MediaWatch: November 16, 1998
Table of Contents:
NewsBites
Body Double
Did former pro wrestler Jesse "The Body"
Ventura win the race for Governor in Minnesota because he was a
tax-cutting, government-trimming conservative or because he
pushed a liberal social agenda? Depends which network you
believe. On ABC’s World News Tonight the day after the
vote, reporter Jim Williams declared: "His simple message: smaller
government and lower taxes." NBC’s Jim Avila disagreed, insisting on
NBC Nightly News that liberals gave him the margin: "He won
among liberals with a social agenda that is pro-choice and
pro-gay rights. And scored half the large independent vote in
Minnesota with a message that appealed to voters fed up with
politics."
CBS’s Ad Blitz for Team Clinton
As America prepared to head for the polls, CBS Evening News
aired the White House party line unrefuted on the two
weeknights before election day. On Friday’s newscast,
correspondent Scott Pelley reported from the White House where
he highlighted Clinton’s new role as conciliator-in-chief:
"With no strong issues propelling voters to the polls,
Democrats are now raising impeachment as a threat to the nation’s
well-being. Late today Mr. Clinton carried that theme to
African-American ministers in a classic of Clinton campaigning." Clinton
declared: "If you believe in your heart that you have been a
part of my presidency, and I tell you that you have, I wouldn’t
be here without you, then I ask you this one thing: Realize
that this too is an important election. That this is not an
ordinary time, it is therefore not an ordinary election." A
considerable Clinton soundbite but no time for a Republican
rebuttal.
More of the same followed election eve when the Evening News found time to offer vituperative barbs against "extremist" Republicans from Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton without any counterpoint. Again, Pelley focused only on the Democratic point of view. The first clip showed Clinton on BET urging blacks to vote: "Do they want more of the last eight months of partisanship or would they like more progress?"
Hillary’s attack at a rally for Charles Schumer followed: "So when he fights, he’s not fighting for some extremist Republican agenda. He’s fighting for a New York agenda that will improve the quality of life of people." Remarkably, after three unchallenged Democratic soundbites, Rather then plugged his network’s election coverage, stating "CBS News’s clear, understandable, in-depth coverage of the election results will start when the polls begin closing." In-depth coverage of one side.
Fonz the Fascist?
In the media’s dictionary of political
slurs, apparently "putzhead" outranks "fascist." On October 26,
ABC, CBS, and NBC all noted Sen. Alfonse D’Amato’s use of a
Yiddish insult of his opponent Charles Schumer at a private
meeting. Peter Jennings warned of "probably the meanest
campaign in the country." Also that night, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw
found "One of the closest and nastiest Senate races of all" and CBS
anchor Dan Rather said "This race is also down and dirty,
negative and nasty." CNN also did a story on D’Amato’s Schumer
slam.
Flash back to 1992. No outrage erupted when D’Amato’s opponent back then, state Attorney General Bob Abrams, called D’Amato a "fascist" at an October 10 rally of college students, and no one broached the subject on NBC. ABC, CBS and CNN touched on it weeks after the first reports, but CBS and CNN left it out of their evening news shows.
On the October 22, 1992, CBS This Morning, ad expert Bob Garfield defended Abrams: "At this stage I think he’s probably wishing he apologized to the fascists, because it has been so twisted by the D’Amato campaign into an ethnic slur." On the October 26, 1992 World News Tonight, Jeff Greenfield referred to Abrams as "an unreconstructed liberal with a limited charisma quotient and a squeaky-clean reputation" as he mentioned the less-than-squeaky-clean insult in passing. On CNN’s Inside Politics on the 29th, Jeanne Moos aired snippets of a radio debate: "Off the cuff, a frustrated Abrams called D’Amato a fascist. D’Amato seemed ready to cry...D’Amato choked up was too much for some folks to swallow."
