1. ABC: Soldiers Are Terrorists Comment Reflects Kitchen Table Talk ABC's Dan Harris on Thursday's Good Morning America ludicrously contended that the shouting match on The View over Rosie O'Donnell's suggestion that U.S. soldiers in Iraq are the real "terrorists," reflects "a debate that is playing out over kitchen tables across the country." Really? Americans are having spirited discussions during supper over whether civilian deaths in Iraq makes U.S. soldiers terrorists? Citing the Wednesday fight between O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Harris maintained that "this is the latest example of how difficult it is to strike a balance between criticizing the... continue reading
1. Lauer Hits John Edwards from the Left on Democratic 'Cave-In' NBC's Matt Lauer spared no punches when he interviewed John Edwards on Wednesday's Today show, but they were mostly left jabs. After a David Gregory report on the war funding bill, the Today co-host didn't waste any time launching into Edwards as he demanded to know why his fellow Democrats had to "cave-in." Lauer: "David calls it a compromise, whatever we call it, let's talk about this deal that was struck in Congress. They, basically, the supplemental funding bill has 18 benchmarks the Iraqis have to hit on political... continue reading
1. Olbermann Admits He Only Listens to Rush When Forced to on Toilet MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Tuesday night teased his "Worst Person in the World" segment by plugging "comedian Rush Limbaugh with a strong entry tonight whining that nobody at MSNBC actually hears him on the air. I know this because I heard him on the air." In the subsequent segment, Olbermann recounted how Limbaugh complained "that the liberal media, particularly MSNBC, never actually listens to him while he's on the air and thus gets things," like what Olbermann impugned as "his racist Al Sharpton/Barack Obama song, second-hand and... continue reading
1. NBC Impugns Limbaugh Over 'Barack the Magic Negro' Parody Song On Monday, NBC's Today allowed itself to be used as a publicity machine for a left-wing attempt to whip up an Imus-style campaign against conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for daring to air the parody song "Barack the Magic Negro" -- a parody inspired by a black writer who used that term in March in a Los Angeles Times op-ed about Obama -- in which an Al Sharpton impersonator sings about how Barack Obama isn't an authentic black. The song has been around for two months, but NBC acted... continue reading
1. Williams Cues Up Bill Clinton to Blast Bush on Global Warming Brian Williams turned over just under five minutes of Wednesday's NBC Nightly News to a live interview with former President Bill Clinton about his effort to address global warming, a fawning session which amounted to little more than pontificating from Clinton cued up by Williams, who set the tone by asking: "What does the current administration have to answer for? How much of it, in your view, is their fault?" The ostensible news hook for the segment: The "Clinton Climate Initiative's" announcement of "a global Energy Efficiency Building... continue reading
1. Falwell Derided Over Teletubbies, CBS: He Wanted Women in Kitchen The ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts Tuesday night couldn't resist ridiculing the late Jerry Falwell for pointing out how a children's character on a PBS show appeared gay -- though gay rights advocates had earlier made the same observation -- and CBS brought aboard liberal presidential historian Douglas Brinkley who called Falwell "comedy fodder for people," found it relevant that "feminists never liked him," and dismissed him as "a backlash figure" whose "returning to family values was returning to women being in the kitchen." 2. Newsweek Diagnoses Bush... continue reading
1. Fresh Inane Hype for 'Record High' Gas When Price Lower than 1981 As another summer driving season approaches, media outlets cannot resist again hyping dire stories about the supposed "record high" price of a gallon of gas when, adjusted for inflation, the current $3.10 average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is still lower than in 1981. ABC was out front Monday night with the fallacious reporting. World News anchor Charles Gibson teased up top, "Record prices: Gasoline across the nation hits an all-time high, a record price, before the summer even begins." With "Record High" on screen,... continue reading
1. Stephanopoulos: Only Republicans Against Obama Because He's Black Reminiscent of Bryant Gumbel's 1989 charge on the Today show that you're either "a racist or a liberal," on Sunday's This Week, ABC's George Stephanopoulos presumed only Republicans are racists who will not vote for Democratic candidate Barack Obama, who had an African father. During the roundtable, Sam Donaldson proposed that the country is ready for an African-American President, but noted how "he said he thinks he'll lose some votes because of that, and so the question is what does the word 'some' mean? In critical elections, not just in the... continue reading
1. Iraq Combat & Civilian Casualties, Blair a 'Political Casualty' The broadcast network evening newscasts, reflecting the focus of the media's approach to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement that he will step down on June 27, framed their reviews of his ten-year tenure around the unpopularity of his decision to join the U.S. in the Iraq war. On CBS, however, Elizabeth Palmer uniquely found time to recall how Blair won in 1997 by "dragging Britain's old left-wing Labour Party to the political center" and she cited a couple of other achievements. Nonetheless, like ABC and NBC, CBS included the... continue reading
1. CBS Uses Dix Case to Contend Terrorist Arrests Over-Hyped On Tuesday night, following a week in which the CBS Evening News attracted the fewest viewers in decades, the producers decided the Katie Couric-anchored newscast needed an injection of an Olbermann-esque twist: The arrests of six Islamists, for plotting to use automatic weapons to murder troops at Fort Dix, matches the hype around previous captures which fizzled. Armen Keteyian framed his story around how since 9/11 "more than 400,000 names have come under one form of government surveillance or another -- from watch lists to wiretaps. But only a handful... continue reading