Over the past week, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) has been embroiled in a political scandal following his decision to cancel his own Moreland Commission, created to expose political corruption in the state capitol. On July 23, the New York Times reported “that the governor’s office deeply compromised the panel’s work, objecting whenever the commission focused on groups with ties to Mr. Cuomo or on issues that might reflect poorly on him.” Since the news broke on July 23, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan has threatened to investigate the Cuomo administration for “possible obstruction of justice or witness tampering.” Despite... continue reading
In an interview with Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer on Thursday's NBC Today , co-host Savannah Guthrie noted how "anti-Israel protests around the world" "have taken a disturbing turn and become anti-Semitic in nature," but proceeded to blame Israel for the prejudice: "Do you ask yourselves, 'Okay, we may be winning militarily but are we losing the larger battle, the PR war?' And perhaps, as one headline put it yesterday, minting the next generation of terrorists?" [ Listen to the audio ] The headline Guthrie cited was from the liberal Daily Beast website , which on Wednesday published an article by... continue reading
On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News , Brian Williams left out a key detail from his news brief about his network's upcoming live production of Peter Pan. Williams noted that " Allison Williams will play the role of Peter Pan ," but left out that the actress is his first-born child. During the 37-second news brief, the anchor mentioned that the younger Williams is "currently in the cast of Girls on HBO," and included a detail about his daughter's childhood: [MP3 audio available here ; video below ] BRIAN WILLIAMS: And our own network, NBC, has set the casting for the... continue reading
ABC's World News stood out as the sole Big Three evening newscast on Wednesday to not cover the release of Lois Lerner's e-mails, where the former top IRS official slammed conservatives as "a**holes" and "crazies." Instead, the news program devoted full reports to the water main that burst on the campus of UCLA and the controversy over usage charges on cell phone bills. By contrast, NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News on Wednesday both set aside about two minutes each of air time to Lerner's " salty language ," as NBC's Kelly O'Donnell put it: [MP3 audio available here... continue reading
In an interview with Hillary Clinton aired Tuesday on his Fusion show America , anchor Jorge Ramos repeatedly pressed the potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate from the left on the ongoing illegal immigration crisis, demanding: "Do you think you have a Latino problem? ...I'm saying it because recently you said about the Central American children coming to the United States that we have to send them back." [ Watch the video after the jump ] After Clinton argued for only allowing children seeking legitimate asylum to stay, Ramos cited one of her possible 2016 rivals: "But if you deport them,... continue reading
On Monday, Geraldo Rivera barked at his fellow FNC hosts for using the term “illegals” around him. On Wednesday, he amped up his attacks on conservatives when, on his WABC radio show, he accused Matt Drudge of “doing his best to stir up a civil war” because he was posting so many border crisis stories. Rivera also attacked him on Twitter: “Shame on Drudge. His authoritative website has gone hysterical on issue of immigrant children. 14 stories like ‘Could Ebola sneak across?’” On July 30 Mediate.com summarized Rivera’s rants: Fox News’s Geraldo Rivera sniped at conservative blogger Matt Drudge over... continue reading
Not wanting to let a good crisis go to waste, Tuesday's NBC Nightly News exploited California wildfires to push climate change. Correspondent Miguel Almaguer declared: "The fire season not just expensive, but historic. Nationwide so far this year, more than 32,000 wildfires have burned. 1.6 million acres charred, most of them in the west. Feeding the fires, drought crippling 60% of the west.... Crews call this the front lines of climate change, a longer more destructive fire season." [ Listen to the audio ] Introducing the story, anchor Brian Williams warned: "In the American west tonight, a huge wildfire is... continue reading
On Wednesday, July 30, CBS This Morning was the only network morning show to report on how President Obama is considering bypassing Congress and issuing a series of executive actions to legalize potentially millions of illegal immigrants. ABC and NBC ignored the potential executive orders altogether. CBS News Political Director John Dickerson highlighted how President Obama is seeking to “to take executive action to deal with the immigration problem. This is not going to be comprehensive immigration reform of the kind we've heard about for the last seven years that will deal with those 11.5 million undocumented workers, but it's... continue reading
In a report for Wednesday's NBC Today , chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel – who on Monday fretted that Hamas would get "nothing" out of a cease-fire deal with Israel – highlighted a Palestinian teenager celebrating the terror group's attacks: "In Gaza, many see these attacks as justified. 16-year-old Farah Bakkar has developed a following online after live tweeting as [Israeli] bombs fell.... Farah never supported Hamas before, but does now." [ Listen to the audio ] A sound bite ran of Bakkar proclaiming: "When I see the [Hamas] rockets getting to Israel, I start loving them more and more... continue reading
In the wake of Speaker of the House John Boehner’s impending lawsuit against President Obama, CBS This Morning did their best to minimize its merits and instead promote Democratic efforts to raise money off of impeachment. On Wednesday, July 30, co-anchor Gayle King introduced a report by Nancy Cordes by highlighting how “Democrats are using the lawsuit debate to raise campaign cash and now the White House says it's worried about impeachment.” Cordes began her story by peddling Democratic talking points and explained how “Democrats argue if Republicans are willing to sue the president, who's to say they won't go... continue reading