CNN president Jeff Zucker praised MSNBC guest host Michael Smerconish on Tuesday as he announced that the the cable news network would be giving the radio talk show host a weekly program: " We are thrilled to have Michael join CNN...At a time when the cable news landscape has become increasingly polarized, his independence and passion for reasoned dialogue makes him the perfect fit for CNN." Smerconish's record, especially at MSNBC, actually does not point to independence, but liberalism. Here are the worst examples of the talker's slant to the left from the Media Research Center's archives [ video included... continue reading
During her MSNBC show on Monday, host Andrea Mitchell tried to dismiss unflattering revelations about Bill and Hillary Clinton found in a series of documents from a close confidante: "...they're some of the same headlines we read fifteen years ago. The latest 'breaking news,' quote, excerpts from an archive belonging to a close friend of Hillary Clinton, Diane Blair....So what is new here?" [ Listen to the audio ] Mitchell directed that question to Time's Mark Halperin, who sneered: "...what we have so far, because we all need to go down and look at the original documents ourselves, are things... continue reading
At 4:57 on Monday afternoon, MSNBC’s Alex Wagner hyped “ Breaking news from the Treasury Department. The White House has announced a second delay to part of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate. Details on that are next. ” But the next “details” did not come for 12 and a half hours at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning during MSNBC’s Way Too Early broadcast. In between, MSNBC ran 9 full stories on Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) and the “Bridgegate” scandal surrounding his administration. Rachel Maddow, devoted nearly half of her broadcast, 29 minutes to the Christie scandal. The rest of her... continue reading
Nothing to see here, according to ABC's Jon Karl. The Good Morning America correspondent on Tuesday told viewers that the so-called "Hillary papers," a treasure trove of quotes and documents, are a "positive portrayal" and "none of this appears to be politically damaging." [MP3 audio here. ] In contrast, Monday's NBC Nightly News worried that the papers are "brutal" and include "inflammatory excerpts." CBS This Morning on Tuesday also offered a different take than ABC. In fact, co-host Norah O'Donnell hyped the 40 pages of notes and journals by a deceased Clinton confidant this way: "...A powerful Republican calls it... continue reading
Between Monday's network evening newscasts and Tuesday's morning shows, NBC, ABC and CBS failed to provide a single full report on President Obama unilaterally issuing another ObamaCare mandate delay for businesses. In addition, only a single sentence on Tuesday's CBS This Morning described the controversial move as the President "rewriting the law." On Tuesday's NBC Today , Natalie Morales offered a 29-second news brief in which she downplayed the development: "Well, another hiccup this morning on the ObamaCare front." [ Listen to the audio ] Later in the show, co-host Matt Lauer and weatherman Al Roker found time to air... continue reading
On Monday evening’s newscasts, none of the networks recognized the controversy of President Obama possibly acting outside the Constitution to delay ObamaCare’s employer mandate. The President granted a one-year delay for businesses with 50 to 99 employees to provide them with health insurance. It was the second time he had delayed the mandate and thus changed a law passed by Congress, but the networks had only highlighted the controversy the first time. As the MRC reported last July, the networks called the initial employer mandate delay “surprising” and a "significant setback” for Obama. Yet there was none of that tone... continue reading
Instead of treating Hillary Clinton as a possible presidential candidate who must be vetted, NBC framed her as a sympathetic victim of a "brutal" and personal attack on Monday's Nightly News . Andrea Mitchell bemoaned that "inflammatory excerpts" of "once-private papers" of Clinton's close friend were published an "anti-Clinton website" -- the conservative news site Washington Free Beacon . Would NBC say that an "anti-Cruz" website attacked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) if he faced a similar report? [Audio here .] We should note that the author of "The Hillary Papers," Alana Goodman of the Free Beacon, spent some time with... continue reading
Liberal MSNBC anchor Ed Schultz on Monday compared Barack Obama to Abraham Lincoln. In the opening of The Ed Show , an on-screen graphic morphed a picture of the historic Republican president into the modern day Democrat. In the background, an American flag can be seen. [MP3 audio here .] Schultz's show opens are often extremely over-the-top , featuring rock music and movie clips. The cable anchor began by trashing Republicans for not trusting the President on securing the border. After clips of John Boehner and Paul Ryan appeared, the Obama/Lincoln morph appeared. No comparison is too absurd for Schultz... continue reading
Monday's New Day on CNN hyped University of Missouri defensive end Michael Sam " making history " with his revelation that "I'm a football player, and I'm gay." John Berman gushed, "Six foot-two, 255 pounds – a big guy, Michael Sam – strong guy. But you want to see real strength? It's what he's doing right now ." Berman later heralded Sam's revelation as " a landmark moment in confronting homophobia in professional sports." Michaela Pereira played up how "it shows how much his teammates respect him that they didn't reveal this. They allowed him to come out with this,... continue reading
AOL executive Tim Armstrong last week publicly worried about how ObamaCare is impacting his company, but only CBS highlighted this complaint. NBC, instead, focused solely on his "outrageous" comments about how seriously ill babies have impacted AOL's 401k plan. ObamaCare went unmentioned. In a CNBC interview on Friday, Armstrong explained why the company would cut retirement benefits: "As a CEO and as a management team, we have to decide: Do we pass the $7.1 million of Obamacare cost to our employees? Or do we try to eat as much of that as possible and cut benefits?" On Monday's CBS This... continue reading