1. Williams: I Was "Aggressively Misunderstood" on Suicide Bombers NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams declared in a Friday morning posting that he had "been aggressively misunderstood" -- presumably by blogs, such as the MRC's NewsBusters, as well as CyberAlert -- for comments he made during a Thursday appearance on MSNBC's Hardball when he seemed to equate elite U.S. soldiers, seamen and civilian first responders with terrorist suicide bombers: "The willingness to take one's own life -- I always tell people, you know, there are guys on our team like that, too." Friday's CyberAlert, however, had hardly "aggressively misunderstood" Williams... continue reading
1. Brian Williams Equates Elite U.S. Military With Terrorist Bombers While ostensibly trying to praise elite U.S. soldiers, seamen and civilian first responders, on Thursday's Hardball on MSNBC, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams seemed to equate them with terrorist suicide bombers: "The willingness to take one's own life -- I always tell people, you know, there are guys on our team like that, too." Referring to those caught in the new plot to bring down airliners leaving Britain, Chris Matthews noted how they lived for years amongst Westerners and yet "having gotten to know us, they want to kill... continue reading
1. CBS Links Lieberman Loss to 2,600 Killed and 'Kiss of Death' In leading Wednesday's CBS Evening News with how Senator Joe Lieberman lost the Democratic primary in Connecticut, fill-in anchor Harry Smith highlighted the number of U.S. servicemen killed in Iraq. Smith announced: "The war in Iraq, which has cost nearly 2,600 Americans their lives, has just taken its first major political casualty here at home." And a day after CBS's Trish Regan described as "infamous" the embrace, derided as "The Kiss" by supporters of Connecticut Senate hopeful Ned Lamont, between President George W. Bush and incumbent Democratic Senator... continue reading
1. CBS's Regan Repeatedly Labels Bush-Lieberman 'Kiss' as 'Infamous' Twice on Tuesday, CBS News correspondent Trish Regan labeled as "infamous" the embrace, derided as "The Kiss" by supporters of Connecticut Senate hopeful Ned Lamont, between President George W. Bush and incumbent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman in the well of the House after Bush's 2005 State of the Union address. Regan didn't attribute the characterization to Lieberman's opponents. She stated it as fact. On the Early Show she explained over brief video of the event: "Ned Lamont has used this now infamous kiss to his advantage on campaign buttons and television... continue reading
1. Reuters Caught Distributing Photos Doctored to Besmirch Israel After being caught by a blogger, Reuters on Sunday was forced to admit it had distributed a doctored photo (very obviously so), of the results of an Israeli strike on a Beirut suburb, taken by freelance photographer Adnan Hajj who the London-based news service dropped in the wake of the embarrassing revelation. Then on Monday, Reuters conceded at least one more picture had been manipulated by Hajj -- to show three missiles, instead of the actual one flare, from an Israeli jet -- and the news service removed all 920 photos... continue reading
1. CNN's Blitzer Contends Iraq Civil War Concession 'Under-Reported' In the very last seconds of the 7pm EDT hour of Friday's The Situation Room on CNN, anchor Wolf Blitzer remarked to Jack Cafferty: "You know, one of the big stories this week, perhaps under-reported, top U.S. Generals now acknowledging, Guess what? The Iraq situation may be on the verge of a civil war." Is Blitzer in a parallel universe? Those comments Thursday, from Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace and General John Abizaid, about the "possibility" that Iraq "could" fall into civil war, were all over the cable networks... continue reading
1. ABC Trumpets HRC's Call for Rumsfeld to Quit as 'Dramatic Sign' Like the CBS and NBC evening newscasts on Thursday, ABC led with how at a Senate hearing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace and General John Abizaid acceded to the "possibility" that Iraq "could" fall into civil war -- what substitute ABC anchor Diane Sawyer heralded as a "stunning admission" -- but ABC also hyped as important how after the hearing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton called for President Bush to accept the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Sawyer touted "breaking political news tonight" and brought... continue reading
1. NBC: Thanks to Global Warming, '100 May Be New Summertime Norm' Using the very same expert the CBS Evening News cited on Monday, Wednesday's NBC Nightly News made -- as its second story of the night -- the case that the current heat wave can be blamed on global warming. Anchor Brian Williams set up the piece by ruminating about how "you hear a lot of people saying it didn't used to be like this, didn't used to be this hot, and because of global warming we've done this to ourselves." Reporter Tom Costello asked: "So is our current... continue reading
1. Olbermann: Limbaugh 'Worst' for 'Following Ethics' of bin Laden MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Tuesday night targeted "comedian" Rush Limbaugh as his "Worst Person in the World" for "suggesting that civilian deaths in Lebanon are necessary to stop terror." Employing a mockingly braggadocios voice to try to impersonate Limbaugh, Olbermann read a sentence from Limbaugh and then asserted that Limbaugh had echoed "something another commentator said nine years ago," namely Osama bin Laden. Olbermann read the bin Laden quote, without any mocking impersonation, and then concluded the August 1 Countdown segment: "Rush Limbaugh, following the logic and ethics of Osama... continue reading
1. Friedman: 'Dark' Natured Bush, Cheney and Rice Exporting 'Fear' Fresh from his most recent trip to the Middle East, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman returned to offer his latest rationale for Bush hatred -- and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams recommended his readers and viewers watch the interview. Appearing on Sunday's Meet the Press, Friedman theorized: "What this administration has done, is actually stolen something from people. Whether it's an African or a European or an Arab or Israeli, it's that idea of an optimistic America out there. People really need that idea, and the, the sort... continue reading