1. Nets Skipped or Barely Touched Durbin & Clinton, Now Jump on Rove When Howard Dean made any number of his outlandish attacks on Republicans, Senator Hillary Clinton described Republicans as "people who have never been acquainted with the truth" and Dick Durbin slimed servicemen by equating detainee treatment at Guantanamo with Nazis and the Soviet gulag, the broadcast network evening and morning shows ignored the remarks, or got to them fleetingly months or a week or so later. But when Karl Rove, the White House Deputy Chief-of-Staff, observed that "liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted... continue reading
1. CNN Anchor Wonders: "Could Your Lawnmower Kill You?" From 1997: CNN asked "Could your lawnmower kill you?" 2. NBC's Tim Russert Reacts to the MRC: "Holy ****" From 1998: "Holy [expletive]" NBC's Tim Russert blurted when he read in Notable Quotables what he supposedly said. 3. John McLaughlin Asks If Bill Clinton Is "a Fighting Cock" From 1999: John McLaughlin asked if Bill Clinton is "a fighting cock." 4. CNBC's Geraldo Rivera Shows Himself Naked on the Travel Channel From 1999: Geraldo Rivera naked on cable TV. He offered an NYPD Blue-type glimpse of his buttocks -- and more... continue reading
1. CBS Skips Durbin, Picks Up Repub's Shot at Dems as Anti-Christian The CBS Evening News has yet to inform its viewers about Democratic Senator Dick Durbin's comparison on June 14 of interrogation techniques at Guantanamo to those employed by "Nazis, Soviets in their gulags," nor his June 22 apology, but on Wednesday night, in story on how "there are allegations Christian Evangelicals at the [Air Force] academy have been harassing cadets of other faiths," David Martin highlighted a Republican Congressman's charge which had enraged Democrats. Martin relayed how the "explosive charge of religious intolerance" at the service academy "triggered... continue reading
1. It Takes Durbin Apology to Get Net Coverage, But CBS Still Spikes It took an action by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin himself to generate some broadcast network attention for his June 14 remarks on the Senate floor in which the Senate's Assistant Minority Leader described interrogation techniques at Guantanamo and claimed that "you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others." Late Tuesday afternoon Durbin apologized for smearing U.S. servicemen, leading to short items on the ABC and NBC evening shows Tuesday night... continue reading
1. Nets Avoid "Filibuster" Term with Bolton, CBS Relays Innuendo Senate Democrats continued to filibuster John Bolton's nomination to be Ambassador to the UN, but you wouldn't know that from Monday's broadcast network evening newscasts which assiduously avoided the term. ABC anchor Charles Gibson, for instance, euphemistically referred to how the Senate had rejected "a move to end debate so that a vote could be held." CBS's Gloria Borger passed along innuendo from opponents: "The Democrats are very concerned that John Bolton may have been effectively spying, not only on his subordinates but also on some of his bosses. And... continue reading
1. Clift: Iraq "Worse than Vietnam," Bush Has LBJ's Credibility Gap Newsweek's Eleanor Clift argued on the McLaughlin Group over the weekend that Iraq is now "worse than Vietman because Vietnam was a tiny country with no strategic importance and we could declare victory and leave. Iraq is at the nexus of terrorism and oil and it's a war that we don't know how to win and can't afford to lose." Predicting President Bush's "stay the course" rhetoric, she even compared President Bush's situation to Lyndon Johnson's plight during Vietnam: "The phraseology is going to be very reminiscent of the... continue reading
1. Nets Tout Iraq Withdrawal Pushed by 4 U.S. Reps, But Skip Durbin ABC and CBS led Thursday night with how four backbench Members of Congress held a press conference to publicize their resolution calling for a draw down of troops in Iraq by October of 2006, but neither network uttered a word about Democratic Senator Dick Durbin's outlandish comparison of the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo to "Nazis, Soviets in their gulags" or Pol Pot. Only NBC reported Durbin's comparison, but that brief item aired only after Kelly O'Donnell touted the vision of "North Carolina Republican Walter Jones, who... continue reading
1. ABC Denounces "Illegal Interrogation Techniques" at Guantanamo In what the network touted as an "ABC News Exclusive," Wednesday's World News Tonight devoted a full story to two-year-old memos, which in the words of anchor Charles Gibson, "indicate interrogation techniques at Guantanamo might be illegal." Terry Moran quoted from one Navy lawyer's memo and then how "a Navy psychologist observing the interrogation of Mohammed al-Qahtani, dubbed 'the twentieth hijacker,' warned that the tactics used against him revealed 'a tendency to become increasingly more aggressive without having any definitive boundary.'" Earlier, at the White House briefing, referring to the Geneva Convention,... continue reading
1. FNC Picks Up New Annan Scandal Link, NBC Plays Up British Memos An illustration of mainstream versus new media news judgment. On Tuesday night, FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume led with how the commission investigating the UN oil-for-food scandal is "urgently" reviewing documents which, FNC's Jonathan Hunt reported, "appear to contradict [UN Secretary General Kofi] Annan's claim that he knew nothing about the awarding of a major oil for food contract to a company that employed his son." But none of the broadcast network evening newscasts, nor CNN's NewsNight, mentioned the development even though the Tuesday New York... continue reading
1. CBS Again Pushes Theme of Republicans Turning Against Bush on War CBS News liked its theme so much about Republicans turning against President Bush, based on less than a handful of comments, that it pushed it two nights in a row. On Sunday, CBS Evening News anchor John Roberts led with "mounting criticism" of Bush from "members of his own Republican Party." Viewers then saw a piece from Bill Plante who returned on Monday's CBS Evening News with a story featuring the same examples as Plante touted "even some Republicans now saying the [Guantanamo] prison camp should be closed."... continue reading