BiasAlerts

There's a clear double standard on sex allegations for presidential candidates in the New York Times. The Times put 15-year-old anonymous accusations of sexual harassment against GOP candidate Herman Cain on the front page Tuesday morning, in an off-lead story by Jim Rutenberg and Michael Shear written with help from five other reporters: ' Cain Confronts Claim From 90s Of Harassment – He Denies Wrongdoing – Account of Settlement Changes – Reports Rock Campaign .' The prominent story comes just one full day after the allegations first surfaced on Politico Sunday evening. The Times was also eager during Campaign 2008... continue reading

CNN used an "In Depth" segment on Tuesday to emphasize the diversity among protesters at Occupy Seattle, featuring a rapper, a group of "Raging Grannies," drummers and more. The report during the 12 p.m. hour was one of multiple segments that ran on Tuesday afternoon giving viewers a close-up look at the Wall Street protests. The sympathetic look at the protesters can be contrasted with CNN's initial coverage of the Tea Parties in 2009, when reporter Susan Roesgen slammed the Chicago Tea Party as "anti-government" and "anti-CNN" and anchor Anderson Cooper smeared the protesters with an obscene label. "Gives you... continue reading

All three network morning shows on Tuesday led with Herman Cain's response to allegations of sexual harassment in the 1990s and even speculated the scandal could end his candidacy, with NBC Today co-host Ann Curry proclaiming: "Damage control. Herman Cain changes his story.... Will the controversy and his reaction to it derail his presidential campaign?" On ABC's Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos announced: "24-hour flip-flop. Republican front-runner Herman Cain now admits he's been accused of sexual harassment and settlements were paid. His bizarre series of conflicting interviews.... what will it mean for his campaign?" On CBS's The Early Show,... continue reading

CNN's Don Lemon hosted radical leftist and former Communist Party member Angela Davis on Sunday night's Newsroom for what he called a "blast from the past." Davis hit President Obama from the left and praised the Wall Street protests as a continuation of the movement that swept "a black president who identified with a black radical tradition" into office. CNN labeled Davis as a "political activist" but did not report that she was a prominent Communist Party member and twice its vice presidential candidate in the 1980s. As a professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz, she was urged by... continue reading

CBS's Early Show on Monday found yet another excuse to report on Occupy Wall Street, spotlighting the diehard protesters who stayed in Zuccotti Park during a winter storm. While correspondent Debbye Turner Bell noted the $3.4 million spent on police overtime in New York City and the complaints from businesses near the demonstrators' campsite, she didn't play one sound bite from the opposition. Turner Bell first highlighted the " freezing temperatures and record-breaking October snow " over the past weekend in the Northeast and added, "And that does raise the question of how committed are these Occupy Wall Street protesters?... continue reading

While hyping his new book on John F. Kennedy, Friday, Chris Matthews seemed to connect "vicious" "right-wing" "hate" to the assassination of the nation's 35th president. At no time in his Hardball editorial did Matthews admit that the President's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was a pro-communist leftist, who, at one point in his life, defected to the Soviet Union. Speaking of Kennedy's trip to Dallas in November of 1963, Matthews connected, "[Kennedy] was living the life of an American politician, trying to figure things out politically, trying to figure out what was in the water down there in Dallas that... continue reading

All three morning shows on Monday hyped a "bombshell blast" against Herman Cain, playing up a story in Politico charging the Republican presidential candidate with sexual harassment back in the 1990s. ABC's Good Morning America led with the allegations. Co-host George Stephanopoulos, whose former boss, Bill Clinton, repeatedly faced sexual harassment claims, touted, " And this morning, bombshell blast. Major allegations against front-runner Herman Cain. Two former female colleagues accuse him of sexual harassment. " Only NBC's Chuck Todd on Today made sure to specifically note: "And we need to emphasize that NBC News has not independently confirmed these allegations."... continue reading

On NBC's Meet the Press: Press Pass, Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings explained Republican support of Herman Cain to host David Gregory this way: "...they've been accused as being racist and I think when they can vote for a Herman Cain....they feel like, 'Well, you know, I support this guy...it shows that I'm not racist, and I'm supporting him.'" Gregory added: "'Here's a black conservative who's – who's hammering the President the way we are, so there's no racism here.'" He then wondered: "You feel like he offers absolution in that way, to Tea Party Republicans?" Cummings replied: "I think that's... continue reading

CBS's Bob Schieffer unintentionally played the foil to Herman Cain on Sunday's Face the Nation as Schieffer expressed his politically-correct displeasure with Cain's 'downright bizarre' Web video which briefly shows Cain's chief of staff smoking, was flummoxed by Cain's sense of humor ('You also said at one point that you might want to back that fence up with a moat and fill it with alligators. Was that a joke too?') and was baffled by Cain's accurate claim Planned Parenthood was spurred by the eugenics movement's desire to reduce the black population. On the ad, Schieffer decried how 'it sends a... continue reading

CNN put Republican candidate Herman Cain in the spotlight on Friday for his apparent lack of knowledge, accusing him of "dodging" tough questions. Cain had multiple times answered tough foreign policy questions by saying he would need to consider "all of the facts" before making an well thought-out decision. "One of the things that I've always prided myself on is making an informed decision based upon knowing all of the facts," Cain stated during the May 5 Republican presidential debate. Apparently his conservative answers have raised the eyebrows of CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who questioned Cain's knowledge and readiness for the... continue reading