1. Nets Trumpet Hackett, "Candor" in Chastising "Chicken Hawk" Bush Democrat Paul Hackett lost a special election on Tuesday to fill a U.S. House seat representing Southwestern Ohio, but not before the broadcast networks and CNN all championed the candidacy of the Bush-bashing Marine who served in Iraq. On ABC on Sunday, reporter Geoff Morrell recited how Hackett denounced Bush as a "chicken hawk" and "the biggest threat to America," but instead of describing that as mudslinging, Morrell called it "candor," relaying: "If elected, Hackett says he'll use that same candor to educate Congress about what's really going on in... continue reading
1. Scold Bush's "End Run" on Bolton, ABC Points to Hillary as Model The network evening newscasts reacted with indignation to President Bush's decision to make a recess appointment of John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations. "President Bush made an end-run around Congress," declared World News Tonight anchor Elizabeth Vargas. ABC's Terry Moran highlighted how "Bolton's blistering criticisms of the UN and his tough, even abusive, management style led Democrats and some Republicans to block his nomination, arguing that the U.S. cannot afford to alienate the international community further." George Stephanopoulos relayed the suggestion that Bolton "take a... continue reading
1. Totenberg "Surprised How Very, Very Conservative [Roberts] Was" A parody of herself? NPR's Nina Totenberg, who has tagged Supreme Court nominee John Roberts as "very conservative," "very, very conservative" and "very, very, very conservative," as well as "a really conservative guy," "a hardline conservative" and "a clear conservative," to say nothing of being "a conservative Catholic," on Inside Washington over the weekend relayed that after she "spent five hours reviewing all of his documents from when he worked in the Justice Department," she "was actually quite surprised at how, how very, very conservative he was." Apparently, she didn't listen... continue reading
1. NBC Rebukes U.S. for Not Matching "World" on Paid Maternity Leave Seemingly prompted by a Tuesday AP story on how "the United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries that don't provide paid leave for new mothers," an article USA Today posted online Wednesday under the headline, "U.S. behind other countries in terms of maternity leave," NBC's Today on Thursday jumped on the supposed problem and featured the same professor and liberal Congressman quoted by the AP. Co-host Campbell Brown demanded: "Why does the rest of the world get paid leave while moms here race back to work?"... continue reading
1. Arnett Living in Baghdad, Describes Hussein as "Very Elegant" Peter Arnett, who was dismissed as an NBC News correspondent after he went on Iraqi TV on March 30, 2003 to boost the Hussein regime's morale by insisting that "the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces" and so the U.S. was "re-writing the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance," told Craig Ferguson on Tuesday night's Late Late Show on CBS that he decided to stay in Baghdad because he presumed the U.S. would win quickly. But "this war is going... continue reading
1. CNN's Dobbs Warns of Dire Global Warming, But NBC: Hotter in '30s Whenever a heat wave hits inevitably a news outlet will rush to contend it demonstrates dire global warming, and CNN's Lou Dobbs came through on Monday night. He ominously asked: "Record heat and drought in the United States and Europe. New fears tonight that it's all the result of global warming. Is the Earth witnessing a massive environmental change?" In a subsequent story on Lou Dobbs Tonight, reporter Kitty Pilgrim relied on a spokesman from the far-left Union of Concerned Scientists, though she failed to label the... continue reading
1. Totenberg: Roberts a "Hardline Conservative," "Very Conservative" NPR's Nina Totenberg, who last week tagged Supreme Court nominee John Roberts as "very, very conservative" and "very, very, very conservative," on Inside Washington over the weekend described him as merely "very conservative." But she couldn't resist adding a modifier every time she applied the conservative label, also dubbing him "a really conservative guy," "a hardline conservative" and "a clear conservative." Plus, she emphasized how he's "a conservative Catholic." 2. Olbermann Sees Wilson as Truth-Teller, Skips Credibility Problems MSNBC's Keith Olbermann featured Joe Wilson in an "exclusive" live interview on Friday night's... continue reading
1. To Reinvigorate Rove Matter, CBS & MSNBC Jump on State Dept. Memo Picking up on a top of the front page Thursday Washington Post story, "Plame's Identity Marked as Secret: Memo Central to Probe of Leak Was Written By State Dept. Analyst," CBS and MSNBC treated the revelation as a major development. "Coming up on the CBS Evening News, the plot thickens," promised anchor John Roberts. He soon intoned: "There's news tonight involving the federal investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative and blew her cover. It turns out a key portion of a two-year-old State... continue reading
1. Networks Express Concern About Where Roberts Stands on Roe v Wade Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' position on Roe v Wade most concerns the network news media, as expressed in Wednesday night stories. ABC anchor Charles Gibson teased: "What does President Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court really think about key issues like abortion rights?" Kate Snow relayed how "those trying to define Roberts' views on abortion rights are zeroing in on two pieces of his record" and she brought up his religion: "It's hard to know where he'll come down on abortion cases as a justice, though he... continue reading
1. ABC Tags Roberts "Very Conservative," Zahn Frets Woman Not Picked Post-announcement coverage of President Bush's nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court was largely laudatory, with a focus on his intellect, expertise and likeability, but there was also quite a bit of concern about his position on Roe v Wade. A few other comments worth noting: ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Ted Koppel described him as not just conservative, but as "very conservative." NBC's Brian Williams called Roberts "a kind of 'bedrock conservative,' not what is called a 'movement conservative.'" Later, Williams wanted know if in his pick Bush... continue reading