Nearly four years ago, the media establishment swiftly and baselessly linked the Tea Party to the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. But after this weekend’s murder of two New York City police officers, by a gunman who used the hashtag #ShootThePolice, there was no rush at ABC, CBS or NBC to condemn anti-police protesters who have employed the chant: “What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want them? Now.” National Review ’s Jonah Goldberg highlighted the outrageous double standard on Sunday’s MediaBuzz on the Fox News Channel: JONAH GOLDBERG: “You know, we talk about the disconnectioning coverage... continue reading
During the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on Thursday, CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reported on the continued response from members of Congress to the move by President Obama to normalize relations with Cuba, but chose to exclusively play up the split among those in the Republican Party on the issue. Cordes first focused on the many Republicans against the President’s decision, with soundbites from Republican Senators Marco Rubio (Fla.) and John McCain (Ariz.) and Congresswoman Ilena Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), but then made a point of pointing out that not all Republicans feel the same way. [MP3 audio here... continue reading
In addition to its slanted coverage of the news regarding Cuba, NBC Nightly News on Thursday offered up a biased segment against the growing transportation company Uber by using two incidents involving its drivers to conclude that Uber’s currently experiencing “a rough ride” over “increasing concerns” regarding safety. NBC News correspondent Janet Shamlian only interviewed two individuals during her entire two-minute-and-19-second segment, with both being firmly against Uber and using the company as well. [MP3 audio here ; Video below] In a tease to Shamlian’s segment, Brian Williams hyped: “A rough ride for the company attempting to transform the way... continue reading
On Thursday night, NBC continued to shower praise in the direction of President Barack Obama’s move to normalize relations with the communist country of Cuba and brush off any criticism of the policy shift. NBC Nightly News had two additional segments on Cuba that, with a tease in the program’s opening, totaled 5 minutes and 12 seconds, but only 28 seconds of that involved mentioning those against the move. [MP3 audio here ; Video below] Leading the way in the first segment was chief foreign affairs correspondent and MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell, who began by spotlighting one Cuban-American family where... continue reading
World News anchor David Muir on Wednesday scored an exclusive interview with Barack Obama to talk about normalizing relations with Cuba. While Muir offered a couple pointed questions about the poor human rights record of the communist nation, he mostly lobbed softballs. One query seemed as though it was going in a challenging direction. Muir began, "The State Department's list, the state sponsors of terror. Cuba is on that list....It shares a space with Iran and with Syria on the list." But then the anchor lost his nerve and switched to a procedural conclusion: "How soon do you see Cuba... continue reading
On Wednesday, David Gergen ranked a supposed foreign policy accomplishment of President Obama higher than the killing of Osama bin Laden during CNN's special coverage of the Democrat's "historic..decision to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba," as anchor Erin Burnett put it. Gergen contended that " ultimately, he's going to be judged very favorably by history – not by conservatives today – but by history on climate change. It probably is the most significant thing he's done – the breakthrough he had with China ." [ video below ] The political analyst added that if Obama " can get the... continue reading
During the five minutes of coverage that Thursday's NBC Today provided on President Obama reopening diplomatic relations with Cuba, only twenty-three seconds was devoted to critics of the controversial move. In addition, the only opponent featured was Republican Senator Marco Rubio, despite Democratic Senator Robert Menendez equally condemning the presidential action . At the top of the show, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: "New era. The President's surprise move to restore U.S. relations with Cuba after fifty years of hostility. A history-making decision being praised by some, criticized by others." Such a tease would suggest equal time to both sides on... continue reading
The journalists of Good Morning America on Thursday cheered Barack Obama's efforts to "help thaw a Cold War" and offered little in the way of criticism for the President's actions to normalize relations with Cuba. Reporter Jim Avila hyped, "Well soon many more Americans will be able to hop a plane to Havana, take a tour, even legally buy one of those famous cigars." The words "human rights" were not uttered until the 8am hour. Co-host George Stephanopoulos enthused over "the American held prisoner in Havana whose dramatic release helped thaw a Cold War." Robin Roberts touted, "Now to that... continue reading
On Thursday, CBS This Morning interviewed Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and supporter of President Obama, to discuss whether or not the president made the right call in normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba. Despite Powell being an open supporter of Obama, CBS ignored his close ties to the president. Instead, co-host Charlie Rose introduced him by noting how “President George W. Bush supported the economic embargo on Cuba, so did the Secretary of State during his first term, Colin Powell. The retired Army General is with us from Washington.” Rose began the interview by asking the... continue reading
In the lead editorial for Thursday’s paper, The Washington Post blasted President Barack Obama’s decision to move toward normalized relations with the communist regime in Cuba as “naive” in awarding “an undeserved bailout” and “new lease on life” to “a 50-year-old failed regime.” From start to finish, the 624 word editorial (according to wordcounter.net) took the President’s rationale point by point, refuting each of them and highlighting the brutal regime’s track record. It began by noting how, recently, “the outlook for the Castro regime in Cuba was growing steadily darker” as “[t]he modest reforms it adopted in recent years to... continue reading