1. In BET Interview, Ex-NBC Reporter Presses Kerry from the Left There's a network even to the left of ABC, CBS and NBC. Thursday night on Black Entertainment Television (BET), a unit of Viacom which also owns CBS, John Kerry was hit repeatedly from the left by Ed Gordon, a former NBC News and MSNBC reporter and anchor, whose questions painted Kerry as too conservative. In the pre-taped session, Gordon pushed Kerry to promise to get the U.S. out of Iraq, reminding him of how "one of the things that put you on the map early was you were one... continue reading
1. NBC Uses Clintonista to Claim Bush-Cheney "Don't Shoot Straight" NBC Nightly News on Wednesday devoted nearly a full story to how Vice President Dick Cheney really had met Senator John Edwards before and reporter Kelly O'Donnell, noting that "senior Kerry advisors say this seemingly small Cheney mistake helps them make a larger point," had the chutzpah to feature Bill Clinton's spokesman during the Lewinsky mess, Mike McCurry, so he could charge that "they don't shoot straight with the American people" and "they just don't tell the truth sometimes." He should be an expert on that. O'Donnell proceeded to a... continue reading
1. Four Times, Early Show Touts CBS Poll Showing Edwards Debate Win Four times on Wednesday morning, CBS's Early Show touted the network's poll of 178 "uncommitted" voters -- a puny sample which included voters who have made up their minds but claimed they might possibly switch before Election Day -- as proof that John Edwards bested Dick Cheney in Tuesday night's debate. But ABC's Good Morning America spent almost no time on a poll of 509 voters meant to represent a cross-section of debate viewers, a poll which showed Cheney beating Edwards. 2. Network Morning Hosts Upset at Negative... continue reading
1. CBS: Edwards Won, ABC: Cheney; CBS Says Cheney "Scares" Voters For the second debate in a row, CBS's narrow group of 178 "uncommitted voters" declared the Democrat the winner Tuesday night with 41 percent calling Senator John Edwards the victor, 29 percent seeing Vice President Cheney as triumphant and 29 percent deciding it was a tie. CBS's Anthony Mason stressed how "Cheney had an image problem to overcome" since "nearly 60 percent of the uncommitted voters we surveyed said they did not personally like him. When asked how they'd feel if Cheney became President, 24 percent said 'scared.' Only... continue reading
1. Bush Leads in Poll, Jennings Sees "New Enthusiasm" for Kerry Though a new ABC News/Washington Post poll put President George W. Bush ahead 51 percent to 46 percent over Senator Kerry, a mere one-point closer margin than a week earlier in the same poll, ABC anchor Peter Jennings on Monday night trumpeted how "the latest ABC News poll indicates a new enthusiasm for the Kerry campaign." But a Tuesday Washington Post article on the poll, headlined "Bush Has 5-Point Lead in New Poll," characterized the "enthusiasm" as a bit narrower than Jennings suggested. The lead of the Post story... continue reading
1. Bush Leads in Poll, Jennings Sees "New Enthusiasm" for Kerry Though a new ABC News/Washington Post poll put President George W. Bush ahead 51 percent to 46 percent over Senator Kerry, a mere one-point closer margin than a week earlier in the same poll, ABC anchor Peter Jennings on Monday night trumpeted how "the latest ABC News poll indicates a new enthusiasm for the Kerry campaign." But a Tuesday Washington Post article on the poll, headlined "Bush Has 5-Point Lead in New Poll," characterized the "enthusiasm" as a bit narrower than Jennings suggested. The lead of the Post story... continue reading
1. Bush Leads in Poll, Jennings Sees "New Enthusiasm" for Kerry Though a new ABC News/Washington Post poll put President George W. Bush ahead 51 percent to 46 percent over Senator Kerry, a mere one-point closer margin than a week earlier in the same poll, ABC anchor Peter Jennings on Monday night trumpeted how "the latest ABC News poll indicates a new enthusiasm for the Kerry campaign." But a Tuesday Washington Post article on the poll, headlined "Bush Has 5-Point Lead in New Poll," characterized the "enthusiasm" as a bit narrower than Jennings suggested. The lead of the Post story... continue reading
1. Jennings and Brokaw Defend Rather Who Sees Effort to "Smear" Him At a Saturday forum in New York City, Dan Rather refused to comment specifically on his political hit job on President Bush using forged documents, but his paranoid feelings came through later when he complained that if you ask too many tough questions of an administration they will do their "very best to smear you" and they will "attack you, the messenger," because they "can't attack you on the facts." Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw came to Rather's defense at the New Yorker Festival event which featured the... continue reading
1. CBS's Schieffer Declares: "You Now Know Where John Kerry Stands" Finding clarity in confusion. During Thursday night's debate, Senator John Kerry derided the war in Iraq as "a colossal error in judgment," even as he explained that he "did vote to give the authority [to go to war] because I thought Saddam Hussein was a threat." Kerry also declared that "the President made a mistake in invading Iraq," but when asked, "Are Americans now dying in Iraq for a mistake?" Kerry quickly answered, "No, and they don't have to." Nevertheless, CBS's Bob Schieffer declared: "Whether you agree with him... continue reading
1. TV Analysts: Kerry Won; Media to Shape Coverage in Kerry's Favor From ABC to NBC, with FNC in agreement too, TV reporters and analysts concluded after Thursday's presidential debate that John Kerry won and has thus revived his campaign. CBS and ABC conducted instant polls which showed a Kerry triumph. CBS took input from a mere 200 "uncommitted" people. Though ABC's poll found no change in who those polled support, George Stephanopoulos was so excited about Kerry's debate victory that he trumpeted CBS's numbers before he made a prediction which he and his colleagues can assure comes true: "That's... continue reading