1. CBS Shows More Concern for Timing Than Substance of Berger News Every network but CBS led Tuesday night with the Sandy Berger tale of taking and then losing secret documents from the National Archives and resigning Tuesday from his advisory role with the Kerry campaign. Instead, Rather began: "Almost two a day. That is the rate American troops are dying in Iraq with the total now approaching 900 since the war began." When he arrived at Berger he tried to discredit the story by insisting "this was triggered by a carefully orchestrated leak about Berger, and the timing of... continue reading
1. Katie & Keith: "Did the United States Invade the Wrong Country?" Picking up on how the 9/11 Commission report will reveal how Iran aided some of the 9/11 terrorists, NBC's Katie Couric on Monday's Today, without noting how President Bush had made Iran part of the "axis of evil," proposed to former CIA Director James Woolsey: "Did the United States invade the wrong country here?" Couric, who earlier declared that "the 9/11 staff report found there was quote, 'no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States,'" a characterization to which Woolsey took... continue reading
1. Guest Raises Wilson Claims with Schieffer Who Sticks to Cheney When Bob Schieffer told RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie how he hears Republicans questioning whether Dick Cheney should remain on the ticket, Gillespie brought up on Face the Nation how "Joe Wilson, who led the attack against the Vice President and the President for more than a year has been entirely discredited in bipartisan fashion, by the way, unanimously by the Democrats and the Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee." Gillespie reminded Schieffer: "He was on this program, Bob, and in fact, CBS News itself, on 30 different occasions, has... continue reading
1. Cable Networks, CBS and NBC Pounce on Cheney to Be Dropped Rumor Showing the power of the New York Times to put a story into play, prompted by a Thursday front page story by Elisabeth Bumiller, "Hear the Rumor on Cheney? Capital Buzzes, Denials Aside," the cable news networks spent the day abuzz over the possibility Cheney might be dumped, though everyone acknowledged that will not occur, and in the evening the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News dedicated significant time to the rumor with NBC devoting more than three minutes to it, an eternity in TV Newscast... continue reading
1. CBS & NBC Skip Kerry & Edwards Absence on Same-Sex Marriage Vote Senate Republicans put a constitutional amendment on same-sex marriage on the agenda this week, in part, so they could put the Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates on the record on the issue. But after the vote took place on Wednesday, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News didn't even mention how John Kerry and John Edwards were the only two Senators to not vote on the issue, nor did a story carried on FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume. ABC's World News Tonight and CNN's... continue reading
1. ABC's Moran Chides Bush for "Sharply Personal Attacks" on Kerry Arguing they "show how much trouble the President's in politically," ABC's Terry Moran on Tuesday night contended that, in a visit to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, President George W. Bush delivered "sharply personal attacks" on Democratic contender John Kerry. But the two soundbites from Bush at a rally which ABC played hardly matched Moran's description as particularly sharp personal attacks, and certainly were no more personal or sharp than the standard anti-Bush stump speech given by Kerry, who just last week suggested that Dick Cheney is the real President. 2... continue reading
1. Excitement for MSNBC's Ron Reagan Speaking at Dem Convention Network reporters excitedly pounced on the news that Ron Reagan, a long-time liberal and an analyst for MSNBC scheduled to appear late night on convention nights, will be a direct participant in the Democratic convention as a speaker in support of federal funding of stem cell research and in condemnation of President Bush's opposition to it. "Rendezvous with the other side. Republican icon Ronald Reagan's son a headliner at the Democratic National Convention," Katie Couric touted in opening Monday's Today. Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, saw... continue reading
1. Mag Editor: Media "Want Kerry to Win," Cover: "Sunshine Boys" Recognition of the obvious. The media "wants Kerry to win" and so "they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic," Evan Thomas, the Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek, admitted on Inside Washington over the weekend. He should know. His magazine this week sports a smiling Kerry and Edwards on its cover with the yearning headline, "The Sunshine Boys?" Inside, an article carrying Thomas' byline contrasted how "Dick Cheney projects the bleakness of a Wyoming winter, while John Edwards always appears to be strolling... continue reading
1. Networks Initially Ignore Crudity and Hate at Kerry Fundraiser Broadcast network journalists initially didn't see anything newsworthy in the vulgar and hateful anti-Bush remarks made Thursday night by celebrities at a big Radio City Music Hall fundraising event for the Kerry/Edwards campaign, even though Kerry boasted afterward about how "every performer tonight" has "conveyed to you the heart and soul of our country." Despite the fact that the Friday New York Post and New York Times quoted the comments and how while holding a wine bottle Whoopi Goldberg made crude sexual references about the President's last name and her... continue reading
1. Koppel Gives Credibility to Political Motive for Ridge's Warning ABC anchor Ted Koppel added a nefarious twist in reporting on Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's warning that al-Qaeda plans an attack in the U.S. soon to impact the democratic process. The warning led all three broadcast network evening newscasts on Thursday and while CBS anchor John Roberts and NBC anchor Brian Williams played it straight, Koppel stressed how there was "no information on what to expect, precisely where, when or how" and relayed that the lack of a change to the threat level "led some critics to wonder out... continue reading