1. NBC Focuses on Bush's Bad Polls Yet Ignores Popular Bush Policies A day after leading with how a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll put President Bush's approval at a low 37 percent, Thursday's NBC Nightly News again emphasized the negative for Bush and ignored how its own survey found public support for Bush policies which the media have derided, such as majority support for the NSA wiretapping program, the Patriot Act and making Bush's tax cuts permanent. From the White House, David Gregory asserted that "they're clearly shaken, as you might understand, politically, by the President's eroding support in... continue reading
1. NBC Hypes Repetitive Low Bush Approval, Skips Intercept Approval Without their own poll with which to batter President Bush, last Friday the NBC Nightly News led with how "the latest Associated Press poll has the President's job approval at 37 percent" as anchor Brian Williams pointed how "that matches President Clinton at the lowest point in his presidency." But NBC caught up Wednesday night with the other networks, and though its new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found the exact same 37 percent presidential approval rating -- so no fresh news -- Williams nonetheless led with the poll number... continue reading
1. CBS Drowns Iraq Talk with Negative Poll, Skips Faulting of Media CBS News chose the day President Bush launched a series of speeches, intended to boost support for the Iraq war, to highlight a poll which found most Americans are much more pessimistic than is the President. In laying out on Monday's CBS Evening News a series of poll findings, including how 66 percent feel Bush has been describing the "things in Iraq" as "better than they are," both Bob Schieffer and Jim Axelrod skipped the finding that, while the media fare better than Bush, nearly a third (31... continue reading
1. Thomas: Ports "Classic Talk Radio" Since "Idiots Can Understand" Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas condescendingly charged, on this past weekend's edition of Inside Washington, that opposition to the UAE ports deals resonated with the public "because it's something that simple idiots can understand." After a bit of snickering from the other panelists, especially NPR's Nina Totenberg, Thomas zeroed in on talk radio, even though the most popular talk radio host, Rush Limbaugh, supported the deal. Thomas called the subject matter "a classic for talk radio" because "you can get it on a bumper sticker." Expressing his support for... continue reading
1. CBS on Day of Patriot Act Renewal: It Ruined PLO Donor's Marriage The CBS Evening News on Thursday night used President Bush's signing of the Patriot Act renewal as a chance to run a full story on, as anchor Bob Schieffer worded it, "a Texas couple that blames the Patriot Act for ruining their marriage." Really. Schieffer had first noted how "the new law does include some additional protections for civil liberties," but "some critics still don't like it." Reporter Kelly Cobiella looked at the plight of the wife of Mahmoud Alafyouny, who "has been in prison for two... continue reading
1. ABC Plugs "International Women's Day" Over Tom DeLay's Victory Of the three broadcast network evening newscasts on Wednesday night, only the NBC Nightly News found Tom DeLay's Tuesday primary victory, which he won by a wide enough margin to avoid a runoff, newsworthy. Anchor Brian Williams gave 35 seconds to DeLay's 62 percent vote in "his first election test since being indicted on campaign finance charges last year." While ABC's Elizabeth Vargas found no time for DeLay, she managed to highlight how Wednesday was the UN-decreed "International Women's Day" and how in Belgium roses were given to "women on... continue reading
1. ABC & WPost Skip How Poll Finds Majority Support for Surveillance An ABC News/Washington Post poll released Monday found majority support for a media bete noire, FBI and NSA wiretapping of people inside the United States in the war on terror, but those findings were ignored by the Washington Post as well as ABC's World News Tonight and Good Morning America. Instead, all stressed how 80 percent believe "civil war" is likely in Iraq. ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas relayed how "65 percent say the Bush administration has no clear plan for ending the war," before George Stephanopoulos outlined how... continue reading
1. This Week Guest Reminds Viewers of Host's "Former Boss" Clinton It's not often that a guest on a TV news program has the boldness to put the interviewer's political activism record in play, but Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter of California, who appeared on Sunday's This Week from San Diego to criticize the ports deal, made sure viewers were reminded of host George Stephanopoulos' past work on behalf of President Bill Clinton's agenda. On three occasions, Hunter answered questions from Stephanopoulos by including a reference to "your former boss," as in how "your former boss, President Clinton," gave the Emir... continue reading
1. MSNBC Versus NBC: Bush Caught in Lie or Vindicated by Video? MSNBC versus NBC News. MSNBC's David Shuster, at the top of Thursday's Hardball, and NBC's Lisa Myers at the start of the NBC Nightly News, played the identical soundbites from Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center warning, on Sunday August 28, about his "grave concern" the levees in New Orleans could be "topped," and a clip of President Bush four days later maintaining that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." But they used the soundbites to prove opposite assessments. Shuster contended that Mayfield's... continue reading
1. CBS, NBC Showcase Protests in India, Skip Indians' Pro-U.S. Views CBS reporter Jim Axelrod on Wednesday night described how "this is what awaited Mr. Bush upon his highly-publicized arrival in India: Tens of thousands turned out to protest America's presence in the Islamic world." Also from New Delhi, NBC's David Gregory relayed how, over video of crowds and a few men around a burning effigy of Bush, "Mr. Bush has already been met by large anti-U.S., anti-war protests." But while ABC's Martha Raddatz noted how Bush's "warm reception in Afghanistan stood in stark contrast to the scene when the... continue reading