Some Rude to Kazan; "Evil Right-Wing"; CNN's Bruce Morton Took Sides 1) Linda Tripp couldn't escape ridicule at the Oscars. Host Whoopi Goldberg joked: "A Bug's Life. Wasn't that the Linda Tripp story?" 2) Most rejected the left-wing plea to be rude to Elia Kazan, but Nick Nolte and Ed Harris were among those refusing to applaud. 3) Richard Dreyfuss argued that while Stalin wasn't so great the "evil right-wing" was more dangerous; a screenwriter called Kazan "a traitor" while another hoped "someone shoots him." 4) In his syndicated column MRC Chairman L. Brent Bozell noted how Kazan realized the... continue reading
Press Conference Softballs; CBS & NBC Ignored Broaddrick; Dreyfuss on Kazan 1) Of 21 questions put to Clinton, only two challenged him about Lewinsky scandal-related matters. A MSNBC reporter claimed Lewinsky questions dominated, but her name was never voiced. Plus, he got softballs, such as whether he feels "betrayal" by ex-aides. 2) Clinton's answer to Sam Donaldson's question about Juanita Broaddrick generated mentions Friday night on the cable networks as well as Donaldson's ABC, but not a word on CBS or NBC. 3) The ABC News Web page ignored Broaddrick but highlighted a question about "right-wing" conspiracies against Clinton and... continue reading
China "Red Meat" for Partisan GOP; Brokaw Denounced "Conservative Dogmas" 1) ABC focused Thursday night not on the Clinton administration's actions on Los Alamos but on how Republicans are exploiting it as a partisan issue. NBC downgraded the gravity of the situation by stressing how, thanks to the GOP, it "is now more about politics." 2) Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau Chief Doyle McManus dismissed any connection between campaign donations from China and Clinton policy actions as "the coincidences of the calendar." 3) "Star Wars," nickname or derogatory term? Depends which hour you watch FNC. Putting the burden on the... continue reading
Richardson Skipped; Limbaugh Lambasted, Countered With Bias Proof 1) The broadcast networks Tuesday night all ignored Energy Secretary Bill Richardson's appearance before a Senate committee to discuss Los Alamos. CNN and FNC gave it a few seconds. 2) Hillary Clinton's denial of any knowledge about Whitewater generated short items on ABC, CBS and FNC; a full report on CNN. 3) Rush Limbaugh hit by Wolf Blitzer with the contention that the media were tough on Clinton and Joe Lockhart's charge that Limbaugh puts "on the air gossip, rumor, and it comes across as fact." (And some PPD from Paul Begala... continue reading
Communists Agree: GOP on "Witch Hunt"; Yearning for Senator Hillary 1) Only CBS Monday night and ABC on Monday morning mentioned China, passing along the China premier's lashing out at "partisan politics" and the Chinese media's denouncement of "witch hunts." 2) An ABC News reporter was baffled by the simultaneous rising prison population and falling crime rate, calling the trends "a seeming contradiction." 3) Initially the "Clintons were livid at" FNC's report "about their marital spat," but FNC learned Hillary's friends think "the publicity may be helpful" in her Senate quest. 4) Diane Sawyer yearns for Senator Hillary Clinton, referring... continue reading
GOP: Witch Hunting, "Stupid" Cold Warriors; The Murdoch Conspiracy 1) Firing on the GOP over Chinese espionage. Evan Thomas asserted that he's reminded of "witch hunts." Tom Friedman said Republicans are "stupid and proud of it" while Steve Roberts claimed "they want to say Red China" often and they "really miss the Cold War." 2) NBC's Meet the Press landed Sandy Berger as a guest, but Sunday's Nightly News ignored him, running just a 25-second item. 3) During a MSNBC look at Bill and Hillary fighting, Brian Williams and a New York Times reporter discussed how only Murdoch-owned media outlets... continue reading
SPECIAL EXTRA EDITION Couric Delivered Ultimate Media Insult: Stephanopoulos "A Linda Tripp Type," Asserting "Some People" Think Airing the Clinton's "Dirty Laundry" is "Sorta Gross." This morning's Today devoted the entire 7:30am half hour to Katie Couric's interview of George Stephanopoulos about his new book, All Too Human. Matching the pattern of ABC's 20/20 and Good Morning America, as detailed in the March 12 CyberAlert, Couric opened by portraying Stephanopoulos as a betrayer who has done wrong. Instead of quizzing him about his evidence for how Bill Clinton lied and dissembled regularly to the public, or attacking Stephanopoulos for how... continue reading
"Poster Boy for Betrayal"; CNN Accepted Claim That Gore Created the Internet 1) ABC skipped China for the third night in a row, but NBC aired its second story of the week, focusing on how no one thinks Wen Ho Lee is guilty. Zilch again on Today and Good Morning America. 2) "This is dead serious," NBC's Tim Russert declared of Chinese espionage, but NBC Nightly News has aired only two stories and Today hasn't mentioned it three out of four days this week. 3) One journalist put words into action: CNN's Lou Dobbs anchored the Moneyline NewsHour from Los... continue reading
Bill Clinton: "First 'Woman President'"; Chilly Clinton Bed; Biting Bittman 1) Bill Clinton is America's "first 'woman President,'" asserted the Washington Post's Sally Quinn: "He does have a lot of feminine qualities about him: the softness, the sensitivity...." 2) FNC exclusive: Rita Cosby reported the Clintons left their ski weekend early because they had a fight and Hillary Clinton refused to accompany her husband on his current Central American trip because she doesn't want to be in the same room or bed as him. 3) ABC, NBC and the morning shows skip China, but not CBS and CNN. Wolf Blitzer... continue reading
China Would Have Figured It Out; Rivera Accosted a Starr Deputy 1) Broadcast networks are not pursuing Chinese espionage. Nothing Tuesday night on ABC or NBC and only Today has aired an interview segment. In it Katie Couric forwarded the argument China would have figured out the science "on its own" so it's not a big deal. 2) Tom Brokaw refused to run an excerpt from NBC's Broaddrick exclusive on NBC Nightly News, but Tuesday night the show played two minutes from Couric's exclusive with Lewinsky's parents. 3) Today provided a platform Tuesday morning for Lewinsky's parents to denounce everyone,... continue reading