top
|
|
1. Nets Push 'Abortion Rights' Advocates' Concerns on Sotomayor NBC and ABC on Thursday night framed stories around concerns of "abortion rights" advocates who want proof Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is on their side, but both cloaked their pieces around the proposition "both sides" of the debate are equally worried. With "Where Does She Stand?" as the on-screen heading, as if there is genuine belief Obama would have selected the judge without knowing she'd uphold Roe v Wade, NBC anchor Lester Holt set up a story through the prism of pro-abortion activists as he announced that White House "spokesman Robert Gibbs says the President did not specifically ask her about the right to privacy, a key issue in the abortion debate." Reporter Pete Williams proceeded to declare that Sotomayor's stand on abortion is "a mystery" as "both sides on the abortion issue agree...they're eager to know exactly what Sonia Sotomayor thinks about abortion and the constitution." Viewers then heard only from one side, an "abortion rights advocate." 2. NBC's Cowan Glows Over Obama Frosh Photos: 'Humble Beginnings!' NBC's Lee Cowan, on Thursday's Today show, giddily highlighted new found photos taken of Barack Obama when he was a freshman at Occidental College and even cooed at a shot of him sitting on an old Goodwill couch: "Humble beginnings!" Cowan interviewed Obama's old college classmate Lisa Jack who took the photographs, because she claimed she was told to get pictures of the then freshman because he "definitely had personality," and added: "He was cute. I mean look at him." 3. CBS Urges: Paint Roofs and Roads White to Stop Global Warming On Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Julie Chen teased an upcoming segment on a new way to combat global warming: "Up next, if you could do one thing to fight global warming, would you do it? How about painting your roof white? We'll explain." Fill-in co-host Chris Wragge later introduced the report: "Could painting your roof white be the best defense against global warming? Some very important people think so. So Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman put that idea to the test." Kauffman explained: "In any given city, most rooftops are black. And that's the problem. The darker the surface, the more heat it retains...the lighter the surface, the better it is for the environment." Kauffman talked to Bill Nye, 'The Science Guy,' who further explained: "The building doesn't get as hot so you don't need to run the air conditioner nearly as long." 4. CNN Panel Overwhelmingly Argues in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage CNN's Roland Martin on Wednesday's "No Bias, No Bull" program featured another panel which leaned overwhelmingly to the left, during a discussion about the California Supreme Court upholding Proposition 8. Four of the five participants -- CNN correspondent Erica Hill, Lisa Bloom of TruTv, New York Observer columnist Steve Kornacki, and the Reverend Byron Williams of Resurrection Community Church in Oakland, California all sided with advocates of same-sex "marriage." 5. New MRC Web Site, So New Online Location for CyberAlerts The MRC launched a new Web site last Friday, so for a few days there will be a disconnect between the links in CyberAlerts for the online posting of each CyberAlert and where you can see screen shots and videos that illustrate each CyberAlert item. As always, you can click on the links to the NewsBusters posts to access the pictures and/or video. Individual CyberAlert items are now posted online under the "Daily BiasAlerts" heading. The CyberAlert e-mails will continue, but only the e-mail will be called "CyberAlert." Soon the CyberAlert will begin to deliver a compilation of the newest BiasAlerts posts, usually all those posted during the preceding 24 hours.
Concerns on Sotomayor NBC and ABC on Thursday night framed stories around concerns of "abortion rights" advocates who want proof Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is on their side, but both cloaked their pieces around the proposition "both sides" of the debate are equally worried. With "Where Does She Stand?" as the on-screen heading, as if there is genuine belief Obama would have selected the judge without knowing she'd uphold Roe v Wade, NBC anchor Lester Holt set up a story through the prism of pro-abortion activists as he announced that White House "spokesman Robert Gibbs says the President did not specifically ask her about the right to privacy, a key issue in the abortion debate." Reporter Pete Williams proceeded to declare that Sotomayor's stand on abortion is "a mystery" as "both sides on the abortion issue agree...they're eager to know exactly what Sonia Sotomayor thinks about abortion and the constitution." Viewers then heard only from one side, an "abortion rights advocate." Charles Gibson, with "Choosing Sides" as the tag on the screen, teased the lead World News story: "Both sides of the abortion debate demand to know where the President's Supreme Court pick stands on the issue." Like Holt, ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg highlighted what concerns those on the left, how "Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama didn't discuss specific cases with Sotomayor, but was satisfied with her views on individual rights." After a clip of Gibbs' reassurance to pro-abortion supporters -- "He left very comfortable with her interpretation of the constitution being similar to that of his" -- Greenburg concluded by echoing the fears of those who consider Roe v Wade sacrosanct: "But Sotomayor's record on abortion has yet to bear that out." [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Thursday's CBS Evening News, after a Wednesday story on how a political label cannot be applied to Sotomayer, didn't mention her. See: www.mrc.org Unlike ABC and NBC, the Fox News Channel delivered the concerns of those on the right, as Special Report anchor Bret Baier introduced a story on how Sotomayor's "paper trail has many Second Amendment-boosters worried." Reporter Shannon Bream explained: "The Supreme Court has ruled definitively that the Second Amendment does guarantee gun ownership rights to individuals, but some gun rights advocates worry that Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, may see things differently. Just months after the high court's June 2008 District of Columbia v Heller decision, Sotomayor signed on to one from the 2nd circuit ruling saying that states still maintain the right to regulate gun ownership..." The beginning of the story on the Thursday, May 28 NBC Nightly News: LESTER HOLT: The White House said today President Obama is very comfortable that Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor shares his interpretation of the constitution. But spokesman Robert Gibbs says the President did not specifically ask her about the right to privacy, a key issue in the abortion debate.
PETE WILLIAMS: Ever since the Supreme Court decided Roe versus Wade 36 years ago, a nominee's view on abortion has been the dominant issue, but with this nominee, it's a mystery. Both sides on the abortion issue agree on this, they're eager to know exactly what Sonia Sotomayor thinks about abortion and the constitution.
JAN CRAWFORD GREENBERG: In this battle over Sotomayor's nomination, there appears to be unusual common ground on one of the nation's most divisive issues. On abortion, both sides in the contentious debate want to know more.
NANCY NORTHRUP, CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: We simply don't know where Judge Sotomayor is on core constitutional protections in Roe versus Wade.
'Humble Beginnings!' NBC's Lee Cowan, on Thursday's Today show, giddily highlighted new found photos taken of Barack Obama when he was a freshman at Occidental College and even cooed at a shot of him sitting on an old Goodwill couch: "Humble beginnings!" Cowan interviewed Obama's old college classmate Lisa Jack who took the photographs, because she claimed she was told to get pictures of the then freshman because he "definitely had personality," and added: "He was cute. I mean look at him." [This item, by the MRC's Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Thursday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The following Obama puff piece was aired on the May 28 Today show: NATALIE MORALES: Well the President, President Barack Obama is one of the most photographed people in the world but it's never before seen pictures of the President, before he was famous, that are turning heads these days. NBC's Lee Cowan has that story. [On screen headline: "'Barry The Freshman,' Early Photos Of Obama Revealed]
LEE COWAN: It started with Barack Obama's first big win in Iowa.
to Stop Global Warming On Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Julie Chen teased an upcoming segment on a new way to combat global warming: "Up next, if you could do one thing to fight global warming, would you do it? How about painting your roof white? We'll explain." Fill-in co-host Chris Wragge later introduced the report: "Could painting your roof white be the best defense against global warming? Some very important people think so. So Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman put that idea to the test." Kauffman explained: "In any given city, most rooftops are black. And that's the problem. The darker the surface, the more heat it retains...the lighter the surface, the better it is for the environment." Kauffman talked to Bill Nye, 'The Science Guy,' who further explained: "The building doesn't get as hot so you don't need to run the air conditioner nearly as long." [This item, by Kyle Drennen, was posted Thursday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Later, Kauffman cited Obama Energy Secretary Steven Chu: "[he] says if all rooftops and roads in the world were made white it could combat global warming." A clip was played of Chu claiming: "That would be the equivalent as if you took off all the automobiles of the world for eleven years." Kauffman added: "Think of it this way, every year you would keep out of the atmosphere 2.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide or the emissions produced by 60 million cars. There'd be even more savings if roads and parking lots were not covered in black asphalt." Nye declared that asphalt was: "...absorbing more heat...squandering billions of tons of carbon dioxide every year." Wragge and fellow co-host Maggie Rodriguez acknowledged the humor in calling for all roofs and roads in the world to be painted white. Rodriguez remarked: "I hear Benjamin Moore is thrilled with the idea. Thinks it's phenomenal. We should definitely do it." Wragge added: "Home Depot's like, ‘this is going to be great for us!'" Here is the full transcript of the segment:
7:10AM TEASE:
7:19AM TEASE:
7:22AM SEGMENT:
of Same-Sex Marriage CNN's Roland Martin on Wednesday's "No Bias, No Bull" program featured another panel which leaned overwhelmingly to the left, during a discussion about the California Supreme Court upholding Proposition 8. Four of the five participants -- CNN correspondent Erica Hill, Lisa Bloom of TruTv, New York Observer columnist Steve Kornacki, and the Reverend Byron Williams of Resurrection Community Church in Oakland, California all sided with advocates of same-sex "marriage." Rev. Williams, who is affiliated with the liberal People for the American Way, argued that the decision "seems to go against our democratic values." Hill asked the pastor, "Should that decision on marriage be left up to different religions, different faiths to make, and leave this to be more of a civil matter? And if that's the case, why should God enter it at all?" Kornacki argued that there was an "inevitability" to the legalization of same-sex "marriage," explaining that "you've got four states legalizing it. You've got people under 35 supporting it overwhelmingly. I mean, isn't this just really a question of time, and we shouldn't be that exercised about it?" Bloom thought that it was a "huge civil rights issue, and this is the first court ruling that I'm aware of that says that a majority vote -- a bare majority vote, can take away the constitutional rights of a protected minority group." [This item, by the MRC's Matthew Balan, was posted Thursday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] As the segment began, the network played a clip from "Love is a Battlefield" by '80s pop star Pat Benatar. Martin, who is in his last week as anchor of the program, introduced his media colleagues on the panel, and gave a brief bio of Reverend Williams. The anchor did refreshingly include how the pastor is "a member of a group called African-American Ministers in Action, which is a product of the liberal-leaning organization People for the American Way." Before going to the rest of the panel, he asked correspondent Jessica Yellin for an update on the litigation involving Proposition 8. He then turned to Rev. Williams and asked, "Prop 8 passed by a majority, in part, because of support from some minority groups, especially African-American [unintelligible] in California. Do you think there's a divide between the gay community and other minority groups?" The pastor minimized any divide between the two groups: "Prop 8 was defeated in practically every county in California except for those on the coast. So there's no large black population in the inland valley per, so I think it's overstated. With that said, I would also say that homophobia definitely exists within the black church. There's a lot of work -- like the group I'm working with, People for the American Way -- that we have to do to sort of debunk that, so to change some of those existing feelings." Hill then posed her "should God enter it at all" question to Rev. Williams, who replied, "I think you make a great point...we're talking about civil rights. So we're not talking about a religious issue. And so then, we're talking -- if we're talking about civil rights, now we have to go back to the equal protection under the law clause, which I think clearly this denies....It seems to go against our democratic values." Kornacki subsequently followed up by asking, among other things, "In the big picture, isn't there sort of inevitability to all of this?" As you might expect, the pastor agreed: "Oh, I think you're absolutely right. The trajectory, regardless of what side of the issue you're on, is definitely headed toward full marriage equality for [the] gay, lesbian, transgender community." The segment concluded with Bloom voicing her opinion on the issue: "I think it's a huge civil rights issue, and this is the first court ruling that I'm aware of that says that a majority vote -- a bare majority vote, can take away the constitutional rights of a protected minority group. You know, Brown versus Board of Education was very unpopular at the time. It wasn't up for a majority vote, and not -- neither have any of the civil rights of American minorities ever been up for a popular vote. That's the beauty of our constitutional system." The full transcript of the segment, which began 43 minutes into the 8 pm Eastern hour of Wednesday's "No Bias, No Bull" program:
ROLAND MARTIN: The California Supreme Court may have upheld the state's ban on same-sex marriage, but that's certainly not the end of the story. Today, supporters of gay marriage are fighting back with a new lawsuit and talk of going back to the voters. But could a divide between the gay community and other minority groups doom the effort? Erica [Hill], Jessica [Yellin], Lisa [Bloom], and Steve [Kornacki of The New York Observer] are here, along with Reverend Byron Williams, pastor of Resurrection Community Church in Oakland [California] -- in Oakland. Reverend Williams is a member of a group called African-American Ministers in Action, which is a product of the liberal-leaning organization People for the American Way.
for CyberAlerts The MRC launched a new Web site last Friday, so for a few days there will be a disconnect between the links in CyberAlerts for the online posting of each CyberAlert and where you can see screen shots and videos that illustrate each CyberAlert item. As always, you can click on the links to the NewsBusters posts to access the pictures and/or video. Individual CyberAlert items are now posted online under the "Daily BiasAlerts" heading. The CyberAlert e-mails will continue, but only the e-mail will be called "CyberAlert." Soon the CyberAlert will begin to deliver a compilation of the newest BiasAlerts posts, usually all those posted during the preceding 24 hours. The HTML version of the "new" CyberAlert will feature all the content previously available only online: Pictures/screen shots, images which will link you directly to online video playback, and embedded links. Don't worry, we will continue to have a plain text version sans anything but the text. Whichever version you now receive is the one you will continue to receive. To read online any of the items in today's CyberAlert, go to the "BiasAlert" page on our new site which is populated with the latest posts: www.mrc.org And to check out the new Media Research Center Web site: www.mrc.org
-- Brent Baker
Home | News Division
| Bozell Columns | CyberAlerts |
|
|
|