Instead of Wright, NBC Touts Childhood Pals: 'Good Luck Barry!' --3/17/2008

1. Instead of Wright, NBC Touts Childhood Pals: 'Good Luck Barry!'
Friday's NBC Nightly News allocated a mere 22 seconds to Barack Obama's condemnation of what fill-in anchor Ann Curry vaguely described as "inflammatory remarks that his long time pastor made about Hillary Clinton and the nation," but instead of informing viewers of any of those remarks, such as Reverend Jeremiah Wright's suggestion that the U.S. deserved 9/11, the newscast then devoted three minutes to a celebratory piece about how excited Obama's childhood friends in Indonesia are about his candidacy. In a story which began and ended with a picture of Obama's classmates in front of huge "Good Luck Barry!" lettering, reporter Ian Williams trumpeted the wonders Obama is doing abroad: "The fact that Obama lived in Jakarta and studied at this school has really captured the popular imagination. It's already working wonders for America's battered image here." A local commentator oozed over how "Obama's candidacy confirms the romantic ideals people like me have held since childhood that America's the land of opportunity." Williams concluded with how "friends remember Barry playing barefoot in the paddy fields with a real spirit of adventure," and so now "hope there'll be no turning back on his journey to the White House. And Barry might attend their next reunion as President of the United States."

2. On Wright Blaming U.S. for 9/11: 'How Do We Get Away from This?'
Instead of acting as an impartial journalist who would express interest in probing why Barack Obama may say he disagrees with the incendiary anti-U.S. left-wing rants from his minister while he has remained close to him, Friday afternoon on MSNBC Norah O'Donnell fretted about how "Rush Limbaugh went nuts today on his program about this story" and wondered: "How do we get away from this?" Guest Michael Crowley of The New Republic assured her: "I don't think this reflects anything on what Barack Obama believes."

3. Study: Broadcast Networks Fell Down on Covering Jeremiah Wright
As Jeremiah Wright's screaming sermons have gone from ABC across the media on Friday, many are asking: where were the networks on this story? A Nexis search of network transcripts shows that up until now, Obama's church and minister have been barely mentioned -- and usually as an Obama defense mechanism. Up until March 13, NBC has done nothing. CBS has devoted about a minute to controversy in a February 28 CBS Evening News story. ABC's Jake Tapper offered Obama's church-and-minister defense against charges he was a Muslim three times in November and December.

4. Get Your Tickets Now for the MRC's 2008 'DisHonors Awards'
Tickets are now available for MRC's 2008 "DisHonors Awards." The MRC's annual video awards with the "William F. Buckley Award for Media Excellence," this year presented to Tony Snow, will take place in Washington, DC on Thursday evening, April 10. Confirmed participants: Ann Coulter, Larry Kudlow, Mark Levin, Cal Thomas and many more since surprise conservative guests will accept the awards in jest.

Instead of Wright, NBC Touts Childhood
Pals: 'Good Luck Barry!'

Friday's NBC Nightly News allocated a mere 22 seconds to Barack Obama's condemnation of what fill-in anchor Ann Curry vaguely described as "inflammatory remarks that his long time pastor made about Hillary Clinton and the nation," but instead of informing viewers of any of those remarks, such as Reverend Jeremiah Wright's suggestion that the U.S. deserved 9/11, the newscast then devoted three minutes to a celebratory piece about how excited Obama's childhood friends in Indonesia are about his candidacy.

In a story which began and ended with a picture of Obama's classmates in front of huge "Good Luck Barry!" lettering, reporter Ian Williams trumpeted the wonders Obama is doing abroad: "The fact that Obama lived in Jakarta and studied at this school has really captured the popular imagination. It's already working wonders for America's battered image here." A local commentator oozed over how "Obama's candidacy confirms the romantic ideals people like me have held since childhood that America's the land of opportunity."

Williams concluded with how "friends remember Barry playing barefoot in the paddy fields with a real spirit of adventure," and so now "hope there'll be no turning back on his journey to the White House. And Barry might attend their next reunion as President of the United States."

Williams made sure to discredit fears Obama attended a madrasa, stressing that "classmates say little religion was taught" at the school Obama attended in the early 1970s since it "was secular and academic, in spite of Indonesia being the world's most populous Islamic country."

[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Saturday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

The 22-second item didn't include how Reverend Jeremiah Wright suggested America deserved the 9/11 attacks and declared: "Not God bless America, God damn America." Curry announced:
"On the campaign trail, Barack Obama is condemning inflammatory remarks that his long time pastor made about Hillary Clinton and the nation. In a blog on the Huffington Post, Obama called comments by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright 'appalling,' stressing that words that degrade individuals have no place in public dialogue. But Obama's campaign said the pastor would not be asked to leave an advisory committee."

Friday night, ABC didn't have anything on Wright, though after Thursday's Good Morning America aired a story by Brian Ross about Wright's rants, Thursday's World News was the only broadcast network evening newscast to touch Wright as Jake Tapper ran this one soundbite from Wright attacking Hillary Clinton: "Barack knows what it means to be a black man, living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich, white people. Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain't never been called a n----er."

Friday's CBS Evening News carried a story by Dean Reynolds which ran the "Not God Bless America, God [bleep] America" before Reynolds explained the close connection between Wright and Obama: "Reverend Wright officiated at Obama's wedding and the baptism of his children and he is described as a mentor for whom Obama took the phrase 'the audacity of hope' for the title of his book."

Saturday's World News and NBC Nightly News (as well as Sunday's World News) ran the "Not God Bless America, God Damn America" soundbite. (College basketball meant no CBS Evening News on Saturday, none in the EDT/CDT on Sunday.)

So, ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscast viewers have yet to hear Wright's suggestion the U.S. deserved the 9/11 attacks. A screaming Wright, in a clip played Friday on all the cable news networks:
"We bombed Hiroshima! We bombed Nagasaki! And we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. [edit jump] We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yard."

Back to the Friday, March 14 NBC Nightly News, with "The Early Years" as the on-screen header, Curry segued from her 22-second item to this much longer report:
Now a look at a part of Barack Obama's life that most people have probably never known about. NBC's Ian Williams went back to the neighborhood where Obama spent some of his early years, tracking down old friends who have stories you may not have heard.

IAN WILLIAMS, OVER PHOTO WITH "GOOD LUCK BARRY": Barack Obama's latest endorsement from his old classmates in Jakarta, Indonesia. They'll be sending these photographs to the boy they all knew as Barry.
RULY DAASAD, FORMER CLASSMATE: We'll send this to him as solidarity, support, respect for him.
WILLIAMS: He arrived in Jakarta in 1967, age 6 with his mother who'd married an Indonesian student. His stepfather, first in the army, later worked for an oil company. Young Barry's half sister Maya rounded out the family photo. Obama was the only foreigner at the upscale Menteng school, mastering the Indonesian language. He towered over classmates who remembered him as a happy-go-lucky child.
DAASAD: Always chasing around here, running, playing hide-and-seek with me.
WILLIAMS: And doodling during class, super-heroes his specialty.
MAN: Spiderman
WILLIAMS: Classmates say little religion was taught. The school was secular and academic, in spite of Indonesia being the world's most populous Islamic country.
WIDIY ANTO, FORMER CLASSMATE: That school is not and will never be a madrassa. No, no. It's a public school.
WILLIAMS: A former teacher told me that, in Obama's day, Menteng did teach Christianity and Islam but neither played a big role.
WILLIAMS: So really, it's quite a small role.
EFFENDI, OBAMA'S FORMER TEACHER: Small.
WILLIAMS: The fact that Obama lived in Jakarta and studied at this school has really captured the popular imagination. It's already working wonders for America's battered image here. Indonesian television has given massive coverage to the U.S. election. Obama is being treated almost as a native son.
WIMAR WIROELER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Obama's candidacy confirms the romantic ideals people like me have held since childhood that America's the land of opportunity.
WILLIAMS: And it seems there are few who haven't been watching. From the market-
MAN: I like Obama.
WILLIAMS: -to the university.
WOMAN: It's really exciting for me.
WILLIAMS: The old Obama family house still stands on the outskirts of the city. Friends remember Barry playing barefoot in the paddy fields with a real spirit of adventure.
DAYA ZAKIR, CHILDHOOD FRIEND: Just walk as far as we could until we got scared that we were too far away from the bungalow. Only then we come back.
WILLIAMS: Now his friends hope there'll be no turning back on his journey to the White House. And Barry might attend their next reunion as President of the United States. Ian Williams, NBC News, Jakarta.

Algemeen Dagblad of The Netherlands: "Obama Fan Club Launched by Indonesian Former Classmates." See: watchingamerica.com

On Wright Blaming U.S. for 9/11: 'How
Do We Get Away from This?'

Instead of acting as an impartial journalist who would express interest in probing why Barack Obama may say he disagrees with the incendiary anti-U.S. left-wing rants from his minister while he has remained close to him, Friday afternoon on MSNBC Norah O'Donnell fretted about how "Rush Limbaugh went nuts today on his program about this story" and wondered: "How do we get away from this?" Guest Michael Crowley of The New Republic assured her: "I don't think this reflects anything on what Barack Obama believes."

At about 3:55 PM EDT, MSNBC played this clip of a screaming Wright: "We bombed Hiroshima! We bombed Nagasaki! And we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. [edit jump] We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yard."

O'Donnell then rued: "I don't even know how these candidates can talk about policy because it seems like every day someone's asking them to apologize for the comments of their supporters. I mean, Rush Limbaugh went nuts today on his program about this story. John McCain is talking about this particular story. How do we get away from this?"

It's not as if the news media have been exploring the far-left, America-hating minister for days, weeks or months. See item #3 below, which begins: "As Jeremiah Wright's screaming sermons have gone from ABC across the media in the last 24 hours, many are asking: where were the networks on this story? It sounds like Obama's minister is less versed in the audacity of hope than in the audacity of hate. A Nexis search of network transcripts shows that up until now, Obama's church and minister have been barely mentioned -- and usually as an Obama defense mechanism."

[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Friday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

O'Donnell's discomfort with the subject that is uncomfortable for Obama matches CNN's Anderson Cooper who, as recounted on NewsBusters by Mark Finkelstein, complained on Thursday night's Anderson Cooper 360: "All this seems to have nothing to do with actual issues that the country is facing which these candidates should be talking about and we probably should be talking about." See: newsbusters.org

From MSNBC just before 4 PM EDT on Friday, March 14, picking up mid-segment:

NORAH O'DONNELL: Karen, obviously the comments that this Reverend has made are inflammatory. They are derogatory in many ways. I mean, he blames essentially America for 9/11. How much does this hurt Barack Obama's campaign?
KAREN TUMULTY, TIME: Of course, this is the latest in a series of comments by people's supporters that they have then had to answer for themselves. I do think that this is a situation -- Barack Obama has made his faith a very important part of defining himself for voters. He doesn't speak about religion a lot, but he does talk in sort of the language of faith, a language that people of faith would recognize. And he has also written about how this minister has influenced his life. In fact, The Audacity of Hope, the title of Barack Obama's most recent book is in fact from Reverend Wright's own sermon. So it's hard for him to distance himself from the person. But the fact is that these are no different from comments that the reverend has been making for quite a while.
O'DONNELL: Yeah, Michael, what about that? I mean, these are -- this is the church that Barack Obama attends. The Reverend Wright has been making these types of comments for years. And I want to play the comments he made about 9/11, just again to give people a sense of what he's saying. Let's take a listen.
JEREMIAH WRIGHT, SCREAMING: We bombed Hiroshima! We bombed Nagasaki! And we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. [edit jump] We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yard.
O'DONNELL: Michael, let me ask you, how does [laughs] -- I mean, I don't even kind of know where to go from here, quite frankly. I mean, it sort of seems like I don't even know how these candidates can talk about policy because it seems like every day someone's asking them to apologize for the comments of their supporters. I mean, Rush Limbaugh went nuts today on his program about this story. John McCain is talking about this particular story. How do we get away from this?
MICHAEL CROWLEY, THE NEW REPUBLIC: Well, get this primary over with for one thing. I think part of the problem is that this thing never ends, and the differences between Hillary and Obama are actually quite small on policy grounds. So what we have is loose canons who are sort of in their orbit but have not really integrated the campaign. Gerry Ferraro, for instance, is not a key Clinton adviser. And we're getting caught up in debates about tactics whose ad was nastier and unfair and identity and gender and race and that's because the differences between them aren't actually that great. I will say look, I don't think this reflects anything on what Barack Obama believes. I think he probably thinks this is quite deplorable, as he says. The problem is I think this is a real gift right now to Hillary and also down the line, if Obama's the nominee, to the Republicans. This is the sort of emotional, visceral anger that I think traditionally has made some Reagan Democrats worried about black politics, and it's something Obama, sort of a post-racial candidate, has really not had anything to do with until now, and I think it sums up just some bad vibes in the electorate that he could do without.
O'DONNELL: Interesting point, Michael Crowley and Karen Tumulty. Thanks to both of you for your time. We appreciate it.

Study: Broadcast Networks Fell Down on
Covering Jeremiah Wright

As Jeremiah Wright's screaming sermons have gone from ABC across the media on Friday, many are asking: where were the networks on this story? A Nexis search of network transcripts shows that up until now, Obama's church and minister have been barely mentioned -- and usually as an Obama defense mechanism. Up until March 13, NBC has done nothing. CBS has devoted about a minute to controversy in a February 28 CBS Evening News story. ABC's Jake Tapper offered Obama's church-and-minister defense against charges he was a Muslim three times in November and December.

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

# On ABC's World News with Charles Gibson on November 16, Tapper offered a generic story on negative phone calls and e-mails, including anti-Mormon calls against Mitt Romney and suggestions Obama was a Muslim. Obama said: "There are a variety of nasty e-mails going out. This is similar to the e-mails that's, e-mails that have been floating around that says I am, you know, I'm a Muslim plant who's planning to take over America, you know? This would surprise my pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ."

# On November 19, Tapper repeated a version of that on Good Morning America. Tapper ended a report: "The Internet, of course, is where even more malicious information can be spread at the speed of light such as these false e-mails claiming that Barack Obama is a Muslim operative, which Obama jokes his pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago would find surprising."

# On the December 5 edition of Nightline, Tapper reported Hillary Clinton had to fire a county chairman in Iowa for forwarding an e-mail accusing Obama of secretly praying to Allah. Obama's clip was run again: "This is similar to the e-mail that's, e-mails that have been floating around that says I am, you know - I'm a Muslim plant who's planning to take over America. You know, this would surprise my pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ." On the February 28 CBS Evening News, reporter Dean Reynolds dug deeper into the emerging Farrakhan-endorsement issue:
REYNOLDS: No flag pin on his lapel? No hand on his heart that one time? Opponents call it unpatriotic. Is he a Muslim? The whispering persists no matter how often Obama debunks it.
OBAMA: I've been going to the same church for 20 years, praising Jesus.
REYNOLDS: That church is the Trinity United Church of Christ. Self-described as unashamedly black, with an emphasis on African culture, the church has been targeted by critics who call it separatist, racist and anti-Israel.
OBAMA: I consistently have not only befriend the Jewish community, not only have I been strong on Israel, but more importantly I've been willing to speak out even when it's not comfortable.
REYNOLDS: Obama has said the church's former pastor and his spiritual mentor, Jeremiah Wright, "is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things I don't agree with." Among Wright's pronouncements, that racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run. A church-related publication saluted Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, a well known anti-Semite, who in turn has praised Obama's candidacy as recently as last Sunday.
LOUIS FARRAKHAN: I love that brother.
REYNOLDS: A gesture Obama rejected Tuesday night after some prodding.
OBAMA: There's no formal offer of help from Minister Farrakhan that would involve me rejecting it. But if the word reject, Senator Clinton feels, is stronger than the word denounce, then I'm happy to concede the point and I would reject and denounce.

Up until the Brian Ross report, CBS was the only network to do the barest shadow of a report that could make Obama's campaign a little more difficult. Even Reynolds left out a few details. Farrakhan won the "Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award" to a man who "truly epitomized greatness" -- in 2007. Where were the media on that? Doesn't this divisive minister of Obama's cause a serious problem for a candidate who's been sold as a uniter, not a divider? Why, this late in the primary season, are we still discovering that they haven't asked any of the hard questions?

Later, on Friday, an e-mailer suggested to Graham there was one more Tapper mention of Obama's church, which avoided search terms on Jeremiah Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ.

From February 11, 2007, Tapper mentioned in passing: "His foreign policy views are just one target for Obama's critics, who have questions for the senator about any number of issues, including whether his church here on Chicago's South Side, which expresses a message of black power, is too militant for mainstream America to accept. Conversely, there are some African American critics who argue that Obama is not black enough. That was an issue in 2000, when Obama ran for Congress and lost to Congressman Bobby Rush, who now supports Obama's presidential bid."

Get Your Tickets Now for the MRC's 2008
'DisHonors Awards'

Tickets are now available for MRC's 2008 "DisHonors Awards." The MRC's annual video awards with the "William F. Buckley Award for Media Excellence," this year presented to Tony Snow, will take place in Washington, DC on Thursday evening, April 10. Confirmed participants: Ann Coulter, Larry Kudlow, Mark Levin, Cal Thomas and many more since surprise conservative guests will accept the awards in jest.

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-- Brent Baker