BiasAlerts

Two network anchors, 24 hours apart, cued up House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to despair from the left how the debt ceiling deal, presumably because of some future potential slight reductions in the projected rate of spending increases, will 'hurt real people' as NBC's Brian Williams asked her to confirm her 'fear' that 'the poor are gonna get hurt and the rich are gonna get by without harm.' On Monday's World News , ABC's Diane Sawyer inquired: 'You think this is really going to hurt real people?' (Video below, link to MP3 audio here .) During Sunday's Dateline , 'Taking... continue reading

An unhinged Chris Matthews on Monday decried the debt ceiling deal negotiated in Congress, attacking Tea Party Republicans as a group of baby-kidnapping terrorists. He also bizarrely described the compromise as "political polygamy." Talking to Jonathan Chait of the New Republic, Matthews excoriated, "Why did [Obama] let this develop for six months...this drum roll of the Republicans saying, 'We've got the baby. You don't get the baby back unless you pay us?' Why do you let the other side have the baby, to use kidnapping terms ?" [WMV video here . MP3 audio here .] In an earlier segment, Matthews... continue reading

After asking Tea Party favorite Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to discard his talking points and be frank on the debt ceiling issue, CNN's Don Lemon repeatedly interrupted the Senator, and even lectured him and threw some Democratic talking points at him. Lemon interviewed Paul on Saturday's 5 p.m. EDT edition of CNN Newsroom. "At this point though, and can we do this – let's do this interview without talking points, okay, let's just talk to each other," Lemon curtly told the senator at the outset. But then he asked a pointed question which made Paul raise his eyebrows. [Video below.]... continue reading

On Monday's Early Show, CBS slanted towards supporters of a new Obama administration mandate which requires private insurance companies to cover contraception as part of women's "preventative services." Anchor Chris Wragge labeled the development " good news ," while correspondent Michelle Miller failed to include sound bites from opponents during her report on the new regulation. After using his "good news" phrase, Wragge trumpeted the " historic new women's health guidelines " during his introduction for Miller's report at the bottom of the 7 am Eastern hour. The correspondent herself picked up where the anchor left off when she stated... continue reading

In a discussion with Meet the Press host David Gregory and Tom Brokaw on Monday's NBC Today about the debt ceiling deal, co-host Ann Curry contemptuously wondered: "...do you think that members of the Tea Party Caucus know how to govern or are they – do they understand that standing up for a cause is not the same as governing?" [ Audio available here ] Interestingly, Brokaw rejected Curry's argument: "Well, I don't think that you can separate the two. The fact is that they were elected to pursue the goals that they took before their constituents and said, 'This... continue reading

In an interview with White House advisor David Plouffe on Monday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer worried about liberals being unhappy with the proposal deal on the debt ceiling: "So did the President compromise here, David, or did he give in simply so that he wouldn't be labeled as the president who was on duty as the nation defaulted on its financial obligations?" Plouffe defended the plan: "Now, listen, you're obviously seeing some criticism from my party, you're seeing some criticism from the Republican Party. But what this does is first of all we get significant deficit reduction..." Lauer continued... continue reading

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Monday hit senior White House advisor David Plouffe from the left, highlighting liberal columnist Paul Krugman's complaints about the debt ceiling deal. The morning show also played up a Democratic congressman's attack that the bill is a "Satan sandwich." Quoting from the New York Times' Krugman, Stephanopoulos fretted, " Paul Krugman in the New York Times this morning saying that the President 'had an abject surrender. He says that Obama surrendered last December extending all the Bush tax cuts.' " Reading the lengthy quote, the former Democratic operative turned journalist continued, "'He surrendered in... continue reading

Three noteworthy spins, charges and/or claims made on the Sunday morning interview shows. > ABC's This Week , with 'ALL CUTS, NO TAXES?' on screen : George Stephanopoulos hit White House senior adviser David Plouffe from the left on how 'this enforcement mechanism would not include revenue increases, would be just across the board spending cuts.' He fretted the deal 'all but guarantee that the final product is all spending cuts and not the balanced approach the President wants.' Christiane Amanpour despaired President Obama 'has moved all of the way to the language and the ideals that the Republicans espouse.'... continue reading

The broadcast network evening newscasts on Friday night noted the very anemic second quarter GDP growth rate at 1.3 percent, but instead of stressing how it showed the weak economic state well before the debt ceiling showdown, they submerged it into warnings of how the delay in getting a deal is hurting the economy. On ABC's World News , Bianna Golodryga, aka Mrs. Peter Orszag , the wife of Obama's former OMB Director, helped her husband's ex-employer by failing to even mention the worst news of the day: the revision of the first quarter GDP down to a flat line... continue reading

CNN's American Morning co-hosts tried to lecture those opposed to voting to raise the debt ceiling on the error of their ways on Friday morning. When a guest GOP congressman tried to explain why he was voting no, and complained of being "vilified" for his stance, Romans showed him no mercy. The American Morning co-host accused the dissenting Republicans who voted "no" to Boehner's plan Thursday night of holding the debt ceiling "hostage" to enacting bigger spending cuts. She made sure to emphasize that Tea Partiers and Republicans could be blamed if the economy dives. [Video below.] "I'll tell you... continue reading