MediaWatch: July 1997
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: July 1997
- Gun Rights Forces Outgunned on TV
- NewsBites: Camel Canard
- Revolving Door: Sidney's Clinton-Loving Slant
- Hearings? What Hearings?
- They All Do It
- Nolanda's Non-Story, Religion and Rehabilitation
- Kurault as Liberal Advocate
- Janet Cooke Award: Another Frontal Assault on Objectivity
Nolanda's Non-Story, Religion and Rehabilitation
ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross broke dramatic new ground on the June 18 Prime Time Live with an interview of Nolanda Hill, a friend and business partner of the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Hill told Ross how financial troubles plagued Brown when he joined the Cabinet: "He was $7,000 in the hole when he woke up on Day One of any month." Ross added: "Which Nolanda Hill says would twice lead Brown into schemes involving under-the-table money. The first, an offer from the group claiming to represent the government of Vietnam, seeking to get American trade restrictions lifted."
Ross also highlighted Brown's connection to Gene and Nora Lum, the first people to cop a plea in the Justice Department's campaign finance probe: "In 1993, the Lums took over an Oklahoma gas company called Dynamic Energy Resources that sought special government contracts as a minority-owned business. Then the Lums hired Brown's 28-year-old son, Michael, and made him a well-paid officer of the company. A convenient way, Hill says, to move money to the father." Hill even alleged Brown smoked pot and once did a line of cocaine at her apartment.
The only problem with this story? Not one network or news magazine uttered a word about Hill's revelations, not even any other ABC show, until the July 17 CBS Evening News alluded to it.
Religion and Rehabilitation
On the July 3 World News Tonight "Solutions" segment, ABC religion reporter Peggy Wehmeyer highlighted a criminal rehabilitation program going on in Texas: "The state, frustrated with failed efforts to reform repeat offenders, has just turned this prison unit over to the church. It's just like any other prison...from the guards to the work duty. But a religious group called Prison Fellowship is spending 1.5 million dollars of its own money on a rigorous 'moral' rehabilitation program."
Wehmeyer explained: "The program operates on the premise that in order to change a man's behavior, first you have to change his heart. And these prison officials say there's no better way to change a man's heart than through a spiritual transformation." Wehmeyer pointed out a study which shows that prisoners who participate in Bible studies are less likely to commit new crimes. Wehmeyer continued: "All of these inmates volunteer to participate and no taxpayers' dollars are used to fund the program
