MediaWatch: January 1994

NewsBites: Bryant Confesses

Bryant Confesses
Today co-host Bryant Gumbel rarely lets an opportunity pass to deride Reaganomics. But on the PBS talk show Charlie Rose January 4, Gumbel expressed a lack of confidence: "I always feel least qualified when I'm dealing with economics...for the life of me, it's just not one of those things that adheres to me. I'm not very good at it, and I don't feel wholly comfortable arguing about it." Lack of knowledge didn't hold Gumbel back when he falsely claimed in 1989: "Largely as a result of the policies and priorities of the Reagan Administration, more people are becoming poor and staying poor in this country than at any time since World War II."

Gumbel vs. Gumbel
In the same interview, Gumbel revealed his contradictory standards on politicians and personal lives -- tough on Republicans, easy on Democrats. When Rose brought up the Arkansas state troopers' story about Clinton, Gumbel responded: "When Bill Clinton was elected, I think some of us probably felt, 'Hey, you know what, the American public has finally grown up and maybe that fascination is passé, and it's fading.' But the recent round of what's been going on with the same person leads me to think that no, that was wishful thinking on many of our parts."

But in 1991, Gumbel did three straight mornings of interviews with Kitty Kelley on her book of unsubstantiated allegations about the Reagans. On CNN's April 24, 1991 Larry King Live, Gumbel declared: "I'm one of those people who generally has liked Kitty's writing in the past. I know all of the research she does. I'm aware of the fact that for all the things she's written that are controversial, she has yet to lose a lawsuit...Kitty is a very brave woman."

Classified Comedy
Boston Globe reporter John Aloysius Farrell, in his December 25 "Washington Notebook" column, portrayed The American Spectator as hypocritical for airing allegations of President Clinton's Arkansas womanizing, despite being "the butt of jokes here for its classified advertisements for mail-order Chinese brides." Farrell added: "The sudden sympathy for exploited women seems out of place for the Spectator, a conservative journal that routinely delights in savaging Hillary Rodham Clinton, Anita Hill, Susan Faludi, and other feminists." Farrell remarked that an "ad for `Attractive Oriental Ladies seeking correspondence, marriage' appeared in the December issue" and "in October, a Spectator ad for a Hawaiian company promised: `Thai-Asian-Worldwide Ladies Desire lifemates.'" To Farrell, such ads "stir up images of retired colonels in leather chairs at stuffy men's clubs, dreaming of submissive Asian servant girls."

Using Farrell's standard, how should classified ads in liberal magazines be judged? In The Nation on November 15, an ad by "Eva" offered "taboo fantasies discussed with integrity, intelligence." He didn't imagine the kind of reader who would respond to this Mother Jones ad, inviting "heterosexual crossdressers [to] join a social support group." When liberal magazines run stories about conservatives' personal lives, will Farrell use the same test?

Firearm Frenzy
The Boston Globe and USA Today have reduced the crime problem to one cause -- guns. In a December 29 USA Today cover story, reporter Tony Mauro claimed: "A consensus has formed that something must be done to reduce the availability of guns. On every street corner, at the workplace, in the classroom. It is a consensus born of fear." He cited "poll numbers in favor of gun control, hovering close to 90 percent," though a USA Today poll showed stricter gun control ranked fifth as a solution, and support for a handgun ban was the lowest since 1959. Mauro admitted: "In the newsroom of USA Today, which prides itself on drawing its staff from a cross-section of the nation, it was hard to find editors and reporters who had ever pulled a trigger."

The December 19 Boston Globe devoted a front page story to reporter Gregg Krupa's assertions that "a sharp increase in murders involving handguns coincides with the retooling of the industry and the expansion of its markets. As sales and profits have grown, the number of handgun-related homicides in the United States has jumped by nearly 50 percent since 1986." Krupa added the NRA has "insulated gun manufacturers from any involvement in the national debate over firearms...a mutually beneficial relationship in which the NRA pushes for a free flow of guns and the manufacturers reap profits in open and expandable markets." So far, no Globe story on how Planned Parenthood does the same for abortion providers.

Where's the Footnote?
Exaggerated stories about homeless and hungry children never seem to lose their appeal to the media. On December 2, CBS reporter Giselle Fernandez began her Evening News holiday season hard-luck story: "Tonight, thousands across the country hope to light up the nation's conscience, and spotlight the tragedy of more than a million kids living homeless on the streets." Without mentioning a source for her figure, Fernandez reported the "struggle to survive the streets every night" of three New York youths. Anecdotal evidence aside, a review by the prestigious National Academy of Sciences found that "studies seeking to provide an estimate of the number of homeless children...are nonexistent."

On December 20, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw reported: "It's estimated there are five million kids in America who go hungry every month." But in August, a dubious Tufts University study (also cited by Brokaw) claimed only that 12 million children were hungry at some time during 1991. Brokaw's new claim even exceeded that. He concluded flippantly: "Whatever the number, in a country with these resources, it's still hard to believe." It sure is.

I Am Bernie, Hear Me Roar
CNN anchor Bernard Shaw used the platform of the annual Frank E. Gannett lecture before the Freedom Forum on December 8 to attack American men: "Most American males are wimps in the battle against sexism and sexual harassment." Sounding like a spokesperson for NOW, Shaw parroted feminist arguments on pay discrimination: "Ladies and gentlemen, women now constitute more than 50 percent of the United States' work force. Yet, where they work full-time they barely earn an average of 75 cents of the dollar taken home by their male co-workers. Why? Where in our Constitution or ethics does it say women must pay a gender tax?"

Shaw went on to attack men's lack of concern for women's health: "Because of attitudes, most women speak in very low voices about these life and death matters, and wouldn't dare try to engage husbands and boyfriends in discussions about this. And frankly 99.9 percent of us males wouldn't want to hear it anyway. We're not that sensitive yet...And yet, when we men get sick or are troubled by recurring medical problems, we insist that the world stop. Halt!" Shaw's advice for men? "Our attitudes must change in some very basic ways. Example: My boss is Ted Turner. When we are together, I don't greet him by saying, `Hi Ted, honey, or darling, or sweetie.' I don't have fondling thoughts and wandering hands with him." Jane will be glad to hear that.

Wallace's Liberal Flashback
Mike Wallace took a trip back to a turbulent time in our history, when everyone in America was protesting against Vietnam, the white power structure, and the Miss America Pageant. You didn't? The history in the December 22 CBS Reports: 1968 may be very different from how most people remember it.

The special focused on major events like the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. But some news of 1968 was strained through a liberal filter. The victorious Nixon campaign took up only 25 seconds in the one-hour broadcast, while the short McCarthy campaign of that year was allotted 85 seconds, and an obscure feminist protest outside the Miss America Pageant was given two minutes and 15 seconds. All 14 people who remembered 1968 were liberals, ranging from radical activist Tom Hayden to Johnson Administration official Joseph Califano to former Black Panther Bobby Rush. Conservatives? None made the cut.

Designing Women's Issues
"Women's Agenda Advanced/A `Productive Year' in Capitol," read the headline in the December 3 USA Today. Reporter Leslie Phillips claimed that "more laws benefitting women and families passed Congress this year -- and were signed by President Clinton -- than any previous first year of a congressional session." While most of the issues Phillips mentioned wouldn't find much opposition, two of them are controversial: mandated family leave and abortion. "Women in the House lost, by a surprisingly large margin, on the `Hyde amendment,' which bans government money from being used for Medicaid abortions, [Rep. Pat] Schroeder said." Conservative women? They weren't quoted.

Why have the "women's issues" done so well? "Schroeder attributed the 1993 legislative record to a President who supports the women's agenda and increased sensitivity and recognition by male politicians that female voters are a powerful interest group." Since Phillips chose only Schroeder's views, a better headline might have been "One Woman's Agenda Advanced."

The Great States
Hawaii and Vermont are two states which are "ahead" of Washington on health care "reform," reported USA Today. On November 15, reporter Judi Hasson filed two stories on Hawaii. One found Hawaiians who love their health plans, including: "I didn't realize how good I had it," "It's pretty good," and "It's been wonderful. I even got to choose a doctor." The only negative quote came from an uninsured woman who qualified for Medicaid but never applied. The other story interviewed state health director John Lewin who believes "Hawaii is `living proof' that employer mandates work." After 17 paragraphs of Lewin's liberal views, she quoted mandate opponents Sam Sloan of Small Business Hawaii and Rep. Jim Cooper, whose health plan avoids employer mandates.

On November 30, the headline read "Message from Vermont: Health Reform Easy to Swallow." Reporter Richard Wolf lauded Vermont: "While most of the country is just learning the lexicon of reform, more than a half-million people here are marching in relative lockstep toward a brave new health-care world. Their message to Washington: Watch us." Wolf explained: "While Clinton may be forced to scale back his ambitious plan, [Governor Howard] Dean's is considered moderate here in the face of broad support for a government system like Canada's." Wolf quoted only Dean, Ted Kennedy, state Senator Peter Shumlin and Jenny Carter, Naderite staff attorney for the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. Voices of opposition to the potential plan: None.

A Tale of Two Tailhooks
Accusations of sexual abuse made by Lt. Paula Coughlin in June 1992 against rowdy sailors at the Tailhook convention were closely followed by the media. But there's been little press interest in Lt. Coughlin's own behavior at the convention.

In December, The Washington Times reported Dr. Karye LaRocque, a civilian Tailhook attendee married to a naval officer, testified to a military court that she saw Coughlin "chugging champagne from the bottle," "groping and grabbing" men and rubbing her "crotch" and breasts against some of them. Only one report, an August 17, 1993 piece by CBS reporter Jim Stewart, mentioned Coughlin's drinking, but no one covered LaRocque's revelations.

Tailhook defendant Lt. Rolando Diaz testified last summer that he ceremonially shaved Coughlin's legs during the drunken party at Tailhook. In exchange she autographed a banner he had advertising leg shavings. According to the Navy's Tailhook report, consensual leg shaving is conduct unbecoming an officer, but her illegal action has never been mentioned by the networks.

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