1. Williams 'Paralyzed' with 'Fear' by Paper vs. Plastic 'Dilemma' Apparently, it doesn't take much to flummox Brian Williams. He wrapped up Monday's NBC Nightly News with a whole story devoted to a "paralyzing question" which "can make otherwise competent adults quake with fear." The dilemma? "Paper or plastic" at the grocery store. "The grocery store dilemma," he teased, "'paper or plastic?' What is the right answer to that paralyzing question in the checkout line?" Williams introduced the eventual May 7 story by fretting about how people "are made to feel like the fate of the planet hinges on our... continue reading
1. Stahl, Who Derided Reagan, Lectures Dobbs for Criticizing Bush CBS's Lesley Stahl, in a 60 Minutes profile of CNN's Lou Dobbs aired Sunday night, expressed indignation over how Dobbs violates the supposed "fair and balanced" rule of journalism by revealing his disdain for President Bush, but Stahl has a long history of announcing her personal political views, including scorn for President Reagan and adulation of Hillary Clinton. When Dobbs confirmed he's "not a fan" of Bush -- "No, I'm not. Whether it's outsourcing, the war in Iraq, just disregard for our middle class" -- Stahl jumped in: "I'm sitting... continue reading
1. Question During Debate: 'What Do You Dislike Most About America?' In a debate packed with silly questions and ones matching left-wing attack points on GOP candidates, in the first "Interactive Round" of questions submitted by the public on Politico.com, a co-sponsor of the debate, Mitt Romney got the most bizarre. The Politico Executive Editor Jim VandeHei, a Washington Post political reporter before jumping to The Politico earlier this year, found this one worth posing: "Daniel Dekovnick [sp phonetic] from Walnut Creek, California wants to know, 'What do you dislike most about America?'" Romney responded: "Gosh, I love America. I'm... continue reading
1. CBS Touts 'Exclusive' on Quest for Huge Spending Hike on Health CBS on Wednesday night turned over a full story to promoting the cause of one interest group which wants a 12-fold hike in federal spending on health care for children. As if it were some kind of scoop to hype a report from a group yearning for media attention, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric trumpeted it as an "exclusive look tonight at a stunning report by a respected children's health care group. It says nearly 24 million children in this country do not have regular access to... continue reading
1. CBS Paints Illegals as Victims by Showing Kids Split from Parents While the ABC and NBC evening newscasts led Tuesday night with President George W. Bush's veto of the Iraq funding bill with pull-out deadlines, CBS began with back-to-back stories trumpeting the cause of illegal immigrants and portraying them as the victims. "Tonight," Katie Couric teased the CBS Evening News, "tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets of America to rally in support of illegal immigrants" and then, over video of a teen girl and her little sister, Couric fretted, "she was born here, but her parents... continue reading
1. Cubans 'Hoping' for Fidel's Return, 'Enraged' by U.S. 'Hypocrisy' Less than a week after Havana-based CBS News producer Portia Siegelbaum trumpeted on CBSNews.com how "thanks to the socialist island's free health care system -- which emphasizes preventive medicine -- Cubans enjoy a very high life expectancy," Monday's CBS Evening News salivated over the anticipated May Day return of Fidel Castro as Lara Logan confidently relayed the views of "people here" in the repressive totalitarian state supposedly "enraged" by the U.S. release of a man convicted of blowing up a Cuban airliner in 1976. Anchor Katie Couric heralded: "In Cuba... continue reading
1. Brokaw Distorts Tenet's Phrase: 'War Against Iraq Was Slam Dunk' On Friday's NBC Nightly News, former anchor Tom Brokaw ridiculously implied that conservatives who have cited former CIA director George Tenet's "slam dunk" comment about WMD in Iraq had in fact claimed that the comment was a prediction that the war itself against Iraq would be a "slam dunk." The former NBC anchor filed a report detailing Tenet's criticisms of the Bush administration from Tenet's newly released book At the Center of the Storm. After the pre-recorded report had covered some of Tenet's criticisms of Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice... continue reading
1. Tapper: Bush Veto 'Reminder of Everything Unaccomplished' in Iraq ABC's Jake Tapper concluded his Thursday World News story, on the House and Senate Iraq funding bills which include timetables for the withdrawal of troops, by adding a gratuitous zinger about President Bush's much-derided "Mission Accomplished" speech. Noting how Democrats intend to send their final conference bill to the President on Tuesday, for an expected veto, Tapper helpfully pointed out how that "just so happens to be the fourth anniversary of the President's 'Mission Accomplished' photo-op aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln." Tapper then bore in, asserting, "of course" that "would... continue reading
1. Dow Soars to Record 13,000, But...CBS and ABC Find Downside The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared past the 13,000 level on Wednesday, but the CBS and ABC evening newscasts reported the good news in the media's all-too-frequent "yes, but" framework. CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric fretted that "even as investors are making money in the market, Anthony Mason reports there are concerns tonight about the rest of the U.S. economy." Mason talked with a celebrating stock trader before turning downbeat: "But Wall Street and Main Street appear to be headed in different directions. While the stock market's been... continue reading
1. NBC Turns Mourning Into 'Voices of Dissent' Growing 'Angrier' While Tuesday's NBC Nightly News commendably devoted a story to mourning in the Fort Bragg community after the loss of nine 82nd Airborne soldiers in Iraq, a loss to the division anchor Brian Williams described as "the largest since June of 1969," reporter Bob Faw pivoted from sadness over the deaths to how "even here, where support for the war has been unswerving, the latest round of casualties raised new doubts about the American military presence in Iraq." Faw included the views of those in the Fayetteville, North Carolina community... continue reading