MediaWatch: August 1996
Table of Contents:
Revolving Door: Fallows Fallacies
Fallows Fallacies
Mort Zuckerman, owner of U.S. News & World Report, has chosen James Fallows,
a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter, as the new Editor
of his magazine. In September Fallows will replace co-editors
Michael Ruby and Merrill McLoughlin.
Fallows served as chief speechwriter to Carter and earlier this year President Bill Clinton appointed him to the Commission on United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy. Fallows generated some publicity a few months ago for his book, Breaking News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy. The April American Spectator ran a review by columnist Robert Novak which explained Fallows' liberal premises.
For instance: "Fallows spends a long chapter blaming the news media for killing the Clinton health plan `What [the Clintons] lost legislatively,' he writes, `was trivial compared to the damage to public life.' If a working definition of a 1996 liberal is somebody who still believes that government is the solution rather than the problem, then Fallows surely qualifies. The desire to drum his conviction into the hearts and minds of Americans explains his enthusiasm for `public journalism' -- a relatively new phenomenon that calls for newspaper editors to collaborate with citizens in deciding what news is fit to print....He would have a reporter say `whether a Medicare proposal makes sense or not,' heedless that doing so would engage the reporter in opinion, not fact. Thus he clumsily confuses good journalism with a liberal agenda."
Who are Fallows' heroes? Novak learned: "When it comes to `helping readers understand what current trends mean,' Garry Wills `is well-suited to this challenge.' Michael Kinsley `is by most accounts the most talented policy writer of his generation.' It's not surprising, then, that Fallows never deigns to even consider the following proposition: the reason so many people hate the news media is that journalists like Fallows are outrageously biased in the liberal direction, and never bother to identify their true position on the political spectrum in the first place."
Stern's Course
George Washington University students will
have a veteran of network news and the Clinton administration
all in one professor this semester. Carl Stern, Director
of public affairs for Attorney General Janet Reno since early
1993, stepped down in July. A reporter for NBC News since 1967,
he covered the Supreme Court and legal affairs for years
before being tapped by Reno.
Hillary's Helper
The new VP for corporate communications for CBS Inc. is Lisa Caputo,
the Press Secretary to Hillary Clinton since the 1992
campaign. Caputo had previously toiled for Dukakis-Bentsen in
1988. Hillary Clinton, The Washington Times reported June 20,
praised Caputo: "She has been a tireless voice for the issues
that this administration has championed."
Knowing the ABC's of Events
ABC's decision to drop plans
for an all-news cable channel has left in charge of election
coverage a former aide to liberal Senator George McGovern: Jeff Gralnick, Press Secretary to McGovern in 1971. He was Executive Producer of NBC Nightly News when
plucked to head ABC's effort. He's now in charge of special
events for ABC News, such as conventions and campaign events.
