BiasAlerts

CNN's Carol Costello borrowed from the Democrats on Monday's American Morning and demanded that conservative Grover Norquist explain why he wasn't "exactly what a lot of voters hate" about America's political system. From the start of her interview with Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, Costello bludgeoned him with Democratic talking points. Democrats had attacked Norquist and his "taxpayer protection pledge," in which political signers promise not to vote to raise taxes, for holding up the negotiations on the super committee and causing its failure. "You're not an elected official, yet you're sort of controlling the agenda of... continue reading

The three network morning shows, which have been mostly ignoring crimes at the Occupy Wall Street protests, hyped the "ugly" and "disturbing" "outrage" of students at the University of California, Davis campus being sprayed with pepper. Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos interviewed the school's chancellor and repeatedly berated her about resigning. On NBC's Today, Ann Curry warned, "And also this morning, some disturbing video. Take a look at this, two police officers have been placed on administrative leave for using pepper spray on seated protesters at an Occupy demonstration on the campus of a California university." The Today show, as... continue reading

Good Morning America's Josh Elliott on Monday repeated White House talking points in regard to the booing of Michelle Obama at a NASCAR event on Sunday. News reader Elliott played a clip of the booing and then parroted, " The White House says it was a chaotic event. It was not clear, perhaps, what the boos were specifically for. " The Today show didn't cover the event at all. On the Early Show, Jeff Glor linked, "Some people booed [Michelle Obama and Jill Biden] when they showed up last night. They were on hand to honor military troops and their... continue reading

While grilling Arizona Senator Jon Kyl on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, host David Gregory tried to bolster the argument for tax increases: "The Bush tax cuts...real deficit hawks, many of them happening to be Republicans....said let them all expire for everybody. For the rich, for the middle class. If you really want to get serious about the deficit, let the Bush tax cuts expire for everybody." Here were Gregory's examples of GOP "deficit hawks": "...Alan Greenspan, former Fed chief; Michael Bloomberg, now the independent mayor of New York..." He also touted the expertise of "Democrats like Peter Orszag,... continue reading

Highlighting Grover Norquist's upcoming appearance on 60 Minutes , CBS's Bob Schieffer, on Face the Nation , pointed to the anti-tax hike pledge Norquist asks politicians to sign as 'one of the problems' undermining the failed 'super-committee.' After ruing the pledge with Republican Senator Pat Toomey, a super-committee member, Schieffer later also hit a Democratic Senator, Joe Manchin, from the left on taxes: 'Would you be willing to raise taxes if that's what it takes to get our financial footing?' Manchin: 'You don't need to raise taxes.') Schieffer fretted to Toomey: One of the problems, Senator, is that so many... continue reading

On Friday, CBS's Early Show was the only Big Three morning show to cover Energy Secretary Steven Chu's testimony before a congressional hearing on the $528 million loan to the bankrupt solar panel company Solyndra. NBC previewed the hearing on Thursday's Today show, but avoided it the following morning. ABC's GMA completely ignored it both days. Fill-in news anchor Betty Nguyen gave a 44-second news brief during the 7 am half hour of The Early Show, noting how Secretary Chu " made no apologies for the loan of more than $500 million to Solyndra back in 2009 " during the... continue reading

At the top of Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams scolded Congress for opposing new Obama administration regulations on school lunches: "And out to lunch. Does pizza really look like a vegetable to anybody? The better question may be what does Congress have against healthier lunches for kids?" Correspondent Anne Thompson later began a report on the supposed controversy by showing images of pizza and sarcastically remarking: "Look at this picture. What do you see? In this week's Washington Rorschach test, Congress sees a vegetable." She lamented: "...this week Congress rejected the Department of Agriculture's attempt to make school... continue reading

In a portion of a softball interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton aired on Friday's NBC Today, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd invited her to bash the Republican field of 2012 candidates as he skeptically wondered: "Any of these Republican presidential candidates ready to answer the 3:00 a.m. phone call?" [ Audio available here ] Clinton dodged the question by simply claiming: "Well, you know, I'm out of politics, happy to be out of politics." However, she did use the opportunity to puff up President Obama: "But I am very proud of the leadership that President Obama has... continue reading

Substitute ABC anchor David Muir opened Thursday's World News by hyping 'masses of people taking to the streets here in New York City,' before reporter Dan Harris referenced 'this massive protest march tonight' and 'this big protest.' Yet over on the CBS Evening News, Jim Axelrod noted how though 'organizers promised tens of thousands demonstrators disrupting business as usual here in New York,' they didn't show up: 'Frankly, we've seen a fraction of that number - closer to a thousand.' NBC came in somewhere in between with anchor Brian Williams touting 'thousands on the move' and reporter Mike Taibbi acknowledging... continue reading

Chris Matthews, who has repeatedly denounced the " hateful " Tea Partiers and once compared them to the Muslim Brotherhood , admitted on Thursday that the conservative protesters have "a point." The admission came during an attempt to suggest that both the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street have failings. [MP3 audio here. ] The Hardball host conceded, " I may surprise some people with this, but both of the movements, right as well as left, had a point, a good point to make. Both of them. Government is spending too much money. If you mean it's spending more than... continue reading