NB’s Graham Discusses Media’s Barack Obama/Ted Cruz Double Standard with TheBlaze’s Wilkow
When Barack Obama was freshly elected to the Senate in 2004, the liberal media cheered him on, "promoting him for president, you know, before taking the oath [of office]" on the Senate floor in January 2005, NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham noted in an interview with The Blaze's Andrew Wilkow. By contrast, journalists and pundits persistently attack freshman Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for hitting the ground running this January with hard-hitting floor speeches and questions in the committee room.
Supposedly conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks, one of Cruz's fiercest critics, certainly never said "Whoa, slow down, Obama!" and "he certainly wasn't doing that when [Obama] decided to challenge Hillary Clinton for the presidency." In fact, Graham noted, Brooks couldn't give the Illinois senator enough effusive praise during his 2008 run for president, so he "as usual, looks especially ridiculous" for his attack on Cruz, Graham concluded. [watch the video below the page break]
NB’s Graham Discusses Media’s Barack Obama/Ted Cruz Double Standard with TheBlaze’s Wilkow
When Barack Obama was freshly elected to the Senate in 2004, the liberal media cheered him on, "promoting him for president, you know, before taking the oath [of office]" on the Senate floor in January 2005, NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham noted in an interview with The Blaze's Andrew Wilkow. By contrast, journalists and pundits persistently attack freshman Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for hitting the ground running this January with hard-hitting floor speeches and questions in the committee room.
Supposedly conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks, one of Cruz's fiercest critics, certainly never said "Whoa, slow down, Obama!" and "he certainly wasn't doing that when [Obama] decided to challenge Hillary Clinton for the presidency." In fact, Graham noted, Brooks couldn't give the Illinois senator enough effusive praise during his 2008 run for president, so he "as usual, looks especially ridiculous" for his attack on Cruz, Graham concluded. [watch the video below the page break]
NB’s Graham, FNC’s Varney Discuss AP Scrubbing ‘Illegal Immigrant’ From Stylebook
"It seems to me" that the Associated Press's newly announced plan to scrub "illegal immigrant" from its Stylebook is "an attempt to control the language... it's a form of political correctness," argued substitute host Stuart Varney on the April 3 Your World with Neil Cavuto. "You can subtly affect your coverage and your thinking about the issue" by "softening the language," noted Varney, who himself is a legal immigrant to the United States from the United Kingdom. [video follows page break; MP3 audio here]
Yes, agreed Varney's guest, NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham as, "it's a form of political correctness over factual correctness." Graham noted that the Associated Press and New York Times had long held the line on keeping "illegal immigrant" over the nonsensical "undocumented immigrant" alternative, that lobbying by pro-amnesty groups, as well as liberal minority journalism groups pushed the AP to make a politically calculated decision:
NB’s Graham, FNC’s Varney Discuss AP Scrubbing ‘Illegal Immigrant’ From Stylebook
"It seems to me" that the Associated Press's newly announced plan to scrub "illegal immigrant" from its Stylebook is "an attempt to control the language... it's a form of political correctness," argued substitute host Stuart Varney on the April 3 Your World with Neil Cavuto. "You can subtly affect your coverage and your thinking about the issue" by "softening the language," noted Varney, who himself is a legal immigrant to the United States from the United Kingdom. [video follows page break; MP3 audio here]
Yes, agreed Varney's guest, NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham as, "it's a form of political correctness over factual correctness." Graham noted that the Associated Press and New York Times had long held the line on keeping "illegal immigrant" over the nonsensical "undocumented immigrant" alternative, that lobbying by pro-amnesty groups, as well as liberal minority journalism groups pushed the AP to make a politically calculated decision:
Video: On FNC’s Cavuto, NB’s Graham Slams Media for Being ‘Repeaters,’ Not Reporters on Sequester Issue
"We have two kinds of people in Washington in the press, we have the reporters and the repeaters," NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham told Fox News's Neil Cavuto on Thursday's edition of his Your World program. "We've had the repeaters all week of panic, you know, big scoops of sequester panic ripple" from the media who were busy parroting fallacious Obama administration talking points. [watch the segment below the page break]
"Part of the problem with this whole thing is" that the liberal media have been "instructed to go out and build panic, and they're very willing to go and do that" for the Obama administration, the Media Research Center director of media analysis added. "Our news media is so statist that they always think that the withdrawal of government from anything is a disaster" while they:
Video: Alan Colmes Slams NewsBusters for Legitimate Criticism of Hillary Clinton Puff Piece
Libertarian media critic Jim Pinkerton and liberal Alan Colmes sparred earlier this afternoon on the Fox News program Happening Now over the question of the media's generally positive treatment of outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, despite unresolved questions about her role in the Benghazi debacle.
One item discussed in the segment was NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham's November 26 post, "Forget Libya! WashPost Champions Hillary for President In Gushing 'Wonky Methodist' Profile," which took Washington Post staffer Stephanie McCrummen to task for her gauzy front-page puff piece in Monday's paper. For his part, of course, Colmes dismissed NewsBusters out-of-hand, without taking the time to seriously attempt to rebut Graham's arguments (watch video below):
NB’s Graham on Fox Biz: Watch Out for Last Minute Media Bias
NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham appeared on the Fox Business Channel's Varney & Co. earlier this morning to review how the liberal media spun last night's debate, and what to expect over the next two weeks.
Host Stuart Varney suggested media bias could not dislodge the pro-Romney trend now evident in the polls, but Graham offered a warning: "We could see some of the most aggressive bias to date coming in the next two weeks, if they [liberal reporters] really believe Obama is losing." [Video and transcript below the jump.]
MRC’s Tim Graham Makes Weekend Appearance on C-SPAN: Engages in Media Bias Debate
MRC director of media analysis Tim Graham appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal on Saturday morning to discuss the letter MRC president Brent Bozell and more than 20 other conservative leaders and media personalities wrote to executives of ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News.
"I would simply say we have a news media that doesn't hold the Obama Administration accountable. It's trying to destroy the Mitt Romney presidential campaign," Graham said. "That is not what ‘objective’ news media does." (See video and transcript below, MP3 audio available here).
NB’s Graham: Washington Press Corps a ‘Pathetic Pack of Politicizers’ Regarding Libya Consulate Attack
"We got about 10 minutes on the three evening newscasts" last night about "how Romney must have made a mistake" with his statement on the deadly Benghazi consulate attack instead of devoting any significant attention to the question of "What is wrong with the state of our security at our embassies in the Middle East?" NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham complained to Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto on his September 13 Your World program.
The liberal media are a "pathetic pack of politicizers" who have "done nothing" but "politicize this issue," Graham added. Indeed, when President Obama was interviewed by 60 Minutes, "he gets asked, 'did Romney screw this up?'" the Media Research Center director of media analysis noted. The president probably gets "tougher questions from his daughters at the supper table than he's getting from Steve Kroft at CBS," Graham quipped. [MP3 audio here; video follows page break]
Network Morning Shows Shine on Obama, Rain on GOP, MRC’s Graham Tells FNC’s O’Reilly
NewsBusters senior editor and Media Research Center director of media analysis Tim Graham appeared on the June 4 O'Reilly Factor to discuss the role that the broadcast network morning shows play in influencing the electorate with their liberal-leaning narratives about the issues this election season.
The morning shows have strong ratings, "have become the profit centers for [broadcast networks'] news divisions and they reach a lot of female voters in particular," Graham noted. "[O]ne of the reasons we pay so much attention to the morning shows... is just a dramatic bias in terms of favoring Obama, favoring the Democrats." [you can watch the full segment in the video embedded below the page break]
Media Research Center intern Kelly McGarey transcribed the segment for us:
O’Reilly Factor
June 4, 2012
8:40 p.m. EDT
BILL O’REILLY, host: Thanks for staying with us, I'm Bill O'Reilly. In the unresolved problem segment tonight, TV news and the presidential race. As we’ve been reporting, President Obama has a major advantage because much of the national media seems to be favoring him over Mitt Romney. But here’s something very interesting, the nightly newscasts have lost a lot of influence over the past years. However, the morning programs Today, Good Morning America, CBS Morning News still maintain large audiences and they hours of air time. The question: how much influence will they have in the upcoming presidential election? Joining us now from Alexandria, Virginia, Tim Graham, Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group. So, I'm going to be on Good Morning America tomorrow talking politics off the top. They have always treated me alright over there, and when they ask me a loaded question, I mock them and they laugh along. Same thing at the Today Show, only appearance I made at CBS Morning News a couple weeks ago. I don't have any trouble with any of them, but you see it a little bit differently?
TIM GRAHAM, Media Research Center: I think that these -- you are right that these networks are important shows. They have become the profit centers for these news divisions and they reach a lot of female voters in particular. And we found, and one of the reasons we pay so much attention to the morning shows, there is just a dramatic bias in terms of favoring Obama, favoring the Democrats. They have been very harsh to the Republicans throughout this primary season, to the point where I think Mitt Romney really didn't want to do very many morning show interviews because they were so tough. The important thing is this -- I'm sorry?
O’REILLY: Back that up a little bit. So, you believe that in the primary process, but, remember now, President Obama wasn't involved with that, it was just one Republican slugging it out against another Republican, alright? So they were tough, how? I mean we are generalizing now, but give me a couple of specifics that people can relate to.
GRAHAM: Well, when Mitt Romney was on CBS, they did ask him, “weren't you wrong and wasn't President Obama right to bail out the auto companies?” They were very swift to attack the Republicans who were very substantive. They were very explicit with Newt Gingrich, ‘what about all the baggage you bring to this campaign?” They were very hot to tell Michelle Bachmann she was called a flake by people. So, a candidate that would come on would expect to be attacked, Matt Lauer would read editorial from The New York Times that would attack them, and what we have seen in the last couple of weeks, whether it's Barack Obama or Michelle Obama that get these interviews on the morning shows, and they are not substantive interviews. They are about the kids and the garden and how are you?
O’REILLY: Ya, but that's what Michelle Obama does, I don’t argue that. I, as you know, asked these questions of everybody. I mean, if there is somebody in the news and they are coming on The Factor, I don't care what party they are, in whatever the dominant news cycle is, I'm going to hit them with it. So, I'm saying isn't it good television for the morning programs to confront a politician, no matter what party, with whatever is hot, with whatever is being said? How do you react to it? That's good TV, is it not?
GRAHAM: That would be good TV, the problem is that's not what we get. You know, four years ago when Barack Obama was new on the scene, they were doing these stories. Jake Tapper did a story right after the Oscars saying a large group in hollywood is organizing to throw a tribute to a tall statuesque person of color. No, not Oscar, Obama. I mean, so, they got celebretory coverage. ABC gave the three leading Democratic candidates these large, like 38-minute town meetings so they could relate to the voters. The Republicans did not get that in the 2008 cycle. The Republicans did not get that in the 2012 cycle, and instead what we're getting is these large chunks of air time where Robin Roberts talks to Obama and, again, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama both get the puff-ball interviews. Now, you go back to 2007 when Robin Roberts interviewed Laura Bush, she couldn't get through that interview, which would be a ‘soft’ First Lady interview, without attacking her, and saying, “Desmond Tutu says this country has to do more than bomb people.” That's not the time of question you would expect them to ask Laura Bush, but that's exactly what they did.
O’REILLY: Do you believe that the management of the three news organizations, CBS, NBC and ABC, says to their talent Stephanopoulus, Lauer, Gail King, Charlie Rose, “go light on the president, go heavy on the republicans, go after Romney and give Obama a pass?” Do you believe they say that to them?
GRAHAM: I'm not sure, but let's take a look at who these people are. Obviously, does George Stephanopoulos have to be told to favor the Democrats or to be tough on the Republicans? Gayle King, I mean, CBS brought in, you know, we think of Gayle King as Oprah’s best friend, but Gayle King was there celebrating the Obama inauguration, in the White House, on the night of obama's inauguration. She was just at the Beyonce concert with Michelle Obama. There is no degree of separation between Gayle King and the Obamas.
O’REILLY: Of all three, which one do you think is the fairest?
GRAHAM: I would say CBS This Morning is probably the best. They have less fluff.
O’REILLY: Okay, even with her, Gayle King, on the roster?
GRAHAM: Ya, now, Mitt Romney when he just did an interview there last week, talked to Jan Crawford, and Jan Crawford is one of the better morning reporters. She didn't ask him softball questions, but she is fair. Jan Crawford, that's the kind of person people should be emulating.
O’REILLY: Alright, Tim. Thanks as always, we appreciate it, and by the way, as I mentioned, I will be on GMA tomorrow, about 7:10 AM.