Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: MRC Alert: ABC Highlights Victims of Obama's Budget Plan, CBS Touts New Spending as 'Investments'

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

MRC Alert: ABC Highlights Victims of Obama's Budget Plan, CBS Touts New Spending as 'Investments'

A daily compilation edited by Brent H. Baker, CyberAlert items are drawn from daily BiasAlert posts and distributed by the Media Research Center's News Analysis Division, the leader since 1987 in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.

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Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Wednesday February 16, 2011 @ 08:56 AM EST

1. ABC Highlights Victims of Obama's Budget Plan, CBS Touts New Spending as 'Investments'
The three nightly news broadcasts on Monday touted Barack Obama's new spending as "investments," highlighted victims of the White House's cuts and ignored key facts about the President's 2012 budget. Evening News reporter Chip Reid used the preferred White House language, asserting, "But the President unveiled his budget at a technology school to highlight new investments, especially in education and innovation, including funding for 100,000 new math and science teachers, $32 billion for biomedical innovation and a doubling of funding for green energy research."

2. CNN's Malveaux Endorses Reporter's Question from the Left to Obama
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux complimented a media colleague on Tuesday's Newsroom who hit President Obama from the left that morning. April Ryan cited the liberal Congressional Black Caucus's criticism of Obama's proposed budget, that "rebuilding our economy on the backs of the most vulnerable Americans is something that is...not acceptable." Malveaux stated that Ryan "brought up a very good point." Ryan, the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, twice raised Mr. Obama's past as a community organizer in her two questions to the President during his 11 am press conference.

3. WaPo, Boston Globe, Others Laughably Trumpet Obama Budget's 'Deep' Cuts to 'Rein in Deficits'
With the unveiling of Obama's 2012 budget, some newspapers around the country framed the $3.7 trillion proposal as a serious attempt to slash the federal deficit. The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Daily Herald, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and the DC Express, couched the administration's massive budget as a fiscally responsible plan that makes "deep" and "big" cuts to "rein in deficits."

4. ABC News Frets Over PBS Cuts: 'Big Bird on the Chopping Block?'
The ABCNews.com website on Tuesday used the Sesame Street character Big Bird to worry about potential Republican cuts to PBS. Next to a picture of the forlorn puppet and some concerned children, a graphic alerted, "Big Bird on the Chopping Block?" The article, by Huma Khan, discussed the efforts by the House GOP to cut of funding to PBS, but didn't feature a single quote from any such Republican.

5. NY Times Again Promotes Common Cause's Anti-Thomas Crusade, Skips Racism at CC Protest
The New York Times' Eric Lichtblau on the "advocacy group" battling "conservatives" and Justice Clarence Thomas: "...Justice Thomas reported that the Federalist Society, a prominent conservative legal group, had reimbursed him an undisclosed amount for four days of 'transportation, meals and accommodations' over the weekend of the retreat. The event is organized by Charles and David Koch, brothers who have used millions of dollars from the energy conglomerate they run in Wichita, Kan., to finance conservative causes." Yet the Times has avoided covering the violent and racist things said at a Common Cause-affiliated protest of the Koch brothers.

6. Chris Matthews Questions Sanity of 'Zany' CPAC Attendees
On Monday's Hardball Chris Matthews, who devoted much of last week's shows to Egypt, got caught up on some conservative bashing as he mocked those who attended CPAC as "zany" and likened the conference to a "carnival act." The MSNBC host, joined by fellow liberals David Corn of Mother Jones magazine and Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, led the show by describing the event as a "right wing jamboree that puts the zany in the same room as the zanier."

7. Harvard Professor Slams Obama's Handling of Egypt; 'Morning Joe' Panel Dumbfounded
For about ten minutes on MSNBC Monday, Harvard History professor Niall Ferguson offered a articulate, detailed, and biting indictment of President Obama's handling of the crisis Egypt – and those disagreeing on the usually Obama-friendly Morning Joe panel could offer little of substance in response. Co-host Mika Brzezinski began the segment reading Ferguson's latest column – which is the latest Newsweek magazine cover story – and asked him to expound on Egypt, saying that "it actually seems like it went pretty damn well."

8. FNC's O'Reilly Calls Out ABC and NBC for 'Big Omission' of Planned Parenthood Video Sting
On Friday's O'Reilly Factor, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly held ABC and NBC News to account for failing to cover the recent Planned Parenthood video stings conducted by the pro-life organization Live Action: "Fox News and CNN covered the...tapes extensively and CBS News did as well...However NBC and ABC News both ignored the situation....it was a pretty big omission." O'Reilly challenged two liberal political science professors on the lack of coverage and the reasoning behind it. Speaking to Dr. Caroline Heldman of Occidental College and Dr. Mark Sawyer of UCLA, O'Reilly cited the Media Research Center's reporting of ABC and NBC's silence on the issue.

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