Recently in Fourth Estate Category

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Tuesday November 08, 2011 @ 09:09 AM ET

1. Gingrich Schools NBC's Curry on Liberal Media Obsession with Cain Controversy
Appearing on Monday's NBC Today, Newt Gingrich took co-host Ann Curry to task for grilling him on allegations against Herman Cain: "...when the news media goes and finds an anonymous report about an anonymous incident...and you decide that matters more than every other issue in the campaign, that may put your judgment in doubt, as you, being the institutional news media." Curry began the segment by wondering: "...to have a Republican nominee for president, with unanswered questions about sexual harassment, what would it do to your party's chances of defeating Barack Obama?" Gingrich shot back: "What does it mean to the elite news media that nobody in the country ever walks up to us and raises questions you all raise?"

2. Defensive Networks Devote 84 Stories to Herman Cain Scandal, Hit Him for 'Lashing Out'
From Friday night through Sunday morning, the big three networks devoted an additional 21 reports to the Herman Cain sexual harassment story, bringing the networks' grand total to 84 in one week. Even as they continued to pile on, these same networks defensively chided Cain for daring to criticize their coverage. On Sunday's Good Morning America, David Kerley hit Cain for "lashing out" at journalists. On Sunday's Today, David Gregory indignantly suggested Cain has "created this alternate universe" where he says to supporters, "You see, this is- this is what the media does..."

3. CBS Reporter Recites Media Bias Critique on Cain Coverage
On Monday's Early Show, CBS's Jan Crawford spotlighted conservative criticism of the broad media coverage of the Herman Cain sexual harassment charges. Crawford stated that Cain's "testy exchange" with reporters "could help...because a lot of conservatives...think there's this huge liberal bias against conservatives. You know, the media didn't cover Bill Clinton...like they're doing Herman Cain." The correspondent noted the right-leaning argument in response to a statement from anchor Erica Hill about a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll that had Cain just barely behind Mitt Romney at the front of the GOP presidential pack: "It would seem these allegations didn't have much of an impact in the latest polling." Just prior to this, the morning show played a sound bite of Cain refusing to answer a reporter's question on the controversy at a weekend press conference.

4. NYT: OWS Troublemakers Merely Fringe, But Tea Party 'Responsible for the Behavior of People'
The New York Times today: "Many protesters say the lawless visitors constitute a tiny fringe and are not representative of the movement....the criminal and antisocial elements are a small minority..." Versus a Times reporter's 2010 book on the Tea Party: "It was difficult, if not disingenuous, for the Tea Party groups to try to disown the behavior. They had organized the rally, and under their model of self-policing, they were responsible for the behavior of people who were there. And after saying for months that anybody could be a Tea Party leader, they could not suddenly dismiss as faux Tea Partiers those protesters who made them look bad."

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Monday November 07, 2011 @ 08:49 AM ET

1. Amanpour, Agreeable with Pelosi, Pushes Boehner Repeatedly from Left to Raise Taxes
ABC's Christiane Amanpour, on Sunday's This Week, hit House Speaker John Boehner repeatedly from the left to raise taxes, a hostile, political agenda-driven approach she failed to apply a month earlier to the House's top Democrat, Nancy Pelosi. Amanpour demanded of Boehner: "Do you not feel that by opposing" a tax hike on millionaires to pay for Obama's jobs bill "you're basically out of step with the American people on this issue?" She followed by yearning: "Do you agree at all that there should be any kind of tax increases?" She soon lectured him - "you talk about fairness" - but since "one in 15 Americans live in extreme poverty which is defined as something like $11,000 per year for a family of four [actually, it's $22,000], are you concerned that these budget cuts are going to hurt the people who can least afford it?"

2. Media Onslaught Continues: 63 Stories on Herman Cain in Just Over Four Days
The unrelenting network coverage of the Herman Cain sexual harassment story continued on Thursday and Friday with an additional 13 stories. That brings the total number of reports to a staggering 63 stories in just four and a half days. Good Morning America offered up three stories on Friday, including a Brian Ross report tinged with anonymous allegations and rumor-mongering. Ross speculated, "Former employees tell ABC News, Cain was a regular on Washington's after-work bar scene, often with young women who worked with him at the restaurant association." Ross hinted, "Some say it was just Cain being personable and gregarious."

3. NBC's Lauer Spends Half of Interview Pestering Michele Bachmann About Herman Cain
In an interview with Michele Bachmann on Friday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer's first four questions pushed Bachmann to comment on the Herman Cain controversy: "As the only woman in this race, I just would like your perspective on all this....Do you think you are hearing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth from Herman Cain?" Bachmann repeatedly told Lauer: "I don't have any comment on this particular issue." However, Lauer persisted: "Is a subject like sexual harassment, and if there - especially if there is more than one instance of it, even back in the '90s, is it a game-ender if it's proven to be true?"

4. ABC Skips Corzine Resignation, CBS and NBC Avoid Democratic Label
ABC's World News this week failed to mention the development that former New Jersey Democratic Senator and former Governor Jon Corzine is mired in a scandal involving $600 million in missing funds from the financial firm MF Global which he headed until today. The CBS Evening News and the NBC Nightly News so far have not mentioned Corzine's Democratic Party affiliation as they ran full reports on Tuesday, and on Friday both shows updated viewers after Corzine's resignation.

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Friday November 04, 2011 @ 09:39 AM ET

1. Networks Hit Cain Story 50 Times in Less Than Four Days; Ignored Clinton Scandals
Over a period of just three and a half days, NBC, CBS and ABC have developed an insatiable hunger for the Herman Cain sexual harassment story, devoting an incredible 50 stories to the allegations since Monday morning. In contrast, over a similar period these networks mostly ignored far more substantial and serious scandals relating to Bill Clinton. This pattern continued on Wednesday night and into Thursday as the evening newscasts and morning shows highlighted the story 19 times. On Good Morning America, Brian Ross offered innuendo and slung gossip, recounting, "But behind the scenes, several of the campaigns are still urging reporters to continue to dig, George, saying, there's more to be found in the private life of Herman Cain."

2. NBC's Curry Sees Doom for GOP in 2012 in Wake of Herman Cain Controversy
At the top of Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry reported on Herman Cain's campaign blaming Rick Perry for dredging up sexual harassment allegations against the Republican front-runner and then wondered: "Will this intra-party fight hurt the Republican Party's chance of taking back the White House?" Later, in an interview with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus Curry touted the back and forth among the GOP primary candidates as a "serious feud" and asked: "Do you think this scandal has affected your party's ability to unseat Barack Obama?"

3. CNN Scolds Cain for 'Melee' with Press, Airs Footage All Afternoon
When Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain briefly raised his voice at reporters on Wednesday and his staff moved them aside, CNN reported the incident hour after hour in the afternoon as another addition to the candidate's negative coverage. CNN condemned the ordeal as "nasty," and a "melee," that Cain got "very testy" and "lashed out at reporters."

4. ABC Skips Subpoena of Obama E-mails on Solyndra Funding
Thursday's World News on ABC skipped the congressional decision to subpoena White House emails related to the Solyndra solar energy company that went into bankruptcy after receiving tax dollars. The CBS Evening News gave the story 22 seconds, while the NBC Nightly News gave the story a 31-second news brief.

5. NBC Uses October Snow Storm to Push Global Warming
On Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams followed a story on the late October northeast snow storm by ominously proclaiming: "Everybody out east said the same thing about this freak snowstorm, 'This kind of thing didn't used to happen. This never happened before.' And while that is true, it may also be true that we'll all have to start getting used to this kind of thing over the long haul." In the report that followed, correspondent Anne Thompson warned viewers: "Around the world it seems like the weather is going to extremes.....record breaking flooding in Thailand. 1,400 new highs hit in the U.S. just in the month of July. Moscow reaching 101 degrees in the summer of 2010. Heat and wildfires consuming southern Australia in 2009."

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Thursday November 03, 2011 @ 10:18 AM ET

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Thursday November 03, 2011 @ 10:18 AM ET

1. Ex Newsweek Editor: GOP Candidates Are 'Advertising Their Ignorance'
Former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman appeared on Wednesday's Hardball to mock Republican presidential candidates as simplistic. He exclaimed, "But, they're advertising their ignorance, is what I'm saying!" Fineman, who now is the political editor at the more overtly liberal Huffington Post, dripped with condescension as he described the potential GOP nominees. The journalist mocked, "What I find fascinating about [Cain's] candidacy, and really the tenor of a lot of what the Republican candidates are saying, including Rick Perry, is they are saying, 'We don't need to know all those fancy facts.'"

2. Networks Continue to Hype Herman Cain 'Firestorm'; 12 More Stories in 24 Hours
The network evening newscasts on Tuesday and the morning shows on Wednesday continued to hype the Herman Cain "firestorm," creating 12 more stories in less than 24 hours. Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos led the show on Wednesday by trumpeting, " Republican front-runner Herman Cain changes his story again as one of his accusers now says she wants to go public on charges of sexual harassment." On NBC's Today, Matt Lauer hyperbolically announced, "Struggling to move beyond the firestorm that is engulfing his candidacy, Herman Cain again denied he sexually harassed anyone." On that same program, guest Chris Matthews recklessly speculated that the Republican harassed women while drunk.

3. Chris Matthews Speculates Herman Cain Sexually Harassed Women While Drunk
Appearing on Wednesday's NBC Today, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews urged Herman Cain to admit to sexually harassing women and even predicted what the Republican front-runner might say: "I think even if it's really bad he has to put the context to it. He has to say, 'It was an extraordinary night, I had too many drinks, I normally don't act like that, this is not me.'" Matthews earlier argued: "I think he's struggling to come up with some rationale why he's not talking....At some point we're going to find out, maybe by the end of the week, what he actually did that caused all of this trouble. He clearly did something wrong."

4. Jan Brewer Slams Media for Using 'Race Card' to 'Shut Down the Debate' on Illegal Immigration
While being grilled by co-host Ann Curry on Wednesday's NBC Today on Arizona's illegal immigration law causing racial discrimination, Governor Jan Brewer hit back and declared: "I believe truly that the media and others have tried to throw out that race card to shut down the debate. It's not about that. It's about illegal immigration." Earlier, Curry fretted: "Now what would justify such a law that required people, essentially, to carry papers, identification, something that proved that they're American citizens?" Brewer replied: "...it's under reasonable suspicion, it's no different than what law enforcement actually does today....So it's a simple issue, and the press, the liberal media tried to blow that completely totally out of perspective."

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Wednesday November 02, 2011 @ 10:06 AM ET

1. Networks Pile On Cain: Will 'Bizarre' Response to Harassment Claims 'Derail' His Campaign?
All three network morning shows on Tuesday led with Herman Cain's response to allegations of sexual harassment in the 1990s and even speculated the scandal could end his candidacy, with NBC Today co-host Ann Curry proclaiming: "Damage control. Herman Cain changes his story....Will the controversy and his reaction to it derail his presidential campaign?" On ABC's Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos announced: "24-hour flip-flop. Republican front-runner Herman Cain now admits he's been accused of sexual harassment and settlements were paid. His bizarre series of conflicting interviews.... what will it mean for his campaign?"

2. NYT Quickly Fronts Vague Cain Charges, Ignored John Edwards Adultery Allegations Almost a Year
While the Times put 15-year-old anonymous accusations of sexual harassment against GOP candidate Herman Cain on the front page just one full day after they surfaced, it waited 10 months before covering allegations of adultery against Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards - after the candidate himself was compelled to confess. Republican John McCain was also the victim of the paper's partisan double standard on "sex scandals."

3. NYT Editor 'Alarmed' at 'Right Wing' Pushback on Cain Story, Whines About Willie Horton Ad
Andrew Rosenthal, another liberal still whining about the Willie Horton ad: "...it was the Republicans who perfected the art of injecting racial fears into modern-day politics (remember Willie Horton in 1988?) and have conducted an unrelenting personal attack on President Obama that sometimes has not-so-subtle racial overtones." He even sees racism in a Herman Cain ad that dares call Obama a (gasp!) "community organizer."

4. CNN Segment Hypes 'Diversity' of Occupy Seattle
CNN used an "In Depth" segment on Tuesday to emphasize the diversity among protesters at Occupy Seattle, featuring a rapper, a group of "Raging Grannies," drummers and more. The report during the 12 p.m. hour was one of multiple segments that ran on Tuesday afternoon giving viewers a close-up look at the Wall Street protests. "Gives you just a feel for how diverse the protesters are," anchor Suzanne Malveaux noted preceding the report. The rosy headline touted "Diversity at 'Occupy' Seattle."

5. Big Three Nets Omit Corzine's Party ID as Feds Investigate His Firm
On Tuesday, the morning shows of the Big Three networks omitted the party affiliation of Jon Corzine as they reported on the federal investigation into his brokerage firm, something that even the liberal New York Times did in their coverage of the story. ABC's Good Morning America also failed to include Corzine's name during their news brief on the investigation.

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Tuesday November 01, 2011 @ 10:24 AM ET

1. NBC's David Gregory: Are GOP Supporters of Herman Cain Seeking 'Absolution' for Charges of Racism?
On NBC's Meet the Press: Press Pass, Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings explained Republican support of Herman Cain to host David Gregory this way: "...they've been accused as being racist and I think when they can vote for a Herman Cain....they feel like, 'Well, you know, I support this guy...it shows that I'm not racist, and I'm supporting him.'" Gregory added: "'Here's a black conservative who's - who's hammering the President the way we are, so there's no racism here.'" He then wondered: "You feel like he offers absolution in that way, to Tea Party Republicans?" Cummings replied: "I think that's at least a part of it."

2. All Three Networks Hype 'Bombshell Blast' Against Herman Cain
All three morning shows on Monday hyped a "bombshell blast" against Herman Cain, playing up a story in Politico charging the Republican presidential candidate with sexual harassment back in the 1990s. ABC's Good Morning America led with the allegations. Co-host George Stephanopoulos, whose former boss, Bill Clinton, repeatedly faced sexual harassment claims, touted, "And this morning, bombshell blast. Major allegations against front-runner Herman Cain. Two former female colleagues accuse him of sexual harassment."

3. 'Occupy' Opponents Missing on CBS, Plays Up Holdout Protesters
CBS's Early Show on Monday found yet another excuse to report on Occupy Wall Street, spotlighting the diehard protesters who stayed in Zuccotti Park during a winter storm. While correspondent Debbye Turner Bell noted the $3.4 million spent on police overtime in New York City and the complaints from businesses near the demonstrators' campsite, she didn't play one sound bite from the opposition. Turner Bell first highlighted the "freezing temperatures and record-breaking October snow" over the past weekend in the Northeast and added, "And that does raise the question of how committed are these Occupy Wall Street protesters? But there's another question: can local city governments afford to pay the price tag that goes along with expressing this basic American right?"

4. CNN Hosts Former Communist Party Candidate to Praise OWS, Hit Obama from Left
CNN's Don Lemon hosted radical leftist and former Communist Party member Angela Davis on Sunday night's Newsroom for what he called a "blast from the past." Davis hit President Obama from the left and praised the Wall Street protests as a continuation of the movement that swept "a black president who identified with a black radical tradition" into office. CNN labeled Davis as a "political activist" but did not report that she was a prominent Communist Party member and twice its vice presidential candidate in the 1980s. As a professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz, she was urged by the state's then-Governor Ronald Reagan not to be allowed to teach at the state's universities because of her Communist Party membership.

5. While Recounting JFK Assassination, Chris Matthews Links 'Vicious' 'Right-Wing' 'Hate'
While hyping his new book on John F. Kennedy, Friday, Chris Matthews seemed to connect "vicious" "right-wing" "hate" to the assassination of the nation's 35th president. At no time in his Hardball editorial did Matthews admit that the President's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was a pro-communist leftist, who, at one point in his life, defected to the Soviet Union. Speaking of Kennedy's trip to Dallas in November of 1963, Matthews connected, "[Kennedy] was living the life of an American politician, trying to figure things out politically, trying to figure out what was in the water down there in Dallas that made some people so viciously right-wing. An hour later, he was gone."

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Monday October 31, 2011 @ 12:51 PM ET

1. Sour Schieffer Scolds Cain for Ad: 'It's Not Funny to Me...I Don't Think It Serves the Country Well'
CBS's Bob Schieffer unintentionally played the foil to Herman Cain on Sunday's Face the Nation as Schieffer expressed his politically-correct displeasure with Cain's "downright bizarre" Web video which briefly shows Cain's chief of staff smoking, was flummoxed by Cain's sense of humor ("You also said at one point that you might want to back that fence up with a moat and fill it with alligators. Was that a joke too?") and was baffled by Cain's accurate claim Planned Parenthood was spurred by the eugenics movement's desire to reduce the black population. On the ad, Schieffer decried how "it sends a signal that it's cool to smoke" before he scolded Cain: "Well, let me just tell you, it's not funny to me....I don't think it serves the country well, and this is an editorial opinion here, to be showing someone smoking a cigarette." He continued his lecture: "You're the frontrunner now and it seems to me as frontrunner you would have a responsibility not to take that kind of a tone in this campaign. I would suggest that perhaps as the frontrunner, you'd want to raise the level of the campaign."

2. CNN Scolds Herman Cain for Not Already Knowing 'All of the Facts'
CNN put Republican candidate Herman Cain in the spotlight on Friday for his apparent lack of knowledge, accusing him of "dodging" tough questions. Cain had multiple times answered tough foreign policy questions by saying he would need to consider "all of the facts" before making an well thought-out decision. Apparently his conservative answers have raised the eyebrows of CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who questioned Cain's knowledge and readiness for the presidency because of his not already knowing "all of the facts."

3. Toure, MSNBC's 9/11 Truther, Slams Rick Perry as a Birther
MSNBC analyst Toure, who is a 9/11 truther, appeared Friday on the News Nation show to denounce Rick Perry as a birther. Speaking of the Republican presidential candidate, he slammed, "...I see Trump and the other birthers, Perry, virtually going to the White House and knocking on the door saying can we see your documentation to make sure you are actually an American?" It's odd that MSNBC would bring on Toure, who believes in a fringe conspiracy theory, to assert that Perry believes in a fringe conspiracy theory. Talking to host Tamron Hall, the analyst wondered why people would believe such weird ideas: "Why are we even wondering, at this point, is Obama really an American?"

4. NBC and ABC Tout Injured Protester as 'Rallying Cry' for Occupy Wall Street
On Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams proclaimed: "Protesters across the country and a lot of Americans who are sympathetic to this Occupy Wall Street protest movement are tonight rallying around a 24-year-old Iraq war veteran who was seriously injured during a violent confrontation with police in Oakland, California on Tuesday." On ABC's World News, fill-in anchor George Stephanopoulos echoed that sentiment: "...one young man has become a symbol of their resolve." Correspondent Abbie Boudreau followed by declaring: "With tensions mounting daily, the name Scott Olsen has become a national rallying cry for Occupy Wall Street....injured Tuesday night, as police began firing tear gas during the Oakland crackdown."

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Friday October 28, 2011 @ 10:09 AM ET

1. Free Publicity for Democratic Challengers to Tea Party on CBS
Thursday's Early Show on CBS provided free air time to Rep. Steve Israel of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and three of his top candidates for the 2012 election. Correspondent Nancy Cordes trumpeted how the Democratic Party is "determined to bounce back from their big losses" to Republicans during the 2010 cycle and highlighted that the three were "running against Tea Party members." Anchor Chris Wragge teased Cordes's report by touting how Democrats were "finding their own outsiders to run against the Washington status quo. We're going to talk to some of those new recruits, including a former astronaut and a former police chief, who they say with Congress more unpopular than ever, they've got a good chance to make the kind of change in Washington that they feel Washington needs."

2. ABC's Theme of the Day: Trash GOP Candidates like 'National Distraction' Cain
It was Bash Republicans Day on Good Morning America. Reporter Jon Karl highlighted past Mitt Romney statements to spin the candidate as a flip flopper. In a follow up segment, Democrat James Carville appeared to dismiss Herman Cain as a "national distraction" and urge Rick Perry to drop out of the race. Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic operative and longtime friend of Carville, offered his colleague free rein. Carville excoriated an ad featuring Cain's campaign manager smoking berating, "I saw him smoking a cigarette. If that guy wasn't drunk, I haven't taken a drink in my life. He was as high as he could be."

3. Liberal CNN Host Hits Conservative Editor for Bias
CNN's Carol Costello, on Thursday's American Morning, scolded the editor of conservative publication Human Events for not providing the same critical coverage of both Republicans and Democrats. Costello - who has her own history of liberal bias - interviewed Jason Mattera of Human Events over his confrontation with Vice President Joe Biden, and asked him why he wasn't tougher on Republican candidates. "So you're tough with Joe Biden. So why not be a bit tougher with Republican candidates, even though you work for a conservative web site," Costello posed, apparently unaware that since Human Events is a conservative publication, it markets itself to a more conservative Republican audience.

4. Is the New York Times a Liberal Rag? Executive Editor Says 'Wrong'
New York Times editor Jill Abramson still carries a torch for Anita Hill, in an interview with NPR's Diane Rehm: "...I think that Anita Hill, you used the word catalyst, and I think that's a very, very good word. She was. She saw herself of course as merely a citizen doing her duty, that she came to Washington, the Judiciary Committee asked her to come and she testified. And I'm not sure in real time she realized the impact of her testimony and that many women across the world understood what sexual harassment was. But it seemed a new issue to many other people."

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Thursday October 27, 2011 @ 09:47 AM ET

1. NBC's Gregory: Rick Perry's Tax Plan Will Help the Rich and Hurt the Poor
Appearing on Wednesday's NBC Today, Meet the Press host David Gregory ripped Rick Perry's flat tax proposal: "The problem is, this does help the rich. It hurts a lot of the poor and the middle class. Political professionals I talk to say the problem with the flat tax ideas is that once voters look at it a second or third time they don't like it much." Gregory even suggested Republican voters in Iowa would be opposed to the plan: "A lot of voters in the Iowa caucuses are not necessarily rich so it may not stand the test of time." He then added: "And oh, by the way, how do you get it passed when nobody can agree on tax reform right now?"

2. MSNBC's Bashir Mocks 'Chicken Hawk' Herman Cain, Despite Dept. Of Navy Service
MSNBC's Martin Bashir on Wednesday wondered if Herman Cain, who worked for the Department of the Navy during Vietnam, is a "chicken hawk" because he criticized the President's pull out of Iraq. Talking to professor Michael Eric Dyson, Bashir complained, "And on the issue of Iran, does Cain remind you at all of Dick Cheney and that long roster of chicken hawks who've rabidly pushed for U.S. military action there?"

3. Network Morning Shows Tout 'Comedian in Chief' Obama Mocking GOP on Leno
All three network morning shows on Wednesday cheered President Obama's Tuesday appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. At the top of ABC's Good Morning America, co-host Robin Roberts declared: "Comedian in chief. The President hits late-night TV talking about all the people taking swings at him right now. And why what he's really worried about is what the First Lady's giving out for Halloween." Later, fellow co-host George Stephanopoulos noted how Obama was "trying to warm up his image with a few laughs on Jay Leno's couch." White House correspondent Jake Tapper described how the President "made certain to have a few laughs" at the expense of the Republican presidential candidates.

4. CBS: Extremism at 'Occupy' Protests Merely the 'Actions of a Few'
On Wednesday's Early Show, CBS's Erica Hill downplayed the instances of violence and bigotry found at Occupy Wall Street protests as simply "the actions of a few," after GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich denounced the "frightening level of anti-Semitism in some of these gatherings." Hill questioned Gingrich over his supposedly "pretty outspoken words" about the left-leaning movement. The anchor raised the demonstrations towards the end of her interview of the former House speaker, after Gingrich claimed that "people are pretty sick of the lack of civility...they watch Washington, they watch gridlock, [and] they watch a president who's more comfortable on [Jay] Leno than he is in trying to govern the country."

5. CNN Asks: Would Jesus Occupy Wall Street?
CNN tried to tie Jesus to a liberal movement on Wednesday as correspondent Carol Costello labeled various religious authorities as supporters of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests - even as she reported that an protest in Oakland had turned violent. "'Occupy Oakland' protesters hurled paint at riot police, and riot police hurled tear gas. Jesus, here?" Costello asked during the 11 a.m. hour. "Yes. And the Vatican seems to be backing them up," she added.

6. Networks Spin Violent 'Occupy' Protesters as 'Pushing Back,' Minimize Rock Throwing
According to the network morning shows, violent Occupy Wall Street protesters are fighting back against government officials who are trying to rein them in. Early Show's Erica Hill highlighted "this growing crackdown on the anti-Wall Street protests around the country." She added, "In Oakland, California, the protesters are pushing back." The "pushing back" came in the form of throwing rocks and bottles at police officers who attempted to remove them from a public encampment.