MediaWatch: June 1994

NewsBites: Festival of Hate?

Festival of Hate?
In his new book Standing Firm, Dan Quayle recounted the August 1988 afternoon in Huntington, Indiana, where the crowds jeered the media and cheered Quayle. "After I left office, ABC's Brit Hume, who was on the press bus that day, told me he had heard some of his colleagues make ugly personal attacks, of a kind he had never really heard before, against both me and Bush."

Quayle was especially critical of Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, who "may be at the top of her profession, but she doesn't let the facts get in her way." He recalled one day, "Dowd, objective as always, came into the White House press room wearing a T-shirt depicting Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream (that eerie figure with the open mouth and hands over his ears) above the caption: 'President Quayle?` The reaction of the rest of the media? Blasé. I wonder if it would be the same for a reporter who wore a Slick Willie T-shirt into that room."

No Cheers for NBC in Boston
When Today went on the road to Boston, they remembered to take their liberal baggage with them. Co-anchor Katie Couric, chatting with liberal Boston Mayor Tom Menino on May 17, tossed him easy questions on Bill Weld's budget cutting: "I know the Governor and other state officials have been cutting funds to cities like Boston, which must make your jobs extremely challenging. How can you continue to deliver on the programs and the services with fewer dollars in your coffers?" She followed up by asking: "I know you get disheartened because often times the programs that are cut right away are those that deal with children."

The next day, Couric unloaded a series of hostile questions at Gov. Weld on issues where he takes a conservative position. On welfare cuts: "You want to cut an additional 70,000 families, what's to become of these people...isn't it awfully expensive to retrain these people, and place them in jobs?" On crime: "[Menino] said he was very concerned about cutting programs for children and building more jails, that automatically kids seem to be the ones who get hurt. When it comes to getting tough on crime, doesn't it make sense to spend more money on programs for our young people before they end up in jail?" She ended with a question that's never asked to rich liberals like Ted Kennedy: "You're described as a patrician Boston Brahmin who really can't relate to people. One person said...the Governor doesn't have the economic concerns that drive other people. How do you respond to that, that somehow you're out of touch with the average American?"

Rancorous Right
Is becoming politically active a good thing? Apparently not if you are a religious conservative. In an April 25 article, Boston Globe reporter Brian McGrory described conservative activists as harsh, vehement, and censorious, declaring: "Staunch conservatives, riding a wave of moral values that is now lapping against the liberal Northeast, are seeking municipal office in unprecedented numbers, turning once-neighborly elections into harsh affairs tinged by religious baiting and moral righteousness."

Leaving the impression that liberal values such as abortion, multiculturalism, and condoms in schools are in the political mainstream, McGrory added: "To be sure, the values this new breed of candidate espouses are often starkly at odds with the opinions of many. Most deeply conservative candidates vehemently oppose abortion, and many are veterans of Operation Rescue protests. Typically, they favor censorship in schools and local libraries. They often oppose sexual education programs in public schools and instead push the teaching of abstinence. In an age of widespread AIDS-related deaths, many oppose AIDS education." He followed: "With such views, victories have been rare, despite some estimates that there may be as many as 10,000 far-right candidates in the 16,000 school districts across the country this year."

Skipping Pena's Past
In his speech nominating former Denver Mayor Federico Pena for Secretary of Transportation, Bill Clinton boasted, "His legacy includes the new Denver International Airport." Originally scheduled to open last fall, DIA remains indefinitely closed due to problems with its high-tech automated baggage handling system tossing suitcases off the tracks. Despite Pena's role in directing the overhaul of the FAA's air traffic control system, the media have been slow to examine Pena's legacy. In 11 evening news stories in the past year from the four networks on the delays and financial difficulties concerning the airport, Pena has not been mentioned. Similarly, in nine morning show appearances since taking office, Pena has fielded exactly one question concerning the problems at Denver International, that from Harry Smith on the May 3 CBS This Morning.

With further delays costing the city at least $500,000 a day in interest payments, the media have avoided Pena's role. Michael Fumento documented what he called "Federico's Folly" for the December 1993 American Spectator. He reported Pena's opposition to a referendum on the new airport, and his personal connections to those who could profit from the project. Since that referendum, when an estimated $1.7 billion would be needed for the project, the cost has skyrocketed. Fumento wrote that budgeted costs coupled with bond interest payments push "the costs to about $10 billion, or almost six times what the voters were told the project would cost."

Fluffing Byrd's Feathers
Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) has never been known for miserliness when it comes to spending taxpayer money. Yet on the May 9 Inside Politics, CNN completely overlooked that facet of Byrd's career, instead choosing to portray Byrd only as "the powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee." Candy Crowley described him as "both feared and respected for his stature. His power, even his critics will tell you, is awesome. A man who loves words, history and the Senate, Robert Byrd is a walking, talking history book." Judy Woodruff added: "A one-of-a-kind politician."

One title Byrd holds that CNN failed to bestow upon him: King of Pork. On the March 3 Prime Time Live, ABC's Chris Wallace detailed Byrd's ways: "After becoming chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee in 1989, he vowed to get $1 billion in federal projects for his state; he met that target in two years." Byrd wouldn't talk to Wallace, but he has no trouble talking for puff pieces. "There is, in fact, only one place he'd rather be," said Crowley as she set up Byrd: "When I'm dead and I'm opened, they'll find West Virginia written on my heart."

Homeless Mythology
The latest round of politically motivated statistical claims on the homeless in America was swallowed whole cloth by the media. On May 18 Sonya Ross of the Associated Press reported, "Government officials estimate that 7 million Americans are homeless, far more than the Census calculations of 600,000 people and far too many, they say, for current federal programs to help adequately." ABC's Carole Simpson bit as well on World News Tonight the night before. Following a soundbite of HUD Secretary Henry Cisnernos announcing the 7 million claim, she insisted: "And a number that's even worse today. Homeless people have become a part of the landscape in many cities."

In neither report was a dissenting view presented to question the validity of the statistics. Why? In the May 23 New York magazine, critic Jon Katz suggested, "Reporters, hemmed in by outdated notions of objectivity, their Rolodex stuffed with the names of statistics-bearing advocates, are surprisingly easy prey for this sort of numerical manipulation." Katz, a onetime CBS Morning News Executive Producer, cited liberal sociologist Christopher Jencks' new book, The Homeless, as a source the media has buried. As Katz noted, "The Clintonites and the media have failed to avail themselves of actual, reliable data...After crunching more objective numbers, Jencks came up with the almost certainly accurate 300,000-to-400,000 figure -- a whole order of magnitude less catastrophic than Americans had been taught for a decade." Katz does not expect these figures to replace long standing media myths. "As Jencks' book demonstrates anew, journalism is too daily a business to have even a rudimentary sense of history or statistics."

Hailing Hyde
Some reporters claim Supreme Court Justices Harry Blackmun and David Souter have "grown" in office, and become more "thoughtful" for espousing liberal positions. The same standard applied after Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) backed a bill to ban assault weapons.

ABC's Cokie Roberts called Hyde a "thoughtful Republican" on the May 5 World News Tonight. On CNN's May 7 Capital Gang, Time Senior Writer Margaret Carlson and Al Hunt, Washington Executive Editor for The Wall Street Journal, piled on the accolades. Carlson declared "the fact the NRA is still powerful shows how courageous some of these votes were." Hunt responded: "Absolutely, Henry Hyde is a profile in courage on this...a guy who showed incredible guts on this issue." He concluded that Hyde "did grow on this one because he wasn't part and parcel of the gun lobby."

In the May 16 Time, Carlson cited Hyde's prior opposition to gun control, then added: "The white-haired, 20-year veteran of the House is also known for his intellectual honesty. He follows his deeply held beliefs -- he is a devout Catholic who is against abortion -- but he keeps an open mind on many issues." Noting that Hyde's "intellectual honesty" had angered his constituents, Carlson sympathized: "The experience has made him wonder whether `people can honestly change their minds and still be fellow citizens and deserve space on this planet.' The NRA will let him know."

Nasty NRA, Lovable Gun Banners
Even with the assault weapon ban, the media clamor for gun control continued. The focus of their attacks once again -- the National Rifle Association. On the May 20 CBS Evening News, Dan Rather introduced a story about the NRA's annual convention, referring to the "once all-powerful gun lobby." Reporter Frank Currier labeled the NRA as the "powerful pro-gun lobby" and "the once bullet-proof NRA" and claimed "polls show mainstream Americans don't support the group or its hard-line stand on firearms." (In a March 1993 USA Today/CNN/ Gallup poll, 55 percent viewed the NRA favorably, 32 percent unfavorably.) In contrast to the "gun lobby," Currier contended "a growing legion of citizen crime-fighters want some form of gun control." Instead of championing the NRA's expansive interpretation of the Second Amendment, as reporters often do with advocates of the First, he concluded: "Rather than retreat, the NRA plans to attack more ferociously, with big guns like the Desert Eagle, a new .50 caliber pistol that'll knock down a rhinoceros with a single shot."

On the May 6 Today, Bryant Gumbel interviewed Dr. Ellen Taliaferro of Physicians for a Violence Free Society, and asked: "Has the [assault weapon] vote now suggested the NRA is defanged, or is that premature?" After Dr. Taliaferro stated "we support a total ban on handguns and assault weapons of all kinds," Gumbel wondered: "What has to happen for those like you, who are in favor of some kind of sensible gun control, to keep the momentum that clearly seems to be running in your favor right now?"

Ace of Diamonds
When Hillary Clinton witnessed the inauguration of South African President Nelson Mandela, the media didn't look at the 170 shares she held in South Africa's DeBeers diamond mines from 1978-81. In a May 2 Los Angeles Times article, reporter Sara Fritz did mention the purchase, noting "her aides say the shares were purchased by her broker without her knowledge and were sold quickly because of her opposition to apartheid." The rest of the media have yet to touch the story.

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