MediaWatch: January 1995
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: January 1995
- Revolving Door Spins More for Clinton Administration that Bush's
- NewsBites: Scrooged
- Magazine's Unrelenting Attacks
- CBS Star Far Nicer to Bill Clinton's Mother in 1993 Interview
- Double, Triple the Spending
- Martin's Unmatched
- Abramson-Mayer Book Eviscerated--"Impeccable research"?
- Janet Cooke Award: The "Nonpartisan" Take on Reaganomics
Martin's Unmatched
Martin's Unmatched
ABC's John Martin ended a year of
"Your Money, Your Choice" segments on the December 26 World
News Tonight by following up on this year's stories. Peter
Jennings asked the series' regular question: "How efficiently
is the government spending your hard-earned dollars?" Martin
noted: "For the year, we reported on $91.563 billion in projects; some
of them lasting many years, but virtually all of them financed
from a single source -- that is, your money."
Martin found his reporting, a beat left empty by the other networks, had some positive impact -- an unneeded desalting plant in Arizona has been mostly defunded, rich farmers with unpaid federal loans are expected to settle, and congressional pension reform is being introduced in Congress.
But a visitor's center for the Hoover Dam cost $120 million, four times what the Interior Department estimated. Martin updated the story: "Since then the cost has climbed another $2 million. The complex opens next June -- four months behind schedule."
A Triumph of Substance
CNN's in-depth Inside
Politics look at the GOP Contract with America outshined the
competition. For two weeks in December, reporter Frank Sesno
laid out the highlights of each item of the 10-point plan followed
by an analysis of its possible implications Each segment spelled out
precisely what the contract called for. Noticeably absent were
exaggerated statements about orphanages. CNN also stood apart
by following each Sesno segment rebroadcast on Prime News with
debate between Crossfire liberal co-host Michael Kinsley, and
either conservative Pat Buchanan or John Sununu.
