WH Solicitation; Hearings Important; Media Reporter Scolds Nets Four big revelations in papers over the past week, but two are ignored and Sunday's LA Times report on how Maggie Williams solicited a check in the White House gets a full story on just one network. ABC aired an interview with Charlie Trie in which "he scoffs at the notion that he might be working as an agent for the Chinese." Haley Barbour's testimony led to two morning interview segments. With both sides dirty, NBC's Sara James hoped: "Does it end here?" A poll found that 80 percent find the hearings... continue reading
Barbour Talks, Nets Discover Hearings; Clinton's Calls Clipped The MRC's new fax reports, Media Reality Check: A Daily Report on the Media's Coverage of the Campaign Finance Scandal Hearings, can now be read from the MRC home page or directly from: http://mediaresearch.org/archive/realitycheck/archive1997.asp Haley Barbour led to a night of firsts: such as the first full stories on all networks in more than two weeks. CNN and MSNBC went live with Barbour, but CNN showed it's sensitive to charges of bias, promising equal coverage of Democrats. A newly revealed memo shows Clinton made fundraising calls, but that discovery lost in portrayals... continue reading
Morning Blackout; 2 of 3 Skip Immunity; Newt's "Asinine" Idea The MRC's new fax reports, Media Reality Check: A Daily Report on the Media's Coverage of the Campaign Finance Scandal Hearings, can now be read from the MRC home page or directly from: http://mediaresearch.org/archive/realitycheck/archive1997.asp Another morning, another morning of Cunanan, not fundraising. The Senate committee voted to grant immunity to five, but only the CBS Evening News reported it. ABC ran three stories on Andrew Cunanan, NBC aired four. The Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau Chief argued that NEA funding should be increased. Have rich Hollywood celebrities fund an arts foundation?... continue reading
A CBS Diversion; Nothing Criminal Here; Cult of Christianity The Wednesday edition of Media Reality Check: A Daily Report on the Media's Coverage of the Campaign Finance Scandal Hearings, will be posted on the MRC Web site Wednesday afternoon. Back issues can be read at: http://mediaresearch.org/ reality/faxrep.html As another witness took the 5th and Thompson said he has "lost confidence" in the Justice Dept., ABC profiled a dentist who works on lions and CBS diverted attention to legal Chinese lobbying. Watergate and Iran-Contra deserved live coverage because, unlike the current hearings, they involved "criminal wrongdoing." CNN has decided to provide... continue reading
Trie's Treat; NBC on Riady in '92; Forbes "An Ugly Thing" All three of the MRC's new fax reports published last week, Media Reality Check: A Daily Report on the Media's Coverage of the Campaign Finance Scandal Hearings , can now be read at: http://www.mediaresearch.org/archive/realitycheck/archive1997.asp The July 14 edition of Notable Quotables can be accessed, thanks to MRC Web manager Joe Alfonsi, from the MRC home page: http://www.mediaresearch.org . There's been so much hearings material to report that the CyberAlerts have grown too long to add an entire NQ. The Clinton team expanded the number of trade panel slots and... continue reading
ABC's First Soundbite; Everyone Does It; Molinari vs. Bradley The MRC's new fax reports, Media Reality Check: A Daily Report on the Media's Coverage of the Campaign Finance Scandal Hearings, can now be read on our home page. Next edition on Wednesday. World News Tonight finally airs a full story on the hearings, but only to dismiss their relevance and say people don't care. PBS and CNN argue that everyone does it. A Time reporter contends "the system lends itself to these kinds of abuses and maybe it really does need to be reformed." CBS This Morning demanded that Susan... continue reading
ABC & NBC Spike Hearings; Even New York Times Finds Newsworthiness The MRC on Wednesday launched a daily one-page fax report titled "Media Reality Check: A Daily Report on the Media's Coverage of the Campaign Finance Scandal Hearings." It's largely a compressed version of CyberAlert targeted at those without e-mail. Put together by Tim Graham based upon CyberAlert and the morning show logging completed by the MRC's Steve Kaminski, Geoffrey Dickens and Gene Eliasen, it's distributed just past noon on days after hearings. We cannot afford to offer this to everyone, but if you are in the media and would... continue reading
Hearings Get 26 Seconds on ABC; Hume Sees Bias in Coverage In the morning CBS again skipped the hearings and Today allocated more time to discrediting the trooper's stories as run in the "ultra-conservative newspaper, The American Spectator." ABC gives hearings 26 seconds on Tuesday night as NBC's Tim Russert dreams of "bipartisanship" and Tom Brokaw demands "to hear more from Republicans...about some of their transgressions." Fox News Channel decided to offer live hearings coverage as FNC's Brit Hume observed that "If this were Ronald Reagan...it's a little hard to imagine this wouldn't have attracted more attention." 1) Tuesday morning... continue reading
System's the Problem; Save NEA; Top GOPer Denies Media Bias Two of three Monday morning shows skipped the hearings and all three ignored them Monday night, but ABC wonders why public not paying attention. The system not law breakers are the problem "What's legal is corrupt as well." And "It's about a rotten system." Cut NEA funding? "Mind-boggling," declares David Broder. "The domestic version of 'the Commies are coming,'" says another reporter. A top Republican declares as "out of bounds" a letter pointing out the impact of liberal media bias. 1) Two out three morning shows on Monday ignored the... continue reading
No Hearing for Hearings in the Morning; Joe Camel vs. Mickey Friday's morning shows went 0 for 3 on mentioning the hearings; Torricelli called a NBC reporter insensitive for highlighting his lie. Stupidest question of the weekend. CBS's Bob Schieffer equated a bank owned by communists to a Texas bank. ABC's Aaron Brown passed along as fact a preposterous study claiming more children recognized Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse. "So far his [Thompson's] hearings have left the country cold," Nightline concluded since it's been "disappointing" to those who want campaign finance reform. 1) None of Friday's morning shows included a... continue reading