Media Research Center Spotlight -- Gumbel on CBS

Gumbel on CBS

On April 4, Bryant Gumbel announced he'd soon be leaving CBS. The following 34 links were pulled from MRC's archives and highlight how Gumbel has used The Early Show to promote his many liberal positions and disparage conservatives. Fifteen of the links have RealPlayer video accompanying them.

April 15, 2002
Gumbel wondered if attacks on Secretary of State Colin Powell by the "far right" are setting the former general up to "take the fall for the failures of this administration's foreign policy."

April 8, 2002
Called the Bush Administration Middle East policy "amateurish and inept" in interview with former National Security Council adviser.

April 4, 2002
Gumbel asked the Secretary General of the Arab League why the Arab states haven't taken action against Israel. "Why not?" he demanded.

March 13, 2002
Upset with the Andrea Yates decision, Gumbel sputtered "Texas justice is an oxymoron."

February 20, 2002
Gumbel appeared ashamed of American patriotism as he related how distasteful he finds the national medal count at the Winter Olympics.

February 1, 2002
Gumbel's foreign policy agenda: Asks King Abdullah of Jordan "how big a mistake" it would be for the U.S. to move "aggressively against Iraq?"

December 24 -- The Best Notable Quotables for 2001
The 14th Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting
"Department of Injustice Award for Denigrating John Ashcroft." Gumbel finished as a runner-up for his one-sided interview with Ronnie White, a Missouri Supreme Court justice Ashcroft had opposed for a federal judicial post.
VIDEO

December 3, 2001
Interviewed Business Week economic editor about the Enron collapse and asked "does any of this reflect on the President at all?" When the answer was no, Gumbel responded, "No way, none, none whatsoever?"

August 15, 2001
Gumbel inserted race into Texas capital punishment controversy and has confrontational interview with the case's prosecutor. Later in show, he mimicked the attorney's southern drawl.
VIDEO

July 23, 2001
Off-hand racial comments. Thalia Assuras, back from vacation with deep tan, leads to an opinionated Gumbel comment on racial profiling.

April 23, 2001
The Early Show crew all believed global warming was causing unseasonably warm weather. Gumbel is concerned because the public doesn't seem to be paying attention.

March 23, 2001
The market is down and it's George W. Bush's fault. He's been talking it down, according to Gumbel. May also be possible that the markets have missed Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin.
VIDEO

February 5, 2001
Former President Clinton's retirement expenses have created controversy and Gumbel claims Clinton is once again the victim of "predictable Republican fire for his spending habits." Adds that if Clinton had stayed at his D.C. house, "they'd cause a ruckus about that too."

January 17, 2001
In contentious interview with John Ashcroft adviser Charles Polk, Gumbel accused the attorney general nominee of character assassination and asserted he must have a race issue since so many groups are against his nomination. Follows with softball interview with anti-Ashcroft spokesman from Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
VIDEO

November 21, 2000
An Early Show report from St. Paul, Minn., at the height of the Florida recount controversy, included a determined viewer who has a special "bias" sign for Gumbel.
VIDEO

September 15, 2000
Gumbel says it was the climate of the Reagan years that has kept a Martin Luther King statue from being built on the National Mall.

August 15, 2000
In interview with Hugh Hefner, Gumbel worries about Al Gore's "preoccupation with morality." Christie Hefner, Hugh's daughter, also let's viewers in on a secret: "family values" is a code word for not being inclusive.
VIDEO

August 9, 2000
In interview with Mario Cuomo, Gumbel asked if Republicans - "quietly and strategically" - will make Lieberman's Judaism an issue.
VIDEO

July 26, 2000
Republican Vice Presidential candidate Dick Cheney received the Gumbel treatment: "Cheney's politics are of the hard-right variety. He's opposed to abortion and gun control and favors both capital punishment and school prayer."
VIDEO

July 13, 2000 -- MRC advertisement in the New York Post and Washington Times
"How Can CBS Condone Religious Bigotry on its Network?"
An open letter to CBS, the ad asked network executives how they can condone Gumbel's religious bigotry and compared the incident to past instances of racial bigotry that the network took immediate action to resolve.

FOLLOW-UP: July 12, 2000
An in-depth look at the "what a f***ing idiot" comment from FNC's Hannity and Colmes and a Washington, D.C. web site. Web site claimed Gumbel was really referring to Early Show weatherman Mark McEwen, who he was mad at because McEwen had picked the correct loser on Survivor.
VIDEO

July 4, 2000 -- L. Brent Bozell Nationally Syndicated Column
"Bryant Gumbel and the Christian Broadcasting System"
Column discussed Gumbel's "f***ing idiot" comment in reference to a guest from the Family Research Council and the refusal of both Gumbel and the network to apologize.

June 30, 2000
The "what a f***ing idiot" episode. Gumbel's off-color, supposedly off-camera comment directed at either Robert Knight of the Family Research Council - Gumbel had just interviewed him about the Boy Scouts banning gays - or weatherman Mark McEwan showed up on camera and created a fracas.
VIDEO

June 28, 2000
If Hillary gets elected, voters get a two-for-one. Gumbel conducted interview with Hillary Clinton as part of 45-minute town hall meeting in Syracuse, N.Y.
VIDEO

February 22, 2000
A pen dropper. When Jane Clayson guessed Reagan was chosen as the best President in a recent poll Gumbel became so flabbergasted he dropped his pen.
VIDEO

December 17, 1999
In interview about Pope John Paul II Gumbel stated that the Pope has been very divisive because he's taken conservative stances.

November 30, 1999
A Gumbel twofer. Equated an Al Gore ad with a Reagan ad - "We haven't seen that much schmaltz since Ronald Reagan's 'Morning in America' fluff." Also reads from Father Andrew Greeley's book. Passage states: "The Republicans tend to be the party of the affluent, the self-righteous, the haters and the racists."

November 11, 1999
Another twofer. Asked J.C. Watts if he's happy that "national prestige" is being held hostage by the most conservative wing of the Republican Party and, coming from the left, demanded to know if Jesse Jackson is happy that an all-white school board has taken disciplinary action against black students in Illinois.

November 4, 1999
Gumbel makes $5 million a year but is worried that Silicon Valley types think "greed is good." Also concerned that Al Gore appears to be backsliding from the Church of Clinton.
VIDEO

November 4, 1999 -- Media Reality Check
"The Early Word on The Early Show: Biased"
Examines Gumbel's Oct. 30 interview with Tim Russert on Meet the Press and his response to the MRC's concerns. Also critically examines Gumbel's interview of President Bill Clinton.

November 4, 1999 -- L. Brent Bozell Nationally Syndicated Column
"Gumbel: Tough as a Beanie Baby"
Column examined newspaper reviews of Gumbel's interview with Clinton and the CBS story line that Gumbel is a "tough but fair" interviewer.

November 2, 1999
Gumbel interviewed President Clinton. Wanted to know what he thinks about the George W. drug rumors. Also wanted to know if Clinton could play golf when he moves to Gumbel's New York neighborhood.
VIDEO

October 28, 1999 -- Media Reality Check
"Gumbel: America is Hopelessly Racist"
A look at Gumbel's pessimistic and incendiary comments about race relations in America.

Oct. 27, 1999 -- MRC advertisement in New York Post
"CBS News Has Nothing to Brag About"
America's most liberal activist anchor returned to morning television. Ad includes numerous outrageous or insulting comments Gumbel made about conservatives while on Today or Public Eye With Bryant Gumbel.