Incoming CBS Anchor Pelley Mimics MSNBCCCP's Pledge: 'We're Going to Be Bending Over'

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Friday May 06, 2011 @ 09:01 AM EDT

1. Incoming CBS Anchor Pelley Mimics MSNBCCCP's Pledge: 'We're Going to Be Leaning Forward'

Scott Pelley, the incoming anchor for the CBS Evening News, dropped by Washington, DC’s CBS affiliate on Wednesday where he mimicked left-wing MSNBCCCP’s “Lean Forward” slogan as he promised: “We’re going to be leaning forward.” On DCRTV.com I saw a link to online video of a WUSA-TV story about Pelley’s May 4 visit to the Gannett-owned station where he pledged: “We're going to cover hard news. We're going to be aggressive about that. We're going to be leaning forward.” Very unlike MSNBC, however, he pledged fairness: “Were going to be all about original reporting, unique insight and being fair to everybody involved in a story. It is just that simple.”

2. New CBS Anchor Scott Pelley Defensively Responds to MRC Criticism

Incoming CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley was asked by the Politico's Keach Hagey for his reaction to the MRC's Profile in Bias on him and the longtime 60 Minutes correspondent, who once compared global warming skeptics to Holocaust deniers, seemed to deny the charge of liberal bias as he huffed: "CBS has been called liberal for a lot of years," adding, "It probably harkens all the way back to Edward Murrow."

3. NBCCCP's Today Frets Celebrations After bin Laden's Death Were 'Very Disturbing' to Children

On NBC's Today on Wednesday, co-host Matt Lauer worried about Americans celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden: "...your children are going to see, and have already seen, people in the streets celebrating about the death of someone and that's a contradictory image for them." Today contributor and psychiatrist Gail Saltz replied: "Absolutely, very disturbing for them." The segment was on how to talk to children about the killing of bin Laden and Saltz speculated that kids may ask: "Why are people partying, being happy that anybody was killed?" She suggested those who celebrated may now regret their actions: "I think it's really important to talk about this, because what you saw was a lot of people who, in the impulse of the moment, reacted in a way that later on they may not be happy about."

4. On Defensive, NY Times Takes on 'Torture Apologists' Who See Vindication of Harsh Interrogation Tactics

From Thursday's New York Times lead editorial: "The killing of Osama bin Laden provoked a host of reactions from Americans: celebration, triumph, relief, closure and renewed grief. One reaction, however, was both cynical and disturbing: crowing by the apologists and practitioners of torture that Bin Laden's death vindicated their immoral and illegal behavior after the September 11 attacks."

5. NYT: Obama Nabbing Osama: 'Glow of National Pride;' Bush's Capture of Saddam 'Momentarily' Halted 'Spiral of Concern'

First sentence of the New York Times' second paragraph on Obama's rising poll numbers after Osama's capture: "The glow of national pride seemed to rise above partisan politics, as support for the president rose significantly among both Republicans and independents." First sentence of the Times' second paragraph on Bush's numbers after Hussein's capture: "But even in the glow of Mr. Hussein's capture, Americans worry that United States forces will be mired in Iraq for years, are concerned that the attacks on American troops will continue and say that President Bush has no plan to extricate the United States from Iraq..."

6. Chris Matthews Bizarrely Mocks Rush Limbaugh as a 'Walrus Underwater' for bin Laden Response

MSNBCCCP's Chris Matthews on Wednesday mocked Rush Limbaugh's response to the killing of Osama bin Laden, deriding the conservative as a "walrus underwater." Matthews also made an odd grunting noise to back up this description. After playing a clip of Limbaugh asserting that the media have played up Barack Obama's role in the action, the Hardball anchor berated, "You know, I don't even know what that is except just bitterness. I mean- [makes noise] Walrus underwater talking and what is he actually saying?"