MediaWatch: October 1993
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: October 1993
- On Health, Network Morning Shows Slant Left in Picking Guests, slightly Right in Questions
- NewsBites: Watching the Ad Watch
- Revolving Door: CNBC's New Chief
- Reporters Heap Heaving Helpings of Mush, Ignore Substanse of Testimony
- 'Kiss Ass, Move with the Mass'
- Wallace on U.N. Waste
- What a Difference a Producer Makes
- Janet Cooke Award: NBC's Jim Maceda Attacks Conservative "Myths" About Health Care
Revolving Door: CNBC's New Chief
NBC President Robert Wright tapped Republican political consultant Roger Ailes to take the presidency of CNBC, the NBC-owned cable channel.
The Senior Media Adviser during Bush's 1988 campaign, Ailes produced many of Bush's TV ads. Outside of politics Ailes has a lengthy list of television credits, from Executive Producer of the old Mike Douglas Show in the 1960s to helping Paramount launch the Maury Povich Show in 1992. At NBC, Ailes will also oversee the 1994 creation of America's Talking, an all-talk show cable channel.
Wright's decision disturbed Jon Margolis, chief national political correspondent for the Chicago Tribune from 1973 to 1988. In a September 7 column he complained: "Ailes is a smart person with extensive television experience. He is also an ideologue. Years ago, it was considered acceptable to have ideologues run news organizations. The Chicago Tribune, for instance, was run by one. Now, it is not considered acceptable, at least not by honest people in the news business."
Margolis failed to mention that Ailes reports to Tom Rogers, President of NBC Cable since 1988. From 1981 to 1986 Rogers worked for then-U.S. Rep. Tim Wirth, a liberal Colorado Democrat. MediaWatch asked Margolis why he has not criticized any liberals who have accepted media positions. Margolis conceded that "your point is well taken, what's sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander," but insisted that a statute of limitations should apply to those out of politics for many years, such as NBC's May appointment of a former aide to George McGovern as Executive Producer of NBC Nightly News.
Offering an example of the kind of ideological job switching that's "questionable for the health of the country," Margolis called NBC's hiring of Tim Russert (now VP and Washington Bureau Chief) directly from Mario Cuomo's office "a questionable decision." Margolis explained that he highlighted Ailes because "people are now more aware of the impact" of the revolving door between media and politics.
Bushie to CBS
In 1988 Ceci Cole McInturff directed voter outreach for the George Bush presidential campaign, a campaign highlighted by Bush's CBS Evening News confrontation with Dan Rather. In September she began lobbying on behalf of the financial interests of CBS Inc. as Vice President for federal policy. McInturff served from 1985 to 1987 as Special Assistant to the President for political and intergovernmental affairs.
Boston's Loss
Former New York Times reporter Christopher Lydon lost his bid to become a Democratic Mayor of Boston, placing sixth in the September 14 primary. Lydon was a news anchor on Boston's PBS affiliate for 14 years after leaving the Times Washington bureau in 1977. The Boston Globe reported that Lydon's public safety plan called for "a ban on the sale, manufacture and possession of handguns." He asserted that "it is absurd to think that the country's mayors and police chiefs, backed by millions of impassioned citizens, cannot mount a lobby in Washington much more powerful that the National Rifle Association and its lobbyists." Among contributions to his campaign: $500 from former Newsweek reporter and current New Yorker Editor Hendrik Hertzberg.
