BiasAlerts

On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, substitute co-host Russ Mitchell announced that "the lame duck session of Congress could hand President Obama yet another victory" with possible passage of the START nuclear arms treaty. Moments later, Mitchell declared that "The President seems to be on a hot streak." Mitchell got analysis from Republican strategist Dan Bartlett and Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons. Bartlett hardly offered an opposing viewpoint, as he completely agreed with Mitchell's assessment of Obama: "It's a great streak he's on. He's on a hot streak....this is a narrative now that the President can stitch together going in to the... continue reading

Late last week, CNN announced its plan to team up with the Tea Party Express to co-sponsor a Republican presidential debate in September. While this creates the possibility that Republican candidates will actually face questions of interest to Republican primary voters (as opposed to the typical liberal media agenda), it's also probably the first time a media organization will partner with a group that its on-air correspondents and commentators have trashed over the past two years. CNN's liberal commentators have been savage to the Tea Party. Back in 2009, longtime CNN house liberal Paul Begala slammed the Tea Party as... continue reading

Appearing as a guest on Monday's Countdown show on MSNBC, the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman - also a political analyst with MSNBC - spoke favorably of the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, asserting that "this historic vote will be remembered as a very important one in the social history of the United States," and, as he admitted that independent Senator Joseph Lieberman "takes a lot of guff on this network," gave the former Democrat-turned independent Senator "credit where credit is due" for supporting the measure. Fineman went on to predict that, because the Republican House next year... continue reading

On Saturday's Early Show fill-in co-host Russ Mitchell saw passage of the tax deal as a possible "turning point for Mr. Obama's presidency" and speculated that it was "perhaps setting the stage for another victory as the Senate takes up the repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law." In the report that followed, correspondent Whit Johnson declared that with the deal "President Obama could finally declare victory." The headline on screen read: "The President's Big Win; More Success Before The Holiday Break?" Johnson explained "that after months of debate, they [Democrats] finally have the votes to repeal 'Don't Ask,... continue reading

On Monday's Good Morning America, ABC's George Stephanopoulos took a skeptical tone during an interview of liberal Senator Chuck Schumer concerning a new report from Senator Tom Coburn, which pointed out the 100 most wasteful federal government projects of 2010: "He [Coburn] says there are hundreds of billions of dollars of waste. Do you buy that?" Stephanopoulos turned to Senator Schumer after ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl highlighted the findings of Senator Coburn's "wastebook" report, and led the interview with his "do you buy that" question. After the Democrat from New York gave his initial answer, the former Clinton administration official... continue reading

At the top of a report on CBS's Sunday Morning, correspondent Whit Johnson proclaimed: "In San Francisco yesterday, they celebrated the end of an era. After nearly two decades, the policy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' which bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, is all but history." The one-sided segment focused almost exclusively on supporters of repeal. Of the ten sound bites featured throughout the story, only one, that of Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, was critical of the policy being overturned. Johnson described how "Opponents of repeal...pleaded that such a dramatic change during a time... continue reading

"I was at - forgive the expression - a Christmas party," NPR reporter Nina Totenberg interjected on Inside Washington in the weekend's oddest cautionary separation from a common description for a common event, seemingly embarrassed to invoke any religious terminology for Christmas. She didn't say what she'd prefer for parties this time of the year to be named. "Winter solstice party"? Just plain old "holiday party"? Or a "seasonal gathering"? Totenberg's bashfulness came as she explained how the failure of Congress to pass an annual budget has left federal workers in limbo: Well, these agencies, including the Defense Department, don't... continue reading

Appearing on Sunday's Good Morning America on ABC to discuss legislation recently passed by Congress, This Week host Christiane Amanpour referred to tax cuts as "giveaways" as she predicted that President Obama would receive political credit for the agreement to prevent the Bush tax cuts from expiring in January, which anchor Dan Harris described as a "big tax cut law." After Harris asked if Obama was on a "winning streak" because of the recent passage of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal and the tax agreement, Amanpour responded: Well, it's certainly been a busy and an active lame duck session... continue reading

As ABC's World News Sunday recounted President Obama's failed effort to provide citizenship for immigrants who entered the country illegally as children if they go to college or enter the military, the issue was framed as conservatives standing in the way of the "dream" of such immigrants, and, as anchor Dan Harris introduced a report on the bill that failed in the Senate - dubbed the Dream Act by supporters - a graphic appeared beside Harris with the words "Dream Dies" because Republicans succeeded in blocking the bill's passage. Harris and correspondent Tahman Bradley both raised the possibility that Hispanic... continue reading

Nearly 80 percent of the $858 billion "cost" of the compromise tax bill signed Friday by President Barack Obama is, per a Congressional Research Service estimate , from the $675 billion over the next ten years the government would have received if income tax rates were raised, a perspective widely adopted by network reporters and hosts who assumed just keeping rates at their current levels should be counted as a "cost" to the national debt and annual deficits. "The $858 billion price tag for this bill will be added to the already $14 trillion national debt," ABC's Jake Tapper concluded... continue reading