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Media
Research Center Topic Index
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W Barbara Walters | Brian Williams | Judy Woodruff In an interview with Hillary Clinton, Walters did little more than deliver an hour-long infomercial for Clinton’s new book. Walters never challenged Hillary and most of her questions presumed the New York senator and former first lady was the victim of events that she had no role in creating.(CyberAlert, June 9, 2003)
The MRC predicted a very sympathetic treatment of the former First Lady in Walters’ ABC News special promoting Hillary Clinton's new book. In appearances on
The View and Good Morning America, Walters rationalized Hillary’s story about not knowing of the Lewinsky relationship for eight months after the scandal broke and also said she was honored to be chosen to do the interview.
Walters told David Letterman that she thought Hillary Clinton had “been a very good Senator” and that “she'll be re-elected.”
ABC's World News Tonight previewed its exclusive first interview with Hillary Clinton conducted by Walters who compliantly related how “Mrs. Clinton reveals that from the moment the very first headline broke the story, Bill Clinton lied not only to the country about this relationship, but he lied to her as well.”
Even though the ABC promotional piece on Walter’s upcoming interview with Hillary Clinton promised “nothing’s off limits,” the instant
The View's Joy Behar mentioned Monica Lewinsky, an annoyed Walter raised her hands and demanded: “Oh, let's drop, let's move on!”
Walters won the “They Called It Puppy Love Award” in the MRC’s 2003 DisHonors Awards for her quote glorifying Cuban education and high literacy rate under Castro.
Walters reported a story about three Iraqi women (living in the U.S.) who recounted Saddam Hussein’s cruel punishments, including rape, torture, and execution, for minor offenses. Walters concluded the taped piece by getting all the women to agree that Iraqis will be “rejoicing when he Americans arrive,” but said that one of the women participated in the 1991 uprising only to wait for help that never came.
According to Walters, “if literacy alone were the yardstick, Cuba would rank as one of the freest nations on Earth.” This bit of Castro-worshipping earned her the “Media Hero Award” in the MRC’s Best of
Notable Quotables 2002: The 15th Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting.
Walters also received the Best of
Notable Quotables 2002 “Carve Clinton into Mount Rushmore Award” for telling Joy Behar it was unfair to ask the audience if they would want their daughters to intern for Bill Clinton: “He does need people to work in that office and come on, I mean, let it go already.”
During a 20/20 interview with Al Gore, Walters expressed exasperation with Gore’s lack of outrage over not getting the presidency, wondering “why aren’t you...bitter?”
From the October 11 Late
Show, David Letterman’s “Top Ten Signs Barbara Walters is in Love with Fidel Castro.”
In an interview with Fidel Castro, Walters praised Cuban education and health care. Walters also treated Castro’s view of Bush’s Iraq policy as relevant, asking him, “In your view, is Saddam Hussein a good leader for the people of Iraq?”
Just back from interviewing Fidel Castro, Walters told the audience at
The View how “he’s done great things for education and he’s done great things for health. Walters did acknowledge the lack of freedom for Cubans, asking, “can't you have education and health and freedom?”
On The View, Walters responded to actress Jessica Lange’s anti-American remark, saying Lange had every right to castigate Bush, but condemned her for saying she's “ashamed” to come from the United States.
Walters scolded a colleague on
The View for daring to ask the audience on Friday whether they would let their daughters be an intern in Bill Clinton's office. “So unfair, that's so unfair,” Walters chided Joy Behar: “Let it go already.”
Walters and ABC correspondent John Miller ganged up on correspondent John Stossel at the end of a
20/20 segment, suggesting the government should regulate corporations to keep them in check.
In a 13-minute interview with Bryant Gumbel for
20/20, Walters never uttered a word about his liberal political agenda.
Her network made a big deal out of the 9/11 Bush photo used in a GOP fundraising letter, but Walters wondered: “What is so terrible about seeing him in a serious moment?”
During an unrelated discussion on
The View, Walters interjected how she had attended an event the day before at which Senator Clinton spoke. Walters gushed: “She was simply terrific. She was so well informed, she speaks without any written material...I was impressed.”
Walters admitted on CNN’s Larry King Live that she offers comforting hugs to the September 11 victims she interviews. “Yes, I'm a journalist, but I have feelings and a heart,” she said.
Walters a 20/20 by saying she wanted to “hang around long enough” to interview the first woman president.
ABC featured an excerpt from Walters’ upcoming
20/20 interview with George W. Bush in which she took the usual media slant of putting all the burden on Bush for improving Washington’s tone and declared that Ashcroft is “not considered a friend to civil rights.”
In an interview with Barbra Streisand, Walters allowed Streisand to defend Bill Clinton and then outlined the liberal views behind her backing of Gore.
According to the New York
Post, Barbra Streisand “insisted” that “she would be given room to explain why she is supporting Al and Hillary and the Democratic platform” before agreeing to an interview with Walters.
Geraldo Rivera popped out of a cake to celebrate Walters’ birthday and called Walters a “sensual, sexual woman.”
On ABC’s The View, Walters reminisced about the Latin Quarter, a New York City nightclub which her late father, Lou Walters, ran in the 1940s and 1950s.
During her 20/20 interview with George W. Bush on May 5, 2000, Walters suggested his economic plan was as bad as the one proposed by Ronald Reagan which his father denounced as “voodoo.”
Brian Williams
Williams concluded his CNBC newscast by highlighting a shot from “a tanned, slim and fit” Bill Clinton at George W. Bush's 2000 campaign theme on “compassionate conservatism.” Williams quoted Clinton’s criticism of the theme as a “code phrase.”
Early in the war with Iraq, Williams compared live video of explosions in Baghdad to the bombing of Dresden during World War II. But on April 2, Williams noted the distinct differences between Baghdad and Dresden, pointing out that “the fire bombings of Dresden and Tokyo in World War II were meant to kill civilians and then terrorize survivors. Here we’ve seen the opposite happen.”
Williams’ comment about Jimmy Carter being the “best former President” received a runner-up award in the “And They Called It Puppy Love” category at the MRC’s 2003 Dishonors Awards.
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld chided Williams, without naming him, for comparing the precision missile attacks on Baghdad targets to the indiscriminate carpet-bombing of Dresden and Japanese cities during World War II.
Williams lamented the fact that many Democrats supported the war resolution and would not be offering much criticism.
Williams noted late night comics had painted the President as a “pro-war zealot.” In a separate newscast, Williams suggested Bush “changed the rules in the middle of the game” by demanding Iraqi disarmament, then regime change, then exile for Saddam Hussein.
While filling in for Tom Brokaw on NBC’s
Nightly News, Williams skipped over a statement by eight European leaders who supported President Bush’s policy in Iraq, and instead wondered if the U.S. was interested in Iraq because of its oil.
Williams got an early start in proclaiming his loyalty to the Democratic cause. As a child he wrote a letter to President Lyndon Johnson, signing it, “One of your young Democrats.”
Unlike some of his fellow anchormen, Williams did acknowledge Democratic Presidential candidate Al Sharpton’s “polarizing quality” in reference to Sharpton’s history of racial hatemongering.
The CNBC anchor worried that the anti-war protestors in Washington “will feel the hot breath of the patriotism police.”
Williams won third runner-up in the Best of
Notable Quotables 2002 “Begala & Carville War Room Award for Bush Bashing” for claiming the U.S. was “deliberately” going back on its word.
Williams won second runner-up of the Best of
Notable Quotables 2002 “Media Hero Award” for this tribute to former President Jimmy Carter.
Filling in for Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly
News, Williams claimed some people believe Republicans have been “speaking in a kind of code to Southern white voters for years.”
An MRC Reality Check documented Williams’ anti-missile defense bias. While anchor of CNBC’s
The News with Brian Williams, he has never failed to publicize an anti-missile test “failure,” yet never reported any of the five successes.
Williams declared Jimmy Carter the best president in “the last 200 years” and was named runner-up in the “Media Hero Award” category in the 2002 Best of
Notable Quotables.
The Best of Notable Quotables 2002 gave Williams a runner-up in the “Begala & Carville War Room Award” category for Bush Bashing for reporting how “the U.S. is deliberately going back on its word in front of the rest of the world.”
Williams described the new, slightly more relaxed EPA Clean Air Rules as a “priority for this White House which has been trying to give utilities more flexibility.”
The anchor played lengthy clips of the Evangelical Environmental Network’s “What Would Jesus Drive?”
anti-SUV ad. “It’s an issue that’s getting a second look in Washington these days,” Williams claimed, “even though…the administration has been criticized for having big oil men at the helm.”
Williams labeled a gunman who shot three nursing professors at the University of Arizona a “Gulf War veteran,” but failed to mention he was a member of the Nation of Islam.
When a guest on CNBC’s The News with Brian Williams noted that John Allen Muhammad belonged to the “bigoted” Nation of Islam, Williams wanted to know about the accused murderer’s Gulf War experience.
Williams mocked the Iraqi “election,” taking it much less seriously than did a lot of journalists for major media outlets who broadcasted pictures of Iraqis celebrating and denigrating President Bush.
CyberAlert’s original report on Williams’ proclamation that Jimmy Carter was “the best former President in…the last 200 years.”
In a story on Al Gore’s position on Iraq, Williams referred to him as “the man who got the most popular votes, who had hoped to be occupying the Oval Office right now.”
NBC and its anchors took advantage of the Washington D.C. sniper case to publicize Michael Moore’s anti-gun movie, Bowling for Columbine. On his CNBC show, Williams praised Moore’s prescience for picking such a timely issue.
Williams wondered if Americans’ “world view” led to the September 11 attacks, noting that “the situation hasn’t been this lopsided in terms of one breakout superpower on the planet in quite some time.”
In a story about former Vice President Al Gore’s opposition to the war in Iraq, Williams described him as “the number one popular vote-getter in the last election.”
Williams suggested the “military swagger” of the U.S. is “part of what got the United States in trouble September 11th.”
Williams, the heir apparent to Tom Brokaw, anchored the
NBC Nightly News and drew more viewers than ABC’s Peter Jennings. It marked the first time Williams had outdrawn Jennings. The anchor described a left-wing advocacy group, The Center for Science in the Public Interest, as a “very sensible” organization. (CyberAlert, August 22, 2002)
Though seven of ten Americans surveyed in recent polls said they supported an attack on Iraq, Williams insisted “a whole lot of Americans...disagree” with Bush’s policy.
Williams juxtaposed a quote on the economy from President Bush and a very similar one from Herbert Hoover in 1929, right before the stock market crash. Williams wondered if this was just an “honest mistake” by the White House of if the speechwriters “had no sense of history.”
Only one in five people polled gave Williams high marks for credibility. Williams did beat out Aaron Brown and Geraldo Rivera, however.
Williams linked the wording uttered in recent days by President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill to how Hoover made the assurance just after the 1929 stock market crash. For Hoover, the quote meant “we’re all heading for hell,” Williams said.
Williams failed to identify the party affiliation of Democratic Congressman James Traficant. But that wasn’t the first time NBC refused to identify the party of the criminal Congressman.
After six years, NBC suddenly decided to advertise
The News with Brian Williams as “unbiased” in an ad in the
Wall Street Journal.
When NBC News announced that Williams would replace Tom Brokaw in 2004, the MRC’s Brent Baker wrote a piece for
National Review Online called “From the Same School: Brian Williams is more liberal anchoring from NBC.”
An MRC Media Reality Check documented how Williams’ takeover of
NBC Nightly News will just help perpetuate the media’s liberal mindset.
Additional material that could not be fit into the previous day’s
Media Reality Check including: Williams’ labeling of conservatives as “far right” extremists, his tagging the late Pennsylvania Governor, Bob Casey, as “ultraconservative on the topic of abortion,” his praise for how a CPSC staffer is making toys safe for kids and how a 1995 budget cut for the National Endowment for the Arts means “humans didn’t fare that well” in the House GOP’s budget.
Williams suggested that the conviction of Andrea Yates in Texas might show “a regional tough mind-set on the part of the jurors” and “an ignorance of mental health issues.”
When the Senate refused to require higher fuel efficiency standards, Williams claimed that “gas-guzzling SUVs and light trucks were big winners on Capitol Hill…but there's concern tonight the environment could be the big loser here."
Was it “downright unpatriotic” to drive SUVs, with the U.S. dependent on foreign oil, Williams asked?
Enron’s collapse was “easily the most under-covered news story of the past few weeks” and warned “before this is all over it could be a major pre-occupation, if not a danger, for the Bush White House.”
On his CNBC newscast, Williams introduced an upcoming item with: “Tonight, why the U.S. is deliberately going back on its word in front of the rest of the world.”
Judy Woodruff
Woodruff showcased a Democratic National Committee advertisement attacking President Bush for the famous 16-word State of the Union sentence about the Iraq-African uranium link. Woodruff didn’t tell viewers that the DNC had only used the last 10 words of the sentence, however.
In describing California gubernatorial candidate Arianna Huffington, Woodruff claimed the “one-time conservative activist” had “evolved toward the Left in recent years.”
Woodruff hosted a Vermont journalist who claimed “there was never a sentence in any newspaper in the state of Vermont that contained the word 'liberal’ and 'Howard Dean.’”
A CyberAlert noted Woodruff’s advocacy for a prescription drug entitlement.
Woodruff managed to get Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) on
Inside Politics but instead of asking tough questions, worried with her that Sen. Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) new prescription drug plan didn’t go far enough.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) was a guest on
Inside Politics and Woodruff asked if he was concerned that conflict over Ted Kennedy’s prescription drug entitlement plan might keep it from passing.
Woodruff suggested to Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) that his huge prescription drug entitlement program didn’t go far enough. Woodruff also wondered why he would help “a Republican President take a very controversial issue off the table.”
In Congressional testimony, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan backed tax cuts so long as budget cuts ensured the deficit did not grow. Woodruff claimed the testimony “threw another splash of cold water on the President's tax cut plan.”
Woodruff suggested new Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) wasn’t any better than Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), who had was forced out of the Senate Majority Leader’s seat after praising Sen. Strom Thurmond’s 1948 Presidential run.
Woodruff received a runner-up award in the Best of
Notable Quotables 2002 “General Phil ‘Cheap Shot’ Donahue Award for claiming President Bush knew al Qaeda was planning on hijacking and crashing an airliner before September 11.
Woodruff defended Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) when he tried to silence Rush Limbaugh by claiming his radio show incited violence. “…(T)here’s no question on some of these talk shows, Limbaugh’s included, there’s some very tough talk,” she said.
Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle’s attack on Rush Limbaugh – he claimed the radio host incited violence – met with Woodruff’s approval. “Memorable,” was how she described it.
The partisan political atmosphere at Sen. Paul Wellstone’s memorial service stunned liberals and conservatives alike, but not Woodruff. The CNN anchor called the event “exuberant” and noted that Wellstone was “a rowdy guy.”
The CNN host set Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) up to attack Republicans in the Minnesota senatorial campaign by asking “if some Republicans in Minnesota are going on the attack even before Paul Wellstone is buried?”
Woodruff was among the prominent journalists exposed for a lack of civic participation in a November 2002
Washingtonian magazine article. A registered Democrat, Woodruff missed seven of 12 local elections from 1994 through 2000.
The CNN anchor was baffled that the Washington, D.C. sniper case had not helped the gun control cause. She asked gun control activist Sara Brady “why the sniper spree has not prompted more politicians to talk up her cause.”
Conservative columnist Cal Thomas took a shot at the reporting of Woodruff and ABC anchor Peter Jennings. “What you would get if you crossed Peter Jennings and Judy Woodruff is a younger liberal,” he said.
Woodruff conducted a fawning interview of Sen. Hillary Clinton as the nation headed toward war with Iraq, asking Clinton if she agreed with her husband, former President Bill, that it was Osama bin Laden that killed 3,000 Americans, not Saddam Hussein, and that’s who we should the U.S. should be going after.
The wife of Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) is an airline lobbyist but Woodruff was unconcerned about the conflict of interest during an interview. Instead, she wanted to know how Daschle felt when people questioned him about the matter.
The CNN anchor claimed President Bush knew about al Qaeda’s plans to hijack airplanes before September 11.
Woodruff interviewed actress Laura Dern and treated her as an authority on health maintenance organizations (HMOs).
Woodruff stated that President Bush knew al Qaeda had planned to hijack an airliner prior to September 11.
In an appearance on Jon Stewart’s
The Daily Show, Woodruff claimed there was “much more division” among Republicans than generally realized.
Woodruff cued up Sen. Ted Kennedy to criticize President Bush for not spending enough on education.
President Bush was seen holding a copy of Bernard Goldberg’s book Bias, leading Woodruff to ask adviser Karen Hughes if the President felt the press was biased.
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