Katie Couric: Perky and Liberally Biased - (Couric Bias by Topic)

Liberal Bias by Topic

Click here for a year-by-Year Rundown of Couric's Liberal Tilt (with videos)
Click here for more Profiles in Bias

KATIE COURIC NBC Today, 1989 - 2006; CBS Evening News, 2006 - Present

Katie Couric’s Years of Liberal Tilt
Media Reality Check, on Couric's 2001 tenth anniversary as co-host of Today:
"Perky Katie’s Decade of Loving Liberalism. According to Couric, Reagan Was 'An Airhead' While Dictator Castro Was a 'Charismatic Leader'"

Below: Katie Couric, By by Topic (with videos)

Abortion
Anti-War Issues
George W. Bush
Bush Administration
Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton
Condoms
Conservatism
Death Penalty & Crime
Democrats
Economy
Environment
Europe
Al Gore
John Kerry and John Edwards
Hollywood
Iraq and War on Terrorism
Media
Race
Regulations and Taxes
Religion
Republicans
Ronald Reagan
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Social Secuirty
United Nations
Women’s Issues

Abortion
Katie Couric Outed as Pro-Abortion Protestor
Katie Couric’s One-Sided Stem Cell Questions

Anti-War Issues
Couric Prompts Mother of Killed Soldier Who Denounces Bush
Couric Admits Her 7-Year-Old Daughter Opposes the War

George W. Bush
Couric and Russert Pile on Bush
Couric Highlights Anti-Bush NYT Editorial, But Not Corroboration
During Names Reading, Couric Relays How Bush Has Alienated World
Couric Obsessed About Bush Vacation
Couric Prompts Accident Victim to Recall Jokes About Bush
Couric Scolded Justice O’Connor on Bush v. Gore
Couric Questions Whether Bush’s Vacation Will Hurt His Stature

Bush Administration
Couric Takes Pock Shots at Dick Cheney
Burying Bush in Bad Polls
Breaking the Law is ‘The Way This White House Possibly Operates’
Couric Cues Up Joe Wilson’s Attacks
Couric Pushes Lynne Cheney Over Plamegate
Couric Scolds Karl Rove and Frets Over Day Care
Couric Asks Bill Clinton Whether Karl Rove Should Be Fired
Couric Urges Bush ‘Move to Middle’
Couric Treats Annan as Wise Sage, Pushes Him to Denounce Bolton
Couric Sees Parallels Between Nazi Sympathizer and Bush-Cheney
Couric Pleads with McCain to Accept Offer to Replace Cheney
Couric Amazed: Mild-Mannered Dick Cheney. Who Knew?
Couric Grills Lynne Cheney About Conservative Views

Bill Clinton
Couric More Concerned About Freeh’s Credibility Than Clinton’s
Clinton Lectures Couric on Obstructionism and Couric Scolds Vatican
Couric Tougher Than Rather on Bill Clinton, But...
Couric and Stephanopoulos Tout Bill Clinton Book as ‘Candid’
Clinton Grumbles that Media ‘Sympathetic’ to Conservatives
Couric Gushed Over the Clintons
Couric Light on Clinton Scandals, Pounds Bush Policies, 7/23/2003
Couric Dismisses Clinton Scandal: Everyone Does It 2/27/2001

Hillary Clinton
Couric and Gibson Blame America, First Lady Counters Their Claims
Couric Raises Criticisms of Nancy Reagan, Ignores Them With Hillary Clinton
Couric Treats Hillary Clinton as Victim
Couric Gushed Over the Clintons at WH during Christmas Season

Condoms
Katie Couric Reveals Her Mom Bought Stock in Condom Companies
Couric’s Mom a Condom Queen

Conservatism
Couric Pokes Fun at Rush Limbaugh’s Prescription Drug Addiction, 10/15/2003
Couric Badgers Whitman for Caving to ‘Right-Wing Conservatives’
Couric Labeled Non-Conservative Stephen Carter a ‘Conservative’
Couric Fets Conservative-Hating Ann Richards
Couric Ties The Right to Harming Gays

Couric: Right-Wing Climate Breeds Violence?
"Let’s talk a little bit more about the right wing because I know that’s something you feel very strongly about. But this is actually not necessarily about the right wing, but perhaps a climate that some say has been established by religious zealots or Christian conservatives. There have been two recent incidents in the news I think that upset most people in this country, that is the dragging death of James Byrd Junior and the beating death of Matthew Shepard. I just would like you to reflect on whether you feel people in this country are increasingly intolerant, mean-spirited, etcetera, and what, if anything, can be done about that because a lot of people get very discouraged when they hear and see this kind of brutality taking place."
-- Today’s Katie Couric to former Texas Governor Ann Richards as she hosted a 92nd Street Y appearance in New York City on March 3 shown by C-SPAN April 3, 1999.

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Death Penalty & Crime
Couric Pushes for Death Penalty
Katie Couric Advocated on Behalf of Texas Murderer
Katie Couric Outrage: Today Anchor Becomes On-Air Advocate, Fundraiser for Confessed Child-Killer Andrea Yates, But NBC Denies Taking Sides

Democrats
Couric Lets Kerry Trumpet Bogus Stats
Couric Criticizes Kerry
Couric Hands Dean the Crazy Uncle Treatment
Couric Insists Harry Reid is ‘More Conservative’ than Daschle
Couric Pleads: ‘Let's Hope’ Jokes Will ‘Soon Be Over for Dean’
Go Easy on Dean, Couric: Gore ‘Considered...a Hardcore Centrist’
CBS & NBC Trumpet Carville’s Bush Bashing and Tips for Liberals
NBC Cues Up Talking Points for Daschle, Pounds at Richard Myers
Couric Cues Up Dean on Leakgate, But Lauer Pounds Specter
Couric Cheers Pelosi: ‘You Go Girl!’
CBS Again Avoids Sharpton Rant, But NBC’s Couric Presses Him
NBC’s Today Gushes Over Carter Getting Nobel
NBC Still Pining for Carter
More NBC Love for Jimmy Carter 10/5/2004
Couric: O’Neill Candid, But Stephanopoulos Was ‘Turncoat’
Couric Gushed Over the Clintons
Couric Took On Liebermann’s Spin
Couric’s McKinney Connection

Golden Years of Camelot
"With the death of JFK Jr., there is now only one survivor of Camelot. That, of course, is Caroline Kennedy, the little girl who walked her father to the Oval Office and rode a pony on the White House lawn. And now grown up with a family of her own, Caroline remains our only link to those golden years."
-- Today co-host Katie Couric, July 19, 1999.
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Economy
Absurd Couric: ‘I Had to Take Out a Loan to Fill Up My Minivan’

Poor Katie Needs Gas Money
Co-host Matt Lauer: "Pain at the pump. Gas prices are going sky high. I paid $2.94 a gallon over the weekend to fill up the car."
Co-host Katie Couric: "It’s ridiculous. I had to take out a loan to fill up my minivan. It’s crazy."
— Exchange at the top of NBC’s Today, August 15, 2005. Couric makes about $15,000,000 a year.

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Environment
Couric Blames Hurricanes on Global Warming
Today Promotes Cause of ‘Environmental Researcher’ Brockovich

Europe
Welch Shoots Down Couric's Admiration for European Work Ethic
Couric More Enthusiastic for Socialism Than Even the French?

You’ve Got to Admire the Socialist French
Keith Miller: "Break out the band, bring on the drinks. The French are calling it a miracle. A government-mandated 35-hour work week is changing the French way of life. Two years ago, in an effort to create more jobs, the government imposed a shorter work week on large companies, forcing them to hire more workers....Sixty percent of those on the job say their lives have improved. These American women, all working in France, have time for lunch and a life."
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox: "More Americans should be more aware that an economy as successful as the French one managed to be successful without giving up everything else in life."

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Al Gore
Couric Slobbers to Boies: ‘You've Done So Many Exciting Things’
Couric Pleads with Gore to Bash Bush

John Kerry & John Edwards
Katie Couric Throws a Couple of Hardballs At John Edwards
Russert and Couric Assume Kerry Ignored Swift Vets Ad in August
Katie Couric Joins Liberal Stars Hobnobbing with John Kerry
Couric to Edwards: “What Do You Say, 'One Frosty, Two Straws?’”
Couric Poses Some Tough Questions to Edwards, But Also Softballs
Couric and Time Photographer Admire Kerry/Edwards Family Team
Couric Praises Edwards’ Liberal Stump Speech as ‘Quite Moving’

Hollywood
Today Anchors Blatantly Sell ‘Crash’ DVD
Patrick Swayze Derides Fear of Soviets, Couric Echoes Sentiment
Michael Moore So Enthralled Couric She Awarded Him a 2nd Segment
Couric Cheered Movie Plot About Minor Having Sex
Celebrities Ruin Politics?

Iraq and War on Terrorism
Couric Claims Jill Carrol’s Kidnappers ‘Not as Vicious’
U.S. Warmongering or Committing Terrorism
Couric: It’s Not as if OBL is Reading the NYT, is it?
Couric Assumes Eavesdropping Illegal, Cites Terrorist’s Lawyer
Couric Not So Tough with Saddam Hussein Lawyer Ramsey Clark

Katie's Interview on Planet Ramsey Clark
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Senator Frist Displeases Couric on Iraq
Make Mine Torture: Couric Finds a Cause
Couric Anticipating 2,000^th Death in Iraq
Couric Sees Iraq ‘Unraveling’ Thanks to ‘Tenacious Insurgents’
Couric Finds Time for 'Downing Street Memo' But Not Dick Durbin
Iraq ‘Death Squads’ Remind Couric of Innocents Killed in Salvador

First Lady Laura Bush corrects the negative spin NBC's Katie Couric puts on U.S. military.
Katie Couric: "In your view, is the administration holding the people who are doing these things and perhaps they are in the minority as you say, but do you think they're being held sufficiently accountable?"
Laura Bush: "Yes I do. I mean there's investigations going on the people are being held accountable and it's not 'perhaps in the minority.' We know it's very, very few people. A handful of people. We know that overall our troops are serving with distinction."
-- NBC's Today, May 23, 2005

Gibson & Couric Presume Credibility of Explosives Allegation
Today Airs Katie Playing Badminton Over New Saddam Hussein Video
Couric Cues Up Clinton’s Talking Points, Assumes Worst in Iraq
Couric: More Killed in Iraq Than in First 3 Years of Vietnam
Couric to Lynch: Rescue Exploited to ‘Gin Up Support for War?’
On 9/11 Anniversary NBC Bashes Bush Team Over Air Quality Report
Couric Asks Lynch’s Doctor If Rescue Was ‘Pentagon Propaganda’
Today Pounds Away on Iraq, Couric Marvels Story Won’t Fade
Couric Asks Marine's Family if Proud Despite U.S. Flag Display
NBC's Couric & Miklaszewski Refute Arnett's Baghdad Reporting
Today's Town Meeting: Iraqi Disarmament Undercuts Bush Case
Bush Marching to War ‘Even As’ Iraq Pledges to Disarm
A Good News Day, But NBC’s Katie Couric Stresses the Negative

Media
How Couric Will Move to Rather’s Chair at CBS
Couric to Drop Anchor at CBS?
What’s Dumber? Pigeon Jokes of Couric’s Plan to Broadcast ‘Lies’?
Sick: NBC Today Displays Human Corpse Next to Couric
Deaf and Dumb on Durbin 6/22/05
Katie Couric Touts Maureen Dowd as ‘Witty’ and ‘Insightful’
Couric: Aren’t ‘Liberals Controlling the Mainstream Media?’
Couric Rues ‘Kid-Gloves’ Handling of Reagan, Loss of Free Speech
Couric Jokes About Limbaugh’s Addiction to Pain Killers
USA Today Claims Lauer and Couric ‘Avoid Revealing Their Biases’
Couric Provides Benevolent, Non-Ideological Tag for MoveOn.org
Clinton Grumbles that Media ‘Sympathetic’ to Conservatives
Couric Denies There is a Liberal Media Bias
Gephardt Excuse: I Parroted Katie Couric
Couric Took On Liebermann’s Spin

Don't You Just Hate Biased Media Outlets?
"Some people are very concerned about talk shows, radio talk shows in general, of course. Most of them around the country have a decidedly conservative bent. The rap that some people give them is that they reflect the views of a very vocal minority, the extremists in this country, and don’t really reflect the true nature of political debate in the United States. And, as a matter of fact, they tend to be quite divisive and sort of have a bad, a negative impact on the country."
— To Oliver North, March 13, 1995.

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Race
Today Examines How ‘Racism’ & ‘Bigotry’ Are ‘Alive and Well’

Regulations & Taxes
Couric Pushes Ted Kennedy's Latest Regulatory Intrusion
Couric Pleads for AG to Take on SUV's Which Could ‘Squash’ Her
Tax on Grocery Bags Intrigues Today Couric, Lauer & Curry
Couric Gushes Over Rubin’s Record, Blames Tax Cuts for Deficit
Couric & Koppel Treat Warren Buffett as Wise Anti-Tax Cut Sage
Couric: ‘Everybody Thinks’ Dividend Tax Cut Favor the Rich
Never Enough Taxes for the Media, 9/6/2001

Religion
Couric vs. Those Controversial Catholics
Couric Bashes ‘Catholic Town’ for ‘Infringing on Civil Rights’
Couric Distorts Poll to Say Most Want ‘Less Conservative’ Church
Couric Scolds Vatican

A Catholic Town? How Awful!
"Some of the values, depending on your perspective... may be deemed wholesome, but in other ways, I think, people will see this community as eschewing diversity and promoting intolerance....Do you think the tenets of the community might result in de facto segregation as a result of some of the beliefs that are being espoused by the majority of the residents there?...You can understand how people would hear some of these things and be like, wow, this is really infringing on civil liberties and freedom of speech and right to privacy and all sorts of basic tenets that this country was founded on. Right?"
— March 3, 2006, interviewing Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan and real-estate developer Paul Marinelli, who are building a community based on Catholic values in Ave Maria, Florida.
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Republicans
NBC's Couric Champions ‘Clarion Call’ of ‘Moderates Are Coming!’
Morning Shows Praise McCain, Couric: ‘Slap in Face of Extremists’
Couric Fawns Over Specter, Blames GOP for ‘Disgusted’ Public
Couric’s Questions Take More Time Than GOP Guest Has to Answer

Republicans: "Too Harsh, Too Draconian"
"I know that was a major goal of the Dole campaign [in the debate], to make sure people saw this compassionate side of Bob Dole. Do you think that he is in some ways paying the price for a Republican Congress that enacted, or tried to enact measures, in the views of many, were simply too harsh or too draconian?"
— To Elizabeth Dole, October 8, 1996.

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Katie Falls for Parody
"I know you keep a running log of your every waking activity. There’s an article in the Style section of the Washington Post this morning. It says you’ve logged 26 years of personal minutiae, filling 4,400 two-by-three inch notebooks, color-coded by season. An example: ‘12:17' -- this is when you made the announcement -- ‘Ascend stage, stumble, regain balance; 12:18: Applause, ‘Where the Streets Have No Name,’ plays (U2); 12:19: Clap, wave; 12:20: Adjust tie (red, white stripes); 12:21: Double thumbs up; 12:22: Sing along with National Anthem, right hand on heart.’ What, what do you do this for?!"
-- Katie Couric to Senator Bob Graham, apparently unaware the article she quoted from was a spoof of the presidential candidate’s diary, Today, May 7, 2003.

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Couric Gushes Over Jim Jeffords
"Jim Jeffords is the personification of one man, one vote, and his story a classic of American politics. What Jim Jeffords did simply was turn Washington on its ear. In the months following President Bush’s inauguration in January, the 67-year-old Jeffords found himself increasingly at odds with the GOP on Capitol Hill and the White House over issues ranging from education, to the environment, to the size of the tax cut, all of which forced him to examine his core beliefs....Jeffords knew and agonized that a political switch at this time in his career would affect not only him, but Republican colleagues, and his staff and family....But flying to Vermont in May, Jeffords knew he’d made the right decision....Today, Jeffords is a man at peace with himself, enjoying work on his Vermont farm, splitting logs, saving a few pennies with some inventive repair work on a wheelbarrow."
— Introducing a December 17, 2001 interview with Jeffords.

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Ronald Reagan
Laudatory Reagan Profile, But Couric Relays a Liberal Canard
Couric Defended Reagan Was ‘Airhead’ Comment
Reagan Fibbed Too, Said Couric
Katie Couric, Reagan Defender?
NBC's Couric and O'Donnell: Blame Reagan for Capitol Hill Shooting

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Couric Tags Arnold as Nazi’s Son, Then Condemns ‘Dirty’ Tactics
Couric on Schwarzenegger: ‘He's the Son of a Nazi Party Member’
Katie Couric Favorably Compares Arnold’s Reaction to Clinton’s

Social Security
When 9-Year-Old Praises Bush's SS Plan, Couric Corrects Him

United Nations
Couric: Criticism of Annan ‘Payback’ for Him Opposing Iraq War?

Pitching Softballs to Kofi
"Does John Bolton have your support?...Do you wish it were someone else who had been nominated?...What do you hope your legacy will be?...You literally have the weight of the world on your shoulders."
— Questions to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in an interview shown on Today, June 7, 2005.

"Are you angry that the United States has not been more supportive of the UN?"
— Couric to Annan in an excerpt from the same interview shown on the June 6, 2005 NBC Nightly News.

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Women’s Issues
Couric Uses Today Show to Extol Virtues of Feminism and Steinem
Couric Upset No Woman on Time’s 'Person of Year’ Soldier Cover
Couric’s Million Mom Tribute
Katie Couric, Feminist Killjoy

She's Very PC, But Katie Can't See
Katie Couric: "Time magazine’s Person of the Year issue hits news stands today and this year it honors the American soldier. Jim Kelly is Time’s Managing Editor and veteran war photographer James Nachtwey was embedded with the Army’s First Armored Division in Baghdad and took the remarkable images in this week’s issue, he was also wounded while on assignment. Gentlemen, welcome, good morning, nice to have you both. I was so, I have to say, just personally, I was so pleased to see this....Tell me why you all decided to honor the American soldier? Wondering why there’s no woman on the cover, too?"
Time’s Jim Kelly, pointing to cover: "This is a woman."
Couric: "Oh, there you go, oh sorry....I couldn’t tell because of her helmet."
— Exchange on NBC’s Today, December 22, 2003.

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