Touting new recommendations from an Institute of Medicine panel on obesity on Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, science correspondent Robert Bazell proclaimed to viewers: "...a sea change in how we p erceive obesity. No longer a question of individual responsibility, but a need to change what's called an 'obesity-promoting environment.' Calling on corporations, government and individuals to act." At the top of the broadcast, anchor Brian Williams sounded the alarm: "Weight of the nation. An American health crisis out of control, and tonight a reality check on what it might take to turn things around." Later teasing the upcoming story, he... continue reading
ABC’s Good Morning America treated last night’s loss of long-time serving Republican Senator Richard Lugar, to the more conservative Tea Party favorite Richard Mourdock, as a sad sign of the end of bi-partisanship. In the 7am half-hour of Wednesday’s show, ABC’s Josh Elliott declared Lugar’s loss was an “earthquake of great degree” and eulogized Lugar as a senator who was “well-known for his willingness to reach across party lines.” Later on in the 8am half-hour Elliott called Lugar’s loss “a massive political headline” as he reported: “A long time voice of bipartisanship...has been defeated.” CNN’s Erin Burnett, on Tuesday night’s... continue reading
Good Morning America's Martha Raddatz on Wednesday turned the program into something out of Entertainment Tonight , fawning over the "cool," popular Hillary Clinton who "doesn't care what people think." Former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos enthused, "The Secretary of State has been sporting a new look these days. No makeup. No contacts. No blowouts." Stephanopoulos, who previously worked for Mrs. Clinton's husband when he was in the White House, introduced the puff piece this way: "She is doing what she wants how she wants and seems to be having a great time doing it." As though she were... continue reading
As Matt Lauer went after Mitt Romney over comments about the auto bailout on Wednesday's NBC Today, conservative radio host Laura Ingraham took the morning show host and his colleagues to task: "Matt, as much as the Democrats, and maybe even you at times, want to turn this into a referendum on Romney, this is Romney running against an incumbent president who has a record that the media ought to start talking about and that the media also wants to avoid." [ Listen to the audio ] Moments later, Ingraham mocked NBC's sycophantic promotion of Obama: "This year the razzle-dazzle... continue reading
When a lone attendee at a Mitt Romney rally said President Obama should be tried for treason, Romney ignored and later disagreed with the statement. CNN correspondent Jim Acosta played up the incident big time on Tuesday's The Situation Room, using it as an example of the Romney campaign being "straight off script." Of course, CNN is helping the Romney campaign to be "off script" by hammering them for a non-story. "I don't correct all the questions that get asked at me," Romney explained to a reporter after the event, and added that he "obviously" didn't agree with the woman... continue reading
After Vice President Joe Biden voiced his support of same-sex marriage over the weekend, CNN jumped all over the news on Monday and expectantly wondered if President Obama would follow suit. In fact, prime-time host Piers Morgan went so far as to admire the "brave Catholic" Biden for dissenting from Church teaching on the issue. During every hour save one from 5 a.m. all the way through 10 p.m. on Monday, CNN hyped that Obama administration officials had come out in support of same-sex marriage. They hosted the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force for a... continue reading
Bill Plante forwarded the Obama administration's spin on Tuesday's CBS This Morning concerning Vice President Joe Biden's support for same-sex "marriage." Plante omitted any clips for conservatives or even moderate Democrats during his report, and mentioned social conservatives' opposition only in passing. While Obama officials expressed support for same-sex "marriage" in the piece, no leftist critics of Obama's apparent opposition were included. The CBS program was the only Big Three morning newscast on Tuesday that reported on the controversy over the Vice President's recent statement on the issue, as well as the ballot initiative in North Carolina that would codify... continue reading
Following Vice President Biden praising the NBC sitcom Will & Grace for changing attitudes toward homosexuality on Sunday's Meet the Press, on Monday's Today, co-host Ann Curry made a similar declaration: "...there weren't a lot of gay role models on television....Now, there – this is, we're in the wake of Will and Grace, you know, we've seen Glee on television..." [ Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump ] Curry made the observation while talking to openly gay Bravo network executive and talk show host Andy Cohen detailing his coming-out story in a new memoir. Noting... continue reading
ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper on Monday grilled the White House press secretary over Barack Obama's position on gay marriage and whether he will change his stance after the 2012 election. Tapper dismissed the President's 17 month "evolution" on the topic as "cynical." Yet, the ABC network skipped any coverage of his questions. After suggesting that Obama's "likely future" would be support for gay marriage, Tapper quizzed, "... Why not just come out and say it and let voters decide? It seems — it seems cynical to hide this until after the election ." ABC ignored Tapper's interrogation on Monday's... continue reading
Bill Keller, former executive editor of the New York Times, devoted his latest Sunday Review column on the evil that is the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News: " Murdoch’s Pride Is America’s Poison ." (Times Watch has documented the long anti-Fox, anti-Murdoch obsession of both Keller and Howell Raines, another former executive editor, which recently culminated in the paper's heavy front-page coverage of Murdoch's travails in Britain.) On Sunday, Keller used news of three upcoming books about Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes to bash the Fox News Channel. After describing the unfolding "crisis" around Rupert Murdoch in Britain, he made his... continue reading