MediaWatch: November 1994
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: November 1994
- Conservatism Gets Little Credit After Election-Night Tradition of Blaming it For Losses
- NewsBites: Liberal of the Week
- Revolving Door: On the Campaign Trail
- The New House Speaker's Journalistic Welcome Wagon
- Media Get One Wish in Senate
- Stossel's Stunner
- Reporters Believed Clinton's Sex Tales
- Janet Cooke Award: ABC Devoted Almost Two Hours to New Book Full of Sexual Allegations Against Thomas
Media Get One Wish in Senate
All Over Ollie North
The prospect of Senator Oliver North sent reporters into attack mode. With 19,000 troops in Haiti, North worried about the ability to adequately deploy to a second front. On October 12, Lisa Myers insisted on the NBC Nightly News: "North has been in hot water...since suggesting that Clinton has cut defense so much, U.S. forces could not stop another attack on Kuwait by Saddam Hussein....Most military experts say North is wrong."
Maybe, but Myers failed to check with one expert. AP reported on October 18 that Defense Secretary William Perry said in Beijing that the U.S. "is not yet ready to fight two wars nearly simultaneously, Perry added, because of shortcomings in strategic sealift and airlift capability and shortages of precision-guided weapons."
After Nancy Reagan and Al Gore criticized North, on the October 28 CBS Evening News, Dan Rather declared: "Despite these statements that North is a documented liar, North, according to the polls, has a strong chance of defeating incumbent Democrat and former Marine in Vietnam, Charles Robb....What's going on here?" Eric Engberg summarized North's life: "He's been fired! He beat felony jury convictions only on appeal! And, he's been condemned by leaders in his own party."
Engberg marveled: "As incredible as it may seem, many Virginians think this record of Oliver North's is actually a qualification to be a Senator." He noted North would benefit "from personal and public scandals that have touched the incumbent." Engberg failed to describe Robb's scandals, but warned: "A North victory...would hit Washington like a cavalry charge. North's first confrontation with Congress was an epic. To the Washington establishment, Senator North would be like Nightmare on Capitol Hill, Part Two: Ollie's Back."
Robb ads falsely claimed North would cut Social Security, driving 20 percent of the elderly into poverty, but the cover of the November 7 Newsweek blared "Down & Dirty" over a photo of North. On October 28, Gore claimed North's support came from the "the extreme right wing, the extra-chromosome right wing." Advocates for those with Down's syndrome, caused by an extra chromosome, reacted with outrage, The Washington Times reported. But Vice President Gore's remark was never reported by the networks.
