Tim Russert

Eighteen years ago tonight, ABC News revealed that Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley had sent lewd text messages to underage congressional pages. ABC, CBS and NBC spent a huge amount of airtime over the following weeks trumpeting the scandal, the idea being that Foley’s bad behavior could bring down Republicans all across the country.

Nineteen years ago tonight, the liberal media were in full swoon over Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, with the hope that their effusive praise might propel the liberal Massachusetts Senator into the White House.

Most people in today’s “mainstream media” almost never admit they have a liberal bias when covering the news, but Jake Tapper -- host of The Lead, a weekday program on the Cable News Network -- did just that during an interview with Andy Greene of the Rolling Stone magazine that was posted on Tuesday, August 15.

Joe Scarborough came close to calling Donald Trump a fraud when it comes to his late-in-life switch from being strongly pro-choice, including supporting partial-birth abortion, to being pro-life. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough flatly called Trump's 180-degree flip on the issue, coming when it did, "impossible." Scarborough's comments came in the context of Trump's statement [later amended]…

In the wake of the CNBC debate debacle, Joe Scarborough went on an epic rant on liberal media bias on today's Morning Joe. He summed things up this way, in challenging the panel: "you can't do it and nobody here can do it: name the single Republican that has hosted a Sunday show, that has been an anchor of a news network for the big three networks over the past 50 years: you can not do it." …

When this NewsBuster began preparing today's item, the focus was going to be on Joe Scarborough's statement on today's Morning Joe that "90% of the people in our business vote for Democrats and Democratic primaries." Not that it was something we didn't already know [though query whether even 10% of MSMers are Republicans], but refreshing to hear it so starkly stated. But preparing the video clip…

Longtime journalist Tim Russert, who among many other things hosted NBC's Meet the Press for over 17 years, passed away suddenly in June 2008. His son Luke now works for NBC, and among other things is a Meet the Press panelist. Based on some of his more recent output, Luke is perhaps better described not a journalist, but as the network's desginated childish, mean-spirited namecaller. After…

In an effort to reverse the perpetual and disastrous ratings slide Meet the Press experienced during David Gregory's tenure as anchor of the Sunday morning program, NBC is going all out and bringing in Joe Scarborough, the co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe program, to provide a “right-leaning voice” during panel discussions, and the son of the late -- and still beloved -- former host Tim Russert…

“Don't go away mad,” an old saying goes, “just go away.” That seems to be the case with David Gregory, who is receiving a grand total of $4 million to end his six-year tenure as host of the NBC News Meet the Press program. Part of the 43-year-old anchor's contract is a “nondisparagement clause,” which specifies that he is not to speak out against the network, according to an article written…

In Politico’s reporting on Chuck Todd taking over “Meet the Press,” the Drudge Report singled out Mark Leibovich, a New York Times reporter and the author of “This Town,” a book on Washington insiders. Tim Russert’s success came from his ability be “distinctive and combative.” “If you were a politician of serious ambition,” Leibovich wrote, “an invitation to his set was your rite of passage…

Meet the Press host David Gregory has been the focus of turmoil since the Sunday morning NBC program suffered its lowest ratings since 1992 during the past year and was the subject of a meeting with network news president Deborah Turness in March. After that gathering, NBC “doubled down” on Gregory as host of the series, along with giving him additional duties on the network's news website.…

Just when it seemed that NBC's Meet the Press couldn't sink any lower, ratings for the last three months of 2013 for the Sunday morning news/interview show fell to its lowest level since the third quarter of 1992. That development has added to the speculation that liberal David Gregory might be on his way out as host. From October through December, NBC's program came in third place for total…

  In case you haven't heard, the Media Research Center is moving. Starting June 10, the MRC (which publishes NewsBusters) will be located in Reston, Virginia. As we prepare for the move, we've discovered old, unseen gems. During the 1992 presidential campaign, George H.W. Bush was asked whether he had ever been unfaithful to Mrs. Bush. Tom Sherwood, a local journalist for NBC's Washington…

It seems that the media cannot resist spitting on the Romneys when they are down. On last Saturday’s Weekends with Alex Witt, Ms. Witt decided to cover Ann Romney’s recent interview with CBS This Morning as part of her end-of-show The Big 3 segment. Witt played a clip from that interview in which Romney bemoaned Americans’ lack of trust in their government due to the current scandals. After…