Best of Notable Quotables -- Press Coverage

Media Bias:
The 2001 Awards
New York Post

As printed in the December 31, 2001 edition

For 14 years now, the Media Research Center has been compiling its list of "notable quotables." The quotes come from prominent members of the mainstream news media and provide a clear window into the left-liberal mindset that pervades most of America's large news organizations. At the end of the year, the center -- with help from a panel of outside judges -- chooses the "best" notable quotables. This year's crop tellingly reveals the media's contemporary spirit and obsessions - which revolve, as usual, around contempt for all things conservative. Actually, the winners more or less explain themselves. Happy New Year!

Swiss Press Corps Award for Neutral War Coverage

"The Pentagon as a legitimate target? I actually don't have an opinion on that, and it's important I not have an opinion on that as I sit here in my capacity right now. . . . I can say the Pentagon got hit, I can say this is what their position is, this is what our position is, but for me to take a position this was right or wrong, I mean, that's perhaps for me in my private life . . . But as a journalist I feel strongly that's something that I should not be taking a position on. I'm supposed to figure out what is and what is not, not what ought to be."
-- ABC News President David Westin at a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism event

Media Hero Award

"What an exhilarating moment it must have been for [Hillary Clinton] - the first First Lady in history to be elected to public office. There, for all the nay-sayers to see, was the woman who had finally come into her own, free at last to be smart, outspoken, independent, and provocative, all qualities she had been forced as First Lady, to ‘hide under a bushel.' Still she was voted one of America's most admired women. Just wait. You ain't seen nothin' yet."
-- "On My Mind" ABCNews.com commentary by ABC anchor Carole Simpson

Pushing Bush to the Left Award

"Arsenic in the water. Starting up the Cold War. Make as much carbon dioxide as you like. Laugh about it. Bush has set himself up as a huge target. And the arsenic is going to be the equivalent of what [Newt Gingrich] did with cutting school lunches."
-- Newsweek's Eleanor Clift, on "The McLaughlin Group"

Carve Clinton into Mount Rushmore Award

"Throughout his eight years in office, President Clinton warned us that the next great menace was international terrorism. . . . He also brought unprecedented prosperity to our nation, and because of that, President [Bush] can use the surplus Mr. Clinton left behind to pay for many of the nation's needs in this time of crisis. . . .This lecture series is about the human spirit. To me and millions of others, President Clinton has always personified that. He is the man from Hope, and that is what he has given us, hope. We miss him. Thank you, Mr. President."
-- Helen Thomas, former UPI White House reporter, introducing Clinton before Greater Washington Society of Association Executives

Damn Those Conservatives Award

"I do think, if it turns out that this beautiful young girl is gone, I think, and he [Condit] is responsible in some way, you have to look to Ken Starr for a little bit of guilt. . . . Because, you know, Ken Starr made it so that you, in the old days, you had an affair with somebody, and you know, okay, you had an affair. The press didn't report it. They didn't make a political criminal case of it. Now, it's almost like you have to get rid of them."
-- "Politically Incorrect" host Bill Maher on "Larry King Live"

Selected, Not Elected, Award

"If Bush is elected and it's proved on a hand count that Gore actually carried Florida (not to mention the popular vote), what will the country say? ‘Oops' isn't going to cut it. . . . However agreeable and successful he turns out to be, the new President is doomed to be seen by many Americans as a bastard."
-- Jonathan Alter in Newsweek

Politics of Meaninglessness Award

"What are you, a bunch of Jesus freaks? You ought to be working for Fox."
-- CNN founder Ted Turner at Bernard Shaw's retirement party on Ash Wednesday to CNN employees with ash marks on their foreheads

Nobody Here but Us Apolitical Observers Award

Newsweek's Evan Thomas: "There is a perception, even among journalists, that the [New York] Times is going a little bit left, is getting more liberal, and that's disquieting."
Time magazine's Jack White: "That's a lot of hokum, with all due respect to Evan. There is no liberal bias in the press in the whole. In fact, if there is a bias, it's on the other side. It's hard to find a person really, truly, of the liberal persuasion who are making any important decisions in any important media institutions in this country now. I've looked for them, I consider myself one, I have very few birds of a like feather around."
-- Exchange on "Inside Washington"

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Best NQ of 2001