BiasAlerts

Borger: Don't Blame Clinton; CNN's Karl Highlighted Congressional Hypocrisy; "Suspected Islamic Militants"?; 3rd Place Donahue; Jennings Special Tanked; Celebrities for Harkin 1) It's not Bill Clinton's fault. Bob Rubin told me so. In this week's U.S. News, Gloria Borger, who also toils for CBS News, ridiculed the attempt by Republicans to blame Bill Clinton for corporate wrongdoing. "'Blaming Clinton is absolutely ridiculous,' ex-Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin told me." She then blamed the GOP's Contract with America, which "was flush with proposals to roll back business regulation and legal accountability." 2) CNN's Jonathan Karl highlighted on NewsNight congressional hypocrisy over condemning... continue reading

Stock Market Fall: Cheney's Fault; Russert vs. Hume on Impact of Sarbanes Bill; Hunt: "Reckless Tax Cut"; Koppel as "Smartass" 1) It's Dick Cheney's fault. He personally caused the stock market decline. At least according to reporter Joie Chen, who declared on Saturday's CBS Evening News: "In Houston, Hartford, Macon Georgia, anxious small investors pin the blame for the falling stock market on Mr. Cheney." Chen then backed her claim with a soundbite from a man who was part or an organized protest, who charged: "The Golden Years are no longer golden because of the Cheneys of the world." 2)... continue reading

CNN's Schneider: Cheney Parallels Agnew; Most Would Vote for Clinton to Solve the Corporate "Mess"; Corporate Media Hypocrisy; James Traficant (?-OH); Reporters Donated to Reich 1) Dick "Spiro" Agnew? CNN's Bill Schneider suggested on Thursday's Inside Politics that "the closest parallel" to Vice President Dick Cheney's troubles "would be the investigation of Spiro Agnew in the '70s." 2) Former Washington Post reporter David Maraniss declared on Hardball that the idea of a "left-wing media" is "such a farce." Maraniss also argued that most people still see Bill Clinton as the savior in the midst of the corporate scandals: "Who would... continue reading

CBS: "Growing Concern" Over Cheney/Halliburton; Bush Wants to "Risk" SS Money in Stocks; Donahue: No Liberals on TV; "High-Chair" for Stephanopoulos; Bravo's Liberal Cable News Network 1) Though FNC highlighted how Business Week reported that Halliburton's accounting was not outside the norm, ABC, CBS and NBC ignored that as each highlighted how President Bush commented Wednesday about Dick Cheney and Halliburton. Dan Rather trumpeted "growing concern about the corporate connections, past and present, of both President Bush and Vice President Cheney." John Roberts stressed how "President Bush was stung again today by more questions about his past stock dealings." 2)... continue reading

Greenspan's Resistance to Regulation Skipped; Bush Like Those Fleeing Titanic Dressed as Women; CNN's Jackson Dissected "Thin Reporting"; Spann "Let Down" by Bush?; Adult Having Sex with Kid "Sweet" to All But Ashcroft? 1) While FNC's Brit Hume highlighted how Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told a Senate Committee on Tuesday that there is no need to rush to pass new corporate regulatory schemes to prevent more corporate abuses since "corporate governance will be just fine for the next two years because everyone has been chastened," the other networks ignored that part of Greenspan's testimony. 2) Just like ABC, CBS and... continue reading

Only Worried About "Weaker" House Bills; More Focus on Cheney; Coulter's Strange GMA Experience; ABC Countered Good Child Poverty Numbers; Brian Williams Now "Unbiased"; Bravo's Cable News Drama 1) With unanimous Senate votes crying out for scrutiny over whether the bills are going too far, the networks didn't air a contrary syllable. Instead, ABC, CBS and NBC only worried about how the Senate bills could be hurt by being merged with the "weaker" House bills. CBS's Bob Orr: "The Senate version must be reconciled with the weaker House package. And with some Republicans and the accounting lobby already promising a... continue reading

Stephanopoulos vs. Snow on Anti-Business; Corporate Misdeeds Occurred in Clinton Years; Learn from Clinton & Inundate; A Fresh "Gorbasm"; Phil Donahue Not Liberal? 1) New York Times headline: "Lieberman's Pro-Business Views May Haunt Him." To ABC's George Stephanopoulos on This Week that demonstrated how Lieberman has "questions to answer about...close ties to corporate America," but to Tony Snow on Fox News Sunday it suggested an "anti-business" media bias. 2) The corporate misdeeds, which liberals and the news media are blaming on the Bush administration, occurred during the Clinton years, Brit Hume pointed out on Fox News Sunday: "How could that... continue reading

Trumpeting McCain, Bush Hypocrisy; But Bush Loans "Completely Legal"; Big Business-Bashing; Even ABC News Surprised by Attention Given Judicial Watch; 20/20 on Media Distortions 1) The CBS Evening News trumpeted the latest instance of Republican Senator John McCain taking on President Bush from the left. ABC's Peter Jennings highlighted how Bush "is accused of indulging as a businessman in the same corporate excesses that he is now condemning." But ABC also ran a story about how an expert believes the loans from 15 years ago "were completely legal and proper." 2) Text of a new Media Reality Check: "Pushing Bush... continue reading

Judicial Watch "Conservative" in Clinton Era, Now "Legal Advocacy Group"; JW Suddenly Newsworthy; Brown Whined About Having to Cover Clinton Scandals; Geraldo: Monica Distracted FBI from Terrorism 1) When it was suing Clinton officials to disclose information Judicial Watch was always tagged as "conservative." But when it sued Vice President Cheney on Wednesday, the networks changed their tune as all described it as a non-ideological "watchdog group," "legal group," "legal activist group" or "legal advocacy group." A rundown of contrasts for ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC. 2) Seeing the widespread media interest in the Judicial Watch lawsuit against Vice President... continue reading

Bush Didn't Go Far Enough on Corporate Regulation; Bush Failed at "Personal Responsibility"; "All White" GOP "Embarrassing"; More on Couric and Reagan as an "Airhead" 1) Bush didn't go far enough in calling for new regulation of corporations to satisfy CBS or NBC which both also followed the Democratic script by devoting stories Tuesday night to recapping Bush's old Harken Energy stock sale. Tom Brokaw maintained: "The timing and the stock's sale -- or the delayed reporting of it -- continue to raise questions." CBS's Wyatt Andrews concluded: "Never mind that Mr. Bush was cleared. His opponents will charge this... continue reading