BiasAlerts

The Big Three networks all recognized the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's historic orbital spaceflight on their evening newscasts on Monday. Both NBC and CBS highlighted how there's " no certainty when the U.S. will launch astronauts again , [and] Glenn worries America may be losing its edge ." But the networks failed to mention that President Obama put the decades-old endeavor in limbo, which led to the unemployment of thousands of technicians. Brian Williams concluded his report on NBC Nightly News by noting how "it irks Senator Glenn that the manned space program is now idle. The Shuttle program... continue reading

Republicans are deceitfully playing with words to avoid being slammed as homophobes, racists, and bigots, claimed CNN contributor L.Z. Granderson on Tuesday morning's Newsroom. Anchor Kyra Phillips simply let Granderson air his liberal diatribe without any challenge, and no conservative guest was brought on to respond. Republicans "aren't fighting for Muslims and mosques," said Granderson of their claims of "religious freedom," but simply "fighting for Christianity." Granderson also claimed that candidates hide behind the phrase "family values" to avoid a direct reference to same-sex couples, and thus are able to oppose same-sex marriage without being called homophobes. He added that... continue reading

CNN host Piers Morgan joined comedian David Steinberg in mocking the Republican field on Monday night. On his prime time show, Morgan teed up Steinberg to rip the field as a "ship of fools." On Tuesday morning, the anti-Republican abuse continued on CNN as Muslim comedian Dean Obeidallah quipped that "There are people in the Taliban who would call Rick Santorum a radical conservative. I'm not even kidding." While CNN anchors other than Morgan may not be ridiculing Republican candidates, they are certainly willing to host comedians and liberal columnists who are up to the task. During Tuesday morning's Newsroom,... continue reading

Charlie Rose sparred again with Newt Gingrich on Tuesday's CBS This Morning, hounding the former House Speaker for apparently casting aspersions on President Obama's patriotism: " By saying ... that the President of the United States is running over the Constitution ... you seem to be saying that the President is not patriotic. You seem to be questioning [his] patriotism " [audio available here ]. During his two previous interviews of Gingrich on the morning newscast, Rose threw the race card at the Republican for a supposedly insensitive remark about food stamps, and hammered him over prominent conservatives opposing his... continue reading

At the top of Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry admonished Rick Santorum for accurately describing President Obama's religious history: "Fanning the flames. Rick Santorum takes a new shot at President Obama's faith by mentioning his controversial former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright." In a later report, correspondent Peter Alexander announced: "Rick Santorum isn't backing down from what some viewed as a shot this weekend at the President's faith.... On Fox News, Santorum may have fanned the flames, when he again insisted he was not questioning the President's Christianity." A clip of Santorum's supposed "shot" followed: "[Obama] went to Reverend Wright's... continue reading

Putting a question to MSNBC's Chris Matthews at the end of a President's Day panel discussion at Ford's Theater on Monday, I challenged him about the American people growing cynical of media coverage, the left-wing Harball host responded by proclaiming that his own program was "a great positive thing for American civilization." The largely liberal audience applauded the notion. [ Listen to the audio ] Matthews suggested his comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek: "What do you expect me to say? That's what I do every day." However, moments earlier he asserted: "I think what I do every night and the people... continue reading

Chris Matthews appeared at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C., Monday night, for a President's Day panel and sneered that Catholics are attracting bigots. While talking about Richard Nixon, the so-called Southern Strategy and racism, the Hardball host berated: "If you're really anti-gay, you become a Catholic now." At a question and answer session after the event, I confronted him about the quote and asked him if he wished to "expand or apologize." He spat back, "I'm saying that some people who are bigoted against gay people have changed religions. Yes. You got it right. " [MP3 audio here .] Matthews... continue reading

On Sunday's Face the Nation, CBS's Bob Schieffer interrogated Rick Santorum over his offensive against President Obama, particularly over the Republican candidate's "theology" attack on the President's environmental policies. Schieffer seemed to channel a certain former MSNBC anchor when he asked, " I've got to ask you, what in the world were you talking about, sir? " [audio clips available here ] The anchor led his program with an outline of his criticism of Santorum, focusing on three recent comments from the GOP presidential candidate: " Did you hear what Rick Santorum said? ...In one twenty-four-hour-period, he questioned the President's... continue reading

The Washington Post's "conservative" blogger is now telling Republicans to shut up and move on from their complaints of a liberal media double standard. The Post's Jennifer Rubin appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources on Sunday to tell all the GOP candidates to "grow up." "These candidates should grow up, get their message out," she ranted. The phoney-conservative emphasized that conservative candidates have grown "obsessed" over the media's liberal treatment. She also hit candidate Rick Santorum's positions as "really far outside even the mainstream of the Republican Party" and defended the media's scrutiny of him as "very fair game." Even CNN's... continue reading

Appearing on Sunday's NBC Today, Meet the Press host David Gregory recited Obama campaign talking points perfectly as he predicted: "...Well, he's going to raise plenty of money.... even if people are disappointed with the President, they're going to focus on the alternative. They're going to say, 'Do you really want to hand it over to Republicans?' I think Democrats will be plenty energized..." That response was prompted by co-host Jenna Wolfe helpfully touting Obama's fundraising numbers, emphasizing small-dollar donors: "...they raised over $29 million in January for their re-election. Ninety-eight percent of those donations were $250 or less. What... continue reading