CyberAlert -- 05/07/1996 -- NQ Cyberalert

Four items:

1) Rush Limbaugh's "Man in DC" gets interesting answers at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner to a question about the Freedom Forum poll and one about the Unabomber.

2) Media not upset by Al Franken's anti-Gingrich jokes.

3) Gumbel to replace Dan Rather?

4) You may want to watch Larry King Tuesday night.

1

Marc Morano faxed me a transcript of his interviews during Saturday night's dinner.(If you want a copy, e-mail him at "ourmandc@aol.com.") Morano asked: "A recent Freedom Forum survey of Washington reporters and bureau chiefs revealed 89 percent voted for Clinton versus 7 percent for Bush in 1992. Do you think the media have a problem maintaining their objectivity?"
Instead of going into denial, CNN White House reporter Wolf Blitzer replied: "If that's accurate there probably is. It would be so disproportionate to the population as a whole. I don't know how accurate that survey was, but if it's accurate it would suggest a problem."
Another question: "Timothy McVeigh was linked by the media to talk radio and the conservatives in Congress, yet the Unabomber is not being linked by the media to the left wing or the environmental movement. Why?"
Responded CNN Capitol Hill reporter Bob Franken: "I don't think that anybody has shown that there is any sort of connection between the Unabomber and anybody....[Unabomber] influenced on one hand by some leftist ideas and on the other hand by some extremely libertarian ideas
....I think he defies placement on the ideological spectrum." Note which side he labeled "extreme."

2

Speaking of the White House Correspondents Assn. Dinner, reporters who were so upset by Don Imus's anti-Clinton jokes last month didn't react similarly to Al Franken's arguably over the line knocks at Newt Gingrich. The New York Post's Deborah Orin reported Monday: "'Over the line,' Gingrich fumed to Franken, who ridiculed the Speaker with a joke about his daughter's first menstrual period....Franken's joke played off Gingrich's controversial remarks that women aren't as suited for military combat roles because they get infections and 'have biological problems staying in a ditch for 30 days.' Franken said that the line brought to mind images of the Speaker, back when his daughter was 13, talking with her about her first 'infection.'" Sources told the Post that at a VIP reception after the dinner, Gingrich told Franken: 'I was going to come out of the audience and punch you in the nose.'"
Also, Franken "joked that he'd been warned to skip some topics like 'Newt Gingrich's first wife. Bob Dole's first wife. Phil Gramm's first wife. Dick Armey's first wife. Rush Limbaugh's first wife. Rush Limbaugh's second wife. Rush Limbaugh's third wife."

3

Monday's USA Today reported that though Bryant Gumbel's contact with NBC does not expire until year-end, "a mating dance has begun -- with CBS." Here's a scary thought: Just when you thought CBS couldn't be any more liberal, USA Today's Peter Johnson relays that "the buzz is that Rather could envision Gumbel someday succeeding him on the CBS Evening News." The story also reports, in reference to Gumbel, that "A top conservative media newsletter cites him regularly for his liberal bent." Hmmm. What could they be talking about?

4

Finally, Larry King's guest Tuesday night is scheduled to be Peter
Jennings.

-- Brent Baker

4