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1. McClellan Suggestion Newsweek Repair Damage Appalls Journalists Some journalists were appalled Tuesday by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's suggestion that Newsweek "help repair the damage that has been done...by talking about the way they got this wrong, and pointing out what the policies and practices of the United States military are when it comes to the handling of the Holy Koran." At the briefing, ABC's Terry Moran demanded: "Who made you the editor of Newsweek? Do you think it's appropriate for you, at that podium, speaking with the authority of the President of the United States, to tell an American magazine what they should print?" On the CBS Evening News, Wyatt Andrews tried to explain away Newsweek's responsibility: "The White House is still pressuring Newsweek, saying this mistake cost lives. Newsweek, however, says no U.S. official ever denied that story until four days after the rioting began, and that the magazine immediately scrambled to uncover and then admit the error." Bob Schieffer marveled at how "I can never recall a White House telling a news organization to go report X, Y or Z." Andrews then scoffed: "As if Newsweek is now obligated to repair the damage that America has suffered to its reputation overseas. Never seen it." 2. Lauer Frets About "Pressure" and "Piling On" from White House NBC's Matt Lauer decided the real story related to Newsweek's misinformation was White House "pressure" and how the world assumed the worst about the U.S. anyway, so Newsweek really didn't do any damage. Interviewing Newsweek Washington Bureau Chief Dan Klaidman on Tuesday's Today, in reference to Newsweek's retraction, Lauer demanded: "Did you get pressure from the White House?" Lauer wanted to know, from a Muslim point of view, "Why shouldn't I believe that it's still occurring, that it did happen, but that Newsweek magazine retracted the story because of the administration's effort to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world?" Lauer put the burden on the White House, not Newsweek: "Do you think there is a bit of piling on here from the administration?" Next, Lauer cued up Richard Engel from Baghdad: "What you're telling me is that from your experience people in that world expect the worst from the United States?" Engel passed along a "rumor" about how "women were raped in Abu Ghraib. One woman said that and published an open letter in a newspaper, said she was raped every night by six American soldiers." 3. Olbermann Charges White House with "Treasonous" Action Barely 90 minutes after MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Monday night prompted his guest, Craig Crawford, to outline a grand conspiracy about how the Bush administration "set up the news media" as the Newsweek case reflected how they deliberately let media outlets go ahead with stories the Bush team knows are wrong, Olbermann posted a blog entry in which he charged the White House with "treasonous" actions. Olbermann argued on his "Bloggermann" blog that Scott McClellan's resignation should be "drifting out over Washington, and imminently." In a line he also uttered on his show Tuesday night, Olbermann took this shot: "Whenever I hear Scott McClellan talking about 'media credibility,' I strain to remember who it was who admitted Jeff Gannon to the White House press room and called on him all those times." Regurgitating Crawford, Olbermann alleged: "The news organization runs the story. The administration jumps on the necks of the news organization with both feet -- or has its proxies do it for them. That's beyond shameful. It's treasonous." 4. NBC Airs One-Sided Look at What Critics "Fear" from Bush Judges Previewing the showdown over Bush judicial nominees, NBC's David Gregory on Tuesday night, apparently reading off the talking points of People for the American Way, provided a one-sided look only at what critics say about two of them, supplemented by a law professor explaining what critics of them "fear." Gregory concluded by hold President Bush, not Democrats who have altered 200 years of precedence, responsible for the impasse: "When it comes to the courts, this President is unwilling to compromise." On Janice Rogers Brown, Gregory relayed how "she holds controversial views about economic regulations. During a speech, she called laws upholding New Deal programs like Social Security and minimum wage regulations, quote, 'the triumph of our own socialist revolution.'" Turning to Priscilla Owen, Gregory quaked that "she has been accused of being anti-abortion rights. In a Texas case, she questioned the application of a state law that allowed girls to have an abortion without telling their parents." 5. NBC: Oil Prices "Soaring," E-Mailer Wishes for Higher Gas Prices Al Gore pretended he's "Leslie" from Johnstown, Pennsylvania? NBC's Today on Tuesday solicited e-mail comments on gas prices, and at 8:30am Katie Couric and Matt Lauer read two of them. In the second, Leslie from Pennsylvania argued: "I think gas prices should be higher! Americans should wake up and realize what other countries pay for gasoline and what kind of cars they drive. Then maybe we would driver smaller, more energy efficient cars and consume less of our resources." Earlier on the same show, NBC's reporters seemed confused about energy prices. While Natalie Morales correctly noted that "gas prices are at their lowest level in nearly two months," Kevin Tibbles, although the price of oil is falling, ominously warned: "Now with oil prices soaring, breaking that addiction," to SUVs, "isn't going to be easy and what happens if a price of a gallon of gas goes up to say, $4 or $5 a gallon? We'll be looking at that frightening scenario in the days to come." 6. CBS Cancels 60 Minutes Wed, But Rather to Move to Sunday Edition You'd think Dan Rather would have time to make more speeches at $75,000 a pop now that CBS has cancelled his remaining outlet at CBS News, the Wednesday edition of 60 Minutes, the program which ran his hit job on President Bush based on forged memos. But, the AP's David Bauder reported Wednesday morning, TV viewers can't yet escape Rather since he "will contribute stories to the Sunday edition of 60 Minutes, said CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves."
Damage Appalls Journalists Some journalists were appalled Tuesday by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's suggestion that Newsweek "help repair the damage that has been done...by talking about the way they got this wrong, and pointing out what the policies and practices of the United States military are when it comes to the handling of the Holy Koran." At the briefing, ABC's Terry Moran demanded: "Who made you the editor of Newsweek? Do you think it's appropriate for you, at that podium, speaking with the authority of the President of the United States, to tell an American magazine what they should print?" On the CBS Evening News, Wyatt Andrews tried to explain away Newsweek's responsibility: "The White House is still pressuring Newsweek, saying this mistake cost lives. Newsweek, however, says no U.S. official ever denied that story until four days after the rioting began, and that the magazine immediately scrambled to uncover and then admit the error." Bob Schieffer marveled at how "I can never recall a White House telling a news organization to go report X, Y or Z." Andrews then scoffed: "As if Newsweek is now obligated to repair the damage that America has suffered to its reputation overseas. Never seen it."
In fact, the Koran is the only holy book the Pentagon has special rules to protect, the Washington Post's Robin Wright reported Tuesday. Appearing on Tuesday's Good Morning America, ABC's Charlie Gibson asked her about that: "I noticed a piece that you wrote this morning in the Post, that you'd gotten hold of a memo or a document, a couple of years old, that had circulated to interrogators, telling them that they really needed to be very sensitive in their handling of the Koran."
For Wright's May 17 article, "U.S. Long Had Memo on Handling of Koran," go to: This exchange occurred during the 12:45pm EDT briefing:
Terry Moran: "Scott, you said that the retraction by Newsweek magazine of its story is a good first step. What else does the President want this American magazine to do?"
For the White House's transcript of the entire May 17 session, in which other reporters also challenged McClellan on daring to suggest how Newsweek could help un-do what it did: www.whitehouse.gov
Andrews began, as taken down by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth: "The White House suggestion to Newsweek was highly unusual and very specific. To atone for Newsweek's now-retracted report that U.S. interrogators had flushed a Koran down the toilet -- a report that sparked days of riots and 15 deaths -- White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the magazine should now report how the military values the Koran."
Schieffer then turned to a video screen showing Andrews at the DC bureau: "Wyatt, admittedly this is a very serious mistake that Newsweek has made and apologized for and retracted. But I must say I can never recall a White House telling a news organization to go report X, Y or Z. Can you ever remember anything like that?" Reporters wouldn't have seen it if Newsweek hadn't messed up.
On" from White House NBC's Matt Lauer decided the real story related to Newsweek's misinformation was White House "pressure" and how the world assumed the worst about the U.S. anyway, so Newsweek really didn't do any damage. Interviewing Newsweek Washington Bureau Chief Dan Klaidman on Tuesday's Today, in reference to Newsweek's retraction, Lauer demanded: "Did you get pressure from the White House?" Lauer wanted to know, from a Muslim point of view, "Why shouldn't I believe that it's still occurring, that it did happen, but that Newsweek magazine retracted the story because of the administration's effort to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world?" Lauer put the burden on the White House, not Newsweek: "Do you think there is a bit of piling on here from the administration?" Next, Lauer cued up Richard Engel from Baghdad: "What you're telling me is that from your experience people in that world expect the worst from the United States?" Engel passed along a "rumor" about how "women were raped in Abu Ghraib. One woman said that and published an open letter in a newspaper, said she was raped every night by six American soldiers." Lauer's questions to Klaidman, who appeared via satellite from DC, on the May 17 Today:
-- Lauer: "Let's go back to the original story published on May 1st. In it described affronts by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. It reported, quote, 'Interrogators in an attempt to rattle suspects flushed a Koran down the toilet,' end quote. Fast forward to Monday and this statement from Newsweek editor, your boss Mark Whitaker who said quote, 'Based on what we know now we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay. What led to the retraction?"
-- Lauer: "Did you get pressure from the White House, Dan?"
-- Lauer: "The administration's criticism of Newsweek has intensified over the last 24 hours following the so-called apology on Sunday. Do you think there is a bit of piling on here from the administration?"
-- Lauer: "And real, real quickly Dan, if you will, we've made mistakes on this show and it makes you want to throw up, it feels so bad. Someone gonna lose their job? Will there be disciplinary action taken?"
Lauer moved on: "Now for more on the fallout in the Muslim world and the challenges the U.S. faces to repair the damage let's turn to NBC's Richard Engel who's in Baghdad. Richard, good morning to you. What's, what's the reaction this morning to the retraction of this story?"
Action Barely 90 minutes after MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Monday night prompted his guest, Craig Crawford, to outline a grand conspiracy about how the Bush administration "set up the news media" as the Newsweek case reflected how they deliberately let media outlets go ahead with stories the Bush team knows are wrong, Olbermann posted a blog entry in which he charged the White House with "treasonous" actions. Olbermann argued on his "Bloggermann" blog that Scott McClellan's resignation should be "drifting out over Washington, and imminently." In a line he also uttered on his show Tuesday night, Olbermann took this shot: "Whenever I hear Scott McClellan talking about 'media credibility,' I strain to remember who it was who admitted Jeff Gannon to the White House press room and called on him all those times." Regurgitating Crawford, Olbermann alleged: "The news organization runs the story. The administration jumps on the necks of the news organization with both feet -- or has its proxies do it for them. That's beyond shameful. It's treasonous."
The May 17 CyberAlert recounted: MSNBC's Keith Olbermann led Monday's Countdown by snidely asking: "Why does a book in a toilet start riots, but a war doesn't?" Turning conspiratorial, Olbermann soon proposed that "something smells funny to me about this Newsweek apology, then retraction" after White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan "blasts Newsweek." Guest Craig Crawford of Congressional Quarterly and CBS News charged that the Bush administration may well have "set up the news media" to look foolish: "The government had the opportunity to see this report before it was published -- and passed. This is a pattern we've seen before, Keith. We saw it in the CBS case as bad as the supposedly fake memorandum that Dan Rather used in the 60 Minutes report on Bush's National Guard service, as bad as that was, they did show it to the administration ahead of time. It does make you wonder if sometimes they set up the news media." Apparently, an easy mark. See: www.mediaresearch.org The night before, at 9:45pm EDT Monday night, barely 90 minutes after Crawford had appeared on Countdown, Olbermann filed an item for his "Bloggermann" blog. An excerpt from the May 16 entry: The resignation of Scott McClellan (Keith Olbermann) SECAUCUS -- I smell something -- and it ain't a copy of the Qu'ran sopping wet from being stuck in a toilet in Guantanamo Bay. It's the ink drying on Scott McClellan's resignation, and in an only partly imperfect world, it would be drifting out over Washington, and imminently. Last Thursday, General Richard Myers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Donald Rumsfeld's go-to guy whenever the situation calls for the kind of gravitas the Secretary himself can't supply, told reporters at the Pentagon that rioting in Afghanistan was related more to the on-going political reconciliation process there, than it was to a controversial note buried in the pages of Newsweek claiming that the government was investigating whether or not some nitwit interrogator at Gitmo really had desecrated a Muslim holy book. But Monday afternoon, while offering himself up to the networks for a series of rare, almost unprecedented sit-down interviews on the White House lawn, Press Secretary McClellan said, in effect, that General Myers, and the head of the after-action report following the disturbances in Jalalabad, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, were dead wrong. The Newsweek story, McClellan said, "has done damage to our image abroad and it has done damage to the credibility of the media and Newsweek in particular. People have lost lives. This report has had serious consequences." Whenever I hear Scott McClellan talking about 'media credibility,' I strain to remember who it was who admitted Jeff Gannon to the White House press room and called on him all those times. Whenever I hear this White House talking about 'doing to damage to our image abroad' and how ‘people have lost lives,' I strain to remember who it was who went traipsing into Iraq looking for WMD that will apparently turn up just after the Holy Grail will -- and at what human cost.... Whatever I smell comes from this odd sequence of events: Newsweek gets blasted by the White House, apologizes over the weekend but doesn't retract its story. Then McClellan offers his Journalism 101 outdoor seminar and blasts the magazine further. Finally, just before 5 PM Monday, the Dan Rather drama replaying itself in its collective corporate mind, Newsweek retracts. I'm always warning about the logical fallacy -- the illusion that just because one event follows another, the latter must have necessarily caused the former. But when I wondered tonight on Countdown if it applied here, Craig Crawford reassured me. "The dots connect."... One of the most under-publicized analyses of 9/11 concludes that Osama Bin Laden assumed that the attacks on the U.S. would galvanize Islamic anger towards this country, and they'd overthrow their secular governments and woo-hoo we've got an international religious war. Obviously it didn't happen. It didn't even happen when the West went into Iraq. But if stuff like the Newsweek version of a now two-year old tale about toilets and Qu'rans is enough to set off rioting in the streets of countries whose nationals were not even the supposed recipients of the 'abuse', then weren't those members of the military or the government with whom Newsweek vetted the plausibility of its item, honor-bound to say "you can't print this"? Or would somebody rather play politics with this? The way Craig Crawford reconstructed it, this one went similarly to the way the Killian Memos story evolved at the White House. The news organization turns to the administration for a denial. The administration says nothing. The news organization runs the story. The administration jumps on the necks of the news organization with both feet -- or has its proxies do it for them. That's beyond shameful. It's treasonous. It's also not very smart. While places like the Fox News Channel (which, only today, I finally recognized -- it's the newscast perpetually running on the giant video screens in the movie "1984") ask how many heads should roll at Newsweek, it forgets in its fervor that both the story and the phony controversy around it are not so cut-and-dried this time.... [A]nd also for that tasteless, soul-less conclusion that deaths in Afghanistan should be lain at the magazine's doorstep -- Scott McClellan should resign. The expiration on his carton full of blank-eyed bully-collaborator act passed this afternoon as he sat reeling off those holier-than-thou remarks. Ah, that's what I smelled." END of Excerpt For Olbermann's rant in full: www.msnbc.msn.com
"Fear" from Bush Judges Previewing the showdown over Bush judicial nominees, NBC's David Gregory on Tuesday night, apparently reading off the talking points of People for the American Way, provided a one-sided look only at what critics say about two of them, supplemented by a law professor explaining what critics of them "fear." Gregory concluded by hold President Bush, not Democrats who have altered 200 years of precedence, responsible for the impasse: "When it comes to the courts, this President is unwilling to compromise." On Janice Rogers Brown, Gregory relayed how "she holds controversial views about economic regulations. During a speech, she called laws upholding New Deal programs like Social Security and minimum wage regulations, quote, 'the triumph of our own socialist revolution.'" Turning to Priscilla Owen, Gregory quaked that "she has been accused of being anti-abortion rights. In a Texas case, she questioned the application of a state law that allowed girls to have an abortion without telling their parents." The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected against the video the closed-captioning for the May 17 NBC Nightly News piece. Anchor Brian Williams introduced it: "This whole fight is now over a few candidates for vacant federal judgeships. The President's choices have proven explosive if you ask the Democrats. We've heard a lot so far about this controversy, but not that much about who these judges are. More on that tonight from NBC's David Gregory."
Gregory began: "The nominees at the center of the fight, Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen, were seen briefly today arriving at the White House for a morale-boosting meeting with the President."
for Higher Gas Prices Al Gore pretended he's "Leslie" from Johnstown, Pennsylvania? NBC's Today on Tuesday solicited e-mail comments on gas prices, and at 8:30am Katie Couric and Matt Lauer read two of them. In the second, Leslie from Pennsylvania argued: "I think gas prices should be higher! Americans should wake up and realize what other countries pay for gasoline and what kind of cars they drive. Then maybe we would driver smaller, more energy efficient cars and consume less of our resources." Earlier on the same show, NBC's reporters seemed confused about energy prices. While Natalie Morales correctly noted that "gas prices are at their lowest level in nearly two months," Kevin Tibbles, although the price of oil is falling, ominously warned: "Now with oil prices soaring, breaking that addiction," to SUVs, "isn't going to be easy and what happens if a price of a gallon of gas goes up to say, $4 or $5 a gallon? We'll be looking at that frightening scenario in the days to come." The MRC's Geoff Dickens caught the energy price conflict and Al Gore-like e-mail.
In a story at about 7:50am on the May 17 program, Kevin Tibbles reported: "For average families like the Sloans, though, consuming oil is a fact of life and quitting cold turkey is not an option." Ten minutes later, during the 8am news update, Natalie Morales maintained: "Gas prices are at their lowest level in nearly two months. The government says the price of unleaded regular fell two cents over the past two weeks to $2.16 a gallon. But that is still up from 15 cents from a year ago."
Tibbles' hype is way off base. A Tuesday Reuters dispatch relayed:
Couric: "And by the way we asked you earlier in the show to email us about your opinion on gas prices in this country and if they would alter your plans for Memorial Day weekend. Here's what some of you had to say. Terry in Ohio wrote: 'Gas prices will not slow us down this summer. We have a boat, a 4-wheeler, and a tractor, not to mention the weed whacker, the chain saw and other garden tools that are run by gasoline. We've cut back on other things to be able to continue to use gas.'"
to Move to Sunday Edition You'd think Dan Rather would have time to make more speeches at $75,000 a pop now that CBS has cancelled his remaining outlet at CBS News, the Wednesday edition of 60 Minutes, the program which ran his hit job on President Bush based on forged memos. But, the AP's David Bauder reported Wednesday morning, TV viewers can't yet escape Rather since he "will contribute stories to the Sunday edition of 60 Minutes, said CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves."
For Bauder's story, "CBS Cancels Wednesday 60 Minutes," go to: story.news.yahoo.com
-- Brent Baker
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