CyberAlert -- 03/14/1997 -- TV Bored with Scandal

MRC Alert: TV Bored with Scandal; Gumbel Gets Big Bucks

2. Bryant Gumbel to get $7 million and a prime time hour, but an ABC reporter insists blacks have no power at the networks.

3. Michael Dukakis appointed conservative judges? Yes, according to a scene in a new ABC drama.

1) The last CyberAlert detailed how Monday night's evening shows all ran pieces on the White House and FBI disagreement over how and who was warned about Chinese attempts to influence the election. Tuesday night brought coverage of the Senate's decision to expand the hearings to include "improper" as well as illegal fundraising. But by Wednesday, the Clinton fundraising scandals had largely dropped from the network scene so viewers didn't learn about some significant developments.

First a review of what was covered and then a list of what the three broadcast networks ignored.

Tuesday, March 11:

-- ABC's World News Tonight: Full story on the Senate expanding the scope; brief item on Clinton asking TV stations to provide free ad time.

-- NBC Nightly News: Jim Miklaszewski reported on Clinton's proposal to ban soft money, noting how Clinton spent $70 million in soft money on TV ads. Tom Brokaw then mentioned the Senate expansion before Andrea Mitchell provided a story on CIA nominee Anthony Lake's confirmation hearings where he was hit by questions on Chinese attempts at influence.

-- CBS Evening News: After a full story on the Senate expansion, CBS offered two stories not covered by ABC or NBC. Rita Braver did a piece on the release of a memo from aide Marsha Scott advocating the political use of the White House database. "This is the President's idea," Scott wrote. Braver's story also reviewed the changing White House story on the FBI Asian warning, leading to this tough conclusion from Braver: "These two episodes suggest new credibility problems for the White House."

Next, Gerry Bowen examined the controversy over the Long Beach Naval Station ship yard being leased to Chinese company "with a checkered past." The China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) is owned by the communist Chinese government. Bowen observed that the company has been "implicated, but never charged, in a scheme to smuggle 2,000 illegal Chinese weapons into California last year." Bowen also noted that a COSCO business adviser sat in on a Clinton radio address just days after Johnny Chung gave the $50,000 check to Maggie Williams.

Wednesday, March 12:

-- ABC WNT: One story by John Cochran on Anthony Lake's hearing. Cochran offered a brief overview of he COSCO situation in Long Beach.

-- CBS EN: Brief item read by Dan Rather on how California Senators Boxer and Feinstein asked the NSC to review the national security implications of the Long Beach deal.

-- NBC NN: No stories.

Thursday, March 13:

-- ABC WNT: Brief item by Peter Jennings on House and Senate Judiciary committees making a formal request to the Justice Dept. for an independent counsel.

-- CBS EN: A full story from Bill Whitaker on a public hearing in Long Beach on the ship yard lease. Whitaker asked:

"Does turning over a major American port facility to a major foreign power expose the U.S. to espionage, smuggling and other security risks. That's something the administration only now is considering."

Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen: "Obviously if there are any national security implications involved in this we will review it."

Whitaker: "But what took so long? Critics wonder whether the White House fast-tracked the port deal in return for big campaign contributions from Asians here and abroad...."

-- NBC NN: No stories.

So, what have viewers missed?

-- Neither ABC or CBS evening shows have mentioned the Washington Post story that NBC reported Monday night on the Cheyenne-Arapaho Indian claim that they were shaken down for a $107,000 donation to he DNC for a policy (return of their lands) that was never implemented. They also complained about pressure to hire highly paid, Democratic Party connected consultants. The DNC's March 11 offer to return the donation failed to prompt any coverage.

-- NBC Nightly News viewers have yet to hear a word about the COSCO/Long Beach controversy on which CBS has done two stories.

-- Neither the ABC or NBC evening shows have uttered a word about how a memo from Marsha Scott, the woman in charge of the White House database, directly linked the President to its political use. Both the Washington Times and Los Angeles Times played this on their front pages.

The following are developments none of the three broadcast evening shows have reported this week:

-- On March 11 the White House admitted that Clinton knew in 1994 that the Lippo Group had hired Webster Hubbell. This contradicts Clinton's statement at a February press conference that he was not aware of anyone hiring Hubbell after he left the Justice Department.

-- A March 12 USA Today story began: "President Clinton spent more than $1 million on coffees for campaign donors and other entertainment at the White House last year -- a tab three times what George Bush spent on such events in his last year in office."

-- "No More Contributor Events at White House -- for Now," declared the front page headline in the March 13 Washington Post. But the networks ignored the news of how the White House has canceled four planned receptions.

-- That Post story included news that the Washington Times devoted a whole piece to relaying: the DNC is unable to return any of the $1.5 million in illegal gifts it promised last month to send back because it is deep in debt.

-- Brent Baker

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