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Dan "The Hawk" Rather; WB/TNT Terrorist Victim Fundraiser Helped Gun Control Groups; "Fox News is Not Located in Switzerland."
Rather opened the October 1 CBS Evening News
with an interview with Powell. When Powell outlined how the Taliban has
lost diplomatic relations with two of three nations and that the
"international community" is mobilizing against the al-qaeda
terrorist network, Rather retorted: During an interview with Entertainment Tonight
shown Monday night, but taped the week before, Jann Carl observed:
"Still feeling the pain of the horrifying attacks, Dan says it's
time for every American to rally around the President." Carl reminded viewers of how Rather had cried with David Letterman. "Any regrets for crying on the Letterman show?" she wondered. "No," replied Rather. The September 18 CyberAlert reviewed Rather's September 17 appearance on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman: Dan Rather praised President Bush as "Giuliani-esque" for saying, "Osama: Dead or alive." Later on the Late Show he volunteered for the war effort: "George Bush is the President. He makes the decisions and...wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where." An emotional Rather broke down twice as he recalled the heroic work of the firefighters and recited a stanza from "America the Beautiful." For details, go to: http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20010918.asp#1 [2]
Only a discerning viewer could tell the event had any secondary agenda, but Tuesday night's two-hour simulcast on WB and TNT of a special concert titled, "Come Together: A Night of John Lennon's Words and Music," directed viewers to a Web site which, in a page created to collect donations generated by the televised concert, provided contribution links for three gun control groups, including the Million Mom March. Perusing Robert Bianco's "Critic's Corner" box at the top of Tuesday's USA Today TV listings page, I caught this sentence: "Cousin companies WB and TNT join for a simulcast of Come Together: A Night of John Lennon's Words and Music (tonight, 8 ET/PT), an all-star benefit for New York City relief efforts and gun control organizations." "Come Together" by uniting a nation to fight terrorism, but subtlety use the outpouring of support to direct money to an ideological political cause on an issue which splits the nation? Indeed, that is what the producers of the concert pulled off with the assistance of AOL Time Warner, owners not only of the two networks which carried the concert of singers performing Lennon songs, but also of the Web site which collected donations, helping.org. A full page ad in Tuesday's USA Today offered no hint of any liberal gun regulation agenda. "Tonight -- Live from Radio City Music Hall" the ad proclaimed, "An All-Star Concert Dedicated to New York City and Its People." At the top of the show, however, host Kevin Spacey, who wore a flag lapel pin, exposed the original agenda for the program: "'Come Together.' That was the name for this night when it was first planned over a year ago. This was to have been not only a chance to honor the words and music of John Lennon, but also to give the good fight for gun control, non-violence and to help give peace a chance." In an October 2 story, USA Today's Elysa Gardner explained: "Earlier this year, when [Lennon widow] Ono and producer Ken Ehrlich began putting together a concert saluting her late husband, John Lennon, they were motivated in part by concern about youth violence. Ono wanted Lennon's songs and legacy to help 'teach children that the violent way isn't the right way.' But on Sept. 11, nine days before the show's scheduled date, a terrorist attack on the city that Lennon considered his adopted home -- and where he was murdered nearly 21 years ago -- forced the postponement of the Lennon tribute, even as it reinforced its purpose." Gardner, however, failed to note how the show would still financially boost gun control groups as she listed only victims groups as beneficiaries: "Come Together will benefit various relief organizations, among them the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the September 11th Fund and the Twin Towers Fund." The liberal political agenda may not have been
promoted by the producers, but TNT did acknowledge it on its Web site. See
the end of this excerpt from the TNT Web site's summary of the special: To view this page online, go to: http://www.tnt.tv/Title/Display/0,5918,341134,00.html [4] Other than Spacey's opening comment, the show did avoid any promotion of the gun control agenda. Before each commercial break viewers saw an 800 number and the www.helping.org [3] Web address for donations. At three breaks video vignettes promoted specific charities, all related to the attacks: the September 11th Fund, New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund and the New York Firefighters 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund. But those who went to helping.org during the two-hour broadcast/cable simulcast saw "Donate Now" links for three gun control groups. The top of the right side of the helping.org home page featured a link to the Come Together page as it urged surfers to tune in at 8 ET/PT. Those who clicked this page, for which text is reprinted below in full. (I've added > to highlight the two section headings): An All-Star Concert of John Lennon's Music Dedicated to NYC John Lennon's music inspired a generation and continues to influence the world. COME TOGETHER: A NIGHT FOR JOHN LENNON'S WORDS & MUSIC is a special musical event of prayer and healing for New York City and its people. In light of the terrorists attacks that devastated New York city on September 11, 2001, the event spotlights charities working to help victims and their families and the city of New York rebuild. The event also focuses attention to charities working to stop gun violence. Donations are desperately needed by the charities providing financial and emotional assistance as well as special recovery services. You can help by making a donation to any of the charities below. > Disaster Relief Charities Working in New York American Red Cross September 11th Fund New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund Twin Towers Fund Salvation Army The New York Firefighters 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund WTC School Fund Suffolk County SPCA > Gun Violence Charities Violence Policy Center The Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence Million Mom March END reprint of text of Web page To view this page, go to: http://www.helping.org/cometogether/ [5] Clicking on the three groups brought you to these descriptions of them below a mailing address: -- Violence Policy Center The Violence Policy Center (VPC) is at the forefront of those working to stem the tide of firearms violence. The VPC is a national 501(c)(3) educational organization working to move beyond the popular but narrow perception of firearms violence as solely a crime issue to place it in its proper perspective: a widespread public health problem of which crime is merely the most recognized aspect. To see this page, go to: http://www.helping.org/cometogether/charities.adp?id=521571442 [6] -- The Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence The Brady Campaign works to enact and enforce sensible gun laws, regulations and public policies through grassroots activism, electing pro-gun control public officials and increasing public awareness of gun violence. The Brady Center works to reform the gun industry and educate the public about gun violence through litigation and grassroots mobilization, and works to enact and enforce sensible regulations to reduce gun violence including regulations governing the gun industry. For this page: http://www.helping.org/cometogether/charities.adp?id=521285097 [7] -- Million Mom March In 2001, the Million Mom March visited legislators in 33 State Capitols, staged a cybermarch, and conducted a letter-writing campaign to ask the mothers and wives of President Bush and congressional leaders to impress on their sons and husbands the importance of safer gun laws. For this page: http://www.helping.org/cometogether/charities.adp?id=943326481 [8] And who pays for helping.org, the site making
all these contributions so easy: AOL Time Warner. From the "About
Us" page: The evening concert was not free of politics since many of Lennon's lyrics expressed views and the show featured video clips of Lennon's "give peach a chance"-type comments. Presenter Ben Stiller even joked about the Beatles and Lennon's leftist viewpoint: "Lest we forget, they were also revolutionary wits. Somehow they combined the rock 'n roll cool of Elvis Presley with the comedic genius of the Marx brothers -- though with John around you always wondered if, perhaps, Zeppo Marx had been replaced by Karl Marx." Ha ha. While mourning the loss of thousands to mass murdering terrorists, actor Ben Stiller joked about the honoree's political congruence with the man behind the formation of communism, a political ideology responsible in the last century for the murder of more civilians than any other form of government.
MRC analyst Jessica Anderson retrieved, from
the September 30 This Week, Will's reprimand for the Orwellian decision
by Reuters: Good advice. For more on the Reuters policy first disclosed by the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, go to: http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20010925.asp#1 [9]
On Monday night the three broadcast networks delivered short items on how the Supreme Court, following up on Bill Clinton's plea bargain with the independent counsel in which his license to practice law in Arkansas has been suspended for five years. All three items were accurate, but they provide a compact illustration of how slight word variations lead to varying impressions of the significance of the offense by the party involved. MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth took down the October 1 items: -- ABC's Peter Jennings on World News Tonight in the midst of a brief rundown of court activity on the first day of its new term: "The Court also said that former President cannot argue cases before the Supreme Court even if he wished to. He can appeal, but his legal license has already been suspended in Arkansas for dishonesty in the Paula Jones case." -- Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News: "The justices gave former President Clinton 40 days to say why he should not be barred from practicing law before the high court. This stems from the suspension of his Arkansas law license for giving misleading testimony in the Paula Jones sex case." -- Tom Brokaw on the NBC Nightly News: "In Washington today, the first Monday in October, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court opened a new term on schedule, and they suspended former President Bill Clinton from practicing law before their court. It's a standard practice now that Mr. Clinton has been disbarred in Arkansas. He does have 40 days to ask that the suspension be lifted."
During an October 1 Today interview segment with six Governors and the Mayor of Washington, DC about their efforts to spark tourism and travel, Couric ruminated: "You know the U.S. is the only industrialized nation, I didn't know this until today, that doesn't spend federal money promoting tourism. Do you think it should?" The liberal Governor of Maryland, Parris Glendening, responded to Couric and not even he, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens noticed, saw any necessity for federal invovement.
Johnson's October 1 "Inside TV" item continued: "If an anchor or correspondent chooses to show the flag, 'their duties as a journalist remain the same: to be fair-minded, thoughtful and skeptical as ever,' Hume says." If only most were doing that before September 11. > A reminder: Tonight, Wednesday October 3, at 9pm EDT/PDT, 8pm CDT/MDT, NBC will air a new episode of The West Wing in which the characters will react to a terrorist attack on Washington, DC. -- Brent Baker [10]
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Dan
Rather is certainly not following the left-wing anti-war mantra. On
Monday's CBS Evening News he pushed Secretary of State Colin Powell for
military action: "With 13,000 U.S. casualties, surely some time
we're going to do more than just put together coalitions and talk about
cutting their finances." On the same night's Entertainment Tonight,
as he did two weeks earlier with David Letterman, he offered himself for
service if President Bush asks: "If he needs me in uniform, tell me
when and where -- I'm there."
"Live
from Radio City Music Hall, an all-star concert dedicated to New York City
and its people" to raise money for charities helping the victims of
the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. And, the producers did not
advertise, to raise money for liberal gun control groups.
On
Sunday ABC commentator George Will took Reuters to task for
"corrupting the integrity of the language" by refusing to use
the word "terrorist," and for how one of the wire services
executives defended the policy by arguing that "one man's terrorist
is another man's freedom fighter."
Bill
Clinton was removed from the bar of the Supreme Court on Monday for,
ABC's Peter Jennings reported, "dishonesty in the Paula Jones
case." CBS's Dan Rather more gently blamed "misleading
testimony" as he adopted language most favorable to the former
President by tagging the Paula Jones lawsuit as a "sex case."
NBC's Tom Brokaw offered no reason.
The
first sign the morning shows may soon return to their old ways: NBC's
Katie Couric on Monday morning found another unfulfilled role for the
federal government. She complained that the U.S. "is the only
industrialized nation...that doesn't spend federal money promoting
tourism."
Quote of
the Week. Brit Hume, Washington Managing Editor of the Fox News Channel,
reacting to the ABC News directive against on-air personnel displaying
American flag lapel pins. USA Today's Peter Johnson quoted Hume:
"'Our flag is not the symbol of the Bush administration, and Fox
News is not located in Switzerland,' fumes Hume, who has been sporting a
lapel pin since the Sept. 11 attacks."