BiasAlerts

NBC News correspondent Lisa Myers admitted to the media’s infatuation with President Obama on Wednesday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC, claiming the recent scandals plaguing the administration have turned the press, “ one of the president’s most important constituencies ,” against him. She also defended the president over the administration’s seizure of Associated Press phone records. " Well, my hunch is that he probably did not know, " the veteran reporter offered. Myers’s comments came after panelist Mike Barnicle asked her whether President Obama knew of “this massive electronic blanket” that has many in the media, even the consistently pro-Obama New... continue reading

The media furor that began Monday night over the Justice Department obtaining two months of phone records from the Associated Press marks the first time in 335 days that any of the Big Three evening newscasts have even mentioned the existence of two criminal investigations into whether White House or other national security officials leaked sensitive secrets, perhaps to politically benefit Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. This week’s coverage has generally referred to how the FBI is investigating “who leaked details of a highly-classified effort to foil a terror plot,” as NBC’s Pete Williams put it on Tuesday’s Today show. On... continue reading

ABC and NBC led their morning shows on Tuesday with nearly 10 minutes of "breaking news" coverage of Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy. This celebrity-driven story was apparently deemed more important than abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell being found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, as Good Morning America and Today combined devoted just 38 seconds to the Gosnell trial [audio clips of Jolie coverage available here ; video below ]. Altogether, the ABC and NBC morning newscasts aired 19 minutes and 3 seconds of coverage on Jolie. Tuesday's CBS This Morning waited 12 minutes to cover the Hollywood news item,... continue reading

As she appeared on Monday's All In with Chris Hayes show, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry described the conservative "red" parts of her home state of Lousiana as "not thinking about or caring about the 10-year-old children in my neighborhood who are shot while walking down the street" as she and host Chris Hayes discussed a recent mass shooting at a parade in New Orleans and advocated more gun control. After Hayes described two distinct perspectives on guns as being the background of people grew up hunting and the point of view of people who have been shot, Harris-Perry added: But... continue reading

Liberal journalists Chris Matthews and Jonathan Alter conducted a freak out session on Tuesday. Citing the growing IRS, Libya and Associated Press scandals, Matthews ranted that Barack Obama is a "ship with the engine off." Sending up the warnings, the Hardball anchor lamented, "[Obama is] vulnerable . And that is obvious to everyone this side of the White House gates." In an unintentionally hilarious moment, former Newsweek journalist Jonathan Alter dismissed the support team the President has in the White House: " A lot of them are young. Some of them are very smart and talented. But they're all in... continue reading

In an interview with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday's NBC Today , co-host Matt Lauer tried to dismiss the growing Benghazi scandal: "Do you think that the administration has answered enough questions on it? Do you think it's possible that some Republicans are trying to use this to discredit Hillary Clinton in case she decides to run for president in 2016?" [ Listen to the audio ] Rumsfeld replied: "No. I think that's a side – that's the sideshow, is the Hillary Clinton piece of it. No, the first problem was if you're going to put people at... continue reading

On Monday's PoliticsNation , MSNBC host Al Sharpton devoted a short segment to the guilty verdict against Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, but he ended up warning that conservatives would create more Gosnell cases if they restrict abortion. After noting some of the grisly details of the murder case, Sharpton turned his attention to attacking conservatives and defending legal abortion: Of course some of the right are trying to use this horrific case to attack all abortion rights, to claim women shouldn't be able to make their own choices about medical procedures that are safe and legal. In fact, House... continue reading

While the Big Three (ABC, CBS and NBC) networks have all done stories on the Obama administration's seizure of Associated Press (AP) reporters phone records, what is striking is their reluctance to attach Barack Obama's name to the controversy. In seven total stories aired on their evening and morning shows, since the story broke on Monday afternoon, Obama's name was used only six times. Reporters were much more likely to use the generic term "government." For example, CBS's Bob Orr on Wednesday's This Morning described the controversy this way: "The government just simply came in, got the subpoenas, took the... continue reading

While sparring with Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday, George Stephanopoulos channeled his inner Hillary Clinton on the issue of the terrorist attack in Benghazi. On the subject of who, specifically, told United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to use faulty talking points, the Good Morning America co-anchor asserted, " Well, what difference will that make if the White House has already put out the talking points and said that they were written by the CIA with the input of other agencies? " [MP3 audio here. ] In comparison, on January 23, 2013, while testifying in front of Congress about Libya, Hillary Clinton... continue reading

While Monday's NBC Nightly News was content to accept President Obama labeling the Benghazi scandal as a "political circus" worthy of ridicule, on Fox News Channel's Special Report , chief Washington correspondent James Rosen was actually being a journalist and fact-checking the commander-in-chief's deceptive assertions on the controversy. Introducing the Nightly News report on Obama attempting to downplay the scandal during a midday press conference, anchor Brian Williams announced: "...the President took the opportunity to hit back hard over accusations of some sort of a cover-up, saying that defies logic." Chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd proceeded to tee up... continue reading