Bush Mistakenly Targeting Iraq Because of Daddy; Tony Snow Undermines Daschle Premise; Basking in Glory of Clinton Joining Black Hall of Fame; Bush, Not Clinton, the Villain to ABC Over North Korea; Democrats Afraid of Russert?; Sean Penn: Bush Will "Sacrifice the Children of the World"; MRC Outlasts McEwen 1) Cheap shot of the weekend. NPR reporter Nina Totenberg on the revelation North Korea has nuclear weapons: "Well, maybe this shows that one ought not pick ones targets based, at least in part, on who tried to kill one's dad." 2) Best question of the weekend: Tony Snow to Senate... continue reading
Jennings: Why Is Bush Not "Threatening War Against North Korea?"; Brian Williams Mocks Iraqi Election; Journalists in Iraq Put Access Over Accuracy; Woody Harrelson: "This Is a Racist and Imperialist War" 1) In looking at North Korea's revelation that it is pursuing nuclear weapons, the networks ignored how the deal the communists violated was arranged by Jimmy Carter, a role which contributed to his earning the Nobel Peace Prize last week as FNC's Brit Hume noted. ABC's Peter Jennings demanded to know: "Why, for instance, is the Bush administration not threatening war against North Korea as it is doing almost... continue reading
Jennings Fixates on Iraq War's Impact on Stock Market; ABC & CBS Treat Iraqi "Election" Seriously; FNC Reports Results of MRC Study; Feet from Murder Geraldo Autographs Shorts of Hooters Girls; "Top Ten Ways CBS Can Attract Viewers to The Early Show ." 1) How Peter Jennings measures stock market performance: When it falls he blames Bush's policy against Iraq. When it rises he worries about the future impact of the Bush's policy against Iraq. On September 3: "The prospect of war with Iraq caused anxiety on Wall Street today." This week, after the market rebounded strongly: "How worried do... continue reading
ABC Focuses on Nationwide Resistance to Bush Iraq Policy; In "Festive" Baghdad, CNN Wonders if Saddam Can Be Re-Elected; Blame Bush's "Hardline" Iraq Policy for New Terrorism; Gorbachev Admires PBS President; Banfield Goes While Donahue Stays; CBS Names Liberal Advocate to Host Early Show ; "Top Ten Fun Things the Army Yells While Rappelling" 1) ABC's World News Tonight devoted a story Monday night to proving how, as Peter Jennings put it, "there are growing concerns" across the country about Bush's plans for Iraq. ABC highlighted the opposition of nine people. Bill Redeker painted opponents as sharing Bush's concern, but... continue reading
Russert Again Presses Senate Candidates to "Postpone" Tax Cuts; Networks Celebrate Nobel Peace Prize for Jimmy Carter; Hume: Peace Comes from Armed Force; "Top Ten Signs Barbara Walters is in Love with Fidel Castro" 1) If it's Sunday with a Senate candidates on Meet the Press, it's time for Tim Russert to press them to "postpone" the tax cuts. To South Carolina Democrat Alex Sanders: "Would you consider freezing or postponing the Bush tax cut in order to have the revenues so we don't tap into Social Security and have the revenues to pay for the potential war in Iraq?"... continue reading
Walters Asks Castro's Opinion of Bush's Iraq Policy; Jennings Not Upset ABC Skipped Bush Speech, Concedes Bias; NBC Uses Sniper Shootings to Hype Moore's Anti-Gun Movie; Bernard Goldberg Tells Donahue He's "Delusional" on Media Bias 1) Cuba has "very high literacy" and "you have brought great health to your country," Barbara Walters effused to Fidel Castro in a preview on Thursday's World News Tonight of her interview with the dictator set to air on 20/20 tonight. Walters also treated Castro's view of Bush's Iraq policy as relevant. Walters sought confirmation: "You oppose an attack against Iraq, yes?" 2) Asked if... continue reading
Jennings Hypes Saudi Opposition to Iraq War; Walters Praises Castro for "Great Things" He's Done; NPR Hires Liberal from ABC; CNN Accurately Labels a Liberal; Sheen Complains Dissent Being Suppressed; Belafonte Calls Powell Bush's "House Slave"; Whoopi Calls Corporate Crooks "Terrorists" 1) There's "concern at the highest levels about the U.S. attacking Iraq," Peter Jennings hyped on Wednesday's World News Tonight. That would be the "highest levels" of Saudi Arabia as Jennings warned: "The most influential man in Saudi Arabia says be careful about Iraq." Though most of the 9/11 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia, Jim Sciutto relayed how they... continue reading
ABC Tries to Discredit Evidence in Bush's Iraq Speech; Media Skips Inconvenient Finding of Skewed NY Times Poll; Friedman Claims Bush Team "Bought and Paid by Big Oil"; Letterman Aboard Bush's Effort to Oust Hussein 1) ABC, CBS and NBC decided not to interrupt prime time in the east on Monday night to carry President Bush's speech outlining the reasons behind his Iraq policy. On Tuesday night, only the CBS Evening News ran excerpts while the NBC Nightly News ignored the speech completely. But ABC did worse than not inform viewers of what Bush said. World News Tonight tried to... continue reading
CBS & NY Times Twist Own Poll to Show Bush's Priorities Wrong; Russert Pleads Again to Rescind Tax Cuts; Fox Carries Bush Speech; Kennedy, Carter and Clinton = the "Fantasy" of Bartlet; Lauer Throws It to "NBC's Penthouse Correspondent" 1) A CBS News/New York Times poll distorted by both. CBS's John Roberts stressed how "70 percent of people say they want to hear more about the economy than war," but he failed to point out how a majority think Bush is splitting his time "about right" between foreign policy and domestic issues. The Times story began: "A majority of Americans... continue reading
Washington Post Finds Pro-Torricelli Republicans; "County's Growing Diversity Reflected in Those Gunned Down"; SUVs Kill as Many as Did the Terrorists; MSNBC Bumps Low-Rated Nachman; Lange: "I Despise" Bush & It's "Embarrassing" to be American 1) The Washington Post's kind of Republicans. Other than the Chairman of the New Jersey state Republican Party, reporter Dale Russakoff on Sunday relayed the views of two Republican residents of the Garden State: A woman who will vote for Democrat Frank Lautenberg because she fears the Christian Right and a woman and her husband who even would have voted to re-elect Robert Torricelli because... continue reading