On Wednesday, the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley was the lone network evening newscast to cover the confirmation hearings of Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but though CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes featured numerous soundbites from Senate Republicans questioning Lynch, she failed to include how Lynch stated her support for allowing people to seek work in the United States, regardless of their legal status. Overall, the topic of illegal immigration came up only twice in Cordes’s 2-minute-and-five-second story with the first being how the GOP “did not like her take on the president's... continue reading
During the daily White House press briefing on Wednesday, Deputy Spokesman Eric Schultz had an exchange with ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl where he declined to label the Taliban as a terrorist organization, instead insisting it's “an armed insurgency.” In an admission that surely would be covered if it were uttered by a spokesman for a Republican President, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC all failed to cover this story during their Wednesday evening newscasts. The exchange began when Karl pressed Schultz on whether the possible hostage/prisoner exchange between Jordan and the terrorist group ISIS... continue reading
Filling in for John Heilemann on the Monday edition of Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect , Campbell Brown took a shot at House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for “whining about President Obama” in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s 60 Minutes . Following a clip from the interview, Brown first credited Boehner for “holding a very diverse, you know, House together,” but she then quickly reversed course and made this swipe at Boehner and McConnell: “[I]n terms of being messengers for the party right now, it sounds a lot like whining.” Adding a few... continue reading
Veteran journalist Charlie Rose is an anchor on the state-sponsored PBS. On Wednesday, Rose chided Republican Governor Mike Pence for starting a "state-run news service." Rose, who also co-hosts CBS This Morning , chuckled as he related, "Indiana Governor Mike Pence is starting a state-run news service funded by taxpayer money." (As a side note, PBS received about $445 million in taxpayer money in 2012.) Rose highlighted, "Critics say Pence is pushing his agenda by pretending the service is independent news." Co-host Norah O'Donnell also mocked, "Hmm. What country does that remind me of?" On July 17, 2014 , Rose... continue reading
After all three network evening newscasts ignored President Obama dropping his controversial plan to tax 529 college savings accounts on Tuesday, only Wednesday's CBS This Morning noticed the development, giving it a mere seventeen seconds. Neither NBC's Today nor ABC's Good Morning America covered the White House reversal. This Morning co-host Norah O'Donnell informed viewers: " The Wall Street Journal says President Obama is dropping his proposal to raise taxes on 529 college savings accounts. His plan had faced opposition from Republican House John Boehner and top Democrats. They said it would hurt the middle class. Instead The White House... continue reading
Tuesday marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and, naturally, the event attracted plenty of media coverage. In addition to each of the three major networks devoting segments to it on their evening newscasts, the Associated Press , The New York Times , and The Washington Post and published stories on the topic. Over on cable, CNN covered it multiple times throughout the day for a total of 10 minutes and 27 seconds worth of airtime. At the other end of the coverage spectrum, MSNBC pathetically made no mention of the occasion or the ceremony that took place... continue reading
In a reversal of a key proposal from his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama moved on Tuesday to drop the plan to tax 529 college-savings accounts after outcry from members of both parties and a direct appeal on Air Force One from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). When it came to the networks covering this backtracking by the President on this deeply unpopular idea that even ultra liberals like Pelosi and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) opposed, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC made no mention of it during their Tuesday evening newscasts. Meanwhile, the... continue reading
On Tuesday afternoon, Brendan Bordelon of National Review Online (NRO) reported on the latest leaked email from Al Jazeera English that showed executive Carlos van Meek telling employees not to sure the terms “extremist,” “Islamist,” “militant,” and “terrorist” in their news coverage to “avoid characterizing people.” Van Meek’s email came following a deadly shooting earlier in the day at a hotel in Libya that killed at least eight (including one American). Writing to the outlet’s New York and Washington newsrooms, van Meek felt that it was pertinent to “bring to your attention some key words that have a tendency of... continue reading
Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday, Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein worried that the Clinton political machine would be unable to compete with funding from Charles and David Koch during the 2016 presidential campaign: "I mean, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton will be scratching lotto tickets, I think, for the next week just trying to catch up with the $889 million that the Koch brothers are going to put in here." Stein was reacting to a Washington Post article detailing how much money the conservative benefactors were planning to spend in the next election cycle. He proclaimed: "Just put... continue reading
Since late January of 2012, the Washington Examiner ’s Paul Bedard has once a week featured a “ Mainstream Media Scream ” selection in his “ Washington Secrets ” column. For each pick, usually posted online on Monday, I provide an explanation and recommend a “scream” rating (scale of one to five). This post contains all the “Mainstream Media Screams” for 2014 and January of 2015. As of February 2015, “Mainstream Media Screams” are no longer being posted on MRC.org. They are now on the MRC's NewsBusters blog. Read them here . (“Mainstream Media Screams” for June 17, 2013 through... continue reading