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Gore A Bush Victim; Exploiting Tragedy for Gun Control; Sarandon's Pick
ABC's Dean Reynolds insisted that "his primary race transformed Bush into a darling of arch-conservatives." ABC, CBS and NBC picked up on Gore's admission that fundraising "mistakes" were made in 1996, but allowed his attempt to blunt the issue succeed as neither network mentioned how it went beyond mistakes as a Gore fundraiser was convicted last week. Here are some notes and quotes from the broadcast network evening shows on Wednesday night, March 8, the day after Super Tuesday: -- ABC's World News Tonight. Linda Douglass summarized
speculation about what McCain will do next and then Dean Reynolds looked at
the Bush campaign. Reynolds asserted: Next, Terry Moran checked in from the Gore camp,
beginning his upbeat piece: "With a victor's bounce in his step Vice
President Gore boarded Air Force Two carrying a new message: He's the reform
candidate. He is calling on the Republican to renounce television and radio
ads and ban so-called soft money. That might be a tough sell given Gore's
notorious 1996 appearance at a Buddhist temple where campaign funds were
illegally raised. But the Vice President is trying to blunt that criticism by
saying he's a changed man." No mention of Maria Hsia's conviction which World News Tonight gave 19 seconds last week. -- CBS Evening News. Phil Jones handled the top story on McCain speculation, concluding that the burden is on Bush: "At the very least, all this independent talk is a signal to Governor Bush, if he wants McCain's support he going to have to deal with a maverick on reform issues." Now compare and contrast how Dan Rather introduced the
next two stories. First, a piece on Bush: Second, a story on Gore: "For his part Al Gore wasted no time reaching out to Bradley's backers, bidding for voters cut for McCain and the view that the Bush agenda, is in Gore's view, outside the American mainstream." In the first piece Bill Whitaker portrayed Bush as
tough: But Whitaker then moved from painting Bush as tough to
portraying him as mean and unfair: "Head of the Texas Democratic Party,
Molly Beth Malcolm, has seen two gubernatorial candidates fall to Bush." In the piece on Gore John Roberts stressed: "With a
clear path to the nomination, Gore is now actively laying out plans for an
eight month turf war over independent voters and moderate Republicans."
The closest Roberts came to blaming Gore for negative campaigning was allowing
political scientist John Geer to predict that it will be a "nasty
campaign." Roberts actually spent more time on how Bush is the aggressor,
concluding: -- NBC Nightly News. After an opening story on what McCain may do next, Tom Brokaw intoned: "Whatever McCain decides, the Republican Party is like a family feud that suddenly deteriorated into an unexpectedly bloody brawl. Now how to patch it all up again." Lisa Myers began by noting how the current party split
is not nearly as bad as the 1976 Ford-Reagan fight. Late in the piece Myers
played this soundbite from former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan: "And
he's got to convince people that he is not soft. He is gentle, but he's
not soft, he's smart, he can do this, he has internal strength. He's got
six months to do that." Finally, Claire Shipman looked at Gore. As transcribed by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth, Shipman noted how Gore is making a play for McCain voters who want campaign finance reform. She cautioned: "It may be a hard sell after serving as Vice President for seven years and still answering questions about that Buddhist temple fundraiser, but Gore is carefully trying to take the steam out of that incident, admitting a mistake and at the same time likening himself to John McCain." Al Gore: "I've learned from my mistakes. Like John McCain, I bring personal experience to the cause and commitment of campaign finance reform."
Interviewing Gore, Good Morning America co-host Charles Gibson asked: "Senator, Governor Bush last night said that he's going to remind Americans that they don't want a White House where there is 'no controlling legal authority.' Those last four words, a quote of yours that go back to the fundraising troubles that your campaign had in '96. One of your aides convicted this week of campaign financing abuses and Senator Bradley said during the campaign that, that it's going to haunt you, campaign fundraising in '96, until you make a full explanation of the campaign's activities in that year. Are you going to have to do that, Mr. Vice President?" Later, Gibson raised the issue with George
Stephanopoulos: Over on CBS's The Early Show, MRC analyst Brian Boyd caught this question from co-host Bryant Gumbel to Gore: "As we look ahead, along with many others, Senator Bradley as you know has said that you will lose the general election unless you offer the voters a better explanation for the '96 fundraiser at the Buddhist temple. I know you have pleaded naivete, I know you've said it was a mistake, but will you yet give voters a more thorough answer?" Maybe The Early Show could offer "more thorough" reporting and actually mention Maria Hsia's conviction. On NBC's Today Katie Couric asked Tim Russert about Gore's fundraising, but I didn't get that transcribed.
-- Pat Robertson Republican. Today co-host Matt Lauer to Al Gore: "During the primary campaign John McCain repeatedly called George W. Bush a Pat Robertson Republican, is he?" David Bloom in a taped interview with Bush: "Let me ask you about Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition, John McCain says that you're a 'Pat Robertson Republican.' Is that a badge of honor you will wear with pride into the general election?" -- Castigating Bush's tone and issue agenda. Bloom lectured Bush: "One of the things you said in your speech last night, was you accused the Clinton-Gore administration of demagoguery when it comes to Social Security and of giving Americans a White House where there is 'no controlling legal authority.' Is that the sort of campaign this is going to be?" -- "Extreme right-wing" Bush versus Al Gore
"pushed to the left." Picking up on Gore's comment earlier in the
show that the "extreme right" had a "big influence" on
Bush's positions, on Today co-host Katie Couric asked Tim Russert: To whatever extent Bush has moved right, Al Gore has
moved left or already was on the extreme left, but that's never been
mentioned this year by any network reporter as far as I can recall. At least
not until Wednesday's Good Morning America. MRC analyst Jessica Anderson
caught this question from Charles Gibson to George Stephanopoulos:
A headline on the Drudge Report page on Wednesday
announced: "VIDEO: McCain was passing NBC NEWS reporter Maria Shriver on
the way to his Super Tuesday speech, when Shriver asked him: "Senator
McCain, how are you feeling tonight?" McCain shot back "Please, get
out of here!"... MSNBC host Brian Williams was left speechless." The Drudge address: http://www.drudgereport.com [3] A story by Richard Huff in Thursday's New York Daily
News reported: "The incident caused a minor rumble. WFAN radio host Don
Imus, a McCain supporter, made the Shriver incident - and criticizing
Shriver and Williams -- a major point of humor during yesterday's program,
which is simulcast on MSNBC. The incident occurred as McCain was on his way to
deliver his concession speech. Just after he finished it Shriver and MSNBC
anchor Brian Williams discussed his outburst. Asked by Williams if she'd
been hounding him, Shriver replied: "Actually, that's the first time
I've ever seen him....never have spoken to him and doubt I'll be speaking
to him again in the future." Note how she boasted about having never even seen McCain before. That says a lot about network news priorities. Instead of assigning experienced reporters to campaign events on big days who might be able to pick up on subtle changes in a candidate's words or tone, they sign contracts with stars like Shriver guaranteeing they can parachute in on big events. So much for any interest in quality reporting.
Introducing a March 8 story on a man in Memphis who shot firefighters trying to put out a fire in his house, Rather intoned: "There was a deadly ambush in Memphis today and fresh fuel for the hot campaign issue of gun control." Bob McNamara concluded the subsequent story: "Across the country, the new year has had a bloody beginning. From Pittsburgh to Michigan to Memphis, the combination of guns and life gone wrong has triggered a national debate. But while Washington wonders what to do, almost every day there is fresh evidence that Americans are dying for something to change." On March 7 Dan Rather complained: "President Clinton met today with congressional leaders, pushing them for new gun control laws in response to more shocking gun violence. It's been a week since a six-year-old Michigan girl was shot dead by another six-year-old. As CBS's Diana Olick reports, the little girl's death has many wondering what, if anything, more can be done and asking why Congress hasn't done anything for months." Reporter Diana Olick ran soundbites from Clinton and Democratic Congressman John Conyers before giving Senator Orrin Hatch a few seconds to point out that current proposals wouldn't have prevented recent incidents. Olick concluded: "And in an election year some charge the politicians would rather have a divisive issue than pass a gun bill. Congressional leaders refuse even to call a meeting of negotiators. Instead, they're caught in an epidemic of finger-pointing."
MRC analyst Paul Smith caught this exchange from Brokaw's appearance on Monday's Larry King Live on CNN. Caller: "I remember reading the poll numbers in the last election, and I was very curious to hear your take on this, because I have a lot of respect for your take. Eighty percent of the mainstream media ended up favoring Bill Clinton in the election. And you hear a lot about the media bias on radio and on television. Do you believe this media bias exists?" King piped up: "The poll said they may have voted for Bill Clinton. That doesn't mean they're biased toward him. Have you ever seen it, Tom, bias?" Brokaw explained: "No. I think what's happened this time is that John McCain is getting very good press treatment, but then he's found a way into the hearts and minds of these reporters by inviting them on the bus and talking to them straight from the shoulder, admitting when he makes a big faux pas of some kind. And I think it has helped his candidacy. There's no question about that. I think the, after New Hampshire and then especially Michigan, the Bush campaign learned that it would have to make their candidate more accessible to reporters on a daily basis. So reporters are like everyone else: They, you know, they kind of go with the ebb and flow of the personality of a candidate. But if you take John McCain's policies on the environment or on abortion or on military policy, it probably doesn't square with a lot of the reporters who have become very infatuated with him, just because he seems to be, again, one of these authentic people." Brokaw later returned to the caller's original inquiry: "Now to your larger question about are reporters biased, now I really don't think that they are. I think that most of us are registered, as I am, which is decline to or as independents. I never have revealed who I've ever voted for. But I can tell, it crosses back and forth between party lines. And I think most people feel that way who are reporters. You know, if one of us begins to really tilt the coverage toward one candidate, there are a hundred others behind us who will be pointing that out to you or you'll be able to go to another channel or another newspaper or another radio station, and find out the other side of the story." A May 1996 MediaWatch article, "Media Clique Clap for Clinton," summarized the poll to which the caller was referring: When Americans went to the polls in 1992, 43 percent voted for Bill Clinton and 38 percent for George Bush. But the results were very different in another America, the news media's Washington bureaus. A poll of 139 bureau chiefs and congressional reporters discovered 89 percent pulled the lever for Clinton and seven percent picked Bush. In mid-April the Freedom Forum released a report examining media-congressional relations. Buried in the appendix were "a few final questions for classification purposes only." These were part of a 58 question Roper Center survey completed by mail in November and December 1995. Asked "How would you characterize your political orientation?" 61 percent said "liberal" or "liberal to moderate." Only nine percent labeled themselves "conservative" or "moderate to conservative."... END Excerpt To read the entire article, go to:
MRC analyst Jessica Anderson transcribed the political portion of Sarandon's March 7 interview by Lifetime Live co-host Dana Reeve: Reeve: "I want to know your response because I saw you watching the political roundtable, which I thought was really, really interesting. So what issues are important to you in this election?" Sarandon: "Well, I have to say, you know, just
blah, blah, blah. These guys talking about nothing, really, nothing of
substance. Maybe it's too early, I don't know, but I don't see anybody
sounding any different than anybody else, except on choice, really. I think
that it's just the same old -- I mean, no wonder nobody's particularly
excited. I mean, maybe Ralph Nader's saying something that's -- he's at
least identified corporate problems, you know, in terms of, kind of, the
issues that were brought up in Seattle, and what's happening to our food and
our water and our kids' education and, you know, poverty. I mean, something
of some substance, I don't hear anything that's making me want to run
out." Reeve agreed: "Yeah, I
think, and the idea of women's issues versus issues that are more
widespread, I think, it was touched upon in the conversation, that really
issues like education and issues like childcare, you know, wake up, folks,
they're actually not just women's issues." Well, we'll at least cut her off at this point. -- Brent Baker [5]
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Day
One of the fall presidential campaign, which got under way Wednesday,
presented CBS Evening News viewers with a case study in the biased framework
through which network reporting will describe the Bush versus Gore battle.
Introducing a story on the Bush campaign anchor Dan Rather focused on how Gore
will soon be the victim of his "negative attack ads and phone
banks." But setting up a piece on Gore's day, Rather stressed how Gore
was "reaching out" to Bradley supporters and saying that the Bush
agenda "is outside the American mainstream."
All three
morning shows on Wednesday raised the issue of Al Gore's 1996 fundraising
practices, but none alerted viewers to the fact that the organizer of the
Buddhist temple event, Maria Hsia, was convicted on five counts last Thursday
for funneling money from straw donors, a development the shows all skipped
last Friday morning.
NBC's
Today on Wednesday morning demanded that both Al Gore and George Bush react to
John McCain's claim that Bush is a "Pat Robertson Republican" and
NBC's David Bloom castigated Bush for complaining about White House
demagoguery on Social Security and Gore's fundraising, asking: "Is that
the sort of campaign this is going to be?" While Katie Couric admired how
Gore managed to "craftily associate George W. Bush with the extreme
right-wing of the GOP," ABC's Charles Gibson, in what is probably a
network first, noted that during the primaries Al Gore "was pushed to the
left."
The MRC's
posting of video from MSNBC of John McCain telling NBC's Maria Shriver on
Tuesday night, "please get out of here," was plugged by the Drudge
Report and Shriver conceded she parachuted in for the event and had never
previously seen McCain.
For the past
two nights the CBS Evening News has exploited gun violence in order to chide
Congress for not enacting more gun control regulations.
Tom Brokaw
denied there is any liberal media bias, but conceded that John McCain's
conservative views on such things as the environment, abortion or military
policy, don't "square with a lot of the reporters who have become very
infatuated with him."
On
Monday's Lifetime Live, the new noontime ET talk show co-produced by ABC
News, the Lifetime cable channel gave a platform to Hillary Clinton. On
Tuesday they showcased liberal pontificating from actress Susan Sarandon who
praised Ralph Nader, advocated "campaign finance reform" and
regretted how male politicians don't care as much as women do about
education and child care.