|
1. ABC Relays Charge Bush "Lied," But Not How He Met with Families
ABC made time Wednesday night for Martha Raddatz to read from a letter the Gold Star Moms for Peace sent to President Bush in which they charged that "you put our troops in harm's way based on a lie. We are military families who demand an end to the lies, and call for you to bring our troops home now." But, after weeks of hyping Cindy Sheehan, neither Raddatz nor anyone else on World News Tonight mentioned how Bush spent nearly three hours meeting with family members of those killed in Iraq. Neither did the CBS Evening News which held its coverage of Bush's speech in Idaho to the National Guard to a soundbite of Bush quoting a mother with four sons in Iraq. NBC anchor Brian Williams touted how Sheehan's group "said today its members will follow President Bush around the country protesting the war," but at least Kelly O'Donnell noted that Bush "met privately with 68 family members who grieve for sons and husbands lost in war."
2. ABC Admits Anti-War Movement Weak, Suggests How to Give It Impact
In a look Wednesday night at the status of the anti-war movement, ABC's Dan Harris acknowledged that "while Cindy Sheehan gets a lot of media attention, only 13 percent of Americans, according to the latest ABC News poll, want an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, which may be why the public protests thus far have been relatively small." But then Harris advised how to get traction for the anti-war efforts: "Former Senator Gary Hart, who was at the center of the anti-war protests during Vietnam, says the only way for a bonafide movement to come about now would be for a prominent politician to publicly and repeatedly say something like this." Viewers then heard from Hart: "'I was misled by the President, the country was misled by the President, the reasons we are in Iraq today are not the reasons that I voted for, and here's a plan for the speedy withdrawal of American military forces.'"
3. NBC: "Iraq: The New Vietnam?"; Matthews Hears Dusty Springfield
"Is Iraq becoming the new Vietnam?" Wednesday's Today on NBC devoted its 7am half hour "Close-Up" segment to that topic with Matt Lauer interviewing Chris Matthews. Lauer began with Senator Chuck Hagel's comparison of Iraq to Vietnam, prompting Matthews to buck up Hagel's importance: "It is a problem because he's not just a Republican as you know. Chuck Hagel, the Senator from Nebraska is from a red state, very much the heartland of America." Matthews soon asserted that "there's also another phrase from Vietnam that keeps coming to mind. No light at the end of the tunnel. I think what wears on people is not the casualty rate itself. It's no where near where it was in Vietnam. It's the murkiness." Matthews soon suggested that "it seems like we're gonna be hearing Dusty Springfield and hearing the chopper blades again." On screen during the segment, "Iraq: The New Vietnam?"
4. Olbermann Targets Hume as "Worser" in "Worst Person in the World"
On his MSNBC Countdown show on Wednesday night, Keith Olbermann, who described the Fox News Channel as "just a brand name, not a description," named FNC's Brit Hume his "runner-up" in his daily "Worst Person in the World" gimmick. What riled Olbermann? Hume daring to criticize as "'excessive' the TV coverage of Pat Robertson's call for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela because, he said, Robertson has 'no influence.'" Olbermann sarcastically added: "Probably why Fox has had Robertson on their network ten times in the last year." By that reasoning, Olbermann would have to consider influential the parade of lawyers, family friends and other hangers-on brought out many times a day on FNC and MSNBC to talk about the Natalie Holloway case.
5. ABC & CBS Falsely Cite "Record High" Prices for Both Oil and Gas
Double false stories. ABC anchor Charles Gibson and CBS anchor John Roberts on Wednesday night weren't satisfied with a fallacious reference to a "record high" price for either gas or oil. No, they insisted upon inaccurately reporting both. "Another day, another record high price for oil -- $67.32 a barrel," Gibson reported on World News Tonight before setting up his next story with a fallacy: "All week, we have been examining the record-high gasoline prices in our series, 'Over a Barrel.'" Over on the CBS Evening News, Roberts claimed that "oil production sent the price of crude soaring today to a record high $67.32 a barrel" and referred to "more pressure on already record high gas prices." As noted in several past CyberAlerts, oil will have to exceed $90 a barrel to set a record and a gallon of gas will have to go over $3.00 to reach the 1981 price.
6. NBC Blames Floods on Global Warming; CNN: "We're Making It Worse"
Two more examples have how journalists have been captured by the environmental left. In a story Wednesday night on what NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams described as "severe, history-making floods" in Europe, reporter Jim Maceda forwarded: "What's happening? Some experts say global warming is generating extreme weather systems." Earlier Wednesday, on CNN's American Morning, co-host Miles O'Brien declared as fact: "Well, you know, let's face it, the scientific jury is in, folks. The planet is getting warmer, we're making it worse. And the fact is the Bush administration has not made this a priority." Earth may be warming, but by how much, the degree of its impact, what is causing it and what, if anything, needs to be done about it is very much in dispute.
 ABC Relays Charge Bush "Lied," But Not
How He Met with Families
ABC made time Wednesday night for Martha Raddatz to read from a letter the Gold Star Moms for Peace sent to President Bush in which they charged that "you put our troops in harm's way based on a lie. We are military families who demand an end to the lies, and call for you to bring our troops home now." But, after weeks of hyping Cindy Sheehan, neither Raddatz nor anyone else on World News Tonight mentioned how Bush spent nearly three hours meeting with family members of those killed in Iraq. Neither did the CBS Evening News which held its coverage of Bush's speech in Idaho to the National Guard to a soundbite of Bush quoting a mother with four sons in Iraq. NBC anchor Brian Williams touted how Sheehan's group "said today its members will follow President Bush around the country protesting the war," but at least Kelly O'Donnell noted that Bush "met privately with 68 family members who grieve for sons and husbands lost in war."
ABC's Charles Gibson opened the August 24 World News Tonight, as corrected against the closed-captioning by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth: "Good evening. In a time when many are calling for troops to start coming home from Iraq, the Pentagon announced that, to the contrary, more will be going. That is just one of today's developments on Iraq. New battles broke out there between Iraqi factions, which might jeopardize getting that country's new constitution. And President Bush defended the war in another speech and seemed to speak even more directly to those anti-war mothers who are protesting against him every day. We start, tonight, with ABC's Martha Raddatz. Martha, the additional troops. Why are they being sent over?"
Raddatz checked in from the Pentagon: "The 1,500 additional troops, Charlie, are being sent over to secure the upcoming referendum in October and also elections in December. But they probably won't be the last additional forces. President Bush made clear to National Guard families in Idaho today that this will be a long fight with continued sacrifice."
George W. Bush in Idaho: "In this war, we have said farewell to some very good men and women, including 491 heroes of the National Guard and Reserve."
Raddatz: "It was the second time this week that Mr. Bush has talked about the war dead, arguing, again, that pulling troops out of Iraq now would dishonor them. The President picked out one Idaho mother to make that point, seeming to use her as a contrast to the anti-war protester, Cindy Sheehan."
Bush: "A mom named Tammy Pruett."
Raddatz: "Tammy Pruett has four sons serving in Iraq."
Bush: "Tammy says this, and I want you to hear this: 'I know that if something happens to one of the boys, they would leave this world doing what they believe, what they think is right for our country.'"
Raddatz, with text on screen: "And from some of those who have already lost loved ones in Iraq, a letter to President Bush today, the Gold Star Moms for Peace saying, 'You put our troops in harm's way based on a lie. We are military families who demand an end to the lies, and call for you to bring our troops home now.' But that will not be happening anytime soon."
Raddatz proceeded to recount the latest violence in Iraq.
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams announced: "Back here in the U.S., peace activist and the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan, arrived back in Crawford, Texas, after spending several days in Los Angeles with her mother, who suffered a stroke. A group she co-founded, called Gold Star Families for Peace, said today its members will follow President Bush around the country protesting the war. The President was in Idaho today, continuing what has become a campaign to praise military sacrifice while countering Sheehan's protests. Here is NBC's Kelly O'Donnell."
O'Donnell began: "Today, a presidential thank-you note hand-delivered to Idaho. Mr. Bush praised the 1,700 members of Idaho's National Guard, now in Iraq. A small state, but with the country's highest percentage of its guard mobilized."
George W. Bush in Idaho: "Laura and I are here to thank you for your service."
O'Donnell: "And the President engaged his critics in a new way. On the defensive and dogged by attention around protest mom Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in battle, today, after careful planning, the President put a name and face on his supporters."
Bush: "And here in Idaho, a mom named Tammy Pruett."
O'Donnell: "The Pruetts say they were contacted by the White House last week. They have four National Guard sons in Iraq today. A fifth son and dad Leon already served and came home safely. The President made his point that the fight is worth it by quoting mother Tammy Pruett."
Bush: "'I know that if something happens to one of the boys, they would leave this world doing what they believe, what they think is right for our country.'"
O'Donnell: "The Pruetts quickly and even tearfully offered condolences to those families who have lost loved ones, naming Cindy Sheehan. The Pruetts fully support the war, but say they don't want to be viewed as judging those who oppose it."
Tammy Pruett, mother of U.S. soldiers: "We don't feel like we're out here trying to be a poster family. We're just proud of our sons. They're proud of the service that they're doing."
O'Donnell: "In sharp contrast with this rousing event, the President later met privately with 68 family members who grieve for sons and husbands lost in war. Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News, with the President in Nampa, Idaho."
 ABC Admits Anti-War Movement Weak, Suggests
How to Give It Impact
In a look Wednesday night at the status of the anti-war movement, ABC's Dan Harris acknowledged that "while Cindy Sheehan gets a lot of media attention, only 13 percent of Americans, according to the latest ABC News poll, want an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, which may be why the public protests thus far have been relatively small." But then Harris advised how to get traction for the anti-war efforts: "Former Senator Gary Hart, who was at the center of the anti-war protests during Vietnam, says the only way for a bonafide movement to come about now would be for a prominent politician to publicly and repeatedly say something like this." Viewers then heard from Hart: "'I was misled by the President, the country was misled by the President, the reasons we are in Iraq today are not the reasons that I voted for, and here's a plan for the speedy withdrawal of American military forces.'"
Wednesday's Washington Post carried an op-ed from Hart, "Who Will Say 'No More'?"
Following Raddatz's story quoted above in CyberAlert item #1, World News Tonight anchor Charles Gibson set up the next story:
"Though the President and White House officials have been asked repeatedly in recent days about anti-war protesters, it's difficult to measure with any precision just how strong the anti-war movement actually is. People may tell pollsters they oppose the war, but are they part of any real anti-war movement? We asked ABC's Dan Harris to take a 'Reality Check' on the depth of sentiment against the war."
Harris began: "Shortly before the war, when the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks criticized the President, she was publicly pilloried. Today, the number one most-requested video on MTV depicts the anguish of soldiers [video of music video] and their loved ones. The song is by Green Day, who have twice topped the charts with their scathingly anti-war album [shot of album cover "American Idiot]."
Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day: "People are starting to see that it's not what they were led to believe, so it's a, you know, so I think now, in the popular culture, people are starting to get the guts to come out and declare that they oppose this war."
Harris: "Even the Rolling Stones, not known for social commentary, are criticizing the Bush administration in a song called 'My Sweet Neocon.' There is no question that the public has soured on this war. For months, Americans have been telling pollsters that going to war was a mistake. But that does not necessarily add up to a major anti-war movement. While Cindy Sheehan gets a lot of media attention [video of protest signs, including "Draft the Twins"], only 13 percent of Americans, according to the latest ABC News poll, want an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, which may be why the public protests thus far have been relatively small. It's unclear at this point who Sheehan has galvanized more -- those who are against the war or those who are for it."
Buddy McComb, You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy!: "She's fueling a fire in the belly of those terrorists that are over there fighting against our soldiers."
Harris: "Former Senator Gary Hart, who was at the center of the anti-war protests during Vietnam, says the only way for a bonafide movement to come about now would be for a prominent politician to publicly and repeatedly say something like this:"
Former Senator Gary Hart (D-CO): "'I was misled by the President, the country was misled by the President, the reasons we are in Iraq today are not the reasons that I voted for, and here's a plan for the speedy withdrawal of American military forces.'"
Harris concluded, over Green Day video with soldier being shot: "Because while pop songs might reflect the public mood, it may take a politician with a real plan to truly mobilize people. Dan Harris, ABC News, New York."
 NBC: "Iraq: The New Vietnam?"; Matthews
Hears Dusty Springfield
"Is Iraq becoming the new Vietnam?" Wednesday's Today on NBC devoted its 7am half hour "Close-Up" segment to that topic with Matt Lauer interviewing Chris Matthews. Lauer began with Senator Chuck Hagel's comparison of Iraq to Vietnam, prompting Matthews to buck up Hagel's importance: "It is a problem because he's not just a Republican as you know. Chuck Hagel, the Senator from Nebraska is from a red state, very much the heartland of America." Matthews soon asserted that "there's also another phrase from Vietnam that keeps coming to mind. No light at the end of the tunnel. I think what wears on people is not the casualty rate itself. It's no where near where it was in Vietnam. It's the murkiness." Matthews soon suggested that "it seems like we're gonna be hearing Dusty Springfield and hearing the chopper blades again." On screen during the segment, "Iraq: The New Vietnam?"
The MRC's Geoff Dickens tracked the August 24 interview for us and provided this transcript:
Matt Lauer: "On Close Up this morning is Iraq becoming the new Vietnam? Chris Matthews is the host of MSNBC's Hardball as well as the syndicated Chris Matthews Show. Hi Chris, good morning."
Chris Matthews, from Washington, DC: "Good morning, Matt."
Lauer: "Let's get right to what Senator Chuck Hagel the Republican on the Foreign Relations committee had to say over the weekend when asked about whether more U.S. troops should be sent to Iraq he said quote, 'the reason I don't think that more troops are the answer right now is that we're past that stage now because we're locked into a bogged down problem not dissimilar to where we were in Vietnam.' Now to be fair in interviews Senator Hagel has said there are more differences than similarities between Iraq and Vietnam but the fact that he's a Republican saying this how much a problem for the President?"
Matthews: "Well it is a problem because he's not just a Republican as you know. Chuck Hagel, the Senator from Nebraska is from a red state, very much the heartland of America, Nebraska, an extremely Republican state and also he has two Purple Hearts from Vietnam. He and his brother were in that war and served together. So we're not talking about Yoko Ono here or Jane Fonda, we're talking about a guy from the Midwest, a Republican who served his country and now believes he sees echoes of a war he himself fought in."
Lauer: "Don Rumsfeld held a briefing on Tuesday and when asked about these comparisons made by, by Chuck Hagel he said the following, quote, 'The differences are so notable it would take too long to list them.' But isn't the problem here, Chris, that some people in the public are starting to equate the two, Iraq and Vietnam?"
Matthews: "I think there are two fair comparisons. One is that everybody says we can't bug out, we can't cut and run. That was the spirit of Vietnam too. Let's not get out of here and lose everything. But there's also another phrase from Vietnam that keeps coming to mind. No light at the end of the tunnel. I think what wears on people is not the casualty rate itself. It's no where near where it was in Vietnam. It's the murkiness."
Lauer: "Is it the insurgency?"
Matthews: "It's this insurgency, which we didn't expect obviously, and this sense of murkiness, when's it ever gonna end? Now in all fairness too the administration people and the hawks who supported the war from day one said, 'Oh this is gonna be like World War II. We're gonna win, it's gonna be a clear victory. We're gonna march into Tokyo and into Berlin. They're gonna be practicing democracy the next day and playing baseball and everything's gonna be great.' They were wrong. It isn't World War II, it doesn't have that clarity. I think it's the murkiness. That we don't know when it's gonna end. It seems like we're gonna be hearing Dusty Springfield and hearing the chopper blades again."
Lauer: "Right. And is it interesting at all to you Chris that we're not hearing more from Democrats here? As Gary Hart puts it in an editorial in the Washington Post today that more Democrats aren't saying quote, 'No more.' Is that because they understand that there's no option to staying the course at this point?"
Matthews: "Democrats know from history and this goes back to something I think General Grant wrote I was reading the other day, that nobody ever looks good as an anti-war American during a war. You never end up winning the election even if you're proven right, like you could say McGovern was. You're not a popular figure. So I think it's politics. They know that they're gonna benefit from anti-war feeling in the next election in 2006 and certainly by 2008. They don't have to life a finger. They can be like Richard Nixon was in '68 and simply say, 'we need new leadership,' and they could win the election without any, ever putting forward a clear criticism of the war or a clear alternative."
Lauer: "Real quickly, let me ask you about Cindy Sheehan. She's proven very hard for the President to deal with. He's now talking about her in speeches. In some ways it seems he's adjusted this vacation plans to deal with the attention that she's receiving. Are you surprised Chris that the administration, the White House has not handled the Cindy Sheehan situation better?"
Matthews: "Right. I think that she's become the iconic figure of August and we've all known. You and I covering the news you find August always presents an unexpected story. I think she's gonna be the picture on this month, Cindy Sheehan. And the President has had to go from trying to ignore her and having the people on the blog sites, the right wingers out on the blog sites trashing her, now he's had to come out and treat her with a measure of respect, just yesterday. I think she's winning the argument, although, let's be fair, she's an extremely anti-war person. I asked her the other night on Hardball, if you're son had been killed in Afghanistan, rather than Iraq would you still be standing there down there in Crawford and she said yes. So this woman's offering a very broad criticism of our foreign policy which very few Americans share. Most Americans overwhelmingly say we had to go to Afghanistan to catch al Qaeda and to bring down the Taliban that supported it. We had to begin to take the war on against terrorism."
Lauer: "Right but they don't-"
Matthews: "She's completely anti-war so I think she's off-base in terms of where most people are thinking but she has become a real wrinkle in this guy's world."
Lauer: "Real, real, real quickly Chris. The poll numbers for the President are very low. He got a bump in the polls after the interim elections in Iraq when people walked away showing the ink-stains on their fingers."
Matthews: "Right."
Lauer: "Does the constitution, when it's finalized, give them a similar bump?"
Matthews: "Except that I think the Sunni insurgents will be galvanized into complete revolt by then. Because they'll see themselves in a country that's gonna be federalized, which means it may be very much loosely constructed and that's not what they want, they want a real country held together."
Lauer: "Right."
Matthews: "And they're very worried I think about the self, the self-determination perhaps or autonomy of the Kurds. They don't like this constitution, it's gonna cut them out of power officially."
Lauer: "Your answer is the President doesn't get a bump."
Matthews: "Right and I think the action in the streets over there and I hate to say it's gonna happen but I think it will, there gonna be more violence. As Rumsfeld said yesterday, the Secretary of Defense, there's more lethality, there's more of our guys getting killed now and our allies over there getting killed now than before."
Lauer: "Right."
Matthews: "So I don't think it's gonna be calm, I don't think it's gonna look good."
Lauer: "Okay Chris Matthews, Chris thanks always, I appreciate it."
Matthews: "Thank you, Matt."
 Olbermann Targets Hume as "Worser" in
"Worst Person in the World"
On his MSNBC Countdown show on Wednesday night, Keith Olbermann, who described the Fox News Channel as "just a brand name, not a description," named FNC's Brit Hume his "runner-up" in his daily "Worst Person in the World" gimmick. What riled Olbermann? Hume daring to criticize as "'excessive' the TV coverage of Pat Robertson's call for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela because, he said, Robertson has 'no influence.'" Olbermann sarcastically added: "Probably why Fox has had Robertson on their network ten times in the last year." By that reasoning, Olbermann would have to consider influential the parade of lawyers, family friends and other hangers-on brought out many times a day on FNC and MSNBC to talk about the Natalie Holloway case.
[This article was posted Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters: Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias. To post a comment on this topic: newsbusters.org ]
In fact, Hume never said Robertson has "no influence." Hume suggested that Robertson's "political influence may have been declining since he came in second in the Iowa Republican caucuses 17 years ago and he may have no clout with the Bush administration" and that CNN's Bill Schneider had decided that Robertson has "little influence."
The August 24 CyberAlert quoted Hume's August 23 "Grapevine" item in which Hume specifically castigated CNN: www.mrc.org
Olbermann's "worse," the third runner-up was a malfunctioning security robot which sprayed smoke at Japan's Prime Minister and he crowned Victoria Gotti the winner for saying she has cancer when she doesn't.
Full text of Olbermann's August 24 hit on Hume:
"Your runner-up: Brit Hume. Another reason that the phrase Fox News Channel is just a brand name, not a description. Hume criticized as 'excessive' the TV coverage of Pat Robertson's call for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela because, he said, Robertson has 'no influence.' Probably why Fox has had Robertson on their network ten times in the last year. I'm now officially on the clock. I'm awaiting the traditional anonymous personal response from those at FNC so proud of their own work that they will not attach their own names to their comments."
 ABC & CBS Falsely Cite "Record High"
Prices for Both Oil and Gas
Double false stories. ABC anchor Charles Gibson and CBS anchor John Roberts on Wednesday night weren't satisfied with a fallacious reference to a "record high" price for either gas or oil. No, they insisted upon inaccurately reporting both. "Another day, another record high price for oil -- $67.32 a barrel," Gibson reported on World News Tonight before setting up his next story with a fallacy: "All week, we have been examining the record-high gasoline prices in our series, 'Over a Barrel.'" Over on the CBS Evening News, Roberts claimed that "oil production sent the price of crude soaring today to a record high $67.32 a barrel" and referred to "more pressure on already record high gas prices." As noted in several past CyberAlerts, oil will have to exceed $90 a barrel to set a record and a gallon of gas will have to go over $3.00 to reach the 1981 price.
Both items were accompanied by graphics with a red "Record High" on screen.
# Charles Gibson on ABC's World News Tonight: "Another day, another record high price for oil -- $67.32 a barrel. Today's explanation, declining U.S. stockpiles and fears that Tropical Storm Katrina might disrupt production in the Gulf. All week, we have been examining the record-high gasoline prices in our series, 'Over a Barrel.' Tonight, new ways automobiles might be powered in the future. You've heard of gas/electric hybrids, you've heard of hydrogen fuel cell cars. Well, ABC's Brian Rooney has found some other alternatives that people are working on right now."
# John Roberts on the August 24 CBS Evening News: "And worries that Tropical Storm Katrina, soon to be Hurricane Katrina, might disrupt oil production sent the price of crude soaring today to a record high $67.32 a barrel. Then there's a report that gasoline inventories are down sharply. All that is putting more pressure on already record high gas prices. CBS News is checking the impact in a special series, 'The Cross Country Price Patrol.'"
 NBC Blames Floods on Global Warming;
CNN: "We're Making It Worse"
Two more examples have how journalists have been captured by the environmental left. In a story Wednesday night on what NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams described as "severe, history-making floods" in Europe, reporter Jim Maceda forwarded: "What's happening? Some experts say global warming is generating extreme weather systems." Earlier Wednesday, on CNN's American Morning, co-host Miles O'Brien declared as fact: "Well, you know, let's face it, the scientific jury is in, folks. The planet is getting warmer, we're making it worse. And the fact is the Bush administration has not made this a priority." Earth may be warming, but by how much, the degree of its impact, what is causing it and what, if anything, needs to be done about it is very much in dispute.
Maceda asked in his August 24 story: "What's happening? Some experts say global warming is generating extreme weather systems."
Alex Hill, London Weather Centre: "What you're doing is making the weather either too hot or too wet."
The MRC's Megan McCormack caught this exchange from just before 9m EDT Wednesday on CNN's American Morning:
Miles O'Brien: "Nine northeastern states, in the absence of a U.S. federal plan to cap greenhouse emissions and curb global warming, nine northeastern states going to do it themselves. They're going to cap utility emissions-"
Soledad O'Brien: "But does it work if you do it yourself?"
Miles O'Brien: "Well, no. We're talking about a global problem'€""
Soledad O'Brien: "Yeah!"
Miles O'Brien: "-that is going to take a long time to solve and it doesn't happen quickly. But the point is, this is led by George Pataki, Republican governor of New York, who is, you know, laying the groundwork for a presidential run, and is trying to differentiate himself from the Bush administration, which has said no to the Kyoto Accords, which would have capped all kinds of emissions from utilities and-"
Carol Costello: "So he believes in global warming?"
Miles O'Brien: "Well, you know, let's face it, the scientific jury is in, folks. The planet is getting warmer, we're making it worse. And the fact is the Bush administration has not made this a priority. The states may ultimately force this."
# If you haven't yet, check out the MRC's new blog, NewsBusters: Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias. Go to: www.newsbusters.org
-- Brent Baker
|
ABC made time Wednesday night for Martha Raddatz to read from a letter the Gold Star Moms for Peace sent to President Bush in which they charged that "you put our troops in harm's way based on a lie. We are military families who demand an end to the lies, and call for you to bring our troops home now." But, after weeks of hyping Cindy Sheehan, neither Raddatz nor anyone else on World News Tonight mentioned how Bush spent nearly three hours meeting with family members of those killed in Iraq. Neither did the CBS Evening News which held its coverage of Bush's speech in Idaho to the National Guard to a soundbite of Bush quoting a mother with four sons in Iraq. NBC anchor Brian Williams touted how Sheehan's group "said today its members will follow President Bush around the country protesting the war," but at least Kelly O'Donnell noted that Bush "met privately with 68 family members who grieve for sons and husbands lost in war." 
In a look Wednesday night at the status of the anti-war movement, ABC's Dan Harris acknowledged that "while Cindy Sheehan gets a lot of media attention, only 13 percent of Americans, according to the latest ABC News poll, want an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, which may be why the public protests thus far have been relatively small." But then Harris advised how to get traction for the anti-war efforts: "Former Senator Gary Hart, who was at the center of the anti-war protests during Vietnam, says the only way for a bonafide movement to come about now would be for a prominent politician to publicly and repeatedly say something like this." Viewers then heard from Hart: "'I was misled by the President, the country was misled by the President, the reasons we are in Iraq today are not the reasons that I voted for, and here's a plan for the speedy withdrawal of American military forces.'" 
"Is Iraq becoming the new Vietnam?" Wednesday's Today on NBC devoted its 7am half hour "Close-Up" segment to that topic with Matt Lauer interviewing Chris Matthews. Lauer began with Senator Chuck Hagel's comparison of Iraq to Vietnam, prompting Matthews to buck up Hagel's importance: "It is a problem because he's not just a Republican as you know. Chuck Hagel, the Senator from Nebraska is from a red state, very much the heartland of America." Matthews soon asserted that "there's also another phrase from Vietnam that keeps coming to mind. No light at the end of the tunnel. I think what wears on people is not the casualty rate itself. It's no where near where it was in Vietnam. It's the murkiness." Matthews soon suggested that "it seems like we're gonna be hearing Dusty Springfield and hearing the chopper blades again." On screen during the segment, "Iraq: The New Vietnam?" 
On his MSNBC Countdown show on Wednesday night, Keith Olbermann, who described the Fox News Channel as "just a brand name, not a description," named FNC's Brit Hume his "runner-up" in his daily "Worst Person in the World" gimmick. What riled Olbermann? Hume daring to criticize as "'excessive' the TV coverage of Pat Robertson's call for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela because, he said, Robertson has 'no influence.'" Olbermann sarcastically added: "Probably why Fox has had Robertson on their network ten times in the last year." By that reasoning, Olbermann would have to consider influential the parade of lawyers, family friends and other hangers-on brought out many times a day on FNC and MSNBC to talk about the Natalie Holloway case. 
Double false stories. ABC anchor Charles Gibson and CBS anchor John Roberts on Wednesday night weren't satisfied with a fallacious reference to a "record high" price for either gas or oil. No, they insisted upon inaccurately reporting both. "Another day, another record high price for oil -- $67.32 a barrel," Gibson reported on World News Tonight before setting up his next story with a fallacy: "All week, we have been examining the record-high gasoline prices in our series, 'Over a Barrel.'" Over on the CBS Evening News, Roberts claimed that "oil production sent the price of crude soaring today to a record high $67.32 a barrel" and referred to "more pressure on already record high gas prices." As noted in several past CyberAlerts, oil will have to exceed $90 a barrel to set a record and a gallon of gas will have to go over $3.00 to reach the 1981 price. 