MediaWatch: January 1996
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: January 1996
- Same Liberal Song, Second Verse
- NewsBites: The Silent Veto
- Revolving Door: If You Cant Boost 'Em
- The Shutdown Soap Opera
- Today Gushes Over Hillary
- Nightline's True Story
- Brinkley Agrees Media are Liberal Paula Zahn is "Overloaded"
- Janet Cooke Award: Newt Gingrich, Political Liability
Nightline's True Story
ABC News has never been eager to report the truth on GOP efforts to reform Medicare. Good Morning America anchor Morton Dean continually got the story wrong. On October 12 Dean relayed the Democratic line: "The Republican plan would cut $270 billion in Medicare spending over seven years." Exactly two months and scores of inaccurate reports later, ABC finally told the truth with a December 12 Nightline dedicated to exposing President Clinton's demagoguery.
Chris Bury explained the game, "`Devastate, destroy, dismantle` -- strong words, but in reviewing Mr. Clinton's performance on Medicare, Republicans have another word in mind: deceptive...The truth is, both President Clinton and the Congress want to spend more money, not less, on Medicare."
Reviewing Hillary Clinton's 1993 appearance before Congress, Bury showed the First Lady's testimony where she proclaimed that her health plan reduced "the rate of growth in Medicare from about 11 percent increase annually to about a 6 or 7 percent increase annually." Then Bury added, "But this year, when Republicans proposed to slow the annual growth of Medicare spending to 7.2 percent...President Clinton accused them of gutting the program."
Bury concluded his report: "Since August, when President Clinton cast himself in the role of Medicare's protector, his own standing in the polls has risen steadily, and though his performance has been a smashing popular success, many critics believe the price of admission has cost the country an honest debate."
A Woman on Welfare
When Republicans began to tinker with the welfare system, reporters were quick to point out the millions who would end up in poverty as a result. But on the November 19 60 Minutes, CBS' Lesley Stahl offered a different take when she profiled "a woman who knows as much about the subject as anyone. A woman on welfare? No, a woman on the subject of welfare."
She was Eloise Anderson, head of California's welfare division. Anderson knows what welfare is like; she was once on it. She also supports Republican proposals. Stahl noted: "What Anderson wants to get rid of are the cash payments that go directly to welfare recipients, known as AFDC....It seems there's no argument for AFDC that she agrees with. The problem, she says, starts with the way welfare marginalizes men, because no poor man who makes the minimum wage, can compete with it."
Stahl pointed out: "Her critics have called her everything from mean-spirited to compassionless, but Anderson says it's a question of fairness to low-income workers who pay taxes." As for fears of disaster, "Anderson says there will be no excuse for not taking a minimum wage job when the cash payments end, because poor people will still get help; with food stamps, medical coverage, and child care."
