1. Nets Put Burden on Pope, Not Muslim Leaders, for Violence Several network stories have framed the violent reaction of some Muslims to Pope Benedict's quotation last week of how 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel Paleologos II said, "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," not around demands that Muslim leaders denounce the uncivilized reaction, but around how the Pope had "provoked" the violence, "damaged" relations with Muslims and should have realized what his words... continue reading
1. Couric: U.S. Enemies in Cuba a 'Who's Who of Bush's Adversaries' In a brief item on the Friday's CBS Evening News, Katie Couric asserted: "At the top of tonight's news briefing, a who's who of President Bush's adversaries on the world stage all together in one place. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are among the leaders in Havana for the meeting of the non-aligned nations. Raul Castro is playing host. His older brother, Fidel, is still recovering from intestinal surgery." ABC and NBC, however, realized those leaders and others gathered, for the summit in Havana of the... continue reading
1. Personal Attack Double Standard: Richards' 'Fun-Loving Spirit' For a media that likes to complain about the incivility and personal attacks that Republicans have supposedly injected into our politics over the past generation, the networks' reactions to the passing of former Texas Governor Ann Richards underscored journalists' partisan approach to what is fair and what is foul. In 1988, then-Texas state treasurer Richards laced her keynote address at the Democratic National Convention with a series of nasty, mocking attacks on then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. Instead of deploring her descent into the "politics of personal destruction" -- as they... continue reading
1. Schieffer: Bush 'Adopting' Enemy Methods with Secret Prisons Bob Schieffer, CBS's Chief Washington Correspondent and host of Face the Nation, used the "freeSpeech" segment on Wednesday's CBS Evening News to denounce the Bush administration's "secret prisons," arguing in establishing them the U.S. has adopted "the methods of our enemies." But our terrorist enemies don't put Americans into prison -- they murder Americans. Schieffer, who anchored the CBS Evening News until two weeks ago, told viewers of the broadcast now anchored by Katie Couric that he was "glad" the U.S. took the "suspected 9/11 ringleaders" out "of those secret CIA... continue reading
1. In Today Interview, Bush Calls Lauer Out on His Democratic Spin On Monday's Today, Matt Lauer treated Senator Hillary Clinton with kid gloves but on Tuesday's Today, President George W. Bush, once again, got the hostile treatment from Lauer. However Tuesday's airing of Lauer's long interview with the President taped on Friday, Bush stepped up, even calling Matt out for trying to "justify" the Democratic position. Lauer: "Do you know of any Democrats, that in your opinion, are trying to or would like to appease terrorists?" Bush: "I know Democrats who want to leave Iraq before the job is... continue reading
1. Olbermann: Bush's 'Impeachable Lies...Crime Against' 9/11 Victims At the very end of Monday's Countdown show, during his latest "Special Comment" attacking the Bush administration, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann unleashed one of his most vitriolic attacks on the President, accusing him of "lying by implication" to get America into a "fraudulent war" with "needless death" in Iraq, which Olbermann referred to as "an impeachable offense." Olbermann: "The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war on the false premise that it had something to do with 9/11 is lying by implication. The impolite phrase is... continue reading
1. Rooney Suggests Fault for Terrorism Lies with American Behavior In his commentary at the end on Sunday's 60 Minutes, the day before the five year mark since 9/11, Andy Rooney noted that "we're trying to protect ourselves with more weapons," a policy with which he only grudgingly agreed as he lamented, "we have to do it I guess." Then, however, he suggested the fault for terrorism lies with American behavior, not the murderous ideology of terrorists who want to destroy Western democratic culture: "But might be better if we figured out how to behave as a nation in a... continue reading
1. Long After CNN Featured Him, CBS Showcases Same Anti-Bush Marine A small world of self-proclaimed "conservative" retired Marine Colonels disillusioned with President Bush, Republicans and the war in Iraq. Ten months after CNN's John King featured criticism of the Iraq war from retired Marine Colonel Jim Van Riper, in an Anderson Cooper 360 story from North Carolina on supposed declining support for the war in a conservative area, CBS's Byron Pitts traveled to the same state and located the very same Marine to demonstrate that on the war "even some life-long conservatives are no longer hearing the President's message."... continue reading
1. CBS's 'freeSpeech' on Couric's 2nd Day: Amnesty for Illegals A night after giving its "freeSpeech" platform over to the liberal Morgan Spurlock to gripe about the lack of "civil discourse," the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on Wednesday employed the feature to help plug a Thursday protest in favor of amnesty for illegal immigrants. CBS put a soft and sympathetic edge on the topic by showcasing a Los Angeles Times reporter, Sonia Nazario, concerned about mothers in the U.S. separated from their kids south of the border. Couric set up Nazario by pointing out how, on Thursday in... continue reading
1. Olbermann to 'Un-American Bush': 'Have You No Sense of Decency?' On Tuesday night, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann used his Countdown show to attack President Bush's speech in which Bush compared modern day terrorists to Nazis and talked about Osama bin Laden's stated plan to launch a "media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government." Reminiscent of his recent "Special Comment" attacking Donald Rumsfeld and comparing the activities of the Bush administration to those of fascists, Olbermann again used a "Special Comment" segment to attack Bush for "linking" al-Qaeda to the media, "that familiar bogeyman of... continue reading