Best of Notable Quotables -- Press Coverage

Media Liberalism
Proved Again
Chattanooga Times Free Press

As printed in the December 29, 2001 edition

Editorial in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

The evidence of liberal bias in the media is overwhelming. In case there remain doubters, however, the Media Research Center recently compiled some startling (or perhaps not so startling) examples of that bias. The center has put out "The Best Notable Quotables of 2001: The Fourteenth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting."

The list debunks the claim that the nation's elite journalists do not push political agendas.

Here are a few choice morsels:

* "We all know that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and that Reuters upholds the principle that we do not use the word terrorist....To be frank, it adds little to call the attack on the World Trade Center a terrorist attack." -- Steven Jukes, global head of news for Reuters News Service

* "George W. Bush's rhetoric is very inclusive. He means to be inclusive, and he's used very soft rhetoric in trying to reach out to minorities. But...he hasn't talked about using the federal government to broaden the safety net." -- Linda Douglass, ABC reporter

* "So you can look me in the eye and say that you are a president committed to cleaning up the environment?" -- Matt Lauer of NBC in an exchange with President Bush

* "Adios, surplus. When retired boomers dine on dog food, will they say thanks for that $600?" -- From "Newsweek's" Conventional Wisdom box, giving the president a "down" arrow on his tax cut

* "Liberals are going to miss him, he was so wonderfully odious. Remember that old 'Time' magazine that had him on the cover with the dark shadows under the eyes and he's this dark and menacing figure? And it was very comforting to the East Coast media establishment to know that there was an evil guy out there that you could really fear." -- Evan Thomas of "Newsweek" on the retirement of Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.

* "Well, from day one, she seemed completely inflexible, insisting on the narrow letter of the law."
-- ABC's Diane Sawyer on Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris' role in the 2000 presidential election

* "What do you think Senator Ashcroft's distortion of your record and tarnishing of your good name says about his character?" -- CBS's Bryant Gumbel to Ronnie White, Missouri Supreme Court judge.

* And who can forget Dan Rather's exchange with Bill O'Reilly on "The O'Reilly Factor"?

Mr. O'Reilly: "I want to ask you flat out, do you think President Clinton's an honest man?"
Mr. Rather: "Yes, I think he's an honest man...."
Mr. O'Reilly: "Even though he lied to Jim Lehrer's face about the Lewinsky case?"
Mr. Rather: "Who among us has not lied about something?...I know that you would consider it sort of astonishing anybody would say so, but I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things."

Case closed.

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Best NQ of 2001