Hollywood Hype for Bill & Al; No More Big Government? 1. Networks ignore Hubbell but pick up on Starr's interest in Hillary. NBC ignored Clinton efforts to hide notes from Starr, but Tom Brokaw insists he reports all "important" stories. 2. Actor Tommy Lee Jones hosts a DNC fundraiser for a "great administration" which has "more children playing on the streets." 3. Thanks to the Clinton economic team's "fiscal responsibility," a reporter contends, "the era of big government is really over." 1) Two developments on the White House scandal front were highlighted in Tuesday morning newspaper stories: -- The May... continue reading
Hopping Around Hubbell; Real Budget Numbers 1. The New York Times reports that in contradiction of their claims, Bill and Hillary knew all about Hubbell's troubles. ABC and NBC ignore the White House dissembling. 2. The White House also made false statements about when the Clintons met Hubbell. But all three nets skipped the disclosure. 3. The Clintons stonewall Starr on notes. CBS emphasizes not the cover-up, but how the White House says Starr "has gone too far." 4. The Weekly Standard provides some illuminating numbers on the ever burgeoning budget that reporters find stingy. 1) The President of the... continue reading
Friday's Deal: Imaginary Budget Cuts; Awful Tax Cuts 1. Republicans "cut" while Democrats "save;" Dukakis "cut" but Weld's budget "was the first...to cut spending from the previous year." 2. Networks say the budget deal means spending will be cut and the poor hurt. But in reality spending will soar. 3. NBC worries that GOP tax cut plans would "explode" the deficit; Carlson, Roberts and the Washington Post argue against any tax cut 4. A CyberAlert factoid featured Sunday on CNN's Reliable Sources. 1) Before reviewing how the media mischaracterized the budget deal announced Friday, you must understand how the media... continue reading
Clinton's Balanced Budget Legacy; Latest NQ 1. A budget deal will bestow Bill Clinton with the "legacy he wants," a balanced budget, contends CNN's Wolf Blitzer. 2. A member of a prominent political family is allegedly involved with a 14-year-old, but it's a Kennedy so it's not news. 3. CBS commentator John Leonard warns that when the Martians arrive "we turn into either Republicans or lock-step zombie worker drones." 1) Thursday night the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News led with multiple stories on JonBenet Ramsey's parents interview with some Denver media. At least CBS, as did ABC, aired... continue reading
More on Chelsea Than Reno; No Burton Correction 1. CBS and NBC evening shows devote more time to Chelsea Clinton than to Janet Reno's Senate testimony. 2. Clinton stonewalls investigators; did a donor influence foreign policy?; and news that Huang attended three times more classified meetings than previously known. The networks skip all of it. 3. The shakedown story involving Dan Burton crumbles, but the networks which highlighted the charge fail to tell viewers. 4. Instead of using the rare interview opportunity to run down the many contradictions in Hillary Clinton's claims, Larry King asks her to confirm the most... continue reading
"Arch" Labeling; Socialized Medicine; "Strange" Dan Rather 1. More questions about supposed welfare cuts and the volunteer summit. From Mark McEwen, Ted Koppel and Barbara Walters. 2. Margaret Thatcher and Orrin Hatch tagged as "arch-conservative," but Tony Blair's in the "middle" and Ted Kennedy isn't "arch-liberal." 3. Conservatives say kidcare will lead to socialized health care. A reporter-turned-columnist says "One can only hope they are right." 4. Dan Rather's "strange" take on Ralph Reed highlighted by Fox News Sunday. At CBS, Brit Hume reveals, conservative activities "seem strange and distant, as if they were happening in Afghanistan." 1) In his... continue reading
Nets Use Volunteer Summit as Platform to Demand More Spending 1. A clarification about yesterday's item on a CNN reporter expected to jump to NBC News. 2. ABC and NBC hammer Clinton and Powell from the left, demanding government spending be hiked. ABC sets out to prove that volunteering can never replace a government program. 3. Only NBC notes how Clinton trashed Bush's volunteer efforts; Dan Rather connects getting Saddam to getting volunteers. 4. "Hard right" opponents of the Chemical Weapons Convention were doomed because they "looked like extremists," argued NPR's Totenberg. 1) Yesterday's CyberAlert listed the softball questions posed... continue reading
Brokaw Volunteers More Spending; Ellen Endorses Quayle 1. A million children will be thrown on the streets because of a welfare bill that lacks any reason. Comments from a far-left commentator? Well no, or maybe yes. It's Tom Brokaw. 2. NBC's Scott Simon explains the bright side of the volunteer summit: It will create demand for more government spending. 3. CNN's soon to depart reporter tosses softballs at Gore, wondering if he's "frustrated" about how fundraising is hurting his popularity. 4. Bill Clinton lied about Whitewater? That's "far-fetched, that is so ludicrous," insists Al Hunt. 5. Ellen DeGeneres agrees with... continue reading
Tapegate Avoided; Biting Burton; Chain Saw Ted 1. Media ignore developments in a scandal, but it's not the fundraising scandal. Remember tapegate and Jim McDermott? 2. The first illegal foreign campaign donations in 12 years all go to Democrats. What does CBS highlight? Dan Burton's legal donations. 3. Ted Koppel not concerned about China trampling on the rights of Hong Kong residents. Meanwhile, he tramples over U.S. laws. 1) Late Wednesday afternoon the wire services moved a story announcing that John and Alice Martin, the couple which had taped the cellular phone call of Newt Gingrich stratagizing with top Republicans,... continue reading
Susan McDougal a Martyr; Hard Right Ralph; Katie on Buns 1. CBS portrays Susan McDougal as a martyr suffering in a small jail cell so that the truth will prevail. 2. Dan Rather questions the Christian Coalition's name and says its "hard right agenda" faced setbacks. 3. At the New York Times conservative environmentalists are "conservatives," liberals work for "nonprofit research" groups. 4. Don't come between Katie Couric and the buns she loves or Stone Phillips and the boobs he bobs. 1) Though the front pages of Wednesday's Washington Post, Washington Times, New York Times and Los Angeles Times all... continue reading