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Anti-Bush Ad Promoted; Catholic Church Too Conservative; Dr. Laura Lashed
The CBS Evening News delivered the vaguest and most misleading reports which did not even mention the role of Microsoft products. Dan Rather referred to how the virus is "clogging e-mail systems" while reporter Jim Axelrod misleadingly implied it is activated by any e-mail program: "Those who opened it found out the hard way that sometimes love stinks." He also asserted that "the virus needs just one person to open it on one computer at any given business. The virus then infiltrates the computer's address book, forwarding itself to everyone listed." As noted above, that's just not true. It does not infiltrate "the computers's address book." It infiltrates just Microsoft Outlook and then only if the computer has Microsoft's Internet Explorer installed, something Windows 98 users can't avoid but which means many Windows 95 users were not directly impacted by the virus. On the May 4 World News Tonight ABC's Peter Jennings warned: "As best we can tell there is no corner of the world, nor any segment of society, from PC user to the military establishment, that wasn't affected." Indirectly that may be true, but not in a direct sense. ABC's Erin Hayes at least mentioned Outlook: "Among the damage, it can dig into a computer's graphics and music files, in some cases deleting them. But the biggest damage comes when the worm crawls over to Microsoft Outlook." NBC's Pete Williams on Nightly News came closest to saying it only effects Outlook users: "Once opened, it quickly sends out a copy of itself to every e-mail address store on the target computer. Experts say it's designed to search the files of the world's most popular e-mail program, Microsoft Outlook, then it worms its way into computer files, destroying stored pictures and music." The abcnews.com Web
site did a much better job in reporting what software must be present:
"Anyone running Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, or both Windows 95 and
Internet Explorer 5.0 is vulnerable, Chien said. The virus needs Microsoft
Outlook to spread. Macintosh and Linux users are not vulnerable." The
piece, as of when I read it, did not identify Chien or his or her first name.
For the full story, go to:
CBS's Jim Stewart
buttressed the fear of NRA influence: "What makes the NRA's claim more
plausible than most, however, is their intent to spend up to $15 million on
this year's elections." Similarly, NBC's David Gregory asserted:
"This year the NRA is more closely aligned with the Republican Party than
ever before." Only CNN's Candy Crowley suggested Bush's position is the
more popular one, concluding a World Today piece: Now to the CBS and NBC stories. Dan Rather set up the CBS Evening News piece by using the term "promote gun safety," a liberal spin: "The stark differences between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George Bush over ways to curb gun violence and promote gun safety were highlighted today in a new way. A National Rifle Association NRA official explained in public a boast that he'd made in private caught on video." Jim Stewart began his
report, as transcribed by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: "The pictures are a
bit grainy, but the enthusiasm was clear when 300 NRA faithful met privately
in California last February to hear what they can expect if George W. Bush
becomes President." Stewart said nothing about how much pro-gun control groups plan to spend. On the NBC Nightly
News David Gregory opened by playing a portion of the Handgun Control ad which
showed Kayne Robinson before the narrator demanded: "The White House is
our house and it shouldn't belong to the NRA." 
FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume on May 4 led with Brian Wilson's story showing how Ruff said he could not recall certain key facts, an "I don't remember" answer that Wilson recalled matched what Ruff once told Bob Woodward he'd say if ever caught up in a Watergate-like scandal. The 7pm ET Fox Report ran a one-minute item on the hearing. Brian Wilson began his
Special Report with Brit Hume story, as transcribed by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth,
by reporting how Ruff told the committee "he is ultimately responsible
for White House legal decisions made back then." Wilson the re-capped testimony from the previous day when the committee learned that reference to how the White House knew of the problem in 1998 was deleted by Ruff's successor from a report to Congress filed this March. Wilson wrapped up by recalling: "By the way, many years ago, Chuck Ruff was a young lawyer working on the Watergate investigation of Richard Nixon. He was later interview by Bob Woodward about his experiences and what he would do if he was ever called before a committee and asked tough questions. He said he would say, 'Gee, I just don't remember what happened back then, and they won't be able to indict me for perjury. I intend to rely on that failure of memory.' Brit, we assume that was said in jest." Sounds more like an accurate preview.
Thursday night Dan Rather noted how O'Connor had died after a battle with cancer, adding: "O'Connor was a staunch defender of church doctrine, opposing abortion, homosexuality, capital punishment and the ordination of women. Pope John Paul called the Cardinal, quote, 'a deeply spiritual man and a vigorous defender of human life.'" NBC Nightly News
devoted its In Depth segments to the Catholic Church. First, Rehema Ellis
profiled O'Connor, but instead of sticking to the positive as one normally
does in remembering someone who has passed away, she ran battling soundbites
on his legacy: "In a city known for its liberal views, O'Connor was an
unwavering supporter of the Pope's conservative positions, opposing gay
rights, contraception and abortion." (In a Today story Thursday morning, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens noticed, Ellis found liberal activities of O'Connor to admire: "The soft voice and ready smile so familiar to New Yorkers masked a tough, unyielding view, of Catholic morality on sex, abortion and homosexuality. But the leader of New York's Catholics was no rigid conservative. In the '80s O'Connor offered a public apology for anti-Semitism in the Church's past. He was often publicly pro-labor and a defender of immigrant's rights. And he preached frequently about an America too quick to accept guns and violence.") Setting up the second Nighty News In Depth piece, Tom Brokaw promised "a look at the shortage of priests and an American church in crisis." Jim Avila, just back from Havana where he spent a month discovering the joys of "the Cuban good life," warned: "Experts say America's priest shortage is the biggest challenge facing this country's 60 million Catholics." He cited numbers showing that the numbers of priest in the U.S. has fallen from 58,000 in 1965 to 45,000, so now out of "dignified desperation" the Chicago Archdiocese is running TV ads and buying billboard space to promote priesthood. Avila showed the TV ad with the words on screen: "Minimize your wardrobe" followed by "Maximize your potential" followed by "Consider the priesthood." After Frances George,
Archbishop of Chicago, explained their hope to create a climate where becoming
a priest is a good thing to think about, Avila countered: Avila concluded: "Schools that turn out good students but very few priests for today's Catholic church." Avila never addressed the seeming contradiction between how the church can be facing a crisis of not enough priests while it is simultaneously in a crisis because it's losing church-goers, churches and schools due to a lack of enthusiasm for the church's doctrine.
She appeared on the Ft. Lee New Jersey-based show from NBC's studios in Manhattan, which was fortunate given the hostility from question number one forward displayed by Ashleigh Banfield, who handled the interview solo. In her very first inquiry she told Dr. Laura her "solutions seem a little backward." Then she got really hostile. Here are the rest of her questions, in the form of lectures, as transcribed by MRC analyst Paul Smith: -- "I think a lot of people are suggesting that the Ward and June Cleaver relationship is very difficult in this day and age. I know that you advocate that you don't necessarily need all that extra money in a dual income family, that perhaps your standards are too high. But, honestly, I look at you and the amount of money that you've made in your life. I read some statistics on you. I think you make about a million dollars a year and you sold your radio rights back in 1997 for about $71 million. Not to mention the royalties from your five bestselling books, and two children's books and your TV show that is about to come out on September 11. Correct me if I'm wrong, and I certainly don't mean any disrespect when I say this, aren't you living in a very big, beautiful glass castle and the average guy out there really needs that extra money in a dual income family?" -- "I am going to take you on a little personally here Dr. Laura only because I have considered in my lifetime having a child on my own without a father in the family. I know you are absolutely diametrically opposed to that saying that it is one of the most selfish things that a person can do. I do have to ask you though if me, as a single person, doesn't have a right to procreate and if I just haven't seemed to meet my special someone else, do I therefore need to be discriminated against by society because my friends have said that they want to have children just because they want to have children. I feel the same way." Schlessinger said you are not entitled to use or abuse other people by putting your needs first, so yes Banfield is being "selfish." She added that it's a "crime to obligate a child to the loss of either a mommy or a daddy." -- "On that same vein Dr. Laura, is it also a crime then to put your child in the media spotlight because the choices that you've made in your life have really put you, catapulted you into the media spotlight. You have been the object of glaring criticism in the media and that's got to be difficult for your son. Do you not think that perhaps in essence you're also a bit selfish in your career choices?" -- "I have to ask you, because this has been such a huge media topic lately, your views on gays and homosexuals, etcetera. You have been known to say that that behavior is deviant and that it is biologically wrong. What would you do Dr. Laura if your fourteen-year-old son Derek came home and told you he was gay?" -- "How would Derek feel knowing what you think about that behavior if he were to come home and tell you this?" -- "I'm going over a shopping list of things you are against: divorce, living together, working moms, premarital sex, lying, immoral behavior, homosexuality, family differences and day care. Now I'm going to go over the list of some of the rules that you've broken in your lifetime. You have been divorced. You lived with your current husband before you married him, Lou Bishop. You also posed nude for photographs and then lied about the photographs at first and then claimed the rights to those photographs. You fired your own mother when she worked for you and you have not spoken with her for fourteen years and you also put Derek into day care when he was three years old. You're also a working mom. I guess I just have to ask you what leg do you have to stand on to talk about suggestions for people and the way they live?" Schlessinger began her retort: "Well, only a few of the things that you even mentioned are accurate and this is not the purpose for my being here. Not to defend myself against inaccuracies that occur in the media regularly because it's a shoot the messenger kind of procedure where I am talking about things, it amazes me that talking about traditional values is controversial but it seems to be...." No wonder so few watch MSNBC. They create a daytime show aimed at attracting stay at home moms -- Home Page airs from 1 to 4pm ET/10am to 1pm PT -- and then have liberal feminist women host it who are hostile to the lifestyle chosen by their target audience.
Marc Morano, of the syndicated TV show American Investigator, captured Chase's comments on tape during an interview he conducted with Chase as he caught the actor and his wife, Jayni, just as they hopped out of their sedan behind the Earth Day rally stage on Washington's Mall. +++ Watch Chase argue for the virtues of socialism. Morano has graciously provided the MRC with the raw footage of this April 22 interview and late this morning the MRC's Eric Pairel will post a clip of it in RealPlayer format. Go to: http://www.mrc.org [4] For more about
Morano's show and Chase's comments, go to: Here are some of the
highlights from his interview, taken from a transcript confirmed by MRC intern
Michael Ferguson: -- Morano: "How
does socialism help people out of poverty?" Cuba just proves socialism doesn't work and you need a dose of capitalism to prevent people from starving. -- Brent Baker [6]
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The
impact of the ILOVEYOU computer virus topped the three broadcast network
evening shows Thursday night, but while ABC and NBC at least mentioned
Microsoft Outlook, all three failed to inform viewers that the virus only did
damage to Windows computers also simultaneously running two specific Microsoft
programs. None pointed out how the virus had no impact on computers using the
UNIX, Linux or Mac operating systems, or that it only sent itself to Outlook
address book listings, not through other e-mail software, such as Lotus Notes
or Eudora.
CBS, CNN and NBC all jumped at the chance Thursday night to promote a Handgun
Control Inc. ad denouncing an NRA official's boast about having access to a
future President Bush. All three showed Al Gore picking up on the attack, but
unlike when Bush allies in Texas paid for an ad attacking John McCain, none
raised questions about "coordination" or other ties between the gun
control groups and Gore's campaign.
The highest-ranking official yet to testify before the House Government Reform
Committee on the missing White House e-mail appeared Thursday, but only FNC
cared Thursday night about what former White House counsel Charles Ruff had to
say. Not a word was uttered about the hearing on the ABC, CBS or NBC evening
shows, nor on CNN's Inside Politics or The World Today. (Surprisingly, Friday
morning ABC's Good Morning America did run a piece by John Cochran. More on
that in the next CyberAlert.)
Hitting them when they're mourning. ABC's World News Tonight on May 4 didn't
mention the passing of New York City's Cardinal John O'Connor and the CBS
Evening News ran a brief item featuring praise for his work from the Pope, but
the NBC Nightly News took advantage of his death to run an In Depth look at
declining church attendance and how it and the lack of enough priests is
"a symptom of a church losing touch with its American members" by
being too conservative.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the national radio talk show host despised by liberals
for dispensing conservative, morally-based lifestyle advice, was assaulted
Thursday afternoon on MSNBC by an angry woman host. Schlessinger appeared live
at 2:30pm ET on MSNBC's three-hour Home Page gabfest targeted at women viewers
and hosted by three women, to talk about her new book, Parenthood by Proxy:
Don't Have Them If You Won't Raise Them.
Saturday marks two weeks since Earth Day, an Earth Day largely submerged by
the Elian Gonzalez raid that morning, but now I've come across a way to unite
Elian and Earth Day. On Earth Day actor Chevy Chase declared that
"sometimes socialism works" to get people in the Third World out of
poverty and insisted that free markets and socialism can work together
"and I think Cuba might prove that."