1. Winning Quotes in MRC's Annual Awards for the Worst Reporting The winning quotes in the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 2005: The Eighteenth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting." 2. List of the 52 Judges Who Selected the Winning Quotes A list of the 52 judges who evaluated the quotes in 16 award categories. Winning Quotes in MRC's Annual Awards for the Worst Reporting The winning quotes in the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 2005: The Eighteenth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting." The Media Research Center's annual awards issue provides a compilation of the most outrageous... continue reading
1. Cafferty: "If You Listen Carefully, You Can Hear...Impeachment" CNN on Tuesday afternoon gave credibility to the ruminations from a few hardcore leftists that President Bush should be impeached over authorizing, without prior court approval, eavesdropping on people within U.S. borders communicating with those abroad who have ties to al-Qaeda. Both Jack Cafferty and anchor Wolf Blitzer raised the subject during the 4pm EST hour of The Situation Room. Cafferty's question of the hour: "Do you think it's an impeachable offense for the President to authorize domestic spying without a warrant?" He set that up by insisting that "if you... continue reading
1. ABC's Moran Suggests Shame for Nation Bush-Cheney Will "Pass On" In an interview conducted Sunday in Iraq with Vice President Dick Cheney, and shown on Monday's Nightline, Terry Moran decided "to put this personally" and condescendingly proposed to Cheney that the VP's refusal to refute prisoner-abuse allegations and "surveilling Americans" by the Bush administration, leaves Moran ashamed of a country he would not want to "pass on" to his daughters. Moran asked: "I'd like to put this personally, if I can. You're a grandfather. I'm a father. When we look at those girls and we think that the country... continue reading
1. Nets, Especially ABC & NBC, Deliver Upbeat View of Iraqi Election Taking a night off from their usual negativity, the three broadcast network evening newscasts, particularly ABC and NBC, led Thursday night with glowingly positive spins on the election in Iraq. ABC's Elizabeth Vargas, the only anchor in Iraq, celebrated in her tease: "So much pride. So much joy. The chance at a better future." She then led World News Tonight with how "millions of Iraqis went to the polls in unprecedented numbers. They did so to elect a parliament which will write a new constitution and elect a... continue reading
1. CNN Heralds How Cindy Sheehan Has "Taken Her Cause...to England" All but the most hard-left Americans have moved on from Cindy Sheehan's summer media boomlet, but CNN remains so enthralled with her that they've followed her to Britain. On Tuesday's Anderson Cooper 360, Cooper championed that though she became "a target of hate" for some, the "criticism has not stopped her. She's taken her cause now overseas to England." From London, reporter Paula Newton touted how "her reception is warm, her cause passionately embraced. These British families not only share Cindy Sheehan's defiance, they share her loss." CNN plastered... continue reading
1. Williams Hits Bush with Charge of Racism Behind Katrina Response NBC anchor Brian Williams raised a wide variety of issues with President Bush in interviews conducted through the day Monday, starting in the morning in the Oval Office and ending with a session following the President's speech in Philadelphia. But in an interview conducted on Air Force One on the way to Philadelphia, and shown on Monday's NBC Nightly News, Williams raised, in the guise of what he overheard someone wonder, the racist angle in the response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Williams proposed: "After the tragedy, I... continue reading
1. Totenberg: Tax Vote "Immoral," Thomas: Hike Taxes on "Super-Rich" NPR's Nina Totenberg declared on this weekend's Inside Washington that the House vote to extend the current tax rates on dividends and capital gains was "immoral" as she ridiculously claimed, in the face of ever-soaring entitlement spending, that Congress is cutting aid to the poor. Newsweek's Evan Thomas backed her up, asserting that "we need to raise taxes...and who better to raise them on than the super-rich?" Totenberg argued of the tax rate extension vote: "I just think it's immoral to do that, not to mention fiscally irresponsible, when you're... continue reading
1. NBC Frames Tax Cut Story Around Liberal Spin of Benefit to Rich The Thursday NBC Nightly News framed the House vote, to extend dividend and capital gain tax rate reductions another two years, through a liberal prism which assumes all the money earned belongs to the government and that measures the fairness by the dollar amount of cuts for the rich versus the poor -- a silly notion since the wealthy pay most of the taxes. Anchor Brian Williams set up the story by stressing how tax cuts are "a top priority for the Bush administration, but some in... continue reading
1. CBS: Most Want "Timetable," But Skip Most See Pullout "Disaster" While CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer on Wednesday night highlighted how, in a fresh CBS News/New York Times poll, President Bush's approval rating has risen five points since October, he pointed out just one other survey finding -- one which matched a Democratic agenda item -- that "58 percent of those questioned said the U.S. should set a timetable for troop withdrawal; 39 percent said no." But Schieffer skipped how the survey also discovered that the public agrees with Bush and rejects the policy urged by Congressman John... continue reading
1. ABC, CBS and NBC Jump to Push Racism Charges of Katrina Victims The Tuesday broadcast network evening newscasts jumped on an inconsequential House hearing where five residents of New Orleans hurled charges that racism limited help after Hurricane Katrina. ABC actually led with the hearing as anchor Elizabeth Vargas teased: "The victims of Katrina tell Congress they're still not getting help because they are poor and black." Linda Douglass acknowledged believability was in question: "Members listened intently but were skeptical of some of the more extreme charges. Like this one, from [Dyan] French [Cole], who insisted someone deliberately flooded... continue reading