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CyberAlert. Tracking Media Bias Since 1996
Friday March 9, 2001 (Vol. Six; No. 42)
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Linda Douglass: Only GOP Guilty; More of Dan Rather's Liberal Blather on His 20th Anniversary as Anchor >>> MRC President L. Brent Bozell is scheduled to appear on the Fox News Channel's Fox News Live on Saturday at 5pm EST with host John Gibson. <<< Correction: The March 9 CyberAlert table of contents promised 25 Rather quotes and 15 "Ratherisms." While the issue included a bunch of both, the numbers did not match the actual number of quotes featured.
In 1993 they were guilty of partisanship for opposing Bill Clinton's plan, but yesterday instead of calling Democrats partisan for opposing Bush's tax cut bill, Douglass complained about how Republicans had abandoned promises of bi-partisanship when they "rammed through" Bush's tax cut. Here's how Douglass began her story on Thursday's World News Tonight: "So much for bi-partisanship, Charlie [Gibson]. The Republicans rammed through this tax cut, and all but ten Democrats voted against it, and the Democrats are accusing President Bush of reneging on his promise to change the tone in Washington." Now rewind to August 7, 1993 after the Senate passed
Bill Clinton's economic bill. Rich Noyes, the MRC's Director of News
Analysis, noticed this is how then-CBS News reporter Douglass described it
on the CBS Evening News: For more on how the networks covered the passage of
Bush's tax cut, see the CyberAlert from earlier today:
To read those quotes, refer back to the March 8
CyberAlert which included a reprint of the Media Reality Check as well as
additional quotes and many "Ratherisms." Go to: Two of the quotes in the March 8 CyberAlert feature
matching RealPlayer video clips. The Media Reality Check includes five
more video clips. To view those, go to: And now to some additional noteworthy quotes culled from the Notable Quotables archive, in date order from oldest to newest: ++ Soviet citizens liked communism. "Despite
what many Americans think, most Soviets do not yearn for capitalism or
Western-style democracy." ++ Keeping military secrets. ++ Non-liberal blacks are "reactionaries"?
"Black conservatives or reactionaries are getting a lot of attention
since the Thomas nomination...It has been a common misconception that
Americans who happen to be black also happen to be liberal or progressive.
True, perhaps most are, but as Bruce Morton reports in tonight's Eye On
America, the terms black or African-American and conservative or
reactionary are not mutually exclusive." ++ Like Dan does? "Take an election year, add a
budget crunch, and one sure result is an assault on the welfare system,
help for the poor. Still, most of the people who attack welfare have
little or no contact with the people who depend on it." ++ Greedy '80s. "And, Eye On America -- a
town fighting back against greed, corporate raiders, and the hangover of
the go-go '80s." ++ Centrist Clinton-Gore ticket. "Delegates
approved the Clinton-Gore center-of-the-road Democratic Party platform,
trying to move the party closer to voters around the malls in America's
suburbs." ++ Rather gettin' down. Rather: "Some days I
say 'Why is he [Clinton] doing that?' or 'Gosh, can he do it a little
better?' But it may be time to, sort of as you say, chill. We know when it
comes to politics and governing, whatever you think of this President,
whether you voted for him or not, he can hang -- which is to say he can do
it-" ++ Brilliant Clinton. "[Clinton] pointed out
the Andrew Jackson magnolia tree. He's a very good historian. Harry, I
think if you had been in the room, any viewer-listener who had been in
that room, would have been impressed with the breadth of his knowledge. I
mean he talked about the Oscars. He talked very knowingly about Clint
Eastwood and his new movie Unforgiven, Jack Nicholson's role in A Few Good
Men, and then switched very quickly to a knowledgeable analysis of
Arkansas's chances against North Carolina in the big basketball game
tomorrow night." ++ "Republican" Ken Starr I. "There
is growing controversy tonight, about whether the newly named independent
counsel in the Whitewater case is independent or a Republican partisan
allied with a get-Clinton movement. Among the questions about Kenneth
Starr are these: the involvement of anti-Clinton activists in pushing for
Starr's appointment to replace Robert Fiske. Also, Starr's public stand
actively supporting a woman's current lawsuit against the President. This
is a potentially important and explosive story, correspondent Rita Braver
has the latest." ++ Poor threatened by Republican takeover of
Congress. "Soup kitchens around the country are reporting demand for
their services is up this Thanksgiving -- unfortunately, donations are
down. And now with the coming shift of power and agendas in Washington,
many charitable groups are worried about how they -- and the people they
help -- can make it." ++ GOP makes it harder to survive. "There was
no doubt Republicans in the House had enough votes tonight to pass another
key item in their agenda to rip up or rewrite government programs going
back to the Franklin Roosevelt era. It is a bill making it harder, much
harder, to protect health, safety, and the environment. For example: the
benefit of any new regulation would be required to outweigh the financial
cost." ++ Of course. "President Clinton will outline
his version of a plan he says will balance the federal budget in ten years
without what Mr. Clinton sees as a radical and extremist Republican plan
to gut programs that help the old, the young, and the poor in order to
bankroll tax giveaways to the rich. Republicans, of course, see it a
different way." ++ Carpet bombing health and safety. "This is
just for starters on a tough week ahead for President Clinton and his
agenda. From another offensive wave on Whitewater to a sweeping rollback
of federal regulations on health, safety, and the environment, it's a
political carpet-bombing attack, wall to wall, House to Senate." ++ "Republican Ken Starr II. "The
Republican Whitewater offensive is taking an unprecedented turn: First
Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has been subpoenaed and now must testify
before a Whitewater federal grand jury. That grand jury is led by a
Republican prosecutor, Kenneth Starr." ++ "Republican" Ken Starr III. "New
indications in a CBS News poll out tonight of how the public perceives
Republican special prosecutor Ken Starr's investigation. Our poll
suggests only 27 percent believe Starr is conducting an impartial probe.
And 55 percent think it's time for Starr to drop his
investigation." ++ "Republican" Ken Starr IV. "Ken
Starr drops another load on President Clinton....Good evening. Just as
President Clinton was enjoying a day talking up the economy, officially
announcing the first U.S. budget surplus in three decades, Ken Starr hit
him again. The Republican independent counsel and special prosecutor
decided late in the day to announce his decision to press his subpoena for
samples of Monica Lewinsky's handwriting, fingerprints and her
voice." ++ What could have been if not for Lewinsky.
"It began with so much promise. Bill Clinton became the first
Democratic President since Franklin Roosevelt to be reelected to a second
term. This was the term he'd make his mark on history and determine how
he'd be remembered. CBS's Wyatt Andrews looks tonight at the state of
the Clinton legacy." ++ "Hard Right" Clinton. "Bill
Clinton's been running pretty hard to the right, so far that some
Democrats now call him a 'Republicrat.' Do you go that far?" ++ Just about sex. "On Capitol Hill, the
Republican-dominated House now plans to vote Thursday to approve an
official impeachment investigation into President Clinton, his sex life,
and lies he told to hide it." ++ Impeachment trial distracting from what's
important. "The Republican leadership has decided, and spoken....They
want the calling of witnesses and the lengthening out of the process. This
is where the matter now stands. Questions such as what to do about Social
Security, improving the nation's schools, and the drug menace among
America's youth basically are on hold. So is what to do about threats to
health of the U.S. economy by what is happening in Asia and Brazil; the
threats to U.S. security posed by Iraq, Iran, and North Korea; and the
peril represented by a collapsing Russia and an emerging China -- all
important parts of the people's business -- all remain pretty much on
hold, while the trial drags on." ++ Admiring the Kennedys. "We Americans, even
those among us who have never liked the Kennedys' politics, have long
been fascinated by the Kennedy mystique. Or as some call it, the Kennedy
myth. The dictionary defines mystique as 'an aura of heightened meaning
surrounding something to which special power or mystery is given.' A
myth is 'a traditional story dealing with ancestors or heroes,' a
story that 'shapes the world view of a people or delineates the customs
or ideals of a society.' By those definitions, like it or not, there is
a Kennedy mystique and their history is mythic.... ++ Bush "Hard Right" Too. "Now to
Bill Whitaker covering George W. Bush's talking the right talk, as in
Republican hard right, to try to take out Steve Forbes in Iowa and focus
on eliminating John McCain in New Hampshire." ++ Pushing gun control. "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." ++ Mean and nasty George W. Bush. "On one bit
of campaign meanness and nastiness in particular, George Bush now says
he's sorry his gutter language and personal attack was picked up by a
microphone at a campaign stop yesterday, but he refuses to apologize for
the substance of his comment. Bush's remark was about Adam Clymer, a New
York Times reporter whose coverage he doesn't like." ++ Gore a victim. "You've been part of an
administration that one can argue has presided over the greatest economic,
sustained economic boom in the history of the country. But here you are in
the last week of the presidential campaign, in which even by your own
estimate you're locked neck and neck with the other guy. Why is
that?....But surely sometime at night the two of you talking, you must
have said, maybe one to the other, 'Why is this happening to
us?'" ++ Bush's anti-uniter cabinet. "When you
nominate someone to be Attorney General... who you know is going to raise
questions, rightly or wrongly, justifiably or otherwise about race
relations, quote 'a hardline stance on a woman's right to choose' on
abortion; when you appoint somebody, nominate someone, to be head of the
Interior Department who says, 'Listen, it's alright for people who own
private land to pollute,' I'm not saying that's right or wrong. I am
saying that a lot are going to say, 'Wait a minute, this is not uniter-divider
country.'" ++ Treating Liberal spin as fact. "President
Bush tonight outlines his cut-federal-programs-to-get-a-tax-cut plan to
Congress and the nation. Democrats will then deliver their televised
response, which basically says Mr. Bush's ideas are risky business,
endangering among other things, Social Security and Medicare." -- And some of his denials of any bias on his part or in the media in general: ++ Who, me biased I? "It's one of the great
political myths, about press bias. Most reporters are interested in a
story. Most reporters don't know whether they're Republican or Democrat,
and vote every which way. Now, a lot of politicians would like you to
believe otherwise, but that's the truth of the matter. I've worked around
journalism all of my life, Tom Snyder has as well, and I think he'll agree
with this, that most reporters, when you get to know them, would fall in
the general category of kind of common-sense moderates. And also, let me
say that I don't think that 'liberal' or 'conservative' means very
much any more, except to those kind of inside-the-Beltway people who want
to use it for their own partisan political advantage. I don't think it
holds up." ++ Who, me biased II? "The test is not the
names people call you or accusations by political activists inside or
outside your own organization. The test is what goes up on the screen and
what comes out of the speaker. I think the public understands that those
people are trying to create such a perception because they're trying to
force you to report the news the way they want you to report it. I am not
going to do it. I will put up billboard space on 42nd Street. I will wear
a sandwich board. I will do whatever is necessary to say I am not going to
be cowed by anybody's special political agenda, inside, outside, upside,
downside." ++ Who, me biased III? "Well, my answer to that
is basically a good Texas phrase, which is bullfeathers....I think the
fact that if someone survives for four or five years at or near the top in
network television, you can just about bet they are pretty good at keeping
independence in their reporting. What happens is a lot of people don't
want independence. They want the news reported the way they want it for
their own special political agendas or ideological reasons." ++ Who, me biased IV? "I do believe in what's
become an archaic word for journalists, objectivity. You know my job is to
be accurate, be fair, and in so far as it's humanly possible, to keep my
feelings out of every story...I do agree that one test of a reporter is
how often he or she is able to keep their emotions out of what they are
doing and keep their own biases and agendas out of it." ++ Who, me biased V? Co-host Bill Press: "Why
is it that you are the epitome of the left-wing liberal media in the mind
of every conservative I've ever talked to? What did you do to get that
reputation?" Somehow, I'm not convinced. --Brent Baker >>>
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Home | News Division
| Bozell Columns | CyberAlerts |
ABC News
reporter Linda Douglass may have changed networks since 1993, but one
thing hasn't changed about her: When a President's economic bill
passes on a party line vote it's always Republicans who are guilty of
violating the spirit of bi-partisanship.
Picking
up where we left off yesterday, below are some more of my favorite
examples of Dan Rather's liberal bias from over the years. Coinciding
with his 20th anniversary today as anchor of the CBS Evening News,
that's several months longer than Walter Cronkite sat in the chair, on
March 8 the MRC published a special Media Reality Check and a special
CyberAlert devoted to his years of liberal spin.