BiasAlerts

ABC and CBS Ignore Obama Administration Investigating FNC's James Rosen

kyle.drennen — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:07:34 +0000

Kyle Drennen

On Leno: Kids Ask Obama the Darndest Questions

geoff.dickens — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:20:28 +0000

Geoffrey Dickens

Ever since he announced he was stepping down as Tonight Show host Jay Leno has seemingly been harder on Barack Obama. Well on Monday's Tonight Show with Jay Leno that trend continued as Leno featured a clip of schoolchildren peppering the President with the tough questions that the press should be hammering him with on a daily basis.

The following bit was aired on the May 20 edition of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno:

NBC's Gregory Scolds GOP for Comparing Obama to Nixon

kyle.drennen — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:15:54 +0000

Kyle Drennen

CBS Highlights Ex-IRS Staffer Who Declares There Were No Politics at Cincinnati Office

brent.baker — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:50:47 +0000

Brent Baker

Monday’s CBS Evening News took one break from Oklahoma tornado coverage – to run a piece on how an IRS manager who recently retired from the Cincinnati office, where 501 (c)(4) applications were processed, declared “politics and religion were things that people generally didn’t talk about at work.”

Reporter Dean Reynolds focused on the assurances by Bonnie Esrig, who was also featured in a Saturday Washington Post article on how politics had nothing to do with the targeting of conservative groups: “She never heard anyone say the words ‘the President wants this done.’”

Networks Hype Obama's 'Powerful' Commencement Speech; Set Aside Over Five Minutes of Air Time

matthew.balan — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:10:29 +0000

Matthew Balan

ABC, CBS, and NBC touted President Obama's Sunday commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta on their Sunday evening and Monday morning newscasts, devoting a total of five minutes and 14 seconds to the "powerful speech," as NBC's Tamron Hall labeled it on Monday's Today.

MSNBC Slams 'Scandal' of GOP Vote to Repeal ObamaCare

brad.wilmouth — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:46:18 +0000

Brad Wilmouth

On Friday's PoliticsNation on MSNBC, host Al Sharpton lambasted House Republicans for repeatedly voting to repeal ObamaCare, calling it a "scandal" and an "outrage," as he seemed to cite a questionable study from a left-wing source from 2009 claiming that 45,000 people a year die because they lack health insurance. Sharpton began the segment:

The Obama Scandal the Big Three Networks Aren't Telling You About

geoff.dickens — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:22:48 +0000

Geoffrey Dickens

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is under fire for soliciting donations from health care companies to underwrite ObamaCare PR efforts to increase enrollment but you wouldn't know that if you only got your news from ABC and NBC or skipped Sunday's edition of CBS's Face the Nation. The Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks have effectively buried the scandal that was first broken by the Washington Post on May 10.

NBC Touts White House 'Aggressively Responding' to Scandals, Dismissing Criticism as 'Offensive and Absurd'

kyle.drennen — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:15:25 +0000

Kyle Drennen

On Sunday's NBC Nightly News, White House correspondent Peter Alexander led off with Obama team spin on the scandals rocking the administration: "...the White House is aggressively responding, calling accusations of mismanagement 'offensive and absurd.'" [Listen to the audio]

CNN's Banfield: 'Take Me Off the Ledge' and Tell Me IRS Audits Weren't Political

matt.hadro — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:40:59 +0000

Matt Hadro

After Friday's IRS testimony before Congress, CNN's Ashleigh Banfield begged CNN host Candy Crowley to "take me off the ledge" and explain that the agency was simply doing its job looking for "sleazeballs that are trying to get special status."

WashPost's Milbank: GOP Should 'Waste' Time So 'They'll Be of Less Harm to the Country'

brad.wilmouth — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:32:00 +0000

Brad Wilmouth

Appearing as a guest on Thursday's PoliticsNation show on MSNBC, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank mocked House Republicans for repeatedly holding unsuccessful votes to repeal ObamaCare as he suggested they should continue to "waste" time so "they'll be less of a harm to the country" because that way "they're not cutting food stamps." Mi

NBC's Williams Ready to Move On: 'It's Tough to Know the Staying Power of Any Given Scandal'

kyle.drennen — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:17:19 +0000

Kyle Drennen

On Thursday's NBC Nightly News, after proclaiming President Obama to be "on the offensive" amid growing scandals, anchor Brian Williams hinted at those controversies being only temporary setbacks for Obama: "And some folks are already calling the President's problems the curse of the second term.

Charlie Rose Wonders If Republicans Will 'Overplay Their Hand' on Obama Scandals

matthew.balan — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:52:09 +0000

Matthew Balan

In the latest instance of liberal journalists thinking alike, Charlie Rose asked practically the same question on Friday's CBS This Morning that ABC's George Stephanopoulos did on Good Morning America. Rose wondered if congressional Republicans "may overplay their hand and somehow squander what they think is opportunity" on the three scandals currently surrounding the Obama White House.

MSNBC's Joy Reid: 'Only Thing That Really Unites' GOP is 'Hatred' of Obama

brad.wilmouth — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:17:13 +0000

Brad Wilmouth

On Thursday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC contributor Joy Reid claimed that Republicans are going after Obama administration scandals because "the only thing that really unites conservatives and Republicans at this point is hatred of Barack Obama. So they're going to play it for all it's worth."

Nightline in 1987 Decries Media Obsession With Crime; Nightline in 2013 Hypes O.J. and Skimps on IRS

scott.whitlock — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:12:53 +0000

Scott Whitlock

On Wednesday night, the journalists at Nightline allowed a mere 31 seconds to the exploding scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservatives. This was after anchor Terry Moran introduced stories on O.J. Simpson's latest trial, one on determining your "Klout score" and the new reality TV show Ice Cold Cold.

NBC Touts Obama 'Trying to Move Past' Scandals, Believing It's 'Just a Blip'

kyle.drennen — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:48:30 +0000

Kyle Drennen

On Friday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer described how President Obama was "trying to move past" the scandals plaguing his administration. In the report that followed, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd began by parroting the President's attempts to downplay the political firestorm: "Aides say the President's keeping things in perspective and believes this is just a blip, he'll bounce back." [Listen to the audio]