Fretting Obama's Moved Too Far to Right, Tea Party Like Reckless Teenagers, Journalists 'Scared of Being Labeled Liberal'

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Monday August 01, 2011 @ 08:36 AM ET

1. Fretting Obama's Moved Too Far to Right, Tea Party Like Reckless Teenagers, Journalists 'Scared of Being Labeled Liberal'
Three noteworthy spins, charges and/or claims made on the Sunday morning interview shows. ABC’s This Week, with “ALL CUTS, NO TAXES?” on screen: George Stephanopoulos hit White House senior adviser David Plouffe from the left on how “this enforcement mechanism would not include revenue increases.” He fretted the deal “is all spending cuts and not the balanced approach the President wants.” Christiane Amanpour despaired President Obama “has moved all of the way to the language and the ideals that the Republicans espouse.” CBS’s Face the Nation: Bob Schieffer insisted “some people say that the Republican Party has been held hostage by the Tea Party” and he discerned “some truth” in an allegation he saw on Facebook that allowing House freshmen “‘to control this debate’” is “‘like letting the teenager in the family run the family budget.’” CNN’s Reliable Sources, Chrystia Freeland, digital editor for Thomson Reuters: Despite much evidence to the contrary, she maintained “mainstream journalism is averse to making judgments,” then asserted: "Mainstream journalists are particularly scared of being labeled as liberal."

2. Networks Submerge Disastrous GDP Numbers Into Debt Ceiling Impact; ABC Spikes Revised 1st Q Flatline
The broadcast network evening newscasts on Friday night noted the very anemic second quarter GDP growth rate at 1.3 percent, but instead of stressing how it showed the weak economic state well before the debt ceiling showdown, they submerged it into warnings of how the delay in getting a deal is hurting the economy. On ABC’s World News, Bianna Golodryga, aka Mrs. Peter Orszag, the wife of Obama’s former OMB Director, helped her husband’s ex-employer by failing to even mention the worst news of the day: the revision of the first quarter GDP down to a flat line 0.4 percent from the original 1.9 percent estimate. At least CBS and NBC considered that newsworthy.

3. CNN's Romans Scolds Dissenting Republicans: 'I'll Tell You Why They're Vilified'
CNN's American Morning co-hosts tried to lecture those opposed to voting to raise the debt ceiling on the error of their ways on Friday morning. When a guest GOP congressman tried to explain why he was voting no, and complained of being "vilified" for his stance, Romans showed him no mercy. The American Morning co-host accused the dissenting Republicans who voted "no" to Boehner's plan Thursday night of holding the debt ceiling "hostage" to enacting bigger spending cuts. She made sure to emphasize that Tea Partiers and Republicans could be blamed if the economy dives.

4. John King Spins for Obama, Praises His Political Smarts In Debt Ceiling Debate
It is one matter if a president stakes out a smart position within a heated political debate, but it is another matter when members of the press believe so and shower him with positive coverage. CNN's John King complimented President Obama on Thursday's Anderson Cooper 360 for having "positioned himself smartly here in the middle" on the debt ceiling debate. King painted the president as a pragmatic moderate who has called on both sides to compromise, in a statement that could pass for White House talking points.

5. Networks Deride 'Rebellious' 'Hardline Conservatives' Creating 'Chaos'
On Friday, all three network morning shows played up the theme of stubborn House GOP conservatives opposing Speaker John Boehner's debt ceiling plan. On CBS's Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge proclaimed: "House Republicans will meet again this morning after hardline conservatives handed House Speaker John Boehner a major setback." On ABC's Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos announced: "The House Speaker's debt plan melts down after hours of arm twisting failed to subdue a Tea Party rebellion." On NBC's Today, Capitol Hill correspondent Kelly O'Donnell declared: "A parade of those rebellious holdout Republicans were summoned to the Speaker's office."

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