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
Janet Cooke Award: Sticking Up for Regulatory Overkill
Beware the network "truth squad," for their monitoring talents are designed almost solely for Republican arguments. In 1992, ABC and the other networks decried the "lying" of Bush ads claiming taxes would go up in a Clinton era. In 1994, anti-Clinton health plan ads drew the ire of ABC’s Tom Foreman. For again singling out the GOP as inaccurate, reporter Ned Potter earned the May Janet Cooke Award.
Peter Jennings began the April 3 World News Tonight story: "As Congress goes on debating the Republican Contract with America we’ve been hearing a lot of claims and counter-claims used to justify or oppose specific provisions. Tonight we’re going to create a regular segment where in the past we’ve done occasional reporting. The idea is to identify in the Congress what is truth and what is political rhetoric. We’re going to call it For the Record."
Potter explained: "This story is about stories told in Congress. Like the one about the regulators who wouldn’t let kids take their first baby teeth home from the dentist. . .Then there’s the tale of the pineapple pesticide. Congressmen complain every city has to test for it, even though it’s only used in Hawaii. . .Stories like those were common in Congress even before the Contract with America. But for the record, you sometimes find they’re not quite true."
Who said? "OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, claims the tooth fairy story is simple: medial offices must follow safety rules against hepatitis and AIDS, but you can still give a child his own tooth. And as for that pineapple pesticide, it was a carcinogen used on 40 different crops. It’s still found above safety levels in 19 states."
Potter added: "Take the tale of the white-out bottle, told by Congressman John Mica." ABC showed a clip of Rep. Mica (R.-Fla.): "EPA rules force a dentist to keep logs for possession and disposal of white-out. Is that a good use of our resources?" Potter rebutted: "Not so, says OSHA. Its rules are meant to protect against major health risks, not against a bookkeeper using correcting fluid."
The May 1 National Review questioned ABC’s claims: "OSHA’s Blood Borne Pathogen Standard labels bodily tissues as biohazards. Teeth are considered tissue, and technically must therefore be placed in a red bag and picked up by a licensed disposer. Furthermore, because certain brands of white-out contain toluene, OSHA requires the Manufacturers Safety Data Sheets be kept in office files. Dr. Edward Stein, a health scientist at OSHA, says that white-out’s levels of toluene are far below those which concern OSHA and that the requirement does not pertain to offices with fewer than 10 people. However, he concedes that if an individual in an office with fewer than 10 people filed a complaint about white-out, OSHA would be free to investigate."
The story noted a dentist refused to return a tooth to a boy because he was concerned about the rules, but OSHA unofficially claimed this was unnecessary, despite the regulations.
Potter implies that OSHA, allowed two soundbites for rebuttal, had the monopoly on truth: "Some agencies feel so under attack that they’ve formed truth squads, churning out fact sheets and letters to shoot down false stories." Potter put no burden on OSHA for vague regulations that cost people a lot of time and money to follow, only to learn they are not to be taken seriously.
As for the pineapple pesticide, DBCP, which is "still being found above safety levels in 19 states," Potter failed to distinguish between municipal wells and private wells. Why? Jonathan Tolman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute told MediaWatch: "In November 1990, the EPA released its National Pesticide Survey. Not one community well exceeded EPA levels for DBCP. That’s why Ohio officials are complaining: ‘Why should we pay to test for a pesticide when we keep our wells clean?’"
But Potter claimed: "One group complained that Congress is legislating by anecdote: using all sorts of stories even after they’ve been refuted. Now that may be politics as usual, but several Congressmen privately admit that in the rush of these 100 days, it’s happening more than usual."
Why unnamed sources? It could be because "one group" issuing a report was the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which promoted the Alar scare in 1989, panicking parents and ruining apple farmers over a minute health risk — hardly Exhibit A in an accuracy lecture. Potter failed to answer repeated MediaWatch phone calls. ABC’s posturing against "legislating by anecdote" failed to consider the accuracy of their own anecdotes:
October 18, 1994: ABC promoted a study by the NRDC and the Environmental Working Group "challenging the drinking water that 14 million people drink every day." Months later, former EPA official LaJuana Wilcher called the study "misleading because 90 percent of the data points were from raw, untreated source water. . .No one in his right mind would drink water straight from the Mississippi River." ABC never explained that.
October 28, 1991: Potter reported that two Nader groups, Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety, denounced as inaccurate a Department of Transportation collision video showing that smaller cars save gas, but are less safe. Potter concluded: "Fuel economy will be a bruising battle in the Senate, with both sides saying the arguments are based more on politics than the facts." ABC ignored a Wall Street Journal report days later siting eight examples of Naderite literature warning small cars were less safe.
July 25, 1989: Potter traveled to Camel’s Hump Mountain in Vermont to declare pictures from 1963 and 1989 revealed that "40 percent of the trees were dead." Potter blamed it on acid rain: "Clouds that blow in here carry sulfur, lead and more." But the late columnist Warren Brookes called the story a "fraud," citing Yale tree expert Tom Siccama, who said the dying trees all dated from before 1962, which saw "a very severe drought followed by an especially killing winter." But Potter cited the anecdote to underscore "why a new Clean Air Bill is so urgent."
Potter ended his 1995 story: "Ironically, many agencies concede there are too many rules. But if the debate is distorted, they say, useless regulations cannot be told from the ones the country really needs." Potter not only distorted the debate, but it’s not the first time he has fought regulatory review.
When Vice President Quayle tried to review useless regulations with his tiny Competitiveness Council, Potter conducted a two-part attack on August 4 and 5, 1992: "Its very presence makes regulators flinch. . .senior EPA officials. . .said the effect of the Quayle council on their day-to-day work has been devastating." Potter added: "Critics say the council. . .is unaccountable to Congress or the public and its actions may be illegal. . .Trimming regulations is one thing, but critics say doing it in secret is another."
