Free Republic

Barack Obama has apparently set a new administration boycott of Fox News with this week's twice snubs of the news network.On Sunday, the administration sent the duo of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to the Sunday morning talk shows of ABC, CBS and NBC. Fox was excluded even though, as anchor Chris Wallace noted, the Fox show has more viewers than two of its three rivals.Monday evening, CBS News White House reporter Mark Knoller posted on Twitter that Obama will be in New York City tomorrow for two Democrat fundraisers, the dedication of the...

The CBS Evening News anchor is very likely to leave in June and Scott Pelley is a top contender to replace her but CBS is looking both within and outside the network, Howard Kurtz reports. The search is on for Katie Couric’s successor. The new CBS News chairman, Jeff Fager, is looking at candidates both within and outside the network, insiders say. One strong contender if Couric vacates the anchor chair in early June, as now seems almost certain, is veteran newsman Scott Pelley. The 60 Minutes correspondent has long been a favorite of Fager, who doubles as the show’s...

The CBS Evening News anchor is very likely to leave in June and Scott Pelley is a top contender to replace her but CBS is looking both within and outside the network, Howard Kurtz reports. The search is on for Katie Couric’s successor. The new CBS News chairman, Jeff Fager, is looking at candidates both within and outside the network, insiders say. One strong contender if Couric vacates the anchor chair in early June, as now seems almost certain, is veteran newsman Scott Pelley. The 60 Minutes correspondent has long been a favorite of Fager, who doubles as the show’s...

In a report for Thursday's CBS Early Show, contributor Taryn Winter Brill fretted over the impact of movie theater popcorn on Americans' waistlines: "Have you ever wondered how many calories you're actually consuming in that large popcorn with butter? You probably don't want to know. Pretty soon, though, you may not have a choice." Moments later, nutritionist Katherine Brooking declared the popular concession treat to be "a calorie bomb waiting to explode." Brill then touted a government solution to the problem: "Hoping to defuse this high caloric catastrophe, the FDA is working on a provision in the health care law...

At the top of Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge acknowledged for the first time on the network that members of Congress were criticizing the Obama administration for failing to seek their approval on military action in Libya: "In Washington, the Speaker of the House takes on President Obama as to why he didn't talk to Congress before launching the attacks." While that tease seemed to suggest further discussion of the criticism during the show's Libya coverage, not a single word was mentioned throughout the rest of the broadcast. If a viewer missed those six seconds they would have...

Katie Couric’s position at CBS News has come under question recently as reports have indicated both that their head anchorwoman may be looking for another home or that the network is attempting to significantly reduce her pay. And now resident media man at The O’Reilly Factor and veteran analyst Bernie Goldberg is betting his hat on it: “As anchorwoman of the CBS News, when her contract is out, she is gone.” The discussion came up at the tail end of a segment on the President’s approval ratings and the Libya situation– a much more politics-heavy Weekday with Bernie than his...

Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan is likeable, fun-loving, and quick to tell a joke - but he can also deliver a mean theological argument on some of the Catholic church's most conservative beliefs. Dolan is known as "the American Pope" and he's often considered the most important Catholic in America today. He's also a scholar and a passionate defender of the church's traditional views on what he calls "settled questions." If you've ever wondered why exactly the Catholic church opposes gay marriage and ordination of women as priests, listen to Dolan articulate the church's beliefs. It's far from...

Numerous death threats were made against Wisconsin Republican lawmakers last week, but you wouldn't know about it if your only news sources were ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NBC, and NPR.Bucking the boycott was Fox News's Bill O'Reilly Friday (video follows with transcript and commentary):BILL O'REILLY: But first, death threats in Wisconsin and that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points" memo. The attorney general's office in that state investigating a number of death threats against some Republicans who voted to diminish union power.A radio station obtained this email, quote: "Please put your things in order because you

On CBS Evening News, congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes implied that the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims was simply a political show staged by chairman Peter King. She declared that "King's own past assertion that most U.S. mosques are run by radicals" resulted in "poisoning the hearing." She praised the emotional testimony of Rep. Keith Ellison. [Keith "the Muslim from Minnesota" Ellison took his oath of office on the koran and once wrote an article defending Louis Farrakhan against charges of anti-Semitism. He admits to close ties and collaboration with the Nation of Islam. In...

Everyone is talking about the Pentagon-sponsored study which concludes that the 2008 economic meltdown may have been deliberately triggered. Oh wait − not everyone is talking about it. In fact, few people have even heard of it. I didn’t learn of the study from ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, or liberal newspapers. I learned of it only by surfing conservative websites that reference the Washington Times. The study was prepared in 2009, but it was just made public. The study does not say that the economic meltdown was the result of deliberate action − that is, economic terrorism − but...

At the top of Saturday's CBS Early Show, co-host Russ Mitchell cheered unions protests across the country: "Workers uniting. 50 rallies are planned in 50 states today, as organizers show solidarity with Wisconsin state workers, fighting to preserve their right to collectively bargain for benefits and work conditions." Introducing the segment later, fellow co-host Rebecca Jarvis noted how the protests were organized by MoveOn.org. Rather than accurately label the organization as left-wing, she simply referred to it as "an advocacy group."

Charlie Sheen has launched another crude attack against his bosses at CBS and Warner Bros following Thursday's announcement that the remaining season of Two and a Half Men has been scrapped. On Friday, Sheen (now in the Bahamas) called into the radio show Loose Cannons and lashed out at his bosses - whom he called "clowns" - for "getting up in my grill, telling me how to live my personal life." "I kept saying back off, back off - and they wouldn't," he added. "I kept asking for that respect and I couldn't get it.

UPDATED: As Two And A Half Men star Charlie Sheen's erratic behavior escalated today in a series of verbal assaults on the show's creator-executive producer Chuck Lorre, the sitcom's network and studio did the only thing they could in the situation: pull the plug. But they only did it for this season. (Two and a Half Men was scheduled to resume production on Monday for 4 more episodes). So the door is left open for a possible ninth season. "Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen’s statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros TV have decided to discontinue production...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgUuLNGIma8

New York University’s Center on Law and Security allowed one of its fellows, Nir Rosen, to resign after he tweeted vile things about CBS war correspondent Lara Logan, who sustained a brutal sexual assault and beating in Cairo during pro-democracy celebrations. Why did the center’s executive director, Karen Greenberg, allow him to resign rather than to use the opportunity to take a tougher stand? Here's what she told me: “Nir has always been a really good supporter of the center and I think he realized he had overstepped his bounds....” ...Logan was with a CBS crew in Tahrir Square last...

CBS News says that correspondent Lara Logan was attacked and sexually assaulted last Friday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square while filming a piece for “60 Minutes.” From the CBS News statement: On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS Correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a 60 MINUTES story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into a frenzy. In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew....

One of the most memorable performances from Sunday night's Grammy broadcast was also one of the most terrifying: Serene Branson, an Emmy-nominated CBS entertainment reporter began speaking gibberish during the network's post-Grammy newscast. However, after initial fears that Branson may have suffered a stroke on-air, she is reportedly doing OK. "She was examined by paramedics on scene immediately after her broadcast. Her vital signs were normal. She was not hospitalized," the CBS affiliate that employs Branson said in a statement posted late Monday on its website. "As a precautionary measure, a colleague gave her a ride home. And while Serene...

Katie Couric may end up doing something seen as unlikely just a few years ago: stay on as anchor of "CBS Evening News." Both CBS Corp. and Ms. Couric appear open to a new deal that would keep her at the network's news division...CBS has indicated that it would like...to pare the cost of her annual base salary of roughly $15 million...

LOS ANGELES -- Kacey Jordan, the porn actress who partied with actor Charlie Sheen just before he was hospitalized for severe abdominal pain and subsequently entered rehab, text messaged the "Two and a Half Men" star to tell him she is pregnant, TMZ reported Sunday. Jordan sent Sheen a text message Saturday that read, "Charlie, I'm so sorry how things turned out, I want u to know something before it hits the press..I'm pregnant." She said she does not believe the baby is Sheen's. According to TMZ, she said she used birth control when she was with Sheen but was...

Anderson Cooper has gone underground A day after being attack by a mob of supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and then assaulted again by the same rabble rousers who smashed his car window, CNN's star anchor has moved to a Cheney-esque "undisclosed location" out of fear for his and his crew's safety amid the ongoing tumult Luckily, not a hair on that beautiful white mane of his has been harmed. But he's not the only journalist under assault. MORE: Anderson Cooper attacked by mob in Egypt Reports have surfaced that major network anchors and news producers have been subject...