BiasAlerts

MSNBC's Harris-Perry Lauds Addition of Sex Change Surgery to Cuban National Health Care

brad.wilmouth — Sun, 27 May 2012 01:53:12 +0000

Brad Wilmouth

On Saturday's Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, after recounting some of the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Cuban government against its citizens, host Harris-Perry praised the efforts of Fidel Castro's niece, Mariela Castro, in securing sex change surgery as one of the medical services covered by the government-run health care system of the

CNN Examines Obama's Donations From Bain Employees – But How Much Have They Actually Reported on It?

matt.hadro — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:23:34 +0000

Matt Hadro

CNN's Dana Bash reported Friday on the irony of President Obama hitting Mitt Romney's connections to Bain Capital when he himself has received donations from Bain employees. CNN has highlighted Obama's hypocrisy on this matter before, but this specific story has certainly not received much air-time – if any at all – in the last two weeks.

CNN Fails to Refute Bogus Numbers Claiming 'Obama Spending Binge Never Happened'

matt.hadro — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000

Matt Hadro

CNN failed to correct bogus numbers claiming that the growth rate of spending under President Obama is the lowest since Eisenhower. Instead, host Erin Burnett reported the news as something positive for the White House.

CBS: 'Troubling Signs' for Obama, Like Bush in '92, But President 'Cannot Control' Economy

matthew.balan — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:08:43 +0000

Matthew Balan

On Friday's CBS This Morning, Jan Crawford spotlighted that "the economic and political climate today is more similar to years when incumbent presidents lost than when they won." The correspondent pointed out the similarity between polling numbers today and in 1992, when George H.W. Bush was running for reelection: "Gallup has asked voters whether they're satisfied with the way things in the country are going.

NBC's Williams Touts L.A. Banning Plastic Bags As Effort to Keep Them 'Out of the Natural World'

kyle.drennen — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:03:07 +0000

Kyle Drennen

On Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams announced: "Los Angeles is about to become the third big city in California to ban plastic grocery bags." He then framed the government overreach as a green crusade: "Environmental activists, as you know, have been pushing for this, to keep those bags out of the

Media Mostly Mum on Outrageous Obama Claim of Fiscal Restraint

scott.whitlock — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:49:14 +0000

Scott Whitlock

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Wednesday lectured journalists to not believe the "BS" that Barack Obama is a reckless spender. Rather than investigate Carney's assertions, or the sketchy basis for them, reporters have either embraced the talking points or allowed them to go unchallenged.

NBC's 'Today' Fawns Over Recycled Three-Year-Old Photo of Boy Touching Obama's Hair

kyle.drennen — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:07:06 +0000

Kyle Drennen

After a Wednesday New York Times story gushed over the "indelible image" of a boy touching President Obama's hair in 2009, Friday's NBC Today dutifully promoted the pro-Obama fluff as co-host Savannah Guthrie declared: "...that photograph has gone viral online....the boy asked President Obama if he had hair just like his own.

Stephanopoulos Wife Ali Wentworth: 'I Would Like My Vagina to be Taken Off the Table in Politics'

brad.wilmouth — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:09:18 +0000

Brad Wilmouth

Appearing as a guest on Thursday's Piers Morgan Tonight, actress and comedienne Ali Wentworth brought up "reproduction rights" and Planned Parenthood as issues she is concerned about when host Piers Morgan turned the discussion to politics and what American women will be looking for in the presidential election.

CNN's Morgan Was 'Absolutely Thrilled' When Obama Pledged to Close Guantanamo

brad.wilmouth — Fri, 25 May 2012 10:55:04 +0000

Brad Wilmouth

On Thursday's Piers Morgan Tonight, during an interview with Obama supporter and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, host Piers Morgan declared that he was "absolutely thrilled" when President Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay, and showed disappointment that Obama "broke that promise."

Very Annoyed Matthews Rips ‘Horse’s Ass Right-Wingers’ Who Cite ‘Thrill Up My Leg,’ Calls C-SPAN Host a ‘Jackass’

brent.baker — Fri, 25 May 2012 06:45:49 +0000

Brent Baker

In February of 2008, NewsBusters first highlighted MSNBC’s Chris Matthews oozing “I felt this thrill going up my leg” while listening to a speech by Barack Obama. Conservatives reminding him of it has certainly annoyed Chris Matthews ever since, so much so that he lashed out at C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, sinking to including the non-profit cable network’s senior executive producer as amongst the “jackasses” who dare to ask him about his infamous Obamagasm moment.

CNN Asks Tony Perkins 'Why Do Homosexuals Bother You So Much?'

matt.hadro — Thu, 24 May 2012 23:48:27 +0000

Matt Hadro

Unsatisfied with Tony Perkins' explanation of his opposition to same-sex marriage, CNN's Brooke Baldwin flat-out asked him why homosexuals "bother" him "so much," on Thursday afternoon. Apparently for CNN, opposing same-sex marriage is the same bigotry.

Soledad O'Brien Spins Romney's Words on Bain, Suggests He's Dodging the Questions

matt.hadro — Thu, 24 May 2012 23:42:11 +0000

Matt Hadro

CNN's Soledad O'Brien spun Mitt Romney's words into a dodging-the-question moment for the candidate on the matter of Bain Capital, on Thursday's Starting Point. O'Brien was emphasizing Romney's "reluctance" to mention his days at Bain, which had been the focus of attack ads from the Obama campaign that O'Brien herself justified the other day.

Wolf Blitzer Asks the Conservative-Bashing Questions of GOP-Bashing Guest

matt.hadro — Thu, 24 May 2012 23:38:36 +0000

Matt Hadro

Apparently at CNN, the phrase "Republicans are the problem" is not challenged, but encouraged. On Thursday's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer simply tossed softballs to GOP-bashing Norm Ornstein, who had hit the party before as "extreme" and "unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science."

ABC, NBC Punt on Alleged Obama Administration Leak of Classified Information to Hollywood

matthew.balan — Thu, 24 May 2012 21:31:04 +0000

Matthew Balan

CBS This Morning stood out as the only Big Three network morning show on Thursday to cover a conservative group's allegation that the Obama administration gave a movie director and writer "special access to government officials involved in the commando operation that killed Osama bin Laden," as reported by Reuters on Wednesday. ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today ignored the story.

NBC Uses Faltering Facebook IPO to Promote Occupy Rhetoric and Government Regulation

kyle.drennen — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:19:36 +0000

Kyle Drennen

Following a report on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News about the dropping value of Facebook's initial public stock offering and possible investigations into what went wrong, anchor Brian Williams saw an opportunity to adopt the talking points of the left-wing Occupy Wall Street movement: "Is this a case of the rich get richer, another advantage to the 1%...?"