Networks Concerned If Obama Has Now Put Wright 'Behind Him'? --4/30/2008
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2. Matthews to Carter: Will 'Right' Play 'Racial Card' Vs Obama?
3. CBS Cameraman Pleased He 'Wasn't Waterboarded in Guantanamo'
4. CNN Portrays Disabled Woman as 'Victim' of Voter ID Ruling
5. Talking Heads on CNN Repeat Liberal Spin on Voter ID Decision
6. Matt Lauer Tours Amsterdam with America-Belittling Dutch TV Host
Brian Williams asked Tim Russert: "Do you think this stops the damage?" Similarly, CBS's Katie Couric wondered to Jeff Greenfield: "Is today's repudiation enough to kind of control the damage?" Echoing NBC's Lee Cowan, ABC's David Wright relayed how Obama is "hoping it will finally put the Wright controversy behind him." NBC aired a clip of Obama maintaining "I have known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago," but Cowan did not challenge that premise. At least CBS's Dean Reynolds pointed out that "yesterday's wording did not differ markedly from the sermons Wright delivered in the past" and ABC anchor Charles Gibson noted Wright "really didn't say anything different than he said in some of those sermons that have been played over and over again." [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Back in March, the first time Obama addressed the Wright issue, network journalists were downright giddy in their praise. My March 18 NewsBusters item, "'Extraordinary' Obama Speech a 'Gift' for 'Confronting Race in America' with 'Honesty,'" began: The ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts on Tuesday framed coverage of Barack Obama's speech, in reaction to the furor over the racist, paranoid and America-hating remarks of his long-time pastor, not by focusing on what it says about Obama's true views and judgment but by admiring his success in "confronting" the issue of "race in America" in an "extraordinary" speech. Indeed, both ABC and CBS displayed "Race in America" on screen as the theme to their coverage, thus advancing Obama's quest to paint himself as a candidate dedicated to addressing a serious subject, not explain his ties to racially-tinged hate speech. NBC went simply with "The Speech" as Brian Williams described it as "a speech about race." In short, the approach of the networks was as toward a friend in trouble and they wanted to help him put the unpleasantness behind him by focusing on his noble cause. "Barack Obama addresses the controversial comments of his pastor, condemning the words but not the man," CBS's Katie Couric teased before heralding: "And he calls on all Americans to work for a more perfect union." On ABC, Charles Gibson announced: "Barack Obama delivers a major speech confronting the race issue head on, and says it's time for America to do the same." Reporting "Obama challenged Americans to confront the country's racial divide," Gibson hailed "an extraordinary speech."
For the March 19 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org Partial transcripts, gathered tonight by myself and the MRC's Brad Wilmouth, to provide a flavor and highlights of the Tuesday, April 29 evening newscast coverage # ABC's World News: CHARLES GIBSON, IN OPENING TEASER: Welcome to World News. Tonight, Barack Obama says he is outraged by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, calls his comments "offensive," his behavior a "spectacle." ... GIBSON: Good evening. Strong words today from Barack Obama about his former preacher, Jeremiah Wright, much stronger than anything Obama has said previously. No issue has threatened his campaign more than the relationship with Wright, whose controversial sermons have been all over television and the Internet. Yesterday, as you saw here last night, Wright defended those sermons, reiterated some, speaking at the National Press Club. Today, Obama called Wright's behavior "outrageous" and a "spectacle." Here's ABC's David Wright. .... DAVID WRIGHT: Now this was a markedly different speech than the one he gave in Philadelphia. But Obama's hoping it will finally put the Wright controversy behind him. He has been struggling to connect with white working class voters. So the first real test of whether this helped will come next week in Indiana.
CHARLES GIBSON TO GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: George, Barack Obama has been judicious in his comments, up until now, about Jeremiah Wright. Jeremiah Wright yesterday, at the National Press Club, really didn't say anything different than he said in some of those sermons that have been played over and over again. So, what changed with the Senator?
KATIE COURIC, IN OPENING TEASER: Tonight, Barack Obama denounces the media blitz by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. ...
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DEAN REYNOLDS: The Clinton campaign was eager to point out this afternoon, and even provided a YouTube link for reporters, it was only last June that Obama was extolling Wright.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, IN OPENING TEASER: Also, damage control. Barack Obama goes after his former pastor. Tonight, we'll assess the impact on his campaign. ...
LEE COWAN: It was a voter who first brought up Reverend Jeremiah Wright today at a townhall meeting in North Carolina. And Barack Obama was ready to pounce.
[This item, by Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The following exchange occurred on the April 29 edition of MSNBC's Hardball:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Do you think his pastor will be used by people on the right to play the racial card? A little later in the interview Matthews asked the former President how America can change its image as "enemy of the world." MATTHEWS: How do we get back to a country where your mom would join the Peace Corps? I mean that spirit, that sense of public service and the sense that we are part of the world, we're not the enemy of the world?
Reporter Allen Pizzey interviewed Butler in London for the Evening News story, describing his colleague's ordeal as "a terrifying two-month journey....a kind of living death." But in a full transcript of the interview posted on CBS News's Web site, Butler heaped scorn on the U.S. military, suggesting our soldiers are more brutal than his captors: "I was relieved that my captivity wasn't as harsh as I have witnessed being applied to suspects taken from Afghanistan....I was pleased I wasn't being waterboarded in Guantanamo or being held for six and a half years like an al-Jazeera cameraman." [The MRC's Rich Noyes submitted this item for inclusion in the CyberAlert.] Butler told Pizzey he was kept hooded and handcuffed, and imprisoned inside a wall for three nights. Yet when Pizzey reminded Butler of his work in Afghanistan, the CBS photo-journalist favorably compared his conditions to those faced by suspected terrorists in U.S. custody:
PIZZEY: You took a lot of pictures in Afghanistan of people in the situation you were in, people hooded, their eyes taped, their hands tied up, kept in small cages. You must have had a lot of empathy from your situation with what you saw. Did you remember all that stuff? The full transcript is available at CBSNews.com: www.cbsnews.com The AP's David Bauder on Monday highlighted Butler's scorn for Guantanamo: apnews.myway.com The report for Monday's CBS Evening News gave no hint of Butler's anti-American animus, but did make it clear that Butler's two months of captivity were unpleasant, to say the least. The story began with Butler recounting the moment he was captured:
RICHARD BUTLER, CBS NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER: I'm standing there in front of these eight guys with AK-47s, and I'm in a pair of underpants and a t-shirt. The odds are not in my favor.
[This item, by Matthew Balan, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Arena then played three soundbites in a row of critics of the voter ID law. In the first sound bite, Donna Brazile charged that the "voter ID scam is a suppression tactic used by many people to undermine the right to vote in this country." In the second, Melissa Madill, identified as an "Indiana voting rights advocate," stated that it was "infuriating that people who really need to impact the system the most are being denied the right to do so." In the last sound bite, Karen Vaughn, who Arena introduced as "a quadriplegic who doesn't have a driver's license or a passport," and who "had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was," accused the supporters of the law of not caring about people like her.
In the only soundbite from a supporter of the law, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita explained that "[i]t's so easy for someone to claim that I'm -- that they're somebody else and
After the end of Arena's report, Blitzer made the following observation about the case: "Today's 6-3 high court ruling reflects a splintered U.S. Supreme Court. Justice John Paul Stevens, the chief dissenter in Bush versus Gore, in that ruling back in 2000, wrote the majority opinion this time. He was appointed by Gerald Ford. The five other justices supporting the majority opinion include some of its most conservative members. All were nominated by Republican presidents. The three justices who dissented, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer -- all dissented in the Bush versus Gore court decision as well. Souter was nominated by the first President Bush; Ginsburg and Breyer were nominated by Bill Clinton." Note how Blitzer pointed out how all six justices who upheld the voter ID law were "nominated by Republican presidents" and "include some of its most conservative members," despite Stevens' reputation as a liberal. Also, the dissenters were merely identified as to who nominated them to the Court, not as liberals.
[This item, by Matthew Balan, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Just before the bottom of the 4pm Eastern hour of The Situation Room, only minutes after the Blitzer/Arena segment, Blitzer, as part of the regular "Strategy Session" segment, brought up the Supreme Court decision in a question to Brazile. After correcting Blitzer as to the correct name of the Bush v. Gore decision referenced in the question, Brazile outlined her voter suppression argument: "Well, Wolf, all the problems we have with election administration in this country with provisional ballots, with people been disenfranchised, the Supreme Court created a problem that doesn't exist. We don't have problems of voter fraud in this country, people impersonating others. Yes, this will harm Democratic efforts to get out minorities and poor people and senior citizens and students." When Feehery then brought up how "fraud is a problem, it's been a problem," Brazile cast doubt on his argument, which led Feehery to bring up his own driver's license argument. "[L]et's make sure there is no fraud. I think -- you know, I had to use my driver's license to get into this building. I don't think it's that high of a hurdle to use a driver's license to get -- to be able to vote. Brazile then used a bit of hyperbole to counter his argument. "I have a greater possibility of being hit by lightning than seeing election fraud....The Supreme Court even couldn't find fraud. But they said it's easy to get an ID, so why not require it? It's just a small problem for people. It's a huge problem if you don't have $16.50 to buy a driver's license." Later, at the bottom of the 6pm Eastern hour, during the discussion with Toobin, Cafferty, and Borger, Blitzer asked Cafferty: "Jack, did they make the right call?" After a brief sarcastic remark, Cafferty quipped, "[T]here's something sinister about these kinds of laws....The people who may not be able to cast a vote because they can't comply with this law tend to be poor people. They tend to be Democrats. The legislation was supported by the Republicans in Indiana and it was backed by the conservatives on the Supreme Court."
Borger more directly addressed the "voter suppression" issue in her comments, and then guessed about the possible impact on the upcoming election: "Voter suppression has been a problem in this country. So this case before the Supreme Court does not appear in a political vacuum. And Democrats worry, given past history with voter suppression, that when -- if you get to a close general election -- and believe me, we all know we've been there before -- that this could truly make a difference for them." Near the end of their discussion, Toobin made the following prediction about voter ID laws: "[L]ook for states with Republican legislatures and Republican governors to start pushing these laws....It happened in Indiana, happened in Georgia, happened in Florida. And any state where you have that kind of political alignment, you're going to see laws like this."
[This item, by Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The following exchange occurred on the April 29 Today show:
TWAN HUYS, NETHERLANDS TV HOST: But overall if you look at this country it's, it's very rich. Social climate is very good and there's not like, in your country, 40, 50 million people who have no insurance. That's not happening here. It's still, I would say it's, it's a paradise compared to many countries in the world. -- Brent Baker
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Tuesday night the broadcast network evening news shows centered their coverage, of Barack Obama's repudiation of Jeremiah Wright, from Obama's point of view with "'I'M OUTRAGED'" (ABC) or just "OUTRAGED" (CBS) plastered on screen by an Obama image, interest in whether Obama has now put the "controversy behind him" (ABC and NBC) and only an afterthought about whether anything Wright said Monday was any different than what he had over the previous 20 years Obama has known him. (NBC chose "FIRING BACK" for an on-screen heading) 
NBC's Lee Cowan admired how "in the City of Brotherly Love, Barack Obama gave the most expansive and most intensely personal speech on race he's ever given," adding it reflected "honesty that struck his rival Hillary Clinton." On NBC, Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart asserted "it was a very important speech for the nation. It was very blunt, very honest" and so "a very important gift the Senator has given the country."... 
STEPHANOPOULOS: It was on national TV. Everyone could see it, Charlie, and his campaign realized this was posing a moral threat, really, to his nomination. Also, Reverend Wright yesterday left the impression that somehow Barack Obama secretly agreed with me. He's just being a politician. Barack Obama couldn't afford to let that stand. They were seeing this bleeding in Indiana and North Carolina. They were hearing from other super-delegates that Obama had to look strong. And then, when Obama saw the performance himself, he did get royally teed off. That tipped the balance. 
COURIC: Good evening, everyone. One week before critical primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, Barack Obama shifted today into major damage control, all but severing his ties to the pastor he once defended, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Obama denounced Wright's appearance yesterday before an audience of journalists in Washington, saying he was outraged by the minister's remarks. Dean Reynolds is covering the Obama campaign. 
COURIC: Dean Reynolds reporting from Chicago tonight. Jeff Greenfield is our CBS News senior political correspondent. Jeff, did Barack Obama have a choice? Or did he have to definitively distance himself today from Jeremiah Wright? 
WILLIAMS: And now to the presidential campaign. The retired Reverend Jeremiah Wright has been on a publicity tour, one that has damaged the Obama campaign. The last time Obama fully commented on Wright, people said he refused to throw his former pastor under the bus, as they put it. Some believe that happened today. Obama went on the attack. He says Wright has him all wrong. Our report from NBC's Lee Cowan. 
COWAN: His somber, almost angry, response was different, though, than yesterday, when the Senator casually dismissed Wright's comments and blamed the media for making too much out of them. But he explained today that he hadn't seen all of Wright's most controversial remarks. When he did, he said, it became clear Wright wasn't just defending himself. 
Chris Matthews invited former President Jimmy Carter onto Tuesday's Hardball, and not surprisingly tossed softballs at his former boss, prompting him to weigh-in on Jeremiah Wright as Matthews asked: "Do you think his pastor will be used by people on the right to play the racial card?" 
Monday's CBS Evening News featured an interview with British photographer Richard Butler, identified on-screen as a "CBS News Contributor," who was kidnaped on February 10 by members of a Shi'ite militia in southern Iraq and held for 65 days before he was rescued by an Iraqi army force. 
Blitzer introduced Arena's report by describing the decision as having "an enormous impact," and asked Arena to describe "the enormity of what the U.S. Supreme Court has decided." She then first harkened back to the Bush v. Gore decision in 2000: "The 2000 presidential race raised questions about election integrity. And Democrats say today's Supreme Court ruling may raise even more." 
steal an election that way." Arena then immediately countered this claim, citing two infamous liberal groups. "But there's little hard evidence to back that up. The ACLU and People for the American Way say there's evidence instead to suggest that disadvantaged voters will have a hard time. In past elections in Ohio and Florida, some voters reportedly complained that poll workers tried to turn them away even with proper ID." Of course, Arena didn't say whether these reports were accurate. 
Monday's The Situation Room followed-up on Kelli Arena and Wolf Blitzer's biased reporting on the Supreme Court upholding Indiana's voter ID law (see item #4 above) with two segments featuring five talking heads -- four liberals to one conservative. In the first segment, Donna Brazile, who appeared in Arena's report via soundbite and continued her "voter suppression" argument, faced-off against Republican strategist John Feehery, who countered the liberal argument by bringing up the fact that he had to show ID in order to enter the CNN studio. In the second segment, Jeffrey Toobin, Jack Cafferty, and Gloria Borger picked up on Brazile's suppression argument and portrayed the Court's decision as possibly "something sinister" and a "partisan enterprise." 
Cafferty then asked Toobin: "Is there something sinister going on?" Toobin, echoing Brazile, answered: "Well, I don't think there's any doubt that this was a partisan enterprise. You know, Democrats have said from the beginning, this is a cure for which there was no disease. Voter fraud is not a major problem in this country." 
On Tuesday's installment of the Today show's "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" feature, viewers were treated to Lauer strolling by an Amsterdam canal as he talked Dutch politics with a Netherlands TV host who looked down on America's health care system ("there's not like, in your country, 40, 50 million people who have no insurance") and the views of "hardcore Republicans" toward Holland's legalized prostitution and drugs. 
