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1. Housing Prices Up, Yet CBS Cites Comparison to Great Depression On a day when the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a rise in the price of homes so the average median price is above where it was a year ago, Wednesday's CBS Evening News featured a soundbite claiming "home price depreciation" unprecedented since the Great Depression. "The housing market is going deeper in the dumper," anchor Katie Couric rhymed, as "America's Realtors reported today that used homes were selling in June at the slowest pace in four and a half years." She acknowledged "a bright note for homeowners," but added a caveat in relaying that "house prices went up for the first time in nearly a year, but just barely." The headline for the NAR press release from which CBS cribbed gave equal weight to two developments -- "Prices Rise, Existing-Home Sales Decline" -- but Anthony Mason's story explored only the negative, as he focused on rising foreclosures and declining sales, and even managed to spin the climbing home prices into a dire situation. "Countrywide's CEO, Angelo Mozilo, had this warning," Mason stressed. Then, with matching text on screen, viewers heard audio of Mozilo from a day before NAR's numbers were released on the higher median home price: "We are experiencing home price depreciation almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression." 2. CBS Promises 7 'Different Perspectives' on Gun Violence, But... Tuesday's CBS Evening News promised many perspectives on the solution to gun violence in Philadelphia, but the report from correspondent Byron Pitts was overwhelming slanted to the left. Referring to his story from the night before on gun violence in the city, Pitts set up his follow-up by explaining how "we showed the Philadelphia story to seven people from the front lines....Each with different perspectives on this modern-day problem of violence and illegal guns." But instead of seven "different perspectives," viewers heard six variations on liberal solutions up against the NRA's Wayne LaPierre. While LaPierre stressed the need for more prosecutions of criminals, the other activists blamed the crime problem on such issues as the "gulf that's ever widening between the haves and the have-nots," inadequate spending on schools, "availability of guns" and "inherent racism." A reverend used the opportunity of CBS's cameras to blame the war in Iraq: "Until there's great debate about losing the war in Iraq, and clearly, we're losing the war not only in Iraq, we're losing the war on American streets." 3. To Deter Home Invasion Killers, GMA Advises Wind Chimes Not a Gun In the wake of the horrific Connecticut home invasion robbery in which two paroled felons murdered a wife and her two daughters, Wednesday's Good Morning America provided some "really cheap, easy things" viewers could do to make their homes safer. But while co-host Chris Cuomo suggested planting cactus plants in your windowsill and hanging wind chimes, he ignored a more obvious option with a better chance of protecting your family against psychotic felons who've done hard prison time whom wind chimes are unlikely to deter: purchasing a gun. To make "your home a little bit of a hard target, tough to get in," Cuomo recommended "something as simple as cactus. Sounds simple, right? You know, oh, they wouldn't care about that. But they do. They think about these things. Chimes outside the window..." If the bad guys get past the cactus and wind chimes, Cuomo had another "cheap" solution: "God forbid somebody breaks into the house, you're alone with your kids. What do you do? You can make your own safe room." Finding the space for, and building, a secure "safe room" would certainly cost a lot more than a handgun. 4. Time Mag's Deep Bow to Islam: Hailing 'Burqini' Swimsuit as Chic It's amazing how supposedly liberal and feminist publications that enjoy roasting conservative Christians will turn around and honor Islamic traditions as the latest rage. Witness Time's promotional coverage this week of the "Burqini," the head-to-toe women's swimsuit. If this was a Pat Robertson idea, they'd be bowled over laughing. But it's Islamic, so it's surprisingly chic. The front page of the Life section, in the July 30 edition, promoted the story by Laura Fitzpatrick: "The Burqini swimsuits allow women, Muslim or not, to choose comfort over conformity." Obeying Islamic dictates of modesty is not conformity? On a 90-degree day, a head-to-toe suit is the definition of comfort? On page 50, the story's headline touted, "The New Swimsuit Issue: Modest beachwear for Muslim women is taking off with secular swimmers too."
to Great Depression On a day when the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a rise in the price of homes so the average median price is above where it was a year ago, Wednesday's CBS Evening News featured a soundbite claiming "home price depreciation" unprecedented since the Great Depression. Apparently, reality wasn't negative enough for CBS, so they felt a need to add some embellishment. "The housing market is going deeper in the dumper," anchor Katie Couric rhymed, as "America's Realtors reported today that used homes were selling in June at the slowest pace in four and a half years." She acknowledged "a bright note for homeowners," but added a caveat in relaying that "house prices went up for the first time in nearly a year, but just barely." The headline for the NAR press release from which CBS cribbed gave equal weight to two developments -- "Prices Rise, Existing-Home Sales Decline" -- but Anthony Mason's story explored only the negative, as he focused on rising foreclosures and declining sales, and even managed to spin the climbing home prices into a dire situation. "In a Wall Street conference call, Countrywide's CEO, Angelo Mozilo, had this warning," Mason stressed. Then, with matching text on screen, viewers heard audio of Mozilo from a day before NAR's numbers were released on the higher median home price: "We are experiencing home price depreciation almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression." The July 25 NAR press release reported: "The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $230,100 in June, up 0.3 percent from June 2006 when the median was $229,300. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less." See: www.realtor.org [This item was posted Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] A transcript of the July 25 CBS Evening News presentation of NAR's latest numbers:
KATIE COURIC: In this country, the housing market is going deeper in the dumper. America's Realtors reported today that used homes were selling in June at the slowest pace in four and a half years. If there is a bright note for homeowners, house prices went up for the first time in nearly a year, but just barely. The median price now just over $230,000. As Anthony Mason reports, in this slump, a lot of Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure.
on Gun Violence, But... Tuesday's CBS Evening News promised many perspectives on the solution to gun violence in Philadelphia, but the report from correspondent Byron Pitts was overwhelming slanted to the left. Referring to his story from the night before on gun violence in the city, Pitts set up his follow-up by explaining how "we showed the Philadelphia story to seven people from the front lines....Each with different perspectives on this modern-day problem of violence and illegal guns." But instead of seven "different perspectives," viewers heard six variations on liberal solutions up against the NRA's Wayne LaPierre. While LaPierre stressed the need for more prosecutions of criminals, the other activists blamed the crime problem on such issues as the "gulf that's ever widening between the haves and the have-nots," inadequate spending on schools, "availability of guns" and "inherent racism." A reverend used the opportunity of CBS's cameras to blame the war in Iraq: "Until there's great debate about losing the war in Iraq, and clearly, we're losing the war not only in Iraq, we're losing the war on American streets." Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries blamed poverty: "It's about disparity. It's about this distance and a gulf that's ever widening between the haves and the have-nots." The Children Defense Fund's Marian Wright Edelman called for more spending on education. When pressed by Pitts about the excessive cost, Edelman responded: "It's cheaper than emergency rooms. It's cheaper than a jail cell." Miami Police Chief John Timoney called for more gun control and argued that if more of the victims were white, that there would be a call to ignore the NRA and pass more gun laws: "There's also some inherent racism. I can guarantee you...that if 85 percent of the people in big cities were getting killed were white, there'd be a different approach to this whole thing....They'd be screaming for more federal legislation. They'd be demanding it, and to hell with the NRA." While he allowed liberal perspectives to dominate the story, Pitts did at least let the NRA's LaPierre respond to Timoney's charges directly, and the correspondent also challenged two teens to solve their own problems: "But this is America, the land of opportunity. You can help yourself. You can pull yourself up, no?" [This item is adapted from a posting, by Brad Wilmouth, on the MRC's NewsBusters blog: newsbusters.org ] Below is a complete transcript of the story from the Tuesday, July 24 CBS Evening News: KATIE COURIC: There was yet another fatal shooting in Philadelphia today, and that brought the number of murders in the city this year to 236. But it's not just Philadelphia. Homicides are up sharply in other big cities as well. Tonight, our national correspondent Byron Pitts focuses on solutions as he concludes his series "Battle Line Philadelphia."
BYRON PITTS: This is north Philadelphia. We showed the Philadelphia story to seven people from the front lines. Since the year 2001, there have been 10,000 shooting victims in Philadelphia. The head of the NRA:
Wind Chimes Not a Gun In the wake of the horrific Connecticut home invasion robbery in which two paroled felons murdered a wife and her two daughters, Wednesday's Good Morning America provided some "really cheap, easy things" viewers could do to make their homes safer. But while co-host Chris Cuomo suggested planting cactus plants in your windowsill and hanging wind chimes, he ignored a more obvious option with a better chance of protecting your family against psychotic felons who've done hard prison time whom wind chimes are unlikely to deter: purchasing a gun. To make "your home a little bit of a hard target, tough to get in," Cuomo recommended "something as simple as cactus. Sounds simple, right? You know, oh, they wouldn't care about that. But they do. They think about these things. Chimes outside the window..." If the bad guys get past the cactus and wind chimes, Cuomo had another "cheap" solution: "God forbid somebody breaks into the house, you're alone with your kids. What do you do? You can make your own safe room." Finding the space for, and building, a secure "safe room" would certainly cost a lot more than a handgun. Hartford Courant story on the Monday night into Tuesday morning horror in Cheshire, Connecticut: www.courant.com Mark Finkelstein, a blogger on the MRC's NewsBusters site, caught the missing obvious suggestion and blogged about the GMA presentation. The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video for the July 25 segment, in the 7:30 half hour, which followed a set up piece on other home invasions and comments from a security expert about doing things to make your home look less inviting to criminals. For the list of suggestions, Cuomo and fill-in co-host Elizabeth Vargas stood in front of a door, a mock window with windowsill and a safe room cut out:
CHRIS CUOMO: There are some really cheap, easy things that we can do to help ourselves. For instance, what is this plank of wood at my right? Peep holes. You want to see who's coming. We all have the one up here for us. What about your kids?
'Burqini' Swimsuit as Chic It's amazing how supposedly liberal and feminist publications that enjoy roasting conservative Christians will turn around and honor Islamic traditions as the latest rage. Witness Time's promotional coverage this week of the "Burqini," the head-to-toe women's swimsuit. If this was a Pat Robertson idea, they'd be bowled over laughing. But it's Islamic, so it's surprisingly chic. The front page of the Life section, in the July 30 edition, promoted the story by Laura Fitzpatrick: "The Burqini swimsuits allow women, Muslim or not, to choose comfort over conformity." Obeying Islamic dictates of modesty is not conformity? On a 90-degree day, a head-to-toe suit is the definition of comfort? On page 50, the story's headline touted, "The New Swimsuit Issue: Modest beachwear for Muslim women is taking off with secular swimmers too." [This item, by Tim Graham, was posted Wednesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Fitzpatrick began: Move over, Tankini. Since the full-coverage swimsuit dubbed the Burqini (as in burqa plus bikini) hit the international market in January, devout Muslim women have been snapping them up. The polyester suits were designed to accord with Islamic laws that require women to dress modestly and to eliminate the risk of drowning when the yards of fabric used in traditional burqas get soaked. Now, however, non-Muslim beachgoers are getting into the full-covered swim. Whether women are worried about health, weight or the tolls of age, the Burqini offers a comfortable alternative to a skimpy two-piece or clingy maillot. [That's fashion-speak for the one-piece.] SUSPEND Excerpt Fitzpatrick noted that some kinds of Christians, and not just secular women, have shown interest: "Conservative Christians, cancer patients, burn victims and senior citizens, among others, have shown surprising interest." She did allow criticism late in the piece: The Web site ShiaChat disapproves of the suits as showing curves, feminists charge that "burqas in any form are offensive to women," and Islamic burqini designer Aheda Zanetti "has been called a terrorist online." A moderate imam in Virginia deplored the focus on whether Islamic women can wear this suit or this nail polish. But the story ended at it began: The Burqini is chic: Still, in this bare-it-all age of the string bikini, when young girls take wardrobe cues from Paris Hilton and body-image pressure is intense, the Burqini swimsuit is making a statement. And that's the point, the designers say: the suits allow women, Muslim or not, to choose comfort over conformity. "I know it sounds like an oxymoron," says [California Burqini wearer Shereen] Sabet. "But this is really about freedom." END of Excerpt
For the article in the July 30 Time: www.time.com -- Brent Baker
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