1. ABC Leads with Vague Claim of "Opportunity Lost" to Avoid War ABC led Wednesday night with "an ABC News investigation" of what Peter Jennings characterized as "what appears to be an opportunity lost" to work with "a man who was in the process of trying to broker a deal that might have avoided war with Iraq." Brian Ross proceeded to recount how a Lebanese businessman forwarded an offer from Saddam Hussein's intelligence chief to allow U.S. agents to travel freely around Iraq to confirm Iraq's disarmament. The offer never made it as high as the Deputy Secretary level, and,... continue reading
1. Nets Highlight Fears Conservative Pressure Intimidated CBS ABC's Peter Jennings made it seem as if CBS's The Reagans just wasn't positive enough for conservatives, saying CBS cancelled it "when word got around that it may not have been as faithful to the Reagan story as some conservatives wanted it to be." NBC's Mike Taibbi worried not about CBS's misdeeds with such a disrespectful movie, but about "which program and which network will be targeted next?" CBS's Jerry Bowen, after clips from two conservatives, turned to a bunch of those upset by CBS's decision, including Tom Daschle who accused conservatives... continue reading
1. ABC Highlights Disgruntled Army Medic Scoffing at Bush Claim In the wake of the helicopter downing which killed 15 on Sunday in Iraq, ABC's John Berman on Monday night highlighted a sarcastic U.S. soldier who "scoffed at what President Bush said last spring about the end of major combat." A disgruntled Army medic then mocked Bush's words, "'All major combat operations of ceased.'" The medic nodded and winked as he condescendingly added: "Right." In contrast, NBC's Richard Engel found that though "the attacks are getting more sophisticated and more deadly," the "morale" of U.S. soldiers "doesn't appear to have... continue reading
1. CBS Echoes Daschle: "How Much of This 'Winning' Can We Stand?" CBS's Bob Schieffer channels Tom Daschle. Last Tuesday, following President Bush's press conference, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle complained about Bush's claim of progress in Iraq: "If this is progress, I don't know how much more progress we can take." Sunday, on Face the Nation, Schieffer echoed Daschle, "If this is winning, you have to ask the question: How much of this 'winning' can we stand?" 2. NBC's Williams Finds Iraq War Amputees Still Aren't Anti-War Brian Williams of NBC and CNBC found that morale is not lagging... continue reading
1. ABC Finds "Talk of a 7.2 Percent Growth Rate Falls Flat" The 7.2 percent annualized GDP growth rate for the third quarter, the highest since 1984, is great news, but. That's how the networks approached the news on Thursday night as they added caveats about the lack of job growth and doubts about whether the boom can last, though all acknowledged how Bush's tax cuts were a factor in spurring growth. ABC's World News Tonight countered the good news with bad news as Dean Reynolds highlighted a poll taken before the fresh number was announced: "An ABC News poll... continue reading
1. CBS: Could Fire Cause Schwarzenegger to Void No Tax Hike Pledge? As huge fires continued to sweep their destructive paths through Southern California, it meant one thing to CBS News reporter Sandra Hughes: Time to raise taxes. Narrating video of Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, she yearned for a tax hike as she asserted that "the question was asked: Could this be the major disaster Arnold Schwarzenegger, the candidate, said was the only way he'd raise taxes?" 2. Fineman: Newsweek 's Bush "Wimp" Cover a "Mistake" & "Juvenile" Better very late than never? Sixteen years... continue reading
1. Moran: Bush "Dodged" Query; O'Donnell Errs, Yet Corrects Bush Reporting on President George W. Bush's late morning press conference, on Tuesday night ABC's Terry Moran highlighted how he "dodged a reporter's follow-up" question about whether "you promise a year from now that you will have reduced the number of troops in Iraq?" NBC's Norah O'Donnell stressed how Bush "used the word 'danger' or 'dangerous' 17 times to describe Iraq." While Moran accepted Bush's explanation that the "Mission Accomplished" banner was produced by sailors on the ship, O'Donnell, who herself used an incorrect combat death number in a question she... continue reading
1. Washington Post Whitewashes Protest Which Featured "F*** Bush!" Sunday's Washington Post story on the latest "anti-war" protest organized by some very far-left groups ignored the more incendiary comments from the officially-sanctioned speakers on the stage and tried to portray an image of a group of average people next door coming together along with concerned relatives of those deployed in Iraq, as opposed to a bunch of hateful political activists. From the stage, to the delight of the crowd which joined in, a rapper yelled: "F*** George Bush!" But the Post ignored that and saw only how "the demonstrators represented... continue reading
1. Rather Uses Staged Democratic Event to Justify Leakgate Story CBS on Friday night used a partisan meeting of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee as an excuse to justify a story about, as anchor Dan Rather put it, "new developments" in "the investigation of who, possibly illegally, blew the cover of a CIA undercover agent in July." Doing his best to blame top Bush officials, Rather ominously warned that "the Justice Department has been looking into charges that it was a politically-motivated leak, a smear, from a White House staffer." The "new developments," a few ex-CIA staffers ruing the leak,... continue reading
1. CBS Ignores Bush's Bounce Back in Poll; Net Had Stressed Decline Three weeks ago, when a CBS News/New York Times poll found a new low approval rating for Bush of 51 percent, with those not confident in his ability to handle a foreign crisis having risen to 50 percent and Bush dropping to tied status, at 44 percent, with an un-named Democrat in a generic head-to-head race, the CBS Evening News led with the survey. But when a new CBS News poll released on Wednesday discovered that President Bush's approval rating had rebounded by three points, to 54 percent,... continue reading