top
|
1. NBC's Today Frets that Carter "Snubbed" from Funeral Delegation NBC's Today treated the lack of inclusion of former President Jimmy Carter, in the official U.S. delegation to Friday's funeral for the late Pope John Paul II, as an inexcusable snub by the Bush White House and the biggest news of Wednesday morning. Katie Couric insisted at the top of the show that with President Bush going to Rome with the First Lady and Condoleezza Rice, as well as his father and Bill Clinton, "the question some people are asking is where's President Carter in all this? Are the Bushes and the Carters the modern day version of the Hatfields and the McCoys? Andrea Mitchell soon fretted: "You have to wonder why the White House couldn't have asked the Vatican to permit one more person in the Basilica? Particularly a Nobel Laureate who actually worked on Third World issues with John Paul II. And it seems as though this snub may have had something to do with Carter's strong criticism of the President at last summer's Democratic convention." Matt Lauer wanted to know "why doesn't Secretary of State Rice step aside and say, 'you take my spot, you know, former President Carter?'" 2. CBS: Catholics in U.S. Saw Pope as "Reactionary and Out of Touch" While CBS's Martha Teichner, in a lengthy and largely positive Sunday Morning profile of the late John Paul II, portrayed him as a "progressive" and "media-savvy humanitarian," she saw "another side, a more controversial John Paul" who "found himself at odds with millions of Catholics in the United States and Europe who considered him reactionary and out of touch." 3. Networks Continue to Forward Canard About "Record" High Gas Price Adjusted for inflation, oil will have to top $90 a barrel to set a record and gas $2.97 a gallon at the retail pump, but network anchors continue to falsely describe much lower prices as a "record" high. On NBC's Today on Tuesday morning, Ann Curry asserted: "Gas prices have hit a record for a third week in a row, now averaging $2.22 a gallon for regular." The night before, CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer called $58 a barrel "the highest price ever" for oil and claimed that $2.22 a gallon "for self-serve regular" represented "yet another record." 4. The West Wing's Ideal Republican President Holds Liberal Views Hollywood' ideal Republican President, as brought to life two weeks ago by NBC's The West Wing, which has its season finale tonight (Wednesday), is "pro-choice," "pro-environment," will save the party from the "right wing," engineers a deal to raise the minimum wage and lectures about keeping religion out of politics. On the March 23 episode, a Democratic consultant told Republican presidential candidate, "Senator Arnold Vinick," played by Alan Alda, that he can win in a landslide because he's "moving the Republicans away from the right wing. You're not saying Democrats are not patriotic." After a pro-life Republican, who is so intolerant that he rejects Vinick's offer of the vice presidency, invites Vinick to join him in church, Vinick lectures a gaggle of reporters: "I don't see how we can have a separation of church and state in this government if you have to pass a religious test to get in this government." NBC's Today Frets that Carter "Snubbed" from Funeral Delegation NBC's Today treated the lack of inclusion of former President Jimmy Carter, in the official U.S. delegation to Friday's funeral for the late Pope John Paul II, as an inexcusable snub by the Bush White House and the biggest news of Wednesday morning. Katie Couric insisted at the top of the show that with President Bush going to Rome with the First Lady and Condoleezza Rice, as well as his father and Bill Clinton, "the question some people are asking is where's President Carter in all this? Are the Bushes and the Carters the modern day version of the Hatfields and the McCoys? Andrea Mitchell soon fretted: "You have to wonder why the White House couldn't have asked the Vatican to permit one more person in the Basilica? Particularly a Nobel Laureate who actually worked on Third World issues with John Paul II. And it seems as though this snub may have had something to do with Carter's strong criticism of the President at last summer's Democratic convention." Matt Lauer wanted to know "why doesn't Secretary of State Rice step aside and say, 'you take my spot, you know, former President Carter?'" The April 6 Today, the MRC's Geoff Dickens noticed, devoted a full story and a Lauer/Mitchell q and a to how the Bush White House didn't invite Carter to go to the funeral. (Neither ABC's Good Morning America or CBS's Early Show had anything Wednesday morning about the supposed snub of Carter, the MRC's Jessica Barnes and Brian Boyd reported.) On Today, however, Katie Couric trumpeted up top: "As President Bush travels to Rome this morning along with the First Lady, Condoleezza Rice and former Presidents Bush and Clinton, the question some people are asking is where's President Carter in all this? Are the Bushes and the Carters the modern day version of the Hatfields and the McCoys?"
News reader Ann Curry set up a story during the 7am news update: "Now let's go to NBC's Norah O'Donnell at the White House. She's got details on who is in the U.S. delegation to the funeral and who is not. Norah, good morning." After the weather, Lauer introduced a more in-depth look at the subject: "On 'Close Up' this morning, the U.S. delegation to the papal funeral. President Bush along with his father, the former President and former President Clinton are off today for Rome but why isn't former President Jimmy Carter going? Andrea Mitchell is NBC's chief foreign affairs correspondent. Andrea, good morning. What's the back story here?"
From Washington, DC, Mitchell asserted: "Well it is a question a lot of people are asking. Why isn't Jimmy Carter part of that White House delegation and the inescapable conclusion Matt is that he was snubbed. Carter clearly did want to go but the White House said there was no room. You have to wonder why the White House couldn't have asked the Vatican to permit one more person in the Basilica? Particularly a Nobel Laureate who actually worked on Third World issues with John Paul II. And it seems as though this snub may have had something to do with Carter's strong criticism of the President at last summer's Democratic convention."
CBS: Catholics in U.S. Saw Pope as "Reactionary and Out of Touch" While CBS's Martha Teichner, in a lengthy and largely positive Sunday Morning profile of the late John Paul II, portrayed him as a "progressive" and "media-savvy humanitarian," she saw "another side, a more controversial John Paul" who "found himself at odds with millions of Catholics in the United States and Europe who considered him reactionary and out of touch." The MRC's Brian Boyd caught Teichner's caveat in the midst of an otherwise positive review, on the April 3 Sunday Morning, of the late Pope's life. After citing his world achievements, Teichner cautioned: "This was one side of John Paul, the progressive, media-savvy humanitarian. But there was another side, a more controversial John Paul." After a soundbite from a critic, Teichner continued: "This other John Paul found himself at odds with millions of Catholics in the United States and Europe who considered him reactionary and out of touch. Name the issue: abortion, birth control, divorce, homosexuality, the role of women in the church, refusing to go all the way to crack down on pedophile priests."
Networks Continue to Forward Canard About "Record" High Gas Price Adjusted for inflation, oil will have to top $90 a barrel to set a record and gas $2.97 a gallon at the retail pump, but network anchors continue to falsely describe much lower prices as a "record" high. On NBC's Today on Tuesday morning, Ann Curry asserted: "Gas prices have hit a record for a third week in a row, now averaging $2.22 a gallon for regular." The night before, CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer called $58 a barrel "the highest price ever" for oil and claimed that $2.22 a gallon "for self-serve regular" represented "yet another record."
Curry, the MRC's Geoff Dickens noticed, reported during the 7am news update on the April 5 Today: The night before, on the April 4 CBS Evening News, Bob Schieffer reported: "For a while today, oil was selling for more than $58 a barrel. That's the highest price ever. The Energy Department says that gasoline is up seven cents in the past week to a nationwide average now of $2.22 a gallon for self-serve regular. That's yet another record." Earlier CyberAlert items on mis-reporting of record high oil and gas prices:
-- March 17 CyberAlert: The futures price for a barrel of oil and the cost of a gallon of gas at the retail pump have been soaring, but they are far from record highs, yet the networks make that false assertion. On Wednesday night, Peter Jennings teased: "On World News Tonight, the price of oil is at another record high." Betsy Stark soon issued an inaccurate prediction that "gas prices are now within a penny of their all-time record." On CNN, Erica Hill referred to how "crude oil prices hit a record high today closing" and the "AAA predicts U.S. gas prices could reach an all-time high tomorrow." CBS's Bob Schieffer insisted that "the price of oil hit a record $56 a barrel today." NBC's Brian Williams declared that "the price of oil set a new record high -- $56 a barrel." PBS's Jim Lehrer maintained that "the price of crude oil rose to an all-time high today." FNC's Shepard Smith warned: "The cost of oil hitting an all-time high. It looks like the cost of gas is not far from behind." In fact, adjusted for inflation, oil will have to hit $90 a barrel to set a record high and gasoline would reach a record not at $2.07 per gallon but at a $2.97. See: www.mediaresearch.org
The West Wing's Ideal Republican President Holds Liberal Views Hollywood' ideal Republican President, as brought to life two weeks ago by NBC's The West Wing, which has its season finale tonight (Wednesday), is "pro-choice," "pro-environment," will save the party from the "right wing," engineers a deal to raise the minimum wage and lectures about keeping religion out of politics. On the March 23 episode, a Democratic consultant told Republican presidential candidate, "Senator Arnold Vinick," played by Alan Alda, that he can win in a landslide because he's "moving the Republicans away from the right wing. You're not saying Democrats are not patriotic." After a pro-life Republican, who is so intolerant that he rejects Vinick's offer of the vice presidency, invites Vinick to join him in church, Vinick lectures a gaggle of reporters: "I don't see how we can have a separation of church and state in this government if you have to pass a religious test to get in this government." The West Wing's ideal Democrat would also be more liberal. This season the show introduced "Congressman Matt Santos," played by Jimmy Smits, as a long-shot presidential candidate who soars ahead with the guidance of "Josh Lyman," a top aide to Democratic President "Josiah Bartlet" who doesn't have the guts to take on the health care system. In the course of the campaign, Santos advocates the elimination of insurance companies in health care in a new "single-payer" system. In tonight's (Wednesday) season finale, we'll learn whether Santos will win the Democratic nomination. The March 23 episode picked up with Republican Senator Vinick (played by the left-wing actor Alan Alda) having won enough delegates to become the GOP nominee. Some highlights of how the West Wing portrayed Vinick and some other Republicans, in scenes with the dialogue corrected against the closed-captioning by the MRC's Megan McCormack. -- Scene in Vinick's Senate office in which Democratic/Bartlet consultant "Bruno Gianelli," played by the somewhat conservative actor Ron Silver, tells the Senator how since he's not very conservative he could win in all 50 states:
Gianelli: "This campaign should be all about you, the reasons you should be President. And those reasons are exactly where 60 percent of the voters are: Pro-choice, anti-partial birth, pro-death penalty, anti-tax, pro-environment and pro-business, pro-balanced budget, and I could go on and on."
Reverend Don Butler: "I hit you pretty hard during the primaries, and I just want you to know it was never personal. Abortion is not a political issue with me."
Reporter: "Reverend, will you pray for him [Vinick] to change his mind [on abortion]?"
Reporter: "Senator Vinick? Senator, were you surprised at Reverend Butler's invitation?"
President Bartlet: "Democrats withdraw the minimum wage amendment from the debt ceiling bill. You pass the bill, then you give them a vote on the minimum wage."
Vinick: "Whatever happened to separation of church and state?"
Reporter: "Senator, are you going to reconsider Reverend Butler's invitation to his church this weekend?" The Bush White House naturally took that as a shot at President Bush, Paul Bedard reported in this week's "Washington Whispers" column in the April 11 U.S. News. An excerpt: White House and GOP insiders say they feel like suckers after falsely believing President Bush 's re-election would be met with acceptance from Hollywood. Their tip: Last month's West Wing episode in which the Alan Alda character blasted pols who use religion for political advantage. "Just when Hollywood was trying to get back in our good graces," said one insider, "they used that offensive script." Bushies think the script was targeting their boss. But Lawrence O'Donnell, a former Democratic Hill staffer, tells us he was just writing a good story, and he adds that the Alda character is a Republican presidential candidate. Then he let Bush have it. "If the White House worries that when that subject comes up it is somehow aimed at the president, well, you know, who told them to use religion in campaigning so much?" asks O'Donnell. "There's no one in our modern political history who has used his religiosity more deliberately and actively and falsely in campaigning than George Bush, second only to...Bill Clinton." END of Excerpt That confirms O'Donnell's anti-Bush message and his circular reasoning: If Bush didn't do what I don't like then I wouldn't attack him for it. For Bedard's latest Washington Whispers items: www.usnews.com NBC's page for The West Wing: www.nbc.com NBC's page for Alan Alda/Senator Arnold Vinick: www.nbc.com NBC's page for Jimmy Smits/Congressman Matt Santos: www.nbc.com The Internet Movie Database's page for The West Wing: www.imdb.com IMDB's page for Ron Silver/Bruno Gianelli: www.imdb.com IMDB's page for Don S. Davis/Reverend Don Butler: www.imdb.com
-- Brent Baker
Home | News Division
| Bozell Columns | CyberAlerts |
|