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Pete Williams
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Networks Join Lynch in Piling on North Carolina over Bathroom Law
May 10th, 2016 12:33 AM
On Monday, all of the network evening newscasts could not wait to join in on US Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s beat down of North Carolina. Only the tornado outbreak in Oklahoma could keep them from jumping in immediately. “In her view, this is the new Jim Crow,” reporter Steve Osunsami said on ABC's World News Tonight of Lynch’s reasoning for taking the state to court. On NBC Nightly News,…
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Nets Hype Supreme Court 'Showdown' Over ‘Fate of Millions'
April 19th, 2016 12:51 PM
On Monday, all three network evening newscasts touted liberal protesters flooding into the streets around the Supreme Court to demand that the justices uphold President Obama’s unilateral executive action granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Leading off NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt proclaimed: “Immigration furor: The fate of millions now hanging in the balance. What…
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Nets Rush to Deem Garland a 'Moderate,' ABC, NBC Avoid Liberal Label
March 17th, 2016 1:46 PM
In the first 24 hours after Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, the big three networks spun the judge as a “moderate” or “centrist” as opposed to a “liberal.” ABC and NBC reporters never called him a liberal, while CBS correspondents used the word just twice (opting for “moderate liberal” twice more). The networks identified Garland as middle-of-the-road nine times.
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Networks Paint Garland as ‘Moderate,’ Plead with GOP to Consider Him
March 16th, 2016 9:43 PM
The “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC on Thursday night insisted President Barack Obama’s latest Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, is nothing but a “moderate” and personally pleaded with Republicans to consider placing him on the Court. While two networks mentioned comments made by Vice President Joe Biden back in 1992 about Court appointments, none of them made light of the…
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NBC: Obama Putting ‘Pressure’ on GOP With ‘Perfect’ Court Pick
March 16th, 2016 4:01 PM
Anchoring an NBC News special report on Wednesday about President Obama nominating federal judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, Today co-host Matt Lauer asked justice correspondent Pete Williams: “Senate Republicans have vowed to block any nomination that comes from the President....what message is the President sending with this pick?”
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ABC Yawns at 'Mysterious Death' of Former Putin Advisor; NBC Covers
March 11th, 2016 9:57 PM
ABC's morning and evening newscasts, as of Friday evening, have yet to cover the Thursday announcement by Washington, D.C. law enforcement officials that Mikhail Lesin, a former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in November 2015 of "blunt force injuries of the head." Friday's NBC Nightly News devoted a full report on the Lesin's death; while earlier in the day, CBS This Morning…
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Bad, Better, Best: Networks React to Texas SCOTUS Abortion Case
Culture
March 3rd, 2016 4:27 PM
The results are in – from worst to best in coverage: NBC, ABC and CBS.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) heard arguments for Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The abortion case out of Texas challenges HB 2, which required abortionists to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and mandated that their clinics adhere to the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers. During…
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Networks Skirt Mentioning Islamism in Machete Attack Coverage
February 12th, 2016 10:22 PM
ABC, CBS, NBC's Friday evening newscasts all failed to mention Islamism as a possible motive in their coverage of the machete attack inside an Ohio restaurant on Thursday. ABC's World News Tonight didn't even use the word "terrorism" during their report on Mohamed Barry's rampage. Alex Perez merely noted that "Barry was known to the FBI, but was not under a full-scale investigation." CBS's Jeff…
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NBC, CBS Tout Indictment of Pro-Life Activists Behind Undercover Vids
January 25th, 2016 10:37 PM
On Monday, NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News both spotlighted how a Texas grand jury indicted two people from the pro-life Center for Medical Progress on the felony charge of tampering with a government record. One of the two was also charged with purchasing and selling human organs, a misdemeanor. The grand jury also cleared Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast of any crime, despite the…
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ABC, CBS Skimp on Hearing of Key SCOTUS Case on Future of Unions
January 11th, 2016 9:07 PM
On Monday, ABC’s World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News chose to punt on covering the first of work in 2016 for the Supreme Court with a blockbusters case concerning the future of paying dues to public sector unions that often go onto lobby for liberal causes (even if some of their dues-paying members disagree). In contrast, NBC Nightly News and Pete Williams offered a full segment on what’s…
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NBC Drops Covering Iraqi Refugee Arrests; Led With It On 'Today'
January 8th, 2016 10:58 PM
Friday's NBC Nightly News failed to cover the arrests of two Iraqi refugees in Texas and California on terror charges. This omission came hours after the network's morning show, Today, led their broadcast with the story. The same evening, ABC and CBS's evening newscasts both covered the arrests of Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab and Omar Faraj Saeed al Hardan, who are accused of having connections…
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ABC to Cruz: ‘How Can You Be’ POTUS If You ‘Hate’ Dems, DC 'Culture'
January 6th, 2016 10:40 PM
While interviewing Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz for the Wednesday edition of ABC’s World News Tonight, Republican campaign correspondent Tom Llamas demanded Cruz explain how he could “be a president and hate the Democrats and hate the culture of Washington so much and be effective.”
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NBC Plays Up 'Gasps' in Supreme Court After Scalia's Remarks
December 11th, 2015 11:53 PM
NBC Nightly News was the sole Big Three network evening newscast on Friday to cover the controversy surrounding Justice Antonin Scalia's comments during oral arguments in an affirmative action case. Both Lester Holt and Pete Williams spotlighted how "gasps were heard inside the Supreme Court this week over something said by Justice Antonin Scalia." Williams zeroed in how "some called the comments…
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Nets Lament ‘Setback’ for Obama to ‘Protect’ Millions of Illegals
November 10th, 2015 12:23 PM
On Tuesday, all three network morning shows recited identical liberal talking points on President Obama’s unconstitutional executive order granting amnesty to illegal immigrants being overturned by a federal appeals court. On Monday’s Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie fretted: “A federal appeals court has dealt a major new blow to President Obama’s plan to protect millions of people from being…
