Gibson on Pictures of Victims: 'Those Are the Faces to Remember' --4/20/2007

1. Gibson on Pictures of Victims: 'Those Are the Faces to Remember'
ABC anchor Charles Gibson concluded Thursday's World News by showing, as viewers heard Amazing Grace, photos of all 32 of those murdered Monday at Virginia Tech. When the photo array ended, Gibson simply and powerfully observed: "Those are the faces to remember."

2. ABC News Consultant Slams Media Over Video of Va. Tech Killer
Michael Welner, an ABC News consultant and a forensic psychiatrist, appeared on Thursday's Good Morning America to slam the media for gratuitously airing videos sent by deceased mass killer Seung-Hui Cho. Welner even referenced the network frenzy over fired radio host Don Imus by saying, "Just listen, if you can take Imus off the air, you can certainly keep [Cho] from having his own morning show." Later in the day, Welner, a professor at New York University, appeared on a number of cable shows, including FNC's The O'Reilly Factor and Larry King Live. On GMA, Welner delivered an impassioned plea for the networks to stop airing the killer's footage: "If anybody cares about the victims in Blacksburg and if anybody cares about their children, stop showing this video now. Take it off the internet. Let it be relegated to YouTube. This is a social catastrophe. Showing the video is a social catastrophe. I promise you the disaffected will watch him the way they watched 'Natural Born Killers.' I know. I examine these people. I've examined mass shooters who have told me they've watched 'Natural Born Killers' 20 times. You cannot saturate the American public with this kind of message."

3. For Second Night, Nets Fret About Setback to 'Abortion Rights'
Matching the spin delivered Wednesday night, CBS and NBC on Thursday night again framed the Supreme Court's decision upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Act through the prism of those on the losing side -- painting it as a loss of "abortion rights," the imposition of "restrictions," instead of as an expansion of protections for the unborn, all while distancing themselves from the "partial-birth" term. Wyatt Andrews framed his CBS Evening News story around the upset of those in favor of partial-birth abortions, starting his piece: "To abortion rights supporters, the Supreme Court ruling was a legal and medical disaster for women." Andrews also warned: "Both sides in the abortion debate agree that yesterday's ruling will unleash new state restrictions on abortion." NBC's Dawn Fratangelo cited state bills to regulate abortion, calling it action which "pro-abortion rights groups worry chips away at the right to choose." Fratangelo zeroed in on how "abortion rights advocates are worried about" the language in the decision that "seems to put the debate back years" in a way an abortion clinic director finds "paternalistic."

4. PBS Helps Moyers and Rather Denounce Right's 'Slime Machine'
PBS omnipresence Bill Moyers is winding up for another series of left-wing propaganda broadcasts on our taxpayer-supported PBS stations. On April 25, we're subjected to the film "Buying the War," which quite typically argues that the liberal media weren't liberal enough, that they were weak-kneed pawns for the Bush war machine. Moyers gave an interview to Eric Bates of Rolling Stone magazine, which posted some audio on its "Rock and Roll Daily" blog explaining how Moyers "gets ill talking about how the Big Red Hype Machine, i.e. Fox News and its conservative bedfellows, makes headlines by criticizing unbiased news reporters."

Gibson on Pictures of Victims: 'Those
Are the Faces to Remember'

ABC anchor Charles Gibson concluded Thursday's World News by showing, as viewers heard Amazing Grace, photos of all 32 of those murdered Monday at Virginia Tech. When the photo array ended, Gibson simply and powerfully observed: "Those are the faces to remember."

Gibson had teased his April 19 broadcast by asking, "Tonight, the words of the Virginia Tech killer trigger fierce new debate: Did the media go too far in airing the killer's hate?" He then opened: "There is new outrage tonight over the tragedy at Virginia Tech and it is directed at the media. The words of the Virginia Tech killer were plastered across newspapers and Web sites today after they started airing on television last night. Raising questions: Do we learn anything seeing the hate of Seung-Hui Cho? Or do we simply play into his sick fantasies? There has been intense reaction on the Virginia Tech campus, among victims' families, indeed reaction all across the country."

[This item was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

ABC News Consultant Slams Media Over
Video of Va. Tech Killer

Michael Welner, an ABC News consultant and a forensic psychiatrist, appeared on Thursday's Good Morning America to slam the media for gratuitously airing videos sent by deceased mass killer Seung-Hui Cho. Welner even referenced the network frenzy over fired radio host Don Imus by saying, "Just listen, if you can take Imus off the air, you can certainly keep [Cho] from having his own morning show." Later in the day, Welner, a professor at New York University, appeared on a number of cable shows, including FNC's The O'Reilly Factor and Larry King Live. On GMA, Welner delivered an impassioned plea for the networks to stop airing the killer's footage: "If anybody cares about the victims in Blacksburg and if anybody cares about their children, stop showing this video now. Take it off the internet. Let it be relegated to YouTube. This is a social catastrophe. Showing the video is a social catastrophe. I promise you the disaffected will watch him the way they watched 'Natural Born Killers.' I know. I examine these people. I've examined mass shooters who have told me they've watched 'Natural Born Killers' 20 times. You cannot saturate the American public with this kind of message."

[This item is adapted from a posting, by Scott Whitlock, on the MRC's NewsBusters blog: newsbusters.org ]

GMA co-host Robin Roberts began the April 19 segment by playing the footage of Cho yet again. She then introduced Welner who, through the course of the segment, repeatedly made the argument that nothing is to be gained from showing the video and that media outlets should show restraint:

Roberts: "Haunting sights and sounds in these senseless ramblings. So, what does it all mean and what does it tell us about the mind of this killer? Joining us now is forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Welner. I even saw you as you were watching this disturbing video. All accounts from people that he knew, he was a quiet kid, sunglasses, hat pulled down. That's not what we see in the video."
Dr. Michael Welner: "Well, I think that's very important for the viewing audience to understand. This is not him. These videos do not help us understand him. They distort him. He was meek. He was quiet and -- This is a PR tape of him trying to turn himself into a Quentin Tarantino character. And this is precisely why this should not be released. Parents, you should cut the pictures out of the newspaper. Do not let your children see it. You should take them out of the room when these videos are shown. Because he's paranoid and his agenda of blaming the rest of the world is on unedited."

According to Welner, his professional opinion is that little can be drawn from the tapes and the media is only validating Cho's desires. He added, "I've read disturbing plays. You get to page two, you see that it's delusional and irrational and you put it away. There's nothing to learn from this except it gives it validation."

Shortly thereafter, the ABC consultant attacked the airing of the Cho tape again and then referenced the tragedy that NBC suffered in the 1994 murder of Theron Montgomery, a network employee outside the stage of the Today show. According to Welner, in light of this, NBC should have shown more restraint with the Virginia Tech massacre:
"I worked on the NBC 'Today' show shooter. The irony of NBC releasing this tape, But for the grace of god, Theron Montgomery, rest in peace, confronted-"
Roberts: "Stage hand."
Welner: "-William Tager, the stage hand at the door. William Tager was ready to go in there and shoot everyone at NBC. There has to be some sense of recognition. This is a cry for immortality. We cannot give that to him. He was a person with paranoia. He was a person who was a failure. That doesn't come across on this video."

Co-host Roberts appeared defensive at times. In response to Welner's point that the widely circulated video portrays Cho as he wanted to be see, not as he was, she started to state that everyone is airing the video. Welner simply gut her off and stated, "It's not an issue of blame, Robin. It's an appeal. Please stop now."

The GMA anchor also seemed cognizant of the backlash over the airing of the video. She closed the interview by repeating the media's constant refrain of how agonizing the decision was for the network. Welner, however, wasn't through. He compared Cho's posthumous attention to that of the acclaim given to Palestinian suicide bombers who have "articles written about themselves in the New York Times":

Roberts: "Well, we've had a heated debate in our own newsroom, into what to show and own newsroom as to what to show and what not to show and what is newsworthy and how much can we learn. How much'€" In what your saying in showing this'€" And our message board has lit up saying-"
Welner: "You don't learn from this. As a psychiatrist, you don't learn from this. Because this is what he wants you to see. And the issue of someone who is paranoid is looking at the parameters of his life, interviewing the people who, who know him as you, as Chris, as Terry Moran, as the very responsible people, my colleagues here at ABC News, because I'm a consultant here and certainly as open to criticism as anybody. That's where the portrayal of him he has constructed in this age of new media, the equivalent of what the Palestinian children do. They turn themselves into icons. They get articles written about themselves in the New York Times and all of their, their, their colleagues, all their people around them who are told to blow themselves up see, 'Oh, yeah, you can be a hero and we'll make a wall poster out of you.' No, no, no. This is perversion. "

For Second Night, Nets Fret About Setback
to 'Abortion Rights'

Matching the spin delivered Wednesday night, CBS and NBC on Thursday night again framed the Supreme Court's decision upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Act through the prism of those on the losing side -- painting it as a loss of "abortion rights," the imposition of "restrictions," instead of as an expansion of protections for the unborn, all while distancing themselves from the "partial-birth" term.

Wyatt Andrews framed his CBS Evening News story around the upset of those in favor of partial-birth abortions, starting his piece: "To abortion rights supporters, the Supreme Court ruling was a legal and medical disaster for women." Andrews also warned: "Both sides in the abortion debate agree that yesterday's ruling will unleash new state restrictions on abortion."

NBC's Dawn Fratangelo cited state bills to regulate abortion, calling it action which "pro-abortion rights groups worry chips away at the right to choose." Fratangelo zeroed in on how "abortion rights advocates are worried about" the language in the decision that "seems to put the debate back years. In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy describes the surgical procedure in detail and suggests some women may not be aware of what happens to the fetus, writing: 'The knowledge it conveys will be to encourage some women to carry the infant to full term.' This led Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to write for the minority: 'This way of thinking reflects ancient notions about women's place in the family and under the Constitution.' Lesley Rotenberg, a clinic director, finds it paternalistic..."

[This item was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

The April 19 CyberAlert item, "Nets Frame Partial-Birth Ruling Around Loss of 'Abortion Rights,'" detailed the Wednesday night coverage on ABC, CBS and NBC of the SCOTUS ruling: www.mediaresearch.org

The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video for the April 19 CBS and NBC stories. ABC's World News did not air a follow-up story.

# CBS Evening News. Katie Couric: "The battle over abortion is heating up again tonight after the Supreme Court ruling upholding the ban on a procedure opponents call 'partial-birth abortion.' Here's Wyatt Andrews."

Wyatt Andrews: "To abortion rights supporters, the Supreme Court ruling was a legal and medical disaster for women. Their argument is, if women cannot have the so-called 'partial-birth abortion,' where the fetus is removed mostly intact, the result will be thousands more abortions requiring the dismemberment of the fetus inside the womb."
Nancy Northrup, Center for Reproductive Rights: "So the doctor is going to either be doing things that are less safe or is going to be having additional steps that could pose more risk to their patient."
Andrews: "Both sides in the abortion debate agree that yesterday's ruling will unleash new state restrictions on abortion. In the decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy virtually invited the states to have women seeking abortions learn more about the way in which the fetus will be killed. Anti-abortion rights groups, which believe more graphic information will discourage abortion, hailed that part of the ruling."
Jay Sekulow, American Center for Law and Justice: "Telling the states they have a legitimate interest in making sure these women also know what they're engaging in and what's at stake is going to have just huge ramifications."
Andrews: "The court's decision also showed the importance of Justice Samuel Alito in abortion cases. Alito, who replaced Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, was for the partial-birth ban. O'Connor voted seven years ago to strike the ban down."
Andrew Cohen, CBS News legal analyst: "This ruling makes clear that Justice Alito is more conservative and more in favor of stronger restrictions on abortions than was his predecessor, Sandra Day O'Connor."
Andrews: "Then there's the big question: Will this decision impact the basic right to an abortion established in Roe versus Wade? The answer is 'not yet' because yesterday's swing vote, Justice Kennedy, has been a supporter of Roe. Wyatt Andrews, CBS News, at the Supreme Court."

# NBC Nightly News. Brian Williams: "We're back now with NBC News 'In Depth' tonight: What could be the domino effect from yesterday's landmark Supreme Court ruling on abortion. By a 5-4 vote the justices upheld a ban on a method that opponents have branded 'partial-birth abortion.' And tonight, on both sides of this abortion debate, there is agreement it could well be a game changer on a state-by-state basis. Here is NBC's Dawn Fratangelo."

Dawn Fratangelo: "The high court ruling is already creating waves, upsetting women's groups, emboldening those who oppose abortion who've been successful in getting some states to restrict it. The most recent, just Wednesday in Missouri, lawmakers approved more restrictions on clinics."
State Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-MO): "I feel much more confident because we have a lot of good logic on our side. The other side doesn't have the facts and the intelligent reasons why we should be killing our offspring."
Fratangelo: "In Mississippi a new bill calls for outlawing abortion if Roe versus Wade is overturned. And in South Carolina, a bill is pending that doctors must inform women they can see an ultrasound before an abortion -- all action, pro-abortion rights groups worry, chips away at the right to choose."
Kelli Conlin, National Abortion Rights Action League: "There is no doubt that Roe will not withstand another anti-choice President. People have to take this issue into context when they vote in 2008."
Fratangelo: "Staff at this clinic in New York, along with other abortion rights advocates, are worried about something else in this decision, the language that seems to put the debate back years. In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy describes the surgical procedure in detail and suggests some women may not be aware of what happens to the fetus, writing: 'The knowledge it conveys will be to encourage some women to carry the infant to full term.' This led Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to write for the minority: 'This way of thinking reflects ancient notions about women's place in the family and under the Constitution.' Lesley Rotenberg, a clinic director, finds it paternalistic."
Lesley Rotenberg, Abortion clinic director: "It really is saying that, you know, some group of men know best, and they'll, don't worry, dear, we'll make the decision for you.' And I'm very concerned about that."
Fratangelo: "Renewed debate about the Supreme Court and one of the most divisive issues in the country. Dawn Fratangelo, NBC News, New York."

PBS Helps Moyers and Rather Denounce
Right's 'Slime Machine'

PBS omnipresence Bill Moyers is winding up for another series of left-wing propaganda broadcasts on our taxpayer-supported PBS stations. On April 25, we're subjected to the film "Buying the War," which quite typically argues that the liberal media weren't liberal enough, that they were weak-kneed pawns for the Bush war machine. Moyers gave an interview to Eric Bates of Rolling Stone magazine, which posted some audio on its "Rock and Roll Daily" blog explaining how Moyers "gets ill talking about how the Big Red Hype Machine, i.e. Fox News and its conservative bedfellows, makes headlines by criticizing unbiased news reporters."

Moyers declared that one special presence in the new film is disgraced CBS anchor Dan Rather. He reported the program begins with footage of Rather crying on the David Letterman show a week after 9/11 proclaiming he would go "wherever the President tells me to line up." But in this film, Rather and Moyers denounce a right-wing "slime machine." That's a rich characterization coming from someone who tried to use bogus National Guard documents to ruin President Bush's reputation. For a look at Rather's Letterman appearance: www.mediaresearch.org

[This item, by Tim Graham, was posted Thursday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Here's how Moyers promised he would denounce conservatives from coast to coast:

For the first time in our history, we had this wall-to-wall ideological right-wing press that not only -- the Fox News, the talk radio, the Weekly Standard -- that not only mongered for war along with the administration, not only embraced the administration's policies because they were quote, "conservative" including going to war, but also mounted a slime machine to discredit any journalist who dared to stand against the official view of reality. Rather himself says on my show, "They have a slime machine and we know it."

So that's a new phenomenon that people don't fully understand. How, if a journalist tried to tell the truth about the intelligence, the Hannitys and the O'Reillys and the Limbaughs and the Mike Savages would come down on them, slander them, discredit them, so good reporting lost its power to break through because of this avalanche of opposition and venom directed at them. What's happening to the media, it's all over the place, I mean, Bill O'Reilly's in the media, Eric Bates [of Rolling Stone] is in the media, so am I. There are more media sources today than there ever was, as a result we're losing our ability to, we're losing the common knowledge that helps us act a society in response to certain crises.

END of Excerpt

The Rolling Stone posting: www.rollingstone.com

This sounds a lot like the discussion Lesley Stahl had with Chris Matthews back in 2005 that has the flavor of "why can't everyone just let CBS run the country like they used to?" The old media whines that the new media showed up -- and argues laughably that the Old Media has much higher standards of evidence -- and brought way too much democracy to the public discussion in America. See: www.mediaresearch.org

PBS's page for the Moyers program: www.pbs.org

Moyers is scheduled to appear Friday night on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.

-- Brent Baker