1) Though the
front pages of Wednesday's Washington Post, Washington Times, New York
Times and Los Angeles Times all carried news of an extension of the
Whitewater grand jury as Kenneth Starr claimed that he had encountered
"obstruction of justice," the networks didn't find the
development so momentous. As noted in the April 23 CyberAlert, Tuesday's
ABC World News Tonight and CBS Evening News ran brief items. Wednesday
morning Today ignored the development and Good Morning America, MRC
analyst Gene Eliasen observed, gave it a brief mention on just the 7:30am
news update. Wednesday night, NBC Nightly News again avoided the subject.
Meanwhile, CBS is
portraying Susan McDougal as a martyr. She's in jail on a contempt charge
because she refuses to appear before a grand jury to say whether Bill
Clinton was truthful when he testified at her trial and denied attending a
meeting at which an illegal $300,000 SBA loan was discussed. On
Wednesday's (April 23) CBS Evening News Dan Rather intoned:
"A federal
court ruling in Arkansas yesterday, extending the Whitewater grand jury
investigation an extra six months, is having an immediate impact today on
a key figure in the case. Susan McDougal says special prosecutor Kenneth
Starr is trying to pressure her to lie an implicate the Clintons. She's
been jailed for refusing to talk to the grand jury and can be kept in jail
as long as the grand jury exists."
Viewers then saw
reporter Phil Jones, with a cellular phone to his ear, standing in parking
lot outside a Los Angeles County jail as he talked to Susan McDougal. The
Sheriff, he said, would not allow an on-camera interview. Jones emphasized
the awful living conditions faced by McDougal in the Sybil Brand women's
facility, "an overcrowded Los Angeles jail" where "she
awaits trial on a non-related Whitewater matter." Jones didn't
explain that the non-Whitewater matter is a charge of embezzlement from a
recent employer. As viewers saw full-screen drawings of her block and
cell, Jones continued:
"She claims
she's in solitary confinement for up to 22 hours a day...She made this
sketch of Block 4200 and sent it out to us. There are 12 cells, housing
women on charges including murder. McDougal is in cell five. It has an
upper and lower bunk, a closet, a sink, a toilet."
Jones to Susan
McDougal: "How big is it?"
Susan McDougal:
"I don't know the exact measurements, but I'm thinking it's about
five by nine, something like that."
Jones noted that
a local judge asked that she be moved to a better facility, but that has
yet to occur. Jones then explained that Susan McDougal insists that her
husband Jim is lying when he says that Bill Clinton attended a meeting on
an illegal $300,000 loan to Susan. "McDougal denies suggestions that
she's been promised something for her silence," Jones reported before
airing a soundbite from Susan saying of Jim: "He's lost his
soul."
Jones concluded
the story: "Susan McDougal may be locked down in jail, but she
appears locked in to her silence."
2) Of the
broadcast networks, only CBS on Wednesday night (April 23) announced Ralph
Reed's decision to step down this summer from the Christian Coalition. But
CBS had to add its own twist. Here's the entire transcript of how Dan
Rather delivered the news:
"The head of
the Republican political lobbying group that calls itself, quote 'the
Christian Coalition' said today he's leaving to start a political
consulting business. Ralph Reed's group took a beating on some of its hard
right agenda in the last election."
And CBS calls
itself, quote 'a balanced news organization,' but it has taken a beating
on some of its hard left bias displayed again during this very story.