Williams Hypes Protests 'Still Growing, Changing and Spreading, ' CBS Delivers 'Series' of Genial Stories

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Monday October 17, 2011 @ 08:25 AM ET

1. Williams Hypes Protests 'Still Growing, Changing and Spreading,' CBS Delivers 'Series' of Genial Stories
The broadcast networks continued their enthusiastic coverage Friday night on behalf of the far-left Wall Street protesters, with NBC's Brian Williams, again, the most excited while CBS anchor Scott Pelley, who has until now refrained from the hype delivered by ABC and NBC, jumped in by promising "a series of reports on the growing protests around the country." Williams led by touting how the protesters "are claiming victory tonight" by not getting removed from the Manhattan park. He then hailed their impact which he has helped fuel: "This protest movement is showing strength. It's still growing, changing and spreading..." Pelley set up the first of his three CBS Evening News reports: "Those protests against Wall Street are continuing into the weekend all over the country in 103 cities and in 36 states. We have correspondents tonight at three of those protests."

2. Big Three Nets Trumpet Wall Street Protesters 'Proclaiming Victory'
The Big Three networks' seeming desperation to report on "Occupy Wall Street" reached a new level on Friday, after they led their morning shows with New York City's decision to not clear the park where the protesters are camped. NBC touted how the demonstrators were "proclaiming victory" in response to the move. ABC highlighted the "celebratory" atmosphere, while CBS played up the "mood of jubilation" there. Today show anchor Ann Curry noted that a "showdown [was] averted at the site of the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement here in New York." She then turned to correspondent Maria Schiavocampo, who reported live from Zuccotti Park, the home base of the left-leaning protesters for about a month. The correspondent immediately zeroed-in on how one could "hear the celebrations taking place behind me here as protesters are proclaiming victory in their showdown with the park's owners."

3. Networks Grill Perry on Jeffress and Religious 'Can of Worms' Opened on Campaign Trail
Texas Governor Rick Perry conducted interviews with all three network morning shows on Friday and all used controversial comments made by Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress as a line of attack. This despite Perry having already distanced himself from the pastor's remarks labeling Mormonism a "cult." On NBC's Today, co-host Matt Lauer led the charge by leveling this accusation against the Perry campaign: "...the issue of faith was really introduced - the can of worms was opened by a surrogate of your own campaign..."

4. Sean Penn Calls Tea Party the 'Get the N-Word Out of the White House Party' Which Wants to 'Lynch' Obama
Left-wing actor Sean Penn slimed the Tea Party as motivated by racism, charging on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight on Friday evening that an impediment to President Obama's success is "what I call the 'Get the N-word out of the White House party,' the Tea Party." At a time when Herman Cain tops polls of Republican primary voters, Penn proceeded to allege, without citing any evidence, that "there's a big bubble coming out of their heads saying, you know, 'can we just lynch him?'" In between Penn's two jabs intended to discredit the Tea Party, Piers Morgan helpfully boasted of how actor Morgan Freeman, on his show three weeks ago, "was very passionate about that very subject, saying there are elements of the Tea Party who just, as he said, want to get the black man out of the White House. He said it on this show."

5. Maher Bets $1 Million 'Token Black Guy' Cain Loses GOP Nod
During the monologue of Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, host Maher referred to GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain as a "token black guy" as he asserted that establishment Republicans are "freaking out" because they never expected him to be competitive. Alluding to the tendency of guest characters in Star Trek television episodes to be killed off, he cracked: "The Republican establishment is freaking out because their token black guy is in the league now. They never expec-, it's like an episode of Star Trek where the black guy beams down to the planet and lives."