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Gibson thinks old-style news more vital now Published February 9, 2007, 7:49 AM CST On a day when his "World News" would open with new findings on the prevalence of autism in this country rather than the death of model/litigant Anna Nicole Smith, ABC anchor Charles Gibson was thinking aloud. Now that people get what they want the way they want on the Internet, where does that leave those mainstream media outlets that, in traditional fashion, pair the news people want with the news it is thought they need? "I'm getting on a high horse here, and I haven't really...

Posted by Tim Graham on October 5, 2006 - 14:37. When the story broke in July of 1983 on the sexual affairs with House pages by Reps. Daniel Crane and Gerry Studds, ABC did not fuel days of speculation about whether Speaker Tip O’Neill would resign. (Fun fact: when Studds was censured, Speaker O’Neill did not cast a vote. Three Democrats voted against Studds being censured.) By the time Studds ran in a primary re-election campaign in September 1984, ABC aired a report telling the nation that Studds faced only "a strong sense of loyalty" and forgiveness from the voters in...

by Mark Finkelstein August 28, 2006 We all knew that the one-year Katrina anniversary was going to be a festival of MSM Bush-bashing. And while Good Morning America certainly fulfilled that expectation this morning, who would have guessed that they would have thrown in a two-fer - the beginnings of the beatification of Bill Clinton? Check out the graphic. Move over, Jimmy Carter: ABC has proclaimed Bill Clinton the new Philanthropist-in-Chief! Interviewed by Robin Roberts, Clinton allowed as to how if he had been in charge during Katrina "I might have done something more just because I feel so close...

<p>Is Harry Smith's goal at every stage of every war to stop it? If he had been around on June 6, 1941, would he have been asking what could be done to stop D-Day? The question arises in light of Smith's questions on this morning's Early Show to Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.</p>

by Mark Finkelstein March 27, 2006 Sean Hannity has made border security and illegal immigration a major cause, spending time at and broadcasting shows from our border with Mexico. Give GMA credit for having Hannity on this morning to discuss the issues. That said, Charlie Gibson put on a display of bleeding-heart liberalism at its most predictable, confusing compassion with tolerance of criminality. Gibson wasted no time: "Let's start with the House bill. It would build a wall along our southern border, turn 12 million people into felons and make it criminal to give an illegal immigrant help. Is that...

by Mark Finkelstein March 3, 2006 What got into Good Morning America today? Each of the network shows did their mandatory pre-Oscar bit this morning. But while Today was running a bland piece on the freebies that celebrities in attendance get in gift bags, GMA's segment had a most unexpected angle, asking whether Hollywood has become too political - read 'liberal.' Host Charlie Gibson framed it this way: "Now we turn to the politics of the Oscars. We've talked a lot about the culture wars in America, the blue state/red state divide, the clash between more traditional moral values and...

by Mark Finkelstein January 31, 2006 - 08:07 Toggling between the Today show and Good Morning America this morning offered a perfect illustration of the very different treatment the MSM reserves for Republicans and Democrats. At Today, Andrea Mitchell was painting a very grim picture of President Bush's foreign policy record. For example, when it comes to the recent Hamas victory in the Palestinian territories, reactions have been very mixed, with some seeing a significant silver lining. Take this comment by conservative [and I might add Jewish] columnist Jeff Jacoby: "I think the sweeping Hamas victory is by far the...

by Mark Finkelstein January 30, 2006 - 08:29 With all the speculation about Katie Couric moving to the CBS Evening News anchor desk, a guy like me whose shtick is to cover her antics at the Today show could be concerned about his blogging future. Not to worry. Flipping over to Good Morning America today reassured me: there is an apparently inexhaustible supply of liberal media bias and the talking heads to spout it. The topic was President Bush's impending State of the Union Address. In assembling its panel, GMA resorted to an old MSM trick - coupling a fire-breathing...

Senate Democrats continued to filibuster John Bolton's nomination to be Ambassador to the UN, but you wouldn't know that from Monday's broadcast network evening newscasts which assiduously avoided the term. ABC anchor Charles Gibson, for instance, euphemistically referred to how the Senate had rejected "a move to end debate so that a vote could be held." CBS's Gloria Borger passed along innuendo from opponents: "The Democrats are very concerned that John Bolton may have been effectively spying, not only on his subordinates but also on some of his bosses. And we've learned tonight that one name they're very interested in...

Conservative radio talk show host G. Gordon Liddy, who was sent to jail for his role in the Watergate scandal, said former FBI Deputy Director F. Mark Felt is a "flawed individual" who was pressured to confess his identity as the confidential source known as "Deep Throat" because his family wanted money. Liddy told the Fox News Channel's John Gibson Wednesday that as a law enforcement officer if Felt had evidence of a crime and the participants of that crime, "he was duty bound to take that to the grand jury." "That's what he should have done rather than leak...

THE LEFT’S CIVILITY SCAM By Don Feder Last week, the inimitable Ann Coulter was on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” to discuss her new book, “How To Talk To A Liberal (If You Must)”. Co-host Charles Gibson – a media cheerleader for the Kerry campaign, who once expressed disbelief that anyone could question the Democratic nominee’s “distinguished war record” -- used the interview as an occasion to deliver another unctuous homily on the need for civility in politics. For the left, civility is a one-way street, running toward them – but never in the opposite direction. Gibson, who hosted the second...

Earlier this week, the inimitable Ann Coulter was on ABC’s "Good Morning America," to discuss her new book, How To Talk To A Liberal (If You Must). Co-host Charles Gibson – a media cheerleader for the Kerry campaign, who once expressed disbelief that anyone could question the Democratic nominee’s "distinguished war record" -- used the interview as an occasion to deliver another unctuous homily on the need for civility in politics. For the left, civility is a one-way street, running toward them – but never in the opposite direction.Gibson, who will host the second Presidential Debate Friday evening, asked Coulter...

First Lady Laura Bush agreed to a live interview on Monday's Good Morning America so she could promote her announcement of the 2004 grant recipients from her Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries, but ABC's Charles Gibson focused on the prison abuse scandal and her husband's view of it. Gibson wanted to know: "But does it put our entire effort, given the way it's being played over there, does it put our entire effort -- everything we've done -- in jeopardy?" When he got to education, his concern was about how the No Child Left Behind program is supposedly "under-funded."...

John Kerry, apparent Democrat nominee for President, is the more important person with the less important problem. Jamie Gorelick, member of the 9/11 Commission, is the reverse. So in explaining why each is unfit for the position he seeks and the one she holds, we begin with Kerry. We’ll use a version of a game we all played at an early age, “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” to deal with Kerry and Gorelick. This week ABC came up with a videotape of Senator Kerry saying the opposite then of what he’s saying now about his “medals thrown over the...

"This is interesting news that we get now, and it may put the President under a lot of heat today as the public learns that he knew, through his daily CIA intelligence briefings, that bin Laden had potential terror attack plans under way....It also calls into question what happened when Andy Card, Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, that morning went and whispered in the President's ear, as the President was talking to a group of school students in Florida. Was the President really surprised?"– Charles Gibson’s introduction and question to White House correspondent Terry Moran on ABC’s...