On Wednesday's AC360 on CNN, ABC's Ashleigh Banfield punted on Nir Rosen's offensive Tweets against CBS's Lara Logan and tried to explain them away: " We're using a lot of electronics to get information out as fast as we can nowadays before we can really digest the ramifications of what we say ... And so, I'm certainly not going to cast aspersions on Mr. Rosen. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone ." Anchor Anderson Cooper turned to Banfield and Salon.com's Joan Walsh immediately after playing his taped interview with Rosen during the 10 pm Eastern hour... continue reading
The same networks that assailed the allegedly extreme invective from the Tea Party have, thus far, not found anything interesting about signs implying that Scott Walker, Wisconsin's Republican governor, is a Nazi or a dictator in the style of Hosni Mubarak. On Thursday's newscasts and Friday's Today, Good Morning America and the Early Show, the extreme rhetoric of some of the signs went unremarked. Some of the images, which included pictures of Walker as Adolf Hitler and signs that read "Scott Mubarak: Get Out," were seen briefly during crowd shots. But, none of the programs raised any objections to the... continue reading
On Friday's CBS Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge attempted to portray Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's efforts to curb costly benefits for public sector unions in his state as purely political: "Your teachers union, which votes Democratic...hit very hard. Yet your police, state trooper, firemen unions, who all supported and endorsed you, did not get touched in any of this. Why is that?" [ Audio available here ] In the live interview, Walker quickly dismantled the entire premise of Wragge's attack: "Chris that actually is not true. There are 314 fire and police unions in the state. Four of them endorsed... continue reading
Good Morning America on Friday spun the protests in Wisconsin from the perspective of the unions and Democratic lawmakers who oppose Republican efforts to reform collective bargaining. Co-host George Stephanopoulos even interviewed a Democratic lawmaker from a top secret location outside the state. Correspondent Chris Bury's piece on the protest featured five clips of those protesting the efforts by Republican Governor Scott Walker to make government employees contribute to their retirement plans. He allowed just one in support. The reporter narrated, " Last night, more public workers, including these firemen, poured into the capitol. Some families camping out overnight, in... continue reading
ABC on Thursday night championed a "mutiny in America" by public employees in Wisconsin whom NBC's Brian Williams trumpeted for "rising up and saying no to some of the most extreme cuts in the nation." ABC's Diane Sawyer teased: "Tonight on World News , a mutiny in America. Public workers take to the streets as governors try to cut their pay and perks." Sawyer framed coverage from the grievance of the unionized workers: Today, we saw America's money trouble meet a reality, a human reality, as teachers, nurses, tens of thousands of state workers took to the streets in this... continue reading
Disgraced journalist Nir Rosen claimed on Wednesday's Anderson Cooper 360 that he didn't know Lara Logan was sexually assaulted when she was attacked by protesters in Egypt. However, Rosen's own Tweets, which he subsequently deleted, revealed that he indeed know about the nature of the attack and tried to downplay it: " Look, she was probably groped like thousands of other women ." CNN anchor Anderson Cooper aired his taped interview with the anti-war journalist during the 10 pm Eastern hour of his program. Cooper raised how Rosen brought the CNN personality into his attacks on Logan: COOPER: You said:... continue reading
The network morning shows on Thursday failed to find controversy in union protests from Wisconsin, ignoring the signs comparing Scott Walker, the state's Republican governor, to the Taliban, the Nazis and Hitler. Fox News, on the other hand, highlighted the attacks on "Mullah Walker." Wisconsin radio talk show host Vicki McKenna appeared on Your World With Neil Cavuto to discuss the battle over whether state employees will have to pay more for their pension and health care. Citing the attacks by liberals, she informed, " I have been called the Taliban, Hitler...I mean, anything that involves dictator, tyrants or genocide,... continue reading
On Thursday's CBS Early Show, senior White House correspondent Bill Plante seized on a rare instance in which the Obama administration and conservative members of Congress happened to agree on a single budget cut: "It's not very often that the Obama administration finds itself on the same side as Tea Party Republicans when it comes to spending." The spending in question was funding for the production of jet engines for F-35 fighter aircraft. As Plante described it: "Defense Secretary Gates and the President say it's not necessary. And so do fiscal conservatives." He also noted that cancelling the project was... continue reading
On Morning Joe on Wednesday, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell questioned the entire debate over which government spending programs to slash, asking why the President and Congress are even considering cutting spending in the first place. "I think we've lost a first principle here," he remarked of the situation. What is this "first principle" O'Donnell speaks of? "Why are we cutting spending in a recession?" he asked. "The recession has not included a jobs recovery yet. I don't think it makes any sense for the government to be downsizing while we don't yet have the jobs recovery." So apparently O'Donnell thinks that... continue reading
Interviewing Donald Trump on Thursday's Jansing & Co., MSNBC's Chris Jansing put on her Democratic strategist hat to press the real estate mogul with liberal talking points. After Trump, responding to Jansing's question about what he would do to fix the economy, suggested cutting taxes to spur economic growth, the host of Jansing & Co. groused: "A lot of people sitting out there, with all due respect, saying spoken like a true businessman but not about the little guy. Tax breaks for the rich, not for the middle class." Not missing a beat, Trump retorted: "But Chris we're the highest-taxed... continue reading