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MRC in the News

May 2003

 

Many media outlets — radio, television and print — regularly feature MRC guests on their programs, quote MRC spokespeople in their articles, and cite MRC research in their stories. Below is a sampling of MRC making news in the news media. Links are provided when available, and were active when posted.

 

Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce
May 30, 2003

Times change 
"The Los Angeles Times and New York Times, on opposite sides of the continent, may also be taking opposite approaches to malfeasance in their midst," the Media Research Center reports. "Contrast the hands-off, responsibility-free approach of the New York Times' Howell Raines and Arthur Sulzberger to that of L.A. Times editor John Carroll as reported [Wednesday] by the Poynter Institute's Jim Romenesko," the MRC's Tim Graham writes.

See column | More on this topic

 

CNN
Moneyline with Lou Dobbs
May 29, 2003

PETER VILES, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jayson Blair is long gone, but the Blair scandal at "The New York Times" is alive and kicking, kicking "The Times" right in the reputation. Now "Times" columnist Maureen Dowd under fire for editing the president's words to change their meaning. Two weeks ago she quoted him saying of al Qaeda, "They're not a problem anymore." But that's not exactly what he said. He said, "Right now, about half of all the top al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem any more." The Dowd deletion drew immediate criticism.

ZEV CHAFETS, NY DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST: I didn't understand why she had done it. I mean, I thought it was intellectually dishonest.

CLAY WATERS, TIMESWATCH.ORG: I think it was very dishonest. She purposely deleted a full sentence from a Bush quote just to make him look kind of naive with the war on terrorism.

See transcript | More on this topic

 

Washington Times
A deregulated media is better
May 29, 2003

....Opposition to deregulation has united a bizarre coalition of interest groups. In addition to the usual self-appointed consumers' representatives, conservative activists such as the National Rifle Association [NRA] and Media Research Center's L. Brent Bozell are fighting alongside the leftists. The NRA basically has used the issue for fund-raising purposes, saying less regulation of TV gives more power to the anti-gun liberal media. Mr. Bozell is lobbying for the government to dictate morality on television through a mandated "family hour." It is surprising that these two groups, both experienced in fighting bureaucratic nitwittery, somehow believe that more government control will benefit their interests this time....

See editorial

 

Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce
May 29, 2003

Dowd's 'correction' 
"In her Wednesday column [in the New York Times], Maureen Dowd perhaps comes as close as she ever will to admitting she dishonestly quoted President Bush in her May 14 column on al Qaeda and the terror threat," Clay Waters writes at www.TimesWatch.org.

See column | More on this topic

 

WOOD (MI)
May 29, 2003

MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham on the poll showing public distrust of the news media.

More on this topic

 

WAIC (MA)
May 29, 2003

Times Watch Director Clay Waters on the plagiarism scandal at the New York Times.

More on this topic

 

Oliver North Show
May 28, 2003

MRC President L. Brent Bozell on the plagiarism scandal at the New York Times, media coverage of the war, and poll showing public distrust of the news media.

 

Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce
May 28, 2003

Liberal billionaire 
Warren Buffet is a billionaire the media like — because he's against tax cuts, the Media Research Center's Brent Baker observes. "Friday morning on 'Today,' NBC's Katie Couric quoted favorably from Warren Buffett, identifying him as a nonpartisan critic, and two nights before that, ABC's Ted Koppel turned over the entire 'Nightline' to a conversation with Buffet, which Koppel set up by noting that, though the House and Senate wished to pass the tax cut before Memorial Day, 'they haven't passed it yet. And before they do, we thought you might like to hear from the man they call the "sage of Omaha." ' "Neither Couric nor Koppel noted that Buffett has been a regular donor to liberal Democrats." Mr. Baker said at www.mediaresearch.org.

See column | More on this topic

 

Lucianne.com
Latest Articles
May 28, 2003

Brian Williams Waxes Over "a Tanned, Slim and Fit Bill Clinton" 
MediaResearch.org, by CyberAlert Original Article 
Posted By: Gray Ghost - 5/28/2003 4:47:47 PM Post Reply
Brian Williams ended his nightly CNBC newscast on Tuesday night by highlighting a shot from Bill Clinton, who "we haven't heard from in a good long time," at George W. Bush's 2000 campaign theme on "compassionate conservatism."

More on this topic

 

WWLZ (NY)
May 19, 2003

Times Watch Director Clay Waters on the plagiarism scandal at the New York Times.

More on this topic

 

Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce
May 28, 2003

Liberal billionaire 
Warren Buffet is a billionaire the media like — because he's against tax cuts, the Media Research Center's Brent Baker observes. 
"Friday morning on 'Today,' NBC's Katie Couric quoted favorably from Warren Buffett, identifying him as a nonpartisan critic, and two nights before that, ABC's Ted Koppel turned over the entire 'Nightline' to a conversation with Buffet, which Koppel set up by noting that, though the House and Senate wished to pass the tax cut before Memorial Day, 'they haven't passed it yet. And before they do, we thought you might like to hear from the man they call the "sage of Omaha." ' 
"Neither Couric nor Koppel noted that Buffett has been a regular donor to liberal Democrats." Mr. Baker said at www.mediaresearch.org.

See column | More on this topic

 

Washington Times
"Vermont's Sanders takes to air with liberal talk radio," by Jennifer Harper
May 21, 2003

Rep. Bernie Sanders has struck a blow for liberal talk radio, the dream broadcast venue of those who mourn the defeat of Al Gore and the triumph of Rush Limbaugh.

The Vermont independent hosted his first one-hour show from a small station in Waterbury on Monday afternoon, joined by Nation magazine columnist Eric Alterman, author of the recent book "What Liberal Media?"

....In February...Chicago-based Democratic philanthropists Anita and Sheldon Drobny pledged $10 million for a liberal-leaning radio network to "fill the hole in the market." What the concept needed, the Drobnys reasoned, was a healthy dose of Hollywood, and brought in comedian Al Franken as an initial consultant. The as-yet unnamed network should be operational this fall.

"Their faith in human potential is reaching laughable levels of utopianism if they think they can somehow clone the success of Rush Limbaugh," said L. Brent Bozell III of the Media Research Center at the time.

"The notion that a network, liberal or conservative, can somehow be just imposed on the populace" is faulty, said Mr. Bozell, who noted that Mr. Limbaugh spent years building his audience at the grass-roots level.

See story

 

Lucianne.com
CNN Concedes, Sort of, Distorted "Assault Weapon" Demonstration 
Media Research Center, by Brent Baker Original Article 
Posted By: GOPJihad - 5/20/2003 1:06:02 PM

Reeling from NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre charging CNN with fabricating and "deliberately faking" a story last Thursday to demonstrate how a banned "assault weapon" has much more dangerous firepower than a legal model, on Monday's Wolf Blitzer Reports, substitute anchor Miles O'Brien didn't go so far as to offer a retraction, but he did concede CNN's demonstration needed further amplification.

More on this topic

 

The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)
Letter to the Editor
May 19, 2003

Most media coverage is anti-gun

I detected a slightly snide tone in Peter Hadekel's May 16 column on the National Rifle Association joining artists and other liberal groups in opposing relaxed rules on media ownership in the U.S. Love it or hate it, the NRA has a valid point. Most media coverage in the U.S. (and Canada, for that matter) is notoriously anti-gun. A study by the U.S.-based Media Research Centre found that of 653 firearms-related stories that received TV coverage between 1997 and 1999, 257 advocated gun control whereas only 36 opposed it, and the rest were neutral....

More on this topic

 

The Guardian (London)
Coulterisms: an Appalling Magic, By Jonathan Freedland 
May 17, 2003

....Instead of decoding Cheney or reading between the lines of Bush, Coulter gives it to you straight. Here's her foreign policy: "Dangerous regimes run by crazy people who may develop trouble, yeah, I think we should knock them out." Now, isn't that what Rumsfeld really believes but is too afraid to say out loud? In the words of Brent Bozell, founder of the conservative Media Research Centre, which monitors alleged bias: "She says what's on her mind, which so often parallels what's on the minds of millions of people out there - but others are unwilling to say so."...

 

New York Post
"The Castro News Network," By John J. Miller 
May 17, 2003

To many Cuban Americans, CNN is the "Castro News Network" - an organization that lends legitimacy to a corrupt regime and sneers at the exile community in Miami. CNN is the only American television network to keep a bureau in Havana, in part because Castro maintains tight control over journalistic access to Cuba.

In a comprehensive report released last year, the Media Research Center concluded, "CNN has allowed itself to become just another component of Fidel Castro's propaganda machine." The network certainly hasn't done much to describe the harsh realities of life in one of the world's last Communist holdouts.

See column | More on this topic

 

Lucianne.com
Stephanopoulos Drives This Week Ratings Down to Lowest Ever 
MRC.org, by CyberAlert Original Article 
Posted By: Gray Ghost - 5/16/2003 5:08:33 PM Post Reply

ABC's George Stephanopoulos seems to be killing the This Week franchise he inherited. Stephanopoulos “pulled the lowest ratings in the history of ABC's This Week on Sunday, barely attracting 2 million viewers,” the Drudge Report disclosed on Thursday.

More on this topic

 

Washington Times
"Blair case roils N.Y. Times," by Jennifer Harper
May 15, 2003

The New York Times' top editor yesterday told employees that he accepted responsibility for harm to the paper's credibility caused by a reporter's plagiarism and fabrication and promised to repair the damage....The Media Research Center called the situation "Rainesgate," while both Editor & Publisher magazine and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer labeled it "the Blair Witch Project."

See story | More on this topic

 

RushLimbaugh.com
Rush's Total Stack of Stuff... 
May 15, 2003

Read the wide array of articles that the EIB staff puts together and that El Rushbo reads for show prep. Note: some websites change or deactivate stories after we link them here. Plus, news outlet name and cover pictures link to homepages.

Media Research Center
(Jennings: Saudi Bombings Mean al-Qaeda Stronger Than Bush Admits)
(Rather Describes Poll as Finding Tax Cut "A Problematic Sell")
(Time Tags Mondale "Moderate" and Dean a "Fiscal Conservative")
(Liberals Auletta and Cohen Cite "Diversity" for Blair Scandal)
(Jayson Blair, Star Pupil)

More on this topic

 

National Review Online
The Corner
May 14, 2003

JEWS GIVE THANKS TO GERALDO [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

The guys at the Media Research Center point this one out: "I'm making a conscious decision to take this whole Judaism thing seriously. I think the Jews need me right now." 
-- Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera, as quoted in today's Reliable Source column in the Washington Post about his Reform Jewish wedding ceremony scheduled for August 10. Rivera's bride is one Erica Levy, a television producer 31 years his junior.

 

National Review Online
The Corner
May 14, 2003

BOZELL TO NEWSWEEK: [Ramesh Ponnuru]

On the May 12 edition of MSNBC's Hardball on which both your employee, Seth Mnookin, and my employee, Liz Swasey, appeared, Mr. Mnookin ridiculed Liz for suggesting that affirmative action run amok could explain New York Times executive editor Howell Raines'' failure to supervise his plagiarist former reporter, Jayson Blair.

Given the time constraints and format of Hardball, I might have let Mr. Mnookin's condemnation of my employee's position pass. However, on the following day on Newsweek.com, Mr. Mnookin's Raw Copy, "What's Race Got To Do With It?" accused Liz of "smearing" Howell Raines, being "intellectually dishonest" and "twisting reality to make her point" to such an extent that Mr. Mnookin said he "openly laughed at" her.

This morning, the New York Times ran "Editor of Times Tells Staff He Accepts Blame for Fraud," by Jacques Steinberg. The National Journal summarized the piece as follows: "New York Times exec. ed. Howell Raines, on whether Jayson Blair lasted as long as he did at the paper because of his race: ‘When I look into my heart for the truth of that, the answer is yes.'"

Despite Mr. Raines' admission, Mr. Mnookin's discredited piece smearing my employee remains the number two story on Newsweek.com. I ask that the piece be removed. I also challenge Mr. Mnookin to be man enough to apologize to Ms. Swasey.

Sincerely,
L. Brent Bozell

 

Fox News Channel
Fox and Friends
May 14, 2003

E.D. Donahey: "We know that the TV news networks kicked into high gear for the coverage of the Iraq war. But after the dust settled, who came out on top of the coverage?
Steve Doocy: "Joining us right now from D.C. with TV’s war news card – report card – is Tim Graham. He’s the director of the Media Research Center. Good morning to you, Tim. Alright, let’s cut to the chase, who won?"
Graham: "Well, Fox News had a B." 
Doocy: "CBS had a B minus."
Graham: "B minus. NBC had a C plus, CNN has a C plus. ABC gets the D."
Donahey: "Why? Why did ABC do so poorly in your view?" 
Graham: "ABC’s still earning the D, as a matter of fact. They had the most negative coverage. And I think it’s not just a matter of negative coverage; it’s inaccurate coverage. Most recently, they were embarrassed when they had reported that the museum in Iraq had 170,000 items that had been stolen. Then they said, ‘Whoops, I guess it’s twenty-five.’ So, when you make that kind of mistake, that really sticks out to people, and I think that ABC did that throughout the war."
Donahey: "One thing you mentioned was something Peter Jennings said during the falling of that Saddam statue in the square. What was that?"
Graham: "It was really bizarre because here was this triumphant moment for America, and people all over the United States were excited. And he was having this almost funerial discussion about how the sculptures for Saddam Hussein were going to be put out of work, and how it was so sad, and that Saddam had posed in so many ways on so many ‘noble horses.’ It was just a bizarre thirty seconds."
Brian Kilmeade: "Are you sure you’re not quoting John Stewart from the Daily Show? This was actually on the air?

More on this topic

 

WMUZ (MI)
May 13, 2003

MRC Director of Communications Liz Swasey on the New York Times scandal.

More on this topic

 

KFAQ (OK)
May 13, 2003

MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes on network coverage of the war.

More on this topic

 

Washington Times
"Race seen as factor in reporting scandal," by Jennifer Harper
May 13, 2003

Despite the Times' publishing a detailed explanation and apology on its front page Sunday, the center says it believes that Mr. Raines and the Times have yet to admit that they were fooled by Mr. Blair's guile to maintain minority representation on the staff.

"Mr. Raines needs to stop dodging," the center's Clay Waters said. "According to Times columnist William Safire, the editors had 'plenty of warning: his 50-plus corrections in less than four years as a reporter, his evasion of questions about his whereabouts, complaints from colleagues.' Why was Jayson Blair continually carried by the Times in the face of these developments?"

See story | More on this topic

 

National Review Online
The Corner
Diversity & Blair [Jonah Goldberg]
May 13, 2003

Thanks to TimesWatch for this item:

Melissa Block, a host of the National Public Radio program “All Things Considered,” interviewed Times executive editor Howell Raines on the Blair fiasco--and challenged Raines with a rather incriminating blast from Raines’ past:

“Mr. Raines, you spoke to a convention of the National Association of Black Journalists in 2001, and you specifically mentioned Jayson Blair as an example of the Times spotting and hiring the best and brightest reporters on their way up. You said, 'This campaign has made our staff better and, more importantly, more diverse.' And I wonder now, looking back, if you see this as something of a cautionary tale, that maybe Jayson Blair was given less scrutiny or more of a pass on the corrections to his stories that you had to print because the paper had an interest in cultivating a young, black reporter.”

Raines’ defensive reply: “No, I do not see it as illustrating that point. I see it as illustrating a tragedy for Jayson Blair, that here was a person who under the conditions in which other journalists perform adequately decided to fabricate information and mislead colleagues. And it is--you know, I don't want to demonize Jayson, but this is a tragedy of failure on his part.”

More on this topic

 

National Journal
The Hotline
PRESS PASS: Times Trying To Grin And Blair It 
May 13, 2003

When It Raines, It Pours
The Media Research Center "is calling the situation 'Raines-gate,' implying that" Raines "chose racial quotas over journalistic quality, to the detriment of his paper." The MRC says that "it believes" Raines and the New York Times "have yet to admit that they were fooled" by Blair's "guile to maintain minority representation on the staff." MRC's Clay Waters: "Mr. Raines needs to stop dodging" (Harper, Washington Times, 5/13).

More on this topic

 

WMUZ (MI)
Bob Duko Show
May 13, 2003

MRC Director of Communications Liz Swasey on war coverage and the New York Times scandal.

More on war coverage | More on the NYT scandal

 

KSLR (TX)
Adam McManus Show
May 12, 2003

MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham on the New York Times scandal.

More on this topic

 

The Rush Limbaugh Show
May 12, 2003

Look, my friends, I hate to keep piling on here but I have had my reasoning challenged today, I have had my logical processes challenged today, I have had my thought processes challenged today, quite simply I have been challenged. My opinion has been challenged by this whole Jayson Blair-New York Times stuff and, ongoing research confirms – as is usually the case – that I’m right.

What did I say? I said at the root of this Jayson Blair problem with the New York Times is affirmative action, is political correctness, is diversity. I know these people. They are liberals and I know that what got them in trouble is their allegiance to this flawed premise of diversity equaling greatness. Well, more continues to roll in....There’s a Web site called Times Watch dot-org, which is a Web site that chronicles the New York Times. It is the newspaper of record. And as such, it is watched. And from this edition of Times Watch comes this little blurb:

Melissa Block, a host of the National Public Radio program "All Things Considered," interviewed Times executive editor Howell Raines..."Mr. Raines, you spoke to a convention of the National Association of Black Journalists in 2001, and you specifically mentioned Jayson Blair as an example of the Times spotting and hiring the best and brightest reporters on their way up. You said, 'This campaign has made our staff better and, more importantly, more diverse.' And I wonder now, looking back, if you see this as something of a cautionary tale, that maybe Jayson Blair was given less scrutiny or more of a pass on the corrections to his stories that you had to print because the paper had an interest in cultivating a young, black reporter."

....We had a caller earlier in the day who said that this whole story is an insult to black journalists and that’s exactly right. This is the best they can do at the New York Times? Talk about a stigma. This is what we all mean when we talk about the stigma of affirmative action.

More on this topic

 

MSNBC
Hardball
May 12, 2003

MATTHEWS: The debate tonight: Should journalistic fraud at "The New York Times" be forgiven? In a four-page expose in yesterday's paper, the "Times" revealed the history of deception by a young reporter writing for the paper.... Seth Mnookin is the media editor at "Newsweek." Mort Zuckerman is editor-in-chief of "U.S. News and World Report" and the publisher of the "New York Daily News." Liz Swasey is with the Media Research Center, a conservative media watch dog group.

SWASEY Well, I think first it's fair to point out that Howell Raines is doing a terrific job. He's doing a thorough and complete job in reporting on Jayson Blair's errors. But I think he needs to do as good and as thorough a job reporting on his own errors. We do not know if this is a case of quotas for reporters trumping quality of reporters. That was the question that all of the pundits were asking over the weekend. Howell Raines himself was asked this himself on NPR and PBS. He was able to skate -- escape answering the question. He was able to come up with some grandiose answer that really was a non-answer....But we do have a statement that Howell Raines made in 2001 to the National Association of Black Journalists. He said that diversity was more important than journalism. Now... 

MATTHEWS: I don't believe he said that.

More on this topic

 

Insight Magazine
"Out of the 'Quagmire'; Media managers covering an awe-inspiring military campaign seemed determined to turn war in Iraq into a U.S. defeat as in Vietnam," by J. Michael Waller
May 12, 2003

When the Army lost a single attack helicopter during a swarming raid of 40 Apaches against Iraqi troops, ABC World News Tonight presented Engel in Baghdad spreading regime disinformation that a "poor farmer" had shot down the helicopter with an old rifle. In a prime-time special, Jennings wondered why the Iraqi people weren't cheering and why coalition troops hadn't found any weapons of mass destruction yet. ABC reportage focused on the "humanitarian disaster" that surely lay ahead; by contrast, as the Media Research Center notes, Rather of CBS on the same evening showed coalition forces as helping the Iraqi people.

More on this topic

 

Newsbeat with Blanquita Collum
May 12, 2003

MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham on Michael Moore's upcoming Bush documentary.

 

KSLR (TX)
May 12, 2003

MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham on the New York Times scandal.

More on this topic

 

The Jerusalem Post
"CNN's Compromise," by Andrea Levin 
May 9, 2003

When Collins shortly afterward broadcast a story skeptical of Iraqi claims that Americans were bombing "innocent Iraqi farmers," he was told by veteran CNN reporter Brent Sadler that the story was "not helpful." Sadler wanted that interview with the Iraqi dictator. The Jordan disclosures have prompted speculation about the conduct of CNN in other dictatorships where the network maintains bureaus, such as Cuba. A study by the Virginia- based Media Research Center found the network has given Fidel Castro a platform to promote his views unchallenged. According to the center, "Just seven of 212 stories focused on the regimes' treatment of dissidents; only four stories concerned themselves with the lack of democracy; and only two stories spotlighted the intimidation of journalists."

More on this topic

 

Fox News Channel 
Fox and Friends
May 5, 2003

Steve Doocy: "CNN’s Aaron Brown decides to back out of some special newscasts that we were talking about yesterday. These newscasts, they look like newscasts but they were paid by drug and health care companies...."
Chetry: "Joining us to talk about it Tim Graham, he’s the director of media analysis and the Media Research Center. Thanks for being with us this morning, Tim. What this was apparently newscasts where these people would be paid a certain amount of money to read introductions to these mock newscasts that ran for free to any stations in Florida that wanted them. Tell us a little bit about what was going on in terms of who was paying them and what the whole goal of these newscasts was to do."
Graham: "Well, I guess this group was called WJMK, which sounds like a station, not a company. But they were basically -- they were using Morley Safer -- it appears to be a period of years -- to do these shows called American Medical Review, and you know, public TV stations would run them because they look like real programming, and yet – "
Chetry: "So where does the problem come in though?"
Graham: "Well, because basically drug companies were paying to, to get their products advertised on this show. So, basically you do have a commercial, and news people then are being paid to sort of make it look like news. So, I mean basically – " Doocy: "Exactly. They legitimize it."
Graham: "Yeah, basically you have a case of ‘I’m not a doctor, but I play a newsman on TV.’"

 

The Walsh Forum with Ron Roscoe and Dick Walsh
Guest Brent Bozell [excerpt]
May 4, 2003

Ron Roscoe: Back in 1961, A.J. Liebling said the function of the press in society is to inform, but it’s role in society is to make money.... I think this quote really holds true for why you felt this show [with the MRC] was so important to do.

Dick Walsh: I think the Media Research is the one organization that brings the truth to the people. It’s a very needed organization and everybody should support Brent Bozell and his people who bring the truth to America.

Roscoe: ....I also wanted to let everybody know that we had had another guest scheduled to be on with you Brent, Jay Carney from Time magazine was scheduled to be on the show but backed out at the last minute. It’s kind of strange because we get about 15 guests that we had said we were going to talk about the media coverage of the war today, Brent, and we want to – at the Walsh Forum it’s always important for us to get both sides of the story – we found out that it is hard to get the other side of the story today because it didn’t seem like anyone wanted to jump on that bandwagon and go hey, let’s talk about it. So it’s an interesting thing. Have you come across that Brent in other shows where you try to do a point-counterpoint thing?

Brent Bozell: Sure you do. On the one hand, you can be tickled by it. But on the other hand I think you have to look at it very seriously and recognize that this is an institution, we’re talking about the media here, wherein they believe they have some kind of God-given right to pry into all affairs of man, to know everything about everyone. And yet ask them about their affairs, about the job that they’re doing, and they want to have nothing to say about it. It’s a terrible double-standard....

 

World Magazine
Quick Takes; Rather surprising
May 3, 2003

His liberalism may have inspired the bumper sticker "Rather Biased," but Dan Rather didn't veer left when covering the Iraqi war, according to the Media Research Center. The conservative watchdog gave Mr. Rather a "B-plus" for his war coverage.

The CBS veteran's grade topped the "B" given to the Fox News Channel. FNC lost points because imbedded reporter Geraldo Rivera revealed troop movements to viewers.

ABC's Peter Jennings received the lowest individual grade, an "F," while Fox's Brit Hume killed the curve with an "A." MRC research director Rich Noyes noted that Mr. Rather's grade doesn't reflect his career. "This is just on the war," he said. "It's not a lifetime achievement award."

See story | More on this topic

 

Christian Science Monitor
"'Mr. Rogers' of news gets edgy," by Janet Saidi 
May 2, 2003

Not everyone watching "Now" is delighting in its complexity. The conservative Media Research Center awarded Moyers with the quote of the year at their annual "dishonor" awards in March, for a November statement criticizing the Bush administration: "... If you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture."

Conservatives' main objection is that Moyers delivers liberal commentary on PBS - publicly funded television. "Even if he's marshaling facts," says Media Research's Tim Graham, "he's marshaling facts at the service of his agenda ... and he's got this enormous tax-payer-funded megaphone."

See story | More on this topic

 

 

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