1. Oscar Audience Applauds Louder for Fahrenheit 9-11 Than Passion When in his opening monologue Academy Awards host Chris Rock mentioned Fahrenheit 9-11, the audience delivered loud cheers and applause, but when he cited The Passion of the Christ the Hollywood audience offered a barely audible light smattering of applause. Actor/comedian Rock joked about Fahrenheit 9-11: "Can you imagine applying for a job. And while you're applying for that job, a movie in every theater in the country that shows how much you sucked at that job?" Earning sustained cheers and applause, Rock cracked: "I watched Fahrenheit and I learned... continue reading
1. CBS Highlights German Anti-Bush Marchers, How Remarks "Jarring" While ABC and NBC stressed the "united" front against Iran presented by President Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, CBS's John Roberts only grudgingly acknowledged that Bush and Schroeder "papered over their differences long enough today to present a united front against Iran." Roberts asserted that Bush's "hard line" on Iran "has the majority of Germans believing that Mr. Bush will take military action." Citing Bush's statement that "all options are on the table," over video of anti-Bush protesters and their signs, Roberts insisted Bush's "statement was jarring to European nations,... continue reading
1. ABC Treats Torture Allegation as Equal to Assassination Charge ABC considered a lawyer's allegation that Ahmed Omar Abu Ali had been tortured just as important as the government's charge that the al-Qaeda member plotted to assassinate President Bush. Peter Jennings teased: "On World News Tonight, an Arab-American is charged with conspiring to assassinate the President. His lawyers say the U.S. let the authorities in Saudi Arabia torture him." Brian Ross began his story not with the charges but with how the suspect's "friends and family were at the courthouse in Virginia this morning, hoping for his release after 20... continue reading
1. Katie Couric Pushes Ted Kennedy's Latest Regulatory Intrusion On Monday's Today, Katie Couric conducted a softball interview promoting a Ted Kennedy-sponsored bill to require every employer in America with 15 or more employees to offer a mandatory seven sick days each year. She asked: "So obviously the legislation may be helpful, but the whole mentality of the workplace needs to change as well, right?" Her liberal guest, Linda Meric of the lobbying group 9 to 5, agreed: "The United States is way far behind in terms of the amount of time off that employees get to care for family... continue reading
1. Future CBS Anchor Applies Ideological Tag to Republican, Not Dem Bob Schieffer, soon-to-assume the anchor chair of the CBS Evening News, as host of Face the Nation on Sunday applied an ideological label to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina while failing to apply one to Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. Graham and Clinton appeared together on the show, sitting side-by-side, from Baghdad. Schieffer introduced his guests as "Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, conservative Republican Senator Lindsey Graham." 2. CBS Decides to Authenticate a Bush Story -- By Another Outlet Now they find it important to establish... continue reading
1. Negroponte Profiles Link Him to Death Squads and Iran-Contra In profiling John Negroponte on Thursday night after President Bush nominated him for the new Director of National Intelligence position, NBC, CBS and CNN raised leftist claims about his supposed link to "right-wing death squads" and the Iran-Contra scandal. "As Ronald Reagan's Ambassador to Honduras," NBC's Andrea Mitchell recalled, "he was accused of ignoring death squads and America's secret war against Nicaragua." Over video of Oliver North, CBS's David Martin noted how "he oversaw secret CIA aid to rebels called the Contras" which "mushroomed into what became known as the... continue reading
1. Skip Greenspan's Approval of SS Plan, Excited Bush May Hike Tax A night after ABC's World News Tonight centered a story around how a couple of GOP back benchers oppose President Bush's Social Security reform plan, the newscast on Wednesday had time for stories on identity theft, car sharing and an interview with Bill Gates, but ignored Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's revelation to a Senate committee that he "approves" of creating private accounts. NBC and CBS briefly noted Greenspan's endorsement, but NBC excitedly hyped President Bush's comment that he would consider raising the income subject to the Social... continue reading
1. Out of Blue, ABC Hypes Attack on Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives Combine another opportunity to blame the Bush tax cut for hurting the poor with a shot at Republicans for being "indifferent towards the poor" and you've got a story ABC could not resist. ABC's World News Tonight on Tuesday gave Terry Moran time to highlight complaints, more than a year after he resigned, from David Kuo, the former Deputy Director of the White House office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Moran ate up how Bush's faith-based initiatives "received only $500 million" because "Kuo says they were sacrificed by the... continue reading
1. CBS Highlights SS Reform Opponent While FNC Shows Dem Hypocrisy While CBS on Monday night showcased a liberal opponent of Bush's Social Security plan, FNC displayed the hypocrisy of Democrats today denouncing efforts to alter Social Security when they favored such changes just a few years ago. On the CBS Evening News, Jim Axelrod trumpeted the credentials of Robert Ball, who "may well know more about Social Security than anyone alive." Axelrod relayed the recommendations of the former Commissioner of Social Security: "Raise the max on income that gets taxed" and "keep and dedicate the tax on estates over... continue reading
1. Jennings Suggests Bush Administration Provoked North Korea ABC's Peter Jennings personalized North Korea's boast that it has nuclear missiles as he asserted Thursday night that the communist regime "says it has manufactured nuclear weapons for self-defense against the Bush administration," not against the U.S. as the other networks characterized it. Jennings soon repeated how "the Koreans said today they had nuclear weapons to defend themselves against the Bush administration" and he insisted that "analysts" wondered "what has the Bush administration done, if anything, to incite this kind of talk?" 2. Gergen Claims Hillary Clinton Has "Conservative Social Values" Hillary... continue reading