MediaWatch: May 1995
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: May 1995
- Network News Dominated by Arguements and Soundbites Against the GOP Contract
- NewsBites: Brownout
- Revolving Door: Burke's Back
- McVeigh: Newt's Protege?
- Hosts Blamed For Bombing
- Welfare Reform Ripoff
- Today Sounds Like Talk Radio?
- Janet Cooke Award: Sticking Up for Regulatory Overkill
Today Sounds Like Talk Radio?
Bryant Invites Invective
As part of his April 25 indictment of talk radio's role in the Oklahoma bombing, Bryant Gumbel charged that right-wing radio hosts "take to the air everyday with basically the same format: detail a problem, blame the government or a group, and invite invective from like-minded people."
In a testy interview with Oliver North, who said he welcomed liberal calls, Gumbel charged: "You do give them an opportunity to speak up but then you basically shred them in the angriest tones." North shot back: "You know, Bryant, I don't think anybody ought to take themselves quite so seriously as you do every morning." Gumbel got angry: "Well, clearly not. Perhaps the oath should have been taken more seriously before lying to the government, too." When North complained the liberal media can't get the story right, Gumbel replied: "On people who were convicted like you."
But Gumbel's outrage was absent on March 22, 1994, when he interviewed Nathan McCall, a convicted armed robber turned Washington Post reporter. He asked: "It's just too easy to put a black face on the problems of crime, of drugs, of poverty, and just say it's a lost cause and walk away from it?" And: "It's been written that being black in America is like being witness at your own lynching, why, why didn't your experiences make you more resentful than you are today?" Near the end, Gumbel asked: "Those who say, `just lock them up, throw away the key, incarcerate them, warehouse them, whatever,' do you think they are even conscious of just how racist this country is?" Gumbel could have defined his own approach: "Detail a problem, blame the government or a group, and invite invective from like-minded people."
