More Bruising of Brownback than Telling What Sullivan Says One Thursday morning show ignored the hearings and the other two barely touched them while CNN and MSNBC ceased live coverage. ABC's World News Tonight dedicated more time to Senator Sam Brownback's "pigeon English" than to the actual fundraising hearings. The networks pounced on Trent Lott's comment that Clinton is a "spoiled brat," but they ignored Al Gore when he denounced Republicans as "un-American." 1) Before the Senate Government Affairs Committee hearings on fundraising had gaveled down for the third day Thursday morning network coverage had already peaked. Morning shows on... continue reading
MSNBC Dumps Out; ABC Shows Nothing of Hearings; ER's Liberal Star CNN devoted most of Wednesday morning to carrying the hearings, but not MSNBC which ceased coverage after just one hour. CBS and NBC led with Tyson Wednesday night. ABC's first story dealt with the hearings but didn't show any hearings video as ABC concentrated on Clinton's soaring popularity and deficit cutting. A former CNN reporter realizes that the networks have under- covered the fundraising scandals. A star of NBC's ER drama links Top Gun to fascism, says "I am for socialized health care," and advocates gun control. 1) Wednesday... continue reading
Russert vs. NBC; No One's at Fault, It's the System Morning through evening rundown of Tuesday hearings coverage: CNN barely covers and they don't lead ABC in the evening. On MSNBC Tim Russert declared Clinton's fundraising calls an "enormous" abuse. But NBC didn't tell viewers about them. "What's important...isn't what one party can show about the other, but what the campaign-finance system shows about our political system," argued a Washington Bureau Chief in forwarding the media line that a successful hearing will lead to "reforms." 1) Here's a rundown on July 8 coverage of the hearings: -- Morning shows. As... continue reading
Hearings Slighted; CBS Focuses on GOP's Deadbeat Dad Donor If you noticed the time the July 7 CyberAlert was sent and observed a half day delay in receiving it, don't blame your e-mail provider. Our listserve service was down when I first posted the CyberAlert and it took me 12 hours to realize the problem and re-post. Two of the three morning shows on Monday ignored the impending fundraising hearing and all the networks skipped two new revelations. CBS allocated an extraordinary five plus minutes to a deadbeat dad who gave foreign money to the GOP in 1992. CBS even... continue reading
McRee's Angles; Stomping Stephanopoulos; Blumenthal's Bombast The Senate fundraising hearings begin Tuesday. On Monday night CBS will highlight foreign money accepted by the GOP. Rush Limbaugh's high ratings drive off a leading liberal host in the 2nd biggest market, but will the national media notice? There's another side to the image of Charles Kuralt as avuncular newsman: a man who abused his position to advocate liberal policies and disparage conservatives: "What on Earth did conservatism ever accomplish for our country?" 1) Sunday's ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News aired stories previewing the upcoming Senate hearings... continue reading
McRee's Angles; Stomping Stephanopoulos; Blumenthal's Bombast All the comments and suggestions you have sent to cybercomment@mrc.org have been read. I've fallen behind at responding to them, but I want all readers to know that their comments are being seen and considered. Lisa McRee, picked by ABC to replace Joan Lunden, took up the liberal line during 1992 campaign interviews. ABC made George Stephanopoulos cancel a Democratic fundraising event, but ABC has no qualms about reporters helping liberal groups. Sidney Blumenthal, who claimed the Clintons demonstrated family values by "confessing to adultery," has joined Clinton's staff. Even his media colleagues realized... continue reading
Carlson's Class Warfare; Celebrities Pitch in for Bill The June MediaNomics (What the news media tell Americans about free enterprise) can now be read on the MRC's Web site. The Web site is back up after being down for a few days and MRC Web manager Joe Alfonsi has placed all the MediaNomics articles at: http://www.mrc.org/medianomics/1997/1997medianomics.asp Headlines on Clinton's tax cut don't agree. A broad cut that matches GOP vs. opposing GOP by cutting wealthy out of the deal. After a typical Margaret Carlson class warfare diatribe, CNN's Frank Sesno suggests a new job possibility. Hollywood celebrities fly in to... continue reading
Foreign Scheme Begun in 1991; Stinging Starr; Top Ten If you use AOL you may be reading this days from now. I've noticed that AOL mail delivery has become particularly slow. My personal AOL account has yet to receive the last four CyberAlerts. Normally, I would suggest that if your provider has problems that you go to the MRC Web site to read these updates, but unfortunately, our Web site on Town Hall is no more reliable than AOL. Town Hall has been down since Saturday and we don't know when it will be up again. The LA Times discovered... continue reading
Clinton's Calls Clipped; CBS Slams Brady Decision Today's (Monday, June 30) Investor's Business Daily, the national newspaper "for people who choose to succeed," dedicates a lengthy editorial to a list of Clinton scandal developments not covered by one or more network evening shows from February through April. Based upon information provided by the MRC, it condenses in one place much of the scandal coverage tracked in these MRC CyberAlerts. Clinton made fundraising calls from the White House. But the evening shows all ignore it as well as new evidence of John Huang's interest in CIA briefings on China. "It seemed... continue reading
Tarring Starr; Letting Gore Off; Hushing Up Hubbell's Fraud All the articles in the June MediaWatch can now be read online from the MRC's home page, or more directly at: http://www.mediaresearch.org/archive/mediawatch/archive1997.asp Your Friday morning newspaper may include a story by the AP's Lynn Elber distributed on Thursday about the MRC's "Businessmen Behaving Badly" study on prime time portrayals. Read the full study at: http://www.mediaresearch.org/freemarket/ The White House hopes Starr's look at Clinton's "personal life" hurts Starr more than Clinton. The networks are doing their part. From rewards for donors to new info about the Buddhist temple, there's plenty to ask... continue reading