could Prove 'Embarrassing' to Bush

June 12th, 2008 9:53 PM
The broadcast network evening newscasts gave as much emphasis Thursday night to the biting dissent as the majority opinion in the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees, but told the story through the prism of the Bush administration getting rebuked by the decision characterized as “historic” and “landmark” -- with ABC's Martha Raddatz ominously warning “it could be very…

Only ABC Considers Obama's Hypocrisy on Johnson Worth Full Story

June 11th, 2008 9:58 PM
Of the three broadcast network evening newscasts on Wednesday, only ABC's World News judged Jim Johnson's resignation from the Obama campaign as worth a full story. CBS and NBC limited coverage to brief items that failed to inform viewers of how Obama was caught in hypocrisy. ABC's Jake Tapper, however, explained the reason for the “big headache for Barack Obama,” that “the head of his vice…

Media Prism: Repubs 'Block' Lower Gas Prices by Rejecting Tax Hike

June 10th, 2008 10:07 PM
The three broadcast network evening newscasts on Tuesday framed coverage, of a Democratic Senate plan to somehow lower gas prices by imposing a “windfall profits” tax on oil companies which they would just pass on to consumers, around how Republicans “blocked” the effort. No one cast any doubt on the presumption the oil companies are earning “windfall” and/or “excessive” profits. Fill-in NBC…

CBS & NBC Focus on KSM's Torture Claims, Only ABC Tags Him 'Evil

June 5th, 2008 10:50 PM
CBS and NBC on Thursday night were as interested in highlighting the claims of torture, from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and four 9/11 terrorist attack co-conspirators who were arraigned by a military commission court in Guantanamo Bay, as to informing viewers about the charges against them. ABC didn't consider the torture allegations relevant and so didn't mention the topic as Jan Crawford…

Anchors Rejoice: Obama Making History, 'Son of Gun, I've Done This

June 4th, 2008 10:10 PM
The ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts all led Wednesday night with celebratory interviews with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama -- with ABC and NBC plastering “MAKING HISTORY” on screen -- as the three anchors luxuriated in Obama's success. ABC's Charles Gibson wondered: “I'm curious about your feelings last night. It was an historic moment. Has it sunk in yet?” Gibson followed up by…

White House Responds to Media Claims It Hid Science About Global Warmi

June 3rd, 2008 5:55 PM
Last week, the Bush administration released a report warning of the potential dangers of global warming, except there wasn't anything new in it. However, the timing of the release was seen as an act done so begrudgingly - since the Bush administration has previously resisted efforts to propagate climate change alarmism. "For the first time, the Bush administration is conceding what most…

McClellan Tells ABC & CBS: 'Intrigued' by Obama, May Vote for Him

May 29th, 2008 8:07 PM
In the midst of media hype for “insider” Scott McClellan's attacks on the Bush White House, ABC's Martha Raddatz and CBS's Katie Couric prompted a revelation from McClellan that undermines the presumption he's any kind of partisan Republican or conservative ideologue. They asked a question NBC's Meredith Vieira did not in two lengthy live segments on Thursday's Today show: Will he vote for John…

Media Ran Charges Israeli Troops Killed Boy, Ignore Evidence Israel In

May 29th, 2008 8:45 AM
When France 2 TV helped stoke a new wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Western sentiment and violence by presenting the world footage it claimed to show the Israeli military targeting and killing a Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Dura, a scene that has been invoked by Osama bin Laden and many other terrorists and suicide bombers, the American news media also ran the story, showing the footage numerous…

Across the Board, Networks 'Cherry-Pick' Housing Data

May 28th, 2008 4:44 PM
As of late, the networks just can't get enough of bad housing news, seizing each opportunity to make a point how bad the American economy is. Each of the network news broadcasts on May 27 - ABC, CBS and NBC - took the news that home prices fell 14 percent in the first quarter of 2008, despite the news that new home sales rose an unexpected 3.3 percent in April from March, to portray the…

CBS’s Couric: Iraq War Coverage ‘One of the Most Embarrassing Chap

May 28th, 2008 11:37 AM
On Wednesday’s CBS "Early Show" evening news anchors, ABC’S Charles Gibson, NBC’s Brian Williams, and CBS’s Katie Couric, were all on to promote an upcoming cancer research telethon, but near the end of segment, co-host Harry Smith asked about former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s new book in which McClellan claims the media did not ask tough questions leading up to the Iraq war…

ABC 'World News': It 'Makes Sense' to Label McCain 'McSame

May 28th, 2008 12:59 AM

McCain in Great Health, Will ABC Apologize for Thursday's Dire Report

May 23rd, 2008 10:07 AM
Despite ABC News's concerns about Republican presidential candidate John McCain's health, 1,173 pages of medical records just released to the press show the Arizona senator "appears cancer-free, has a strong heart and is in otherwise general good health."This is in stark contrast to a segment on Thursday's "World News with Charles Gibson" (reported by my colleague Brent Baker) which addressed…