What's more important? The ongoing slaughter of refugees in a rapidly deteriorating Iraq or the December 2015 Star Wars film? According to the journalists at Good Morning America , the answer is Star Wars . The ABC program on Wednesday devoted 55 seconds to discussing a film that is 16 months away from being released, but only 33 seconds to the desperate situation in Iraq. News reader Amy Robach quickly mentioned that more U.S. troops are arriving in the troubled country, adding, "The 130 military advisers are working to help rescue thousands of religious minorities who are stranded by Islamic... continue reading
Actor Russell Brand’s hatred for Fox News is so intense he couldn’t get through his eulogy of Robin Williams without taking a shot at the network’s “angry” viewers. In Tuesday’s online edition of The Guardian , Brand tried to find deeper meaning in the death of Williams as he pondered how “we live in a world that has become so negligent of human values that our brightest lights are extinguishing themselves?” Brand added “all around us people are suffering behind masks less interesting than the one Robin Williams wore” and then warned “Do you have time to tune in to... continue reading
On Wednesday, August 13, all three network morning shows did their best to minimize the conflict between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama following Clinton’s criticism of the White House’s handling of the militant group ISIS. The “big three” (ABC, CBS and NBC) networks all played up how Clinton plans to “hug it out” with President Obama when they meet at a party on Martha’s Vineyard. Speaking to “The Atlantic” magazine, Clinton criticized Obama’s foreign policy by insisting that “great nations need organizing principles. Don’t do stupid stuff is not an organizing principle.” On Wednesday morning, Major... continue reading
On Tuesday, August 12, Politico’s Byron Tau reported how the Obama White House is planning to “reverse a key part of its ban on registered lobbyists serving in government.” Despite yet another major flip-flop from the Obama Administration regarding its relationship with lobbyists, none of the “big three” networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) covered the story on their Tuesday evening newscasts. From the Politico report: The Office of Management and Budget will release a new rule on Wednesday expected to allow registered lobbyists to participate in policymaking deliberations in an advisory role after a judge ruled against the administration earlier... continue reading
Appearing on CNBC's Squawk Box Tuesday morning, the business network's chief Washington correspondent John Harwood acknowledged that President Obama's failed foreign policy would be an obstacle to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential ambitions: "...her independent credential running for president is that she was President Obama's secretary of state. The world is now blowing up. So that is a big problem for her. And so she's going to be looking for ways to separate herself from the current foreign policy mess." [ Listen to the audio ] Harwood's comments were prompted by host Joe Kernen asking about a quote in The Daily... continue reading
On Tuesday morning, MSNBC and Telemundo anchor Jose Diaz-Balart brought a guest on his MSNBC show to discuss the targeted killing and persecution of Christians in Iraq at the hands of the ultra-Islamic terrorist group ISIS. The guest, Mark Arabo, who serves as the national spokesman for the Chaldeans, (the sect of Iraqi Christians facing ISIS’s terror), told Diaz-Balart that the actions of ISIS are “a full-blown genocide” of the 400,000 Christians in Iraq. When asked by Diaz-Balart for his take on the actions of the Obama administration so far in Iraq, Arabo said that he and the Iraqi community... continue reading
Only CBS This Morning on Tuesday bothered to cover the heartbreaking video of Iraqi refugees rushing a helicopter in a desperate attempt to escape the violence of the terrorist group ISIS. NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America ignored the gripping video. CBS reporter David Martin narrated the CNN-supplied footage: "Iraqi Army helicopters fly in at 100 feet in broad daylight to push pallets of food and water out the door. When one found a piece of ground level enough to land on, it was immediately rushed by men, women and children, desperate to escape the Sinjar Mountains." [MP3 audio... continue reading
In the wake of the recent surge of violence in northern Iraq as well as the potential coup within the government, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams did his best to push the White House line that President Obama’s summer vacation was full of work. On Monday, August 11, Williams introduced a segment with Chris Jansing, NBC’s Senior White House Correspondent, by promoting how “the White House is taking pains to stress that even though President Obama is on vacation, it’s a working vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.” The NBC anchor went on to hype how “in between trips to the... continue reading
Rosie O’Donnell, the past and future co-host of The View , on Friday reaffirmed her support of the 9/11 truther conspiracy theory. When asked by this writer if she continues to reject the idea that Muslim terrorists flew planes into buildings, O’Donnell tweeted in response, “i still do not believe the official story.” O’Donnell left The View in 2007 after battling with conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck. On March 29, 2007, she promoted trutherism, saying of September 11th: “I do believe it is the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel. I do believe that it defies physics for... continue reading
Any intraparty criticism of President Obama’s recent foreign policy moves regarding Iraq was nowhere to be found on NBC’s morning or evening news programs as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leveled some criticism at Obama on the subject in an interview with The Atlantic that was published over the weekend. Both Sunday and Monday mornings’ installments of Today and Sunday night’s NBC Nightly News ignored this angle of disagreement among arguably the two most well-known and influential figures in Democratic politics as Obama authorized U.S. air strikes against ISIS militants in northern Iraq late last Thursday and throughout over... continue reading