1. Bush Fails to Address How His Tax Plan "Favors the Rich" Minutes after President Bush completed his State of the Union address ABC News reporter Michel Martin complained that it failed to address "the core complaint of his critics" as "a strong majority of citizens believe that his plan strongly favors the rich," and "he doesn't seem to have done anything to address those complaints tonight." 2. ABC Goes to Baghdad for Reaction: U.S. Wants to "Enslave Iraq" ABC's post-State of the Union coverage featured Dan Harris in Baghdad who called President Bush's charge, that Iraq is not cooperating... continue reading
1. Jennings Emphasizes How Inspectors Are "Pleading for Time" ABC's Peter Jennings opened World News Tonight with the words "pleading for time" on screen over a shot of Hans Blix as Jennings stressed: "The inspectors want more time to do their job." Unlike CBS or NBC, Jennings also highlighted up front how the nuclear inspector promised "credible assurance that Iraq has no nuclear weapons program," and Jennings treated the reaction to the UN report from the White House and Hussein regime with equal dismissiveness: "What we heard from the Iraqi government today is also as it was at the White... continue reading
1. Bush So Awful That Clift Yearns for Nixon's Return President George W. Bush is so awful in the eyes of Newsweek's Eleanor Clift that on the McLaughlin Group over the weekend, during which she assigned Bush an "F" grade at the halfway mark of his term, she yearned for the return of Richard Nixon to the presidency: "I'd like to have Richard Nixon back actually. I think he'd be a huge improvement." 2. Great Headline: "Homeland Lost to D.C." Most accurate headline in years: "Homeland Lost to D.C." Sounds like what conservatives have been complaining about as federal power... continue reading
1. NBC Insists Frigid Temps Don't Undermine Global Warming Think the current frigid temperatures in much of the country might belie global warming? Don't worry. NBC's Robert Hager assured viewers on Thursday night, as he stood outside bundled up, that the record cold temperature trend in no way undermines the global warming theory. Remember: "Last year was the second warmest ever worldwide." 2. NBC Showcases Bill Clinton Blast at Bush Tax Cut Plan NBC has yet to inform viewers of how the Bush tax cut plan would give a larger percent cut to the lower classes than the wealthy and... continue reading
1. Ruing Less Abortion Access, One Justice Away from Roe Overturn ABC and CBS on Wednesday night reflected the concerns of liberal advocates of abortion. ABC's Linda Douglass bemoaned how "in Pennsylvania, some patients must drive hundreds of miles" to get an abortion as restrictions "have driven some doctors out of the abortion business so today 87 percent of U.S. counties have no abortion provider." CBS led by recalling the murder five years ago of an abortion provider before David Axelrod concluded the right to abortion is hanging in "tenuous" balance since "Roe v. Wade is just one Supreme Court... continue reading
1. Jennings Delivers Saddam Spin, "Encouraged" by U.S. Death Anchoring from Baghdad, Peter Jennings delivered a Saddam Hussein-friendly spin, such as how Hussein "will undoubtedly be encouraged by the latest violence against Americans in next-door Kuwait." He decided that "when Saddam Hussein looks out from here, he also sees many of America's allies saying that President Bush is in too much of a hurry to go to war." Jennings also enthused over how he saw "several hundred artists and writers walking through the streets of Baghdad to say thank you to Saddam Hussein. He had just increased their monthly financial... continue reading
1. CBS Showcases Diversity & Strength of "Peace" Marchers Add CBS to the list of networks whitewashing Saturday's "peace" marches by ignoring the far-left agenda of those behind the protests and focusing on how marchers represented a cross-section of America. "Young, old, veterans and veteran activists united in the effort to stop the war before it starts," trumpeted CBS's Joie Chen. From San Francisco, John Blackstone highlighted a young boy who came with his father as Blackstone admired how "the crowd seemed to span the generations, a multitude that reminded" one protester "of the anti-war movement's glory days." Blackstone, however,... continue reading
1. "Peace" Marchers: "Republicans," "Soccer Moms" & "Grandparents" "Peace march" whitewash. Ignoring the radical agenda of organizers, the networks painted attendees as sympathetically as possible, stressing how they were made up of "grandparents," "honor students," "soccer moms" and "Republicans." CNN highlighted an elderly Nazi survivor who wants to "stop more suffering." ABC's description: "Black and white, Democrat and Republican, young and old." MSNBC: "A growing number of people are speaking out against a war with Iraq: Students, grandparents, businessmen..." 2. Whitewashing Radical Agenda of Organizers What the media whitewashed. The Web site for the rally organizer, ANSWER (Act Now to... continue reading
1. ABC Showcases Anti-Bush "Daisy" Ad, But in 2000... A little over two years ago ABC's World News Tonight fretted over how an anti-Gore ad modeled after the 1964 anti-Goldwater "daisy" ad had "been seen by millions for free and without much analysis" and condemned its content, but on Thursday night with a left-wing group out with a new "daisy"-like countdown to nuclear annihilation ad against President Bush's Iraq policy, while Peter Jennings noted how "its creators are probably...hoping for a lot of free publicity," ABC proceeded to give it and use the ad to marvel at how "the anti-war... continue reading
1. "Conservatives" Against "Affirmative Action" The broadcast network on Wednesday night adopted the liberal definition of "affirmative action" as each insisted Bush had come out against it. ABC's Peter Jennings announced, "the President joins a lawsuit against affirmative action." Both CBS and NBC stressed how "conservatives" argued for opposing the Michigan scheme while "others" defended it. NBC's David Gregory raised the possibility that the Bush White House does not practice what it preaches in hiring. Tom Brokaw decided it was relevant to point out how, "coincidentally, the President's statement came on the birth date of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior."... continue reading