Four items today: 1. Here today, gone tomorrow. Tuesday night the three networks led with stories of Democratic fundraising. Wednesday night neither ABC's World News Tonight or the CBS Evening News mentioned anything about Democratic fundraising. Only NBC Nightly News ran a piece. 2. A tale of two campaigns. Third quarter GDP this year was below the rate in the same quarter in 1992. This year the networks gave a straight forward account, or offered a spin that favored Clinton. Announced one anchor: "The economy was slow, but steady going in the last quarter. Many economists were encouraged by that... continue reading
Four items today: 1. The Washington Post's front page story on the DNC's decision to not file a FEC report on early October activities, followed later Tuesday by a reversal of that decision, and all on a day when John Huang gave a videotaped deposition, prompted the three broadcast networks to lead with DNC finances Tuesday night. But the networks also relayed the Democratic spin: Republicans do it too. NBC reported that "White House officials admit that both sides are dirty." 2. CBS Tuesday night labeled a Clinton attack "one the harshest," but it was more than harsh, it was... continue reading
Huang Gone; Study Shows Dole's Policies Denounced Four items today, following a note, a correction and a humorous error from NBC's Today: -- To better track these CyberAlerts, as of today I've begun to put a number at the top. Today's is the 103rd e-mail. -- Yesterday I corrected my spelling of U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth. I should have left well enough alone. In making that correction, I mistakenly moved her to Iowa. She's from Idaho. -- Speaking of errors, here's Today news anchor Matt Lauer during the 7am news Monday morning: "The next to last Monday of the presidential... continue reading
Five items today, Monday, October 28 1. Republican interest in drug dealer Jorge Cabrera and in money from Indonesia is motivated by "foreigner bashing." So says a reporter for NBC News. 2. A panel of federal judges on Friday asked the independent counsel to investigate whether Bernard Nussbaum lied about Hillary Clinton's knowledge of who hired Craig Livingstone. NBC's Tim Russert called is a "dead serious" development, but it hardly generated any network coverage. 3. NBC News declares Dole's latest policy issues, not personal or character comments, "divisive." 4. ABC analogizes GOP efforts to keep control of the House to... continue reading
Five items today: 1. In an address at the National Press Club on Thursday, Ross Perot rejected the Dole campaign's overture to endorse Dole and he criticized Bill Clinton's character. The three evening shows highlighted the first, but ABC's World News Tonight failed to report Perot's anti-Clinton comments. Both ABC and NBC charged that Bob Dole "lashed out" at Clinton." NBC's Gwen Ifill complained that "Perot barely mentioned Republican Bob Dole, even though he also accepts contributions from overseas." On CBS, Phil Jones said the Perot gambit demonstrates that Dole is "determined to try anything." 2. After Wednesday's order proved... continue reading
Five items today: 1. Developments on the foreign citizen fundraising front continue, but TV network viewers don't hear anything about them. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported a major DNC donor had no money of his own to donate and a federal judge issued a subpoena for John Huang, now in hiding. None of the broadcast networks reported the first item; only one reported the second, but two found time to mention the sentencing of a Dole fundraiser. 2. NBC's Today on Wednesday reported nothing about the campaign during its two hour broadcast, but devoted a top of the... continue reading
Five items today: 1. On Monday and Tuesday nights the CBS and NBC evening newscasts did not run any stories from their correspondents traveling with Clinton and Dole. ABC didn't on Tuesday either, but Monday night ABC's Brit Hume actually employed the term "harsh" to Clinton. 2. The questionable fundraising sources for the Democrats is getting some network attention. Tuesday night's World News Tonight included a story a Florida drug dealer invited to a White House dinner. 3. A CBS reporter says a second Clinton term will bring more "moderate appointments" to the Supreme Court, but he's immediately contradicted in... continue reading
Three items today: 1. ABC's Cokie Roberts reported that Newt Gingrich and the House freshmen "shut down the government." 2. The Sandinistas were just "socialists" according to Peter Jennings. And ABC's Beth Nissen relayed that Daniel Ortega's theme song is Beethoven's Ode to Joy and his TV ads portray him as a "Latino Gandhi." 3. The networks ignored the pardon issue for weeks and have yet to report anything about Craig Livingstone's assistant Mari Anderson contradicting his story on the FBI files, but Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz thinks a panel of reporters would have raised the topics in last... continue reading
Four items today: 1. On Good Morning America, Elizabeth Vargas asked Jack Kemp about Bob Dole's hypocrisy in opposing Whitewater pardons after having supported the pardoning of Casper Weinberger. But Vargas and others in the media have ignored some key differences. 2. To CNN's Bernard Shaw, raising ethics isn't a valid concern worthy of discussion. It's either an "attack" or an "insult." 3. The co-host of CBS This Morning, however, offered a contrarian view Thursday. He suggested that the media are wrong to consider negative campaigning off limits. 4. The text of the October 21 edition of Notable Quotables ,... continue reading
Three items today: But first, a quick correction: The quote from the CBS Evening News cited in yesterday's CyberAlert was incorrectly attributed to Bill Plante. In fact, the quote came from Phil Jones. 1. Before Wednesday night's debate reporters worried about Dole's more aggressive plan. NBC's Matt Lauer said it meant the campaign "is now getting meaner." On CBS, Phil Jones worried that in a "town meeting" format, Dole may be seen as "being too mean." Dan Rather warned that Dole planned to unload a "carpet bombing on character." 2. On Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer asked if Dole's tax... continue reading