1. Economic News Leads Nets, Not So Excited About Job Gains
When the Labor Department on Friday announced a strong gain of 166,000 jobs during October, double expectations, ABC and CBS gave it a few seconds while NBC ignored the good news, but on Wednesday night NBC, as well as ABC and CBS, led with a bad day on Wall Street they painted as a harbinger of impending economic doom. NBC anchor Brian Williams piled on the bad news as he insisted he took "no pleasure" in highlighting it. With "DANGER SIGNS" on screen, Williams announced: "Good evening. The following sounds pretty awful -- and we take no pleasure in reporting it -- but today Wall Street fell, the U.S. dollar fell, GM is in bad shape and the housing market continues to be in big trouble." CBS displayed "MARKET TURMOIL" on screen as Katie Couric opened with how "investors were carrying a world of worries on their shoulders today" because of "the falling dollar, record high oil prices, the mortgage mess, the housing slump, and a possible economic slowdown. And they responded by dumping stocks. That sent the Dow plummeting more than 300 points for the second time in a week." Over on ABC, Charles Gibson teased his top story: "Tonight, oil gushes and Wall Street plunges." Gibson cutely led: "Wall Street today took a nose dive sharp enough to make investors' ears pop."

2. ABC Gushed Over Edwards 30th Wedding Anniversary; Ignores Bush's
ABC's Good Morning America, which aired two gushing profiles this summer on the 30th anniversary of John and Elizabeth Edwards, has found no time to air a similar story on the 30th anniversary of George and Laura Bush. The presidential couple celebrated three decades together on Monday, but GMA made no mention of it on Monday or Tuesday. In contrast, on July 31 the ABC program fawned over the well known story of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife celebrating their 30th anniversary at the restaurant Wendy's. As pictures of the couple at the fast food outlet appeared onscreen, Good Morning America anchor Diane Sawyer lauded: "And they are going to renew their vows. Happy anniversary." Less then two weeks later, GMA reported on the story again. Sawyer crowed over the fact ABC would be showing photos of the wedding vows, what she called, "the very first pictures of a very personal backyard ceremony." Reporter David Muir described the pictures, which also appeared in People magazine, as "incredibly personal."

3. Actress Shirley MacLaine Fears 'Mad Men' Like Bush?
Shirley MacLaine appeared on the Wednesday Today show to promote her new book, Sage-ing While Age-ing, and after host Matt Lauer finished talking to the actress about her belief in UFOs and reincarnation, he asked if there was anything she feared in life, the author responded: "Mad men who say they're at the head of democracies scare me." Now while MacLaine didn't mention George W. Bush by name it's not a stretch to assume the sister of liberal actor Warren Beatty was referring to the current President. In fact Lauer, earlier in the interview, noted MacLaine was the godmother of the daughter of fellow UFO witness Dennis Kucinich.

4. ABC Gives Redford Forum to Accuse Media of Enabling Iraq War
Al Gore. Michael Moore. Robert Redford. On Wednesday, the actor/director became the third prominent left-winger to appear on Good Morning America this year and berate journalists for not being liberal enough. Redford, in his second GMA interview this week, stopped by, along with Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, to promote Lions for Lambs, their new anti-war drama. During the interview, co-host Diane Sawyer played a minute-long clip of the movie in which Cruise's character berates a journalist for being a "windsock" to the Bush administration during the Iraq War. The clip featured Cruise haughtily complaining: "Your network led every report about the invasion of Iraq with the digital screen-sized flag to the square-jawed saluting Marine and the bald eagle soaring to Aaron Copland." Sawyer then sycophantically begged: "Speaking as your resident windsock, what would you have us do? What would this film have us do?" Being a tough journalist, Sawyer then allowed Redford to get away with responding that when "we found out the cause behind the war was a lie, that's when I think everybody should have stood up, wakened up, and moved forward." At no point did the GMA host point out that, in regard to Iraq, Bill Clinton said the same thing about WMDs as President Bush.

5. Sawyer Swoons Over Liberal Agenda of Robert Redford's Film
According to Robert Redford and ABC co-host Diane Sawyer, you're either a liberal activist or you are apathetic. Those are the two options. The famous left-wing actor/director appeared on Tuesday's Good Morning America to promote his new anti-war film, Lions for Lambs. After playing a clip of the movie that showed Redford's character, a college professor, deriding a student for not opposing his government, Sawyer breathlessly asked the star: "You've been touring colleges. Is it true? Are they not awake out there? Are they waking up? What's the difference? What's it going to take?" Redford, who also directed the film, asserted that "the pendulum is beginning to swing back" and repeated the cliched liberal claim that young people aren't aggressively opposing the war because "the fact that there wasn't a draft...let a lot of people off the hook and they didn't get involved." So, essentially, young people either support a liberal agenda or they simply don't care?

6. Order Now: Bozell's Book on Media Coverage of Hillary Out Tuesday
Whitewash: What the Media Won't Tell You About Hillary Clinton, But Conservatives Will, a new book by the MRC's Brent Bozell and Tim Graham, will be released next week by Crown Forum. You can order a copy now from the MRC, via PayPal, for $25.95, including shipping and handling. Or, go online and order it today from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

7. MRC's 'NewsBusted' Not on Strike! Fresh Comedy Videos This Week
NewsBusted Not on Strike! While Leno, Stewart, Letterman, O'Brien, Ferguson, Kimmel and Colbert are all in re-runs because of the strike called Monday by the Writers Guild of America, the MRC's NewsBusted comedy video show -- with jokes about politics, Hollywood and media bias -- is fresh this week. Check out the latest two-and-a-half-minute comedy show now at the top of the MRC's NewsBusters blog: http://newsbusters.org/

Economic News Leads Nets, Not So Excited
About Job Gains

     When the Labor Department on Friday announced a strong gain of 166,000 jobs during October, double expectations, ABC and CBS gave it a few seconds while NBC ignored the good news, but on Wednesday night NBC, as well as ABC and CBS, led with a bad day on Wall Street they painted as a harbinger of impending economic doom. NBC anchor Brian Williams piled on the bad news as he insisted he took "no pleasure" in highlighting it. With "DANGER SIGNS" on screen, Williams announced: "Good evening. The following sounds pretty awful -- and we take no pleasure in reporting it -- but today Wall Street fell, the U.S. dollar fell, GM is in bad shape and the housing market continues to be in big trouble."

     CBS displayed "MARKET TURMOIL" on screen as Katie Couric opened with how "investors were carrying a world of worries on their shoulders today" because of "the falling dollar, record high oil prices, the mortgage mess, the housing slump, and a possible economic slowdown. And they responded by dumping stocks. That sent the Dow plummeting more than 300 points for the second time in a week." Over on ABC, Charles Gibson teased his top story: "Tonight, oil gushes and Wall Street plunges." Gibson cutely led: "Wall Street today took a nose dive sharp enough to make investors' ears pop."

     On Friday, November 2, however, the CBS Evening News gave the good news on unemployment less than ten seconds as Couric reported: "The markets got a boost today from the unemployment report. It held steady in October at 4.7 percent and job creation was strong with 166,00 jobs." The positive news earned only a few more seconds from ABC's Gibson on World News: "Wall Street ended a volatile week with stocks recovering a little, after yesterday's big losses, thanks to a strong jobs report that cooled fears of a recession. 166,000 new jobs were added last month, twice what was expected and unemployment held steady."

     NBC Nightly News didn't consider the jobs gain newsworthy at all.

     [This item was posted late Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     Downplaying good news and hyping the bad is nothing new in recent months.

     The CBS Evening News last week ignored, and NBC barely noted, the 3.9 percent GDP growth in the third quarter. For details, check this posting by the MRC's Business & Media Institute: "GDP Growth Missed by CBS, Downplayed by NBC." See: www.businessandmedia.org
     The October 8 CyberAlert recounted how the network evening newscasts, in early September, showcased a loss of jobs in August but, in early October, when that number was revised to a big gain and even more jobs were created in September, CBS didn't bother with the upbeat developments while NBC failed to correct the earlier misinformation:

When the Labor Department reported a net loss of 4,000 jobs for August, the September 7 ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts highlighted the bad news as evidence of an impending recession, but on Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised the August number to a gain of 89,000 jobs and reported 110,000 new jobs for September, only ABC bothered to mention the revision while CBS didn't utter a syllable about either jobs gain. The CBS Evening News anchored by Harry Smith, however, found time to note the Postal Service's decision to honor two CBS journalists -- Eric Sevareid and George Polk -- with stamps.

A month ago, Katie Couric plugged an upcoming look at "new worries about the U.S. economy following a disappointing jobs report." Harry Smith then cited "new concern about the economy tonight following a report which showed the number of jobs in the U.S. dropped by 4,000 in August, the first monthly decline in four years." Anthony Mason asserted "it had a lot of economists uttering the 'r' word today, recession," and fretted: "These job numbers are the most worrisome sign yet, Harry, that the housing slump and the mortgage crisis could take the entire economy down with them." ABC anchor Charles Gibson teased: "The economy loses jobs for the first time in years as the housing crisis raises the risk of recession." Betsy Stark declared: "The risks of a serious slowdown, even a recession, are rising. Today's jobs report was shockingly bleak."

     For the full rundown of coverage on September 7 and October 5: www.mrc.org

ABC Gushed Over Edwards 30th Wedding
Anniversary; Ignores Bush's

     ABC's Good Morning America, which aired two gushing profiles this summer on the 30th anniversary of John and Elizabeth Edwards, has found no time to air a similar story on the 30th anniversary of George and Laura Bush. The presidential couple celebrated three decades together on Monday, but GMA made no mention of it on Monday or Tuesday.

     In contrast, on July 31 the ABC program fawned over the well known story of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife celebrating their 30th anniversary at the restaurant Wendy's. As pictures of the couple at the fast food outlet appeared onscreen, Good Morning America anchor Diane Sawyer lauded: "And they are going to renew their vows. Happy anniversary." For more, check the August 1 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org

     Less then two weeks later, GMA reported on the story again. Sawyer crowed over the fact ABC would be showing photos of the wedding vows, what she called, "the very first pictures of a very personal backyard ceremony." Reporter David Muir described the pictures, which also appeared in People magazine, as "incredibly personal." See the August 10 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org

     [This item, by Scott Whitlock, was posted Tuesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     Now, it is true that President Bush did not play up the 30th wedding anniversary angle like the Edwards campaign. (A Google search reveals no articles and there isn't any mention on WhiteHouse.gov.) But don't members of the media like to tout their ability to speak "truth to power?" Is taking Edwards campaign talking points an example of that?

     Below is a transcript of the August 9, 2007 GMA coverage on the Edwards wedding anniversary:

     7:01am tease, DIANE SAWYER: And also in the news this morning, we have the very first pictures of a very personal backyard ceremony for John Edwards and his wife. Elizabeth Edwards is talking in a new chapter for her memoirs 'Saving Graces' about her life right now and the renewal of their vows. And we'll show you those pictures, walking down the aisle again.

     7:19am, DIANE SAWYER: Let's turn now to our picture of the morning. And they are new pictures and David Muir is bringing them to us. You've been covering the Edwards campaign.
     [During segment, a montage of photos of the Edwards renewal of vows can be seen onscreen.]
     DAVID MUIR: Yeah and this is an incredibly personal photograph that we've now gotten a chance to see. It's the renewal of the vows, the backyard in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The former senator and his wife Elizabeth there with their children Kate and the two little ones, Emma Claire and Jack. Apparently this was an idea that they decided to do while they were back at the doctor's office in the spring when they suspected the cancer had come back for Elizabeth. John Edwards asking her, turning to her in the doctor's office and saying, 'Will you marry me again?' And Elizabeth actually told him, she said, she asked back, 'Will you take another 30 years?' And he said, 'Absolutely.'
     SAWYER: Bless her. And you know, she's written a new chapter as well for her book, 'Saving Graces.' And she talks a little more about talking to her children about her cancer and what she's going through. It's a beautiful moment. And we should say, however, they did also have their ritual anniversary Wendy's burger.
     MUIR: Yes. The fast food. Yeah, which we all can relate to.
     SAWYER: They did that as well.
     MUIR: More of the pictures in People magazine, too.

Actress Shirley MacLaine Fears 'Mad Men'
Like Bush?

     Shirley MacLaine appeared on the Wednesday Today show to promote her new book, Sage-ing While Age-ing, and after host Matt Lauer finished talking to the actress about her belief in UFOs and reincarnation, he asked if there was anything she feared in life, the author responded: "Mad men who say they're at the head of democracies scare me."

     Now while MacLaine didn't mention George W. Bush by name it's not a stretch to assume the sister of liberal actor Warren Beatty was referring to the current President. In fact Lauer, earlier in the interview, noted MacLaine was the godmother of the daughter of fellow UFO witness Dennis Kucinich.

     [This item, by Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Wednesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     The following exchange occurred on the November 7 Today show:

     MATT LAUER: You, you, every time I've been around you and it's been now 20-something years that we've had, that I've had the pleasure of, of interviewing you. I always walk away from the interview thinking she's one of the most outwardly confident people I know.
     SHIRLEY MACLAINE: I think that's probably true.
     LAUER: Are you, are you inwardly confident also, does anything scare you?
     MACLAINE: Mad men who say they're at the head of democracies scare me, anyone who is not really in favor of giving each individual the, the chance to be himself or herself. That scares me. Because I think inside each of us is the knowingness of really what is right. And once we're suppressed, once we're held down, once we're curtailed from looking at who we are and who our neighbors are, we have a problem. That scares me a little. But I tend to go into a kind of spiritual bunker mentality and think, alright, I'm fine with myself being safe because I like my internal terrain. I, I like that, that inner-otherness, that I found to be really pleasant.
     LAUER: You are clearly somebody who's very comfortable with yourself and, and I think that's, that's somewhat contagious. I like that. Shirley Maclaine. The book is called Sage-ing While Age-ing.

ABC Gives Redford Forum to Accuse Media
of Enabling Iraq War

     Al Gore. Michael Moore. Robert Redford. On Wednesday, the actor/director became the third prominent left-winger to appear on Good Morning America this year and berate journalists for not being liberal enough. Redford, in his second GMA interview this week, stopped by, along with Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, to promote Lions for Lambs, their new anti-war drama. During the interview, co-host Diane Sawyer played a minute-long clip of the movie in which Cruise's character berates a journalist for being a "windsock" to the Bush administration during the Iraq War. The clip featured Cruise haughtily complaining: "Your network led every report about the invasion of Iraq with the digital screen-sized flag to the square-jawed saluting Marine and the bald eagle soaring to Aaron Copland."

     Sawyer then sycophantically begged: "Speaking as your resident windsock, what would you have us do? What would this film have us do?" Being a tough journalist, Sawyer then allowed Redford to get away with responding that when "we found out the cause behind the war was a lie, that's when I think everybody should have stood up, wakened up, and moved forward." At no point did the GMA host point out that, in regard to Iraq, Bill Clinton said the same thing about WMDs as President Bush.

     As far as Sawyer's claim to be a "windsock," one might ask the question, for who? The GMA co-host was certainly no shill for the Bush administration prior to the war. As noted in the March 17, 2003 edition of the MRC's Notable Quotables, the journalist, at times, gushed over Saddam Hussein:

     Diane Sawyer: "I read this morning that he's also said the love that the Iraqis have for him is so much greater than anything Americans feel for their President because he's been loved for 35 years, he says, the whole 35 years."
     Dan Harris in Baghdad: "He is one to point out quite frequently that he is part of a historical trend in this country of restoring Iraq to its greatness, its historical greatness. He points out frequently that he was elected with a hundred percent margin recently." -- Exchange on ABC's Good Morning America, March 7.

     See the March 17, 2007 NQ: www.mediaresearch.org

     And this is how Sawyer phrased a question to (then) Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean on September 8 of the same year: "Last night, do you feel the President began to level with the American people?" See: www.mediaresearch.org

     Cheerfully embracing criticism from prominent liberals has become a trend for Good Morning America. In May, Al Gore appeared to promote his new book and assert that the media are hypnotizing Americans, much in the way that "you could hypnotize chickens." See the May 23 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org

     In June, co-host Chris Cuomo interviewed Michael Moore about Iraq, among other issues. The filmmaker asserted that, because the networks didn't challenge Bush in the run-up to the war, they were "complicit" in the deaths of U.S. soldiers. See the June 14 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org

     [This item, by Scott Whitlock, was posted Wednesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     In addition to accepting journalistic criticism from the left, Sawyer generally fawned over Lions for Lambs. She lovingly called it a movie that "really challenges you to examine some of your basic assumptions about life and politics." Sawyer also recited a lament that "someone" said (a cute reference to Streep's Time magazine interview), "We are afraid to speak. We are afraid to speak up. This film is the difficulty of standing up." It sure seems like liberals aren't having a problem in "standing up" and challenging journalists to be even more liberal.

     Finally, as if GMA hasn't promoted this left-leaning film enough, Sawyer closed the segment by promising yet another interview, this one exclusively with Meryl Streep, on Thursday. And it should be noted that Redford appeared by himself on Tuesday (see item #5 below).

     A transcript of the segment, which aired at 8:32am on November 7:

     DIANE SAWYER: And coming up right now, Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, together. They're in a new movie called Lions for Lambs, which really challenges you to examine some of your basic assumptions about life and politics and it opens on Friday. But we had a chance to sit down, because, of course, not only are they co-workers, they are pals. And the two guys made it clear they thought it was pretty funny when the flawless Meryl Streep, drinking very quickly, seems to have -- well, was that a burp? Are you laughing already at my questions?
     ROBERT REDFORD: No, at her belch.
     SAWYER: Oh, okay. All right, that's permitted? Was it loud?
     MERYL STREEP: Do you have to give away everything?
     SAWYER: Okay, "Lions For Lambs." Someone said, "We are afraid to speak. We are afraid to speak up. This film is the difficulty of standing up."
     STREEP: I think that, for me, it was about that. What am I willing to do for this war? Am I willing to give a kid? And if I'm not, why am I not speaking about it? Nobody has a stake in this war except for one percent of the population. The people that made it won't ask their own kids to fight in it. And the rest of us are living as if there's no war.
     SAWYER: The film is a duel of ideas and challenges. Which side are you on? Including a conversation between a journalist, played by Streep, and a senator, played by Cruise.
     [Lions for Lambs clip begins. 59 seconds long]
     TOM CRUISE CHARACTER: When did you all become a windsock?
     MERYL STREEP CHARACTER: A what?
     CRUISE: Wind sock. Blows with the prevailing breeze. When did you start confusing majority opinion with the right opinion?
     STREEP: Sort of like when we supported going into Iraq?
     CRUISE: Supported? Oh, no, no, no, no, you guys sold it. Your network led every report about the invasion of Iraq with the digital screen-sized flag to the square-jawed saluting Marine and the bald eagle soaring to Aaron Copland.
     STREEP: That's because we believed and you believed Iraq is a legitimate enemy and you asked us for the benefit of the doubt-
     CRUISE: They are a legitimate enemy.
     STREEP: -because we have troops in harm's way.
     CRUISE: And your network provided that benefit without a blush.
     STREEP: We gave it to you.
     CRUISE: We both, Janine, we both put our fighting men at risk. Now, I've admitted my mistakes. When will you?
     [Lions for Lambs clip ends]
     SAWYER: Yes, in the film journalists forced to answer too. As you heard in the film, they are called wind socks. Speaking as your resident windsock, what would you have us do?
     REDFORD: You know what-
     SAWYER: What would this film have us do? Redford says on 9/11, all of us, including journalists, had to rally together. But after that?
     REDFORD: At the point we found out that the cause behind the war was a lie, that's when I think everybody should have stood up, wakened up, and moved forward.
     STREEP: We're always screaming at the television. And we go on television and we're-
     SAWYER: Very polite, except for the burping thing.
     STREEP: I didn't burp.
     REDFORD: No, a belch.
     SAWYER: What have you seen when college kids have seen the film?
     REDFORD: The younger the student, it seemed to me, the more energized.
     STREEP: My 16-year-old and her friends like the movie, the screening, the best, which I take to be first of all the highest compliment because there is no tougher critic, but also great good hope for interest in talking about stuff.
     REDFORD: Yeah, my 16-year-old, grandchild, has had the same reaction.
     SAWYER: Suri has had no comment so far?
     STREEP: She had a lot of comments on the set though.
     SAWYER: She did?
     STREEP: Yes.
     SAWYER: Does she babble?
     STREEP: Yes, over my line.
     SAWYER: Daddy's little girl?
     TOM CRUISE: She did, a couple times.
     SAWYER: Tom Cruise has several roles on this film. He is the studio mogul now who green-lit the project. He's also the star and, he adds, a fan.
     CRUISE: You know, I'm here to help the artist do anything I can in any way. I'm the one who's being schooled and learning, and I was always, quietly, like, trying to take a moment when everyone wasn't -- and I'd sit down and go, so, you know, "Out of Africa," how was that -- what was that?
     ["Out of Africa" clip]
     SAWYER: "Out of Africa." It was 22 years ago Redford and Streep worked together. So before they left, we asked the old friends if they would answer some of the random questions posed by the staff. Who of you is more likely to cry at a chick flick?
     .......
     SAWYER: Again, three powerhouses in a new movie which really does ask some tough and important questions. And it's opening on Friday. By the way, also in the news, of course, Tom Cruise's wife, Katie Holmes recently finished the New York City marathon. We asked about that. Five hours, 29 minutes, 58 seconds.
     CRUISE: Impressive.
     REDFORD: Pretty amazing.
     SAWYER: Did she take the day off afterwards?
     CRUISE: No. She got her heels on and we went to the screening for Lions for Lambs and she's right -- you know, mom and working. Impressive. She trained. She inspires me.
     SAWYER: And "Lions for Lambs," once more, opens on Friday. And Meryl Streep was sticking around and we had a chance to talk with her about a lot more. That will be coming up later.

Sawyer Swoons Over Liberal Agenda of
Robert Redford's Film

     According to Robert Redford and ABC co-host Diane Sawyer, you're either a liberal activist or you are apathetic. Those are the two options. The famous left-wing actor/director appeared on Tuesday's Good Morning America to promote his new anti-war film, Lions for Lambs. After playing a clip of the movie that showed Redford's character, a college professor, deriding a student for not opposing his government, Sawyer breathlessly asked the star: "You've been touring colleges. Is it true? Are they not awake out there? Are they waking up? What's the difference? What's it going to take?"

     Redford, who also directed the film, asserted that "the pendulum is beginning to swing back" and repeated the cliched liberal claim that young people aren't aggressively opposing the war because "the fact that there wasn't a draft...let a lot of people off the hook and they didn't get involved." So, essentially, young people either support a liberal agenda or they simply don't care?

     [This item, by Scott Whitlock, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     The conversation between Redford and Sawyer oddly seemed to skirt around what the film is actually about. (The plot is rather involved, but it includes a liberal professor who tries to "inspire" his students. Other storylines see two of those students ending up fighting in Afghanistan and a presidential candidate who is giving information to a journalist, played by Meryl Streep.) However, both Redford and Sawyer tried to portray the movie as simply posing questions. In a tease for the segment, Sawyer proclaimed: "And it is a powerful new work about questions, not necessarily answers, but very potent questions." A few minutes later, she described Lions for Lambs as a search for "questions and the consequences." Redford claimed he wanted to "knock something aside right off the bat. It's not about the war. It's not about Iraq." Despite these denials, the movie is clearly a liberal argument against the current efforts in the Middle East. Sawyer skirted this issue when she paraphrased the film's title. She wondered, "And are the real lions fighting for lambs in air-conditioned offices, making decisions?" It should also be noted, as already pointed out by Newsmax, that the screenwriter on the project, Matthew Michael Carnahan, is a former intern for the Clinton White House. See: www.newsmax.com

     At the end of the piece, Sawyer alerted GMA viewers that Redford, plus fellow co-stars Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep would return later in the week to promote the film again. It appears as though this upcoming segment will see Sawyer, on behalf of the mainstream media, accepting attacks for not being liberal enough. She teased: "We're going to tackle [the issues raised in the movie], as I say, including the journalist as wind socks who blow with the wind." See item #4 above for how that unfolded Wednesday morning.

     A transcript of the segment, which aired at 8:44am on November 6:

     8:30am tease, DIANE SAWYER: Oh, how many lives we've lived with him on screen. Robert Redford. We remember 'The Way We Were,' don't we? As we say good morning, America, again to you. I'm Diane Sawyer. He is back. And of course, he is back now. He is directing his first film in seven years. And it is a powerful new work about questions, not necessarily answers, but very potent questions. And he's going to get a chance to tell us what 'Lions for Lambs' means coming up.

     8:44am, SAWYER: This morning, a rare occasion, a great one for us. Robert Redford, here with us, live in our studio. On Friday, Lions for Lambs opens in theaters. He is both in front of and behind the camera. With him there in front of the camera, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. A provocative film about questions and the consequences. And it's good to have you here. You like getting up in the morning do you?
     ROBERT REDFORD: Thank you, Diane. Do I like getting up? No, I'm an honest man.
     SAWYER: I'm not going to be honest. 'Cause I get up every morning.
     REDFORD: You sure do.
     SAWYER: First film directing in seven years?
     REDFORD: Yeah. I don't know why that seems puzzling to some people. For me, it hasn't been so much. It's a question of finding the project you want to do, trying to have a life, and having other things you have to do, like Sundance. This one, this one was something special that came at the right time and hit me just right.
     SAWYER: Asking your questions?
     REDFORD: Well, what -- yeah, exactly. And, I hope, questions for most Americans. But what I would say about it, I'd like to knock something aside right off the bat. It's not about the war. It's not about Iraq. It's really about a broader look at how the last few years and the policies of the last few years have had consequences, have had effects and consequences on three specific areas of our society: The relationship between the media and Congress. Young people and the relationship with young people and education and the role that they're going to play or not play in a very crucial time. And then the part of the war, the military is just a snapshot of, of two men fighting for what they believe is right in a war that was designed by leaders. And you can decide whether or not how faulty you think that is and the consequences. But the point is, that we're so isolated from these guys fighting over there. It deals with how we become isolated from real sacrifice.
     SAWYER: And are the real lions fighting for lambs in air-conditioned offices, making decisions? I want to play a clip, because you play a college professor. Talking to a college student and trying to insight, inspire, enjoin him to meet his life, his real life and his life of caring about what's going on in the world. Here's a clip from Lions for Lambs.

     [clip from Lions for Lambs]
     COLLEGE STUDENT: You're sounding a hell of a lot like my parents. They're always harping on how they're giving me a better life then I ever had. And then they resent me because I got the nerve to enjoy it.
     ROBERT REDFORD'S CHARACTER: If all your rants about Congress and politics are true, Todd, if things are really bad, as bad as you say they are how can you enjoy the good life? The problem is not with the problem that started this. They're past irredeemable. The problem is with us, with all of us who do nothing, who just fiddle, who try to maneuver around the edges of the flame. And I'll tell you something, there are people out there, day after day, all over the world, fighting to make the world better.
     COLLEGE STUDENT: You think it's better to try fail then failing to try, right?
     REDFORD: Yeah.
     COLLEGE STUDENT: But what is the difference if you end up in the same place?
     REDFORD: At least you did something.
     [Clip ends]

     SAWYER: You've been touring colleges. Is it true? Are they not awake out there? Are they waking up? What's the difference? What's it going to take?

     REDFORD: You know -- No, I don't think that's entirely true. I think it was for a while because apathy and cynicism have played such a role in young people's minds. They haven't voted. As you see in the film, there's an attitude that they think is justified because they're actually insulted by the behavior of leaders so why should they get involved? The counterpoint is if you don't, we're going to have a continuation of those leaders and it will just get worse. So, the film really does put questions to the students. I mean, it's really about the future and young people and the role they're going to play or not play. And the question goes to the audience. The film really doesn't try to deliver answers. That's agit-propaganda. It's really about asking questions that we should have been asking, in those three, all of us in the last -- but when I was on campus tours, I was really surprised. You can't say black and white. You can't say, well, all students are apathetic and all congressmen are bad -- although there's no question-
     SAWYER: You're about to?
     REDFORD: -and all journalists are asleep. No. But the fact was, I sensed that maybe the pendulum is beginning to swing back. You know, the fact that there wasn't a draft, I think, let a lot of people off the hook and they didn't get involved.
     SAWYER: You're going to be coming back and talking more with Meryl and with Tom Cruise about some of the things in the movie. But I have to ask you before we take a break today. You say that you don't think about age at all. Long career, but you don't think about age at all. Now, you're talking to me here. Really, you don't?
     REDFORD: Let's not compare. You win hands down. I don't think about age.
     SAWYER: Really?
     REDFORD: But I have to deal with it sometimes because somebody brings it up.
     SAWYER: They don't. They wouldn't have the nerve.
     REDFORD: Oh, yeah. They do in print. They say, 'Well, he's aged' or, 'Gee, wrinkles' or what have you. No, I don't think about it. I just don't think about it.
     SAWYER: But you always said you don't like to watch yourself. And yet when you direct yourself, you're watching dailies all day long, watching yourself. How do you accommodate those two things?
     REDFORD: Just suffer. Just suffer. I give a lot to my industry.
     SAWYER: I would be there with my paint brush thing, you know, painting out everything could I paint out.
     REDFORD: You know, I think you totally believe you just let yourself be who you are, even when you age. They do it in Europe well. For some reason, cosmetics has become such a huge part of American life, that's the way it is, but I don't care about it.
     SAWYER: Well, again, what you do care out, of course, is the questions raised in this. We're going to tackle them, as I say, including the journalist as wind socks who blow with the wind.
     REDFORD: I didn't write that, you know.
     SAWYER: But you're go answer for it.
     REDFORD: Yes, I'd be happy to.
     SAWYER: And that will being coming up in the next few days. Lions for Lambs opens in theaters on Friday. And we'll have more with Robert Redford and Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep in the days ahead.

Order Now: Bozell's Book on Media Coverage
of Hillary Out Tuesday

     Whitewash: What the Media Won't Tell You About Hillary Clinton, But Conservatives Will, a new book by the MRC's Brent Bozell and Tim Graham, will be released next week by Crown Forum. You can order a copy now from the MRC, via PayPal, for $25.95, including shipping and handling. Or, go online and order it today from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

     The promotional text for the book:

Uncovering a Fifteen Year Love Affair

How could America's presidential front-runner be a woman who has held only one elective office and had staggering numbers of personal, political, and financial scandals?

How did the First Lady to a disgraced, impeached president become a presidential front-runner despite never having held elective office before 2001? And how did this happen given her staggering number of personal, political, and financial scandals -- and her leftist political agenda?

Authors L. Brent Bozell and Tim Graham peel back the layers of Hillary Clinton's success to expose the real shocker -- not Travelgate or Whitewater -- but a fifteen year love affair by the liberal media, starting with Time magazine, who first introduced Hillary Clinton to the country as an "amalgam of Betty Crocker, Mother Teresa and Oliver Wendell Holmes." The elite media's continued and unprecedented favoritism is the key to Hillary's mythic political standing. They have downplayed or ignored her every scandal and recast her ultra-liberalism as being in the political center.

What's even more stunning is the incredible number of stories that have been under-reported, excused and buried. To expose the truth, the authors interviewed dozens of leading conservatives who want Americans to hear the whole story, including Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Cal Thomas, Newt Gingrich and many others.

Whitewash: What the Media Won't Tell You About Hillary Clinton, But Conservatives Will

Order your copy today!

     To order from the MRC for $25.95 (shipping included), with the amount over our cost of the book going to support the MRC: www.mrc.org

     To order for $17.13 from Amazon, but you'll have to pay an additional shipping charge: www.amazon.com

     To order from Barnes & Noble for $20.76 ($18.68 for BN members), plus a shipping charge: search.barnesandnoble.com

     Shipping is free from Amazon and Barnes & Noble if your order totals $25 or more.

     The book will be released on Tuesday, November 13 and should ship shortly afterward and be available in major chain bookstores next Tuesday or soon thereafter.

MRC's 'NewsBusted' Not on Strike! Fresh
Comedy Videos This Week

     NewsBusted Not on Strike! While Leno, Stewart, Letterman, O'Brien, Ferguson, Kimmel and Colbert are all in re-runs because of the strike called Monday by the Writers Guild of America, the MRC's NewsBusted comedy video show -- with jokes about politics, Hollywood and media bias -- is fresh this week. Check out the latest two-and-a-half-minute comedy show now at the top of the MRC's NewsBusters blog: newsbusters.org

     And enjoy the archive of past shows: www.youtube.com

     Actually, one late-night comedy show is new this week and not in re-runs: Chelsea Lately on E!. But NewsBusted is funnier.

-- Brent Baker

---

Sign up for CyberAlerts:      Keep track of the latest instances of media bias and alerts to stories the major media are ignoring. Sign up to receive CyberAlerts via e-mail. Subscribe! Enter your email to join MRC CyberAlert today!   questions and comments about CyberAlert subscription      You can also learn what has been posted each day on the MRC’s Web site by subscribing to the “MRC Web Site News” distributed every weekday afternoon. To subscribe, go to: http://www.mrc.org/cybersub.asp#webnews

 

---

Home | News Division | Bozell Columns | CyberAlerts 
Media Reality Check | Notable Quotables | Contact the MRC | Subscribe