Lee Cowan
Of the MRC's Sweet-On-Obama Sixteen, Only the Infatuated Four Remain
October 20th, 2008 9:58 AM
And then there were four -- the Infatuated Four.Of the sixteen most pro-Obama journalists, you have determined the four that have been the sweetest on him. Your righteous indignation, and your votes, have solidified the Sweet-On-Obama Sixteen's Infatuated Four. So check the results, and vote again to pare the four down to two. All on the way to determining the Media's Most Valuable Partisan (…
Nets Trumpet Powell's 'Major,' 'Powerful' 'Endorsement of the Year
October 19th, 2008 11:11 PM
Journalists on TV Sunday heralded the importance and impact of Colin Powell's long-expected endorsement of Barack Obama which he made on Meet the Press. Later in that show, NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell touted Powell's endorsement and critique of the McCain campaign as “a very powerful political statement.” On the same panel with Mitchell, Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham declared that “having Colin…
NBC: McCain's Charge an Assertion, Obama's Shows 'Bluntness
September 8th, 2008 9:18 PM
In back-to-back stories on Monday's NBC Nightly News, reporters displayed a disparity in the use of terms applied to describe the criticism by John McCain and Barack Obama of each other. Up first, Kelly O'Donnell described how McCain “asserted that Obama claims he has stood up to fellow Democrats, but hasn't.” In the second story, Lee Cowan played a clip he set up as showing how Obama “outright…
Nets Pounce on McCain's 'Housing Crisis,' But Not So Fast with Kerry's
August 21st, 2008 10:33 PM
Four years ago when Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry made his “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it” remark, the CBS Evening News instead ran a soundbite of Kerry promising “we're going to build an army of truth-tellers” as it took the newscast six months (!) to finally air the vote for/voted against clip and the NBC Nightly News didn't play it for nine…
Despite Standing O for Obama, Reporters Deny Bias of Minority Journali
July 30th, 2008 1:43 PM
After Barack Obama’s more-than-enthusiastic greeting by many attendees at the UNITY convention for minority journalists in Chicago on Sunday, some in the media have expressed outrage that some have now questioned their objectivity, despite the appalled reactions from some of their own peers to the display and the live video shown on CNN (at right).April Yee wrote on Andrew Romano’s blog on…
Good Economic News Doesn't Deter 'Today's' 'Doom and Gloom' Spin
July 17th, 2008 2:50 PM
Last seen cheerleading for Barack Obama, NBC's Lee Cowan was in a less cheerful mood when he talked about the economy on Thursday's "Today" show. Before co-host Matt Lauer turned to self-help guru Tony Robbins to help viewers get through the "tough times," Cowan delivered a particularly depressing set-up piece that featured mostly pessimistic talking heads, including one that claimed: "The…
NBC's Today Touts 'Barack Star: Obama on Cover of Rolling Stone
June 26th, 2008 2:17 AM
Rolling Stone is a left-wing magazine which puts liberal politicians on its cover and this year has already featured a cover story on Barack Obama, yet despite the seeming lack of any newsworthiness in a second Obama cover story, this one written by an “unabashed Obama supporter,” on Wednesday morning NBC's Today show devoted a full story to how the just-released issue of the magazine illustrated…
ChiTrib Gushes Over 'Obama Dress
June 23rd, 2008 5:22 PM
Shortly after Michelle Obama’s appearance as a guest host on ABC’s the View, her choice of clothing began attracting media attention, turning political and general assignment journalists into fashion critics. NBC’s Today show claimed that "fashion icon" Obama had started a "frock frenzy." Before that, NBC's Lee Cowan, who has said covering Barack Obama makes his "knees quake," gushed that "…
NBC's Lee Cowan: Michelle Obama Dresses 'As Brightly As Her Husband's
June 19th, 2008 12:27 PM
In what was, more or less, a puff piece about Michelle Obama on Thursday's "Today" show, Lee Cowan took Obamagasms to new heights when he described Michelle's fashion sense: "In victory and in defeat Michelle Obama had always been there, dressed as brightly as her husband's smile, determined though, not to steal the spotlight but to put her signature touch on what's become their campaign."The…
Bozell Column: Gore Endorses Obama, So What
June 17th, 2008 9:57 PM
The day after Al Gore endorsed Barack Obama in Detroit, MSNBC kept repeating the allegedly big news with the on-air question "Will Gore Help or Hurt Obama?" Left out of that question: Who cares? Does Gore’s endorsement matter at all? Pundits usually declare in today’s media-saturated world that endorsements from major politicians or movie stars just don’t have much impact. A Who’s Who of the…
NBC Trumpets Gore's 'Return to Electoral Politics' to Endorse Obama
June 16th, 2008 8:44 PM
Just under a year after NBC turned over more than 75 hours of air time on several of their channels to Al Gore's “Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis,” Monday's NBC Nightly News championed Al Gore's “major endorsement” of Barack Obama -- as if a Democratic politician backing the Democratic nominee is newsworthy. (ABC's Jake Tapper gave the then-upcoming event a sentence while the CBS…
Olbermann Hits 'Worst Person' Katie Couric for Charging Anti-Hillary B
June 12th, 2008 6:06 AM
On Wednesday's Countdown show, during the show's regular "Worst Person in the World" segment, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, who rarely hits liberals during the segment while he often targets conservatives, turned his ire toward CBS News anchor Katie Couric for her recent charges that some media figures were guilty of anti-Clinton, or pro-Obama bias. Olbermann accused Couric of taking out of "…
WaPo's Capehart: Hard for Media 'Not to Get Swept Up' in Obamamania
June 3rd, 2008 7:32 AM
There's a great moment in the video clip here in which WaPo editorial writer Jonathan Capehart dithers, then palpably decides to bite the bullet and tell the truth: yeah, the media's in the tank for Obama. His admission against interest came in response to a question from Pat Buchanan on today's Morning Joe. PAT BUCHANAN: That brings up the question of the substance of what Clinton said when he…
Evening Newscasts Forward Obama's ABC-Enabled Defense of Wife
May 19th, 2008 9:54 PM
Monday provided a great example of a network correspondent advancing Barack Obama's political cause by treating him as a victim of a nefarious GOP attack, thus allowing him to appear virtuous in his reply, an answer the other networks then highlighted to enhance the victimization theme. ABC, CBS and NBC on Monday night showcased Obama's scolding of the Tennessee Republican Party for posting a…