|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Special Sections: February
2003 Ramsey Clark Helped Rather Secure Saddam Interview CBS’s Dan Rather got his big scoop with the help of radical, anti-American activist Ramsey Clark. See Also:
CBS Highlights Iraqi Upset With Bush for Refusing Debate CBS’s Mark Phillips relayed the opinion of an Iraqi who called President Bush “a coward” for refusing to debate Saddam Hussein. Once again, there was no mention that Iraq is a totalitarian state where those who disagree with Hussein wind up dead.
Rather Won’t Judge Hussein’s Truthfulness; Notes He’s Big on “Eye Contact” Actor Bruce Willis filled in for David Letterman and asked Dan Rather a solid question: “How could you tell if he’s just a lying sonofabitch?” Rather responded with a comment about the seating arrangement and that Saddam is a “strong eye contact person.”
ABC Claims U.S. Causing Bitter U.N. Debate ABC’s Terry Moran blamed the Bush administration’s “hard line” for “an unusually bitter debate” at the U.N. Security Council. Neither CBS nor NBC took that approach.
Jennings Balances Blix Statements With Iraqi Statements ABC’s Peter Jennings gave the same weight to U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix statement that Iraq’s cooperation has been “very limited” as he did to the Iraq’s agreement “in principle” to destroy Al-Samoud missiles.
Sawyer Highlights British MP’s Anti-Bush Rant Diane Sawyer said a British MP’s insulting slam of the Bush administration – the MP said the “born-again, right-wing, Bible-belting, fundamentalist, Republican administration in the United States wants war” – was a “personal wakeup.” There’s “widespread disgust” with the U.S. and the President, she added.
He’s Back…Peter Arnett Returns Peter Arnett is now working for National Geographic Explorer and putting together something called
Peter Arnett’s Baghdad Diary. Today highlighted a segment he did on an Al-Jazeera broadcast that featured American and Iraqi college students denouncing U.S. treatment of Iraq.
Rather Highlights Saddam’s Time to Pray in 60 Minutes II Interview Dan Rather’s CBS interview was far from challenging, allowing the man who has butchered thousands to come across as reasonable. The Iraqi dictator even stopped filming for a quick prayer break.
“Human Shields” Worried About Being “Tools” of Saddam
ABC and CNN Hype “Virtual” Anti-War Protest Anti-liberation of Iraq activists staged what they called a “virtual” protest. The group phoned, e-mailed and faxed congressional offices, tying up Capitol Hill phone lines for a couple of hours.
Will Iraq be Another Quagmire? CNN used this on-screen graphic during a Wolf Blitzer interview of Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.): “If War Happens, Another Quagmire?”
The Saddam Show CBS News is providing a propaganda platform for Saddam Hussein. In released excerpts of Dan Rather's
60 Minutes II interview, the Iraqi dictator claimed he wants to debate President Bush and that he "respects" American public opinion. The tyrant also said the U.N. inspectors were wrong, he doesn't have any missiles that violate restrictions.
Jennings Worried By Bush Saying He Would Assassinate Saddam Peter Jennings and ABC were worried about a comment, attributed to President Bush, that the President would have Saddam assassinated if he had the chance. CBS and NBC didn’t even bother to report it.
Donahue Goes Out With a Rant Phil Donahue’s MSNBC show finally bit the dust after 223 days on the air. The liberal host’s last guest was Rosie O’Donnell, who said every person she’s spoken to is against the war.
ABC’s Version of “Hardline” ABC’s Martha Raddatz claimed U.N. inspector Hans Blix was taking a “very, very hardline” on Iraq by ordering them to destroy the Al-Samoud missiles. Blix did not issue a deadline for destruction, however.
Ramsey Clark Helps Rather Get Interview with Saddam Anti-American crusader and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark used his contacts in the Iraqi regime to help CBS’s Dan Rather get an interview with Saddam Hussein.
BBC War Reporting Generating “Unprecedented” Number of Complaints London’s Daily Telegraph reported that the BBC has received an “unprecedented” number of complaints for the anti-American tone of its war reporting.
NBC Says Al-Arian Claims Could Be Embarrassing to Bush
Former University of South Florida professor and terrorism suspect Sami Al-Arian boasted that he helped elected President Bush. NBC News described the claim as “a potentially embarrassing connection between the professor and President Bush.”
Clift: Coalition of the “Bullied and the Bribed” Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift said President Bush made a “stupid” remark when he dismissed war protests. Also said Bush had put together a “coalition of the bullied and the bribed.”
Former Watergate Reporter Claims Anti-War Protests Were Poorly Covered Former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame claimed anti-war protests had been treated “dismissively” by the media.
Jennings Calls Al-Arian Arrest Controversial; Passes on Guantanamo Concerns
Peter Jennings treated a man arrested on terrorism charges as the victim of an over-aggressive Justice Department.
Cokie Roberts Tells Journalists “It’s Our Country” ABC’s Cokie Roberts told a group of journalists at the National Press Foundation’s awards dinner that she “never understood” the argument against using “the first person plural when talking about ‘our country.’”
Jennings: Bush Jeopardizing Relations with “Oldest and Best Friends” According to ABC, it’s not France and Germany that are threatening old alliances; it’s the Bush administration. ABC White House reporter Terry Moran even claimed the Bush administration “presented what amounted to an ultimatum” to the U.N. Security Council.
Moran Accuses U.S. of “Dismissive Superiority” ABC White House reporter Terry Moran used a White House press conference to lecture the Bush administration. Moran cited comments from Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and asked: “Is that the rhetoric of a great power?”
Iraqi Official Cites “Peace” Marchers For Lack of Cooperation ABC’s Dan Harris noted that Iraq is not fully cooperating with U.N. inspectors and quoted an Iraqi official who said “America was in trouble” because of peace marches and the anti-war sentiment at the United Nations.
Jennings Trumpets “Enormous Anti-War Demonstrations” ABC’s Peter Jennings rued the fact that the anti-war demonstrations had done little to change President Bush’s mind. The anchor did note that the marches had give opponents “some sense that they have momentum.”
CBS: U.N. Struggles for Iraqi Cooperation While other networks hyped war protestors,
CBS Evening News noted that the Iraqis aren’t exactly bending over backwards to help the U.N. Only three of 30 interview requests with scientists have been granted.
Two Superpowers: The U.S. and The Protestors MSNBC’s David Shuster claimed “those who took to the streets opposing U.S. policy” are the second “world superpower.”
Why Is “Unilateral” U.S. Supported by 16 NATO Countries? FNC’s Brit Hume pointed out the obvious to some fellow panelists on
Fox News Sunday: It’s not unilateral when 16 of 19 NATO countries and 34 nations in all support the U.S.
More Network Spin: “Diverse” Crowds Protest War
Another Saturday of protests led to more stories about how normal all the protesters were. The radical and extreme, of course, went unlabeled or unmentioned.
NY Times Matches Networks’ Tone
The New York Times felt the protesters were wonderful, too. “Throwing a Party With a Purpose” and “A Festive Tone, But Somber Ideas” were a couple of the headlines.
Left Wing Think Tank Unlabeled The Institute for Policy Studies is a leftist outfit headquartered in Washington, D.C. but its Iraq expert went unlabeled during segments on CNN and CBS.
Jennings Touts Iraqi Concession, Claims French Reflects European Opinion
Saddam Hussein banned nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in Iraq and ABC’s Peter Jennings treated it as real news. Jennings also suggested that the French government reflects the feeling of the European public who believe “Mr. Bush is in too much of a hurry to go to war.”
Sawyer Calls Iraqi Ban on Weapons of Mass Destruction “Breaking News”
Hussein’s cynical ploy was treated as a real news story on ABC’s Good Morning
America. “Is this the big chess move, the spectacular move that can change the momentum toward war?” Diane Sawyer asked.
Jennings: U.S. Threatens Allied Solidarity
French recalcitrance doesn’t mean a thing, according to the ABC anchor. It’s America’s insistence on having its own way that’s threatening to rupture NATO.
Compelling But Wrong
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer described the French Foreign Minister’s case against war as “compelling,” but his guest, a former Clinton White House official, said it was a “flat out wrong case.”
Fleischer: Is ABC Admitting There Are Weapons of Mass Destruction? ABC correspondent Terry Moran asked White House Press Secretary about Saddam Hussein’s “arsenal of germs and chemicals” getting to terrorists. Fleischer was surprised. Was the skeptical ABC News Division admitting Iraq had weapons of mass destruction?
Jennings Finds More Detractors ABC’s Peter Jennings was in Phoenix, highlighting the views of war opponents and Iraqis who have moved to the United States.
Koppel More Skeptical of the Bush Administration Than Former Clinton Aide
Jennings and ABC Offer Anti-Administration Spin ABC News could not find a connection between al Qaeda and Iraq but did find dissatisfaction with how the U.S. plans to do things in a post-Hussein Iraq.
Upping Terrorist Threat Level a Political Ploy CBS Early Show host Hannah Storm was skeptical of the increased terrorist threat level, asking Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge if it was being used to justify war with Iraq.
Uhh…Never Mind That Thing With Those Scientists ABC’s Peter Jennings was beside himself when Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz asserted that Iraq had threatened scientists who cooperated with the UN, calling it “a very inflammatory charge.” Three weeks later, ABC News independently verified the claim.
Two-Thirds Back the President…But There’s No Consensus
Even the Kids Don’t Like Us
If We Don’t Have France, We Can’t Go! Despite the fact 18 European nations and Australia support President Bush’s position on Iraq, NBC News highlighted the warning of Michigan Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who said the U.S. would be “foolish” to “go it alone.”
Jennings: Anti-War Debate “Timid” in America ABC’s Peter Jennings claimed the Iraqis “appear to making concessions” and the “U.S. thinks it has growing support for war.” Jennings also promised to seek out dissent in the country.
Clift: U.S. as Dishonest as the North Koreans Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift tried to explain how the North Korean switch from plutonium to uranium didn’t violate their agreement with the U.S.
Clinton Would Have Bombed the North Koreans! Yeah. Seriously. That’s what Tom Oliphant of the
Boston Globe claimed anyway.
Aaron Brown Challenges Gore Vidal Good for Aaron Brown, who asked this logical question of left-wing author Gore Vidal: Since you agree Saddam Hussein is a brutal tyrant, why is freeing the people of Iraq a bad idea?
ABC Looks at Middle East Opinion ABC’s Peter Jennings highlighted how people in many Arab countries that are supporting the U.S. on Iraq are upset, “Many Arabs, even if they dislike Saddam Hussein, wonder about America’s long-term intentions,” Jennings said.
About Time They Told Viewers! No one gives their true opinion in Iraq…because they get killed if they do! NBC’s Tom Brokaw relayed that to David Letterman, explaining that saying “the wrong thing gets them not only in trouble, but probably executed.”
Now Why Don’t You Tell Ann Curry! Ann Curry struck again on
Today, relaying that typical Iraqis plan to fight the Americans “like the Vietnamese.” “Every man, woman and child will be a soldier and we will win.”
Helen Thomas: How Have We Split the Oil with the Russians and French? Another installment of the Helen Thomas follies. The Hearst Newspaper columnist asked Press Secretary Ari Fleischer if he deny “reports” she’d heard that the U.S. has made a deal to divide the oil with the French and Russians after a war with Iraq.
How’s This For Out of Touch? Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory noted that before Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech at the UN: “Among people I know, nobody was for the war.”
Dems Impressed But Jennings Skeptical Peter Jennings injected his personal skepticism into reports about Secretary of State Colin Powell’s case for war with Iraq. The anchor first used the skeptical approach on George Stephanopoulos and then tried it out on defense reporter John McWethy.
Rather Highlights Additional European Support CBS’s Dan Rather noted that 10 more European nations came out in support of the U.S. after Powell’s speech. NBC’s Campbell Brown called liberal Democratic Senator Joe Biden a supporter and claimed even supporter want the President to get UN backing.
Holy Smoke! Bob Simon Called Someone a Lefty! In what might have been a first, CBS’s Bob Simon insinuated that Tony Benn, the former British Member of Parliament that recently interviewed Saddam Hussein, had left-wing political views. Don’t you think Saddam knows “the Americans are coming after him no matter what he does or says, no matter which British lefties he invites to Baghdad?”
If We Wanted the Oil, We Would Have Kept It in ‘91 Fox News William La Jeunesse told viewers that not all Arab leaders think the conflict with Iraq is over oil. “If the Iraqi conflict really was about oil, Arab leaders say America would have never left in 1991,” he noted.
Raddatz Offers Tips to French Everyone, from Democratic Senators to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, was impressed by the case Secretary of State Colin Powell presented to the UN. Make that almost everyone. ABC correspondent Martha Raddatz kept “trying to listen through the ears of the French and the German” – that must have been tough – and found “a lot they can play with.”
Curry Showcases “Average” Iraqi Views Just before Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech at the UN, NBC’s Ann Curry provided another installment in her continuing series about what people in a totalitarian police state think. After discussing Tony Benn’s interview with Saddam Hussein, she then relayed some “on the street” public opinion from Baghdad.
Left Wing to CBS, Famous to Jennings
British politician Tony Benn interviewed Saddam Hussein and the three broadcast networks all showed tape of it. CBS labeled Benn “a lifelong left-wing activist,” NBC called him “anti-war” while Peter Jennings didn’t bother with an ideological label and claimed he was one of Britain’s most famous politicians.
Good Question: Do “Peace” Activists Ever Condemn Saddam? Anderson Cooper subbed for Aaron Brown on
Newsnight and asked CNN’s man in Baghdad, Nic Robertson, a good question. Do the peace protesters ever say a bad word about Saddam?
Mandela’s Rant Covered, Support of Eight European Nations Barely Mentioned Dan Rather gave only a sentence to the eight European nations who had backed President Bush’s Iraq policy but CBS delivered a full story on Nelson Mandela’s disagreement with the policy.
Home | News Division
| Bozell Columns | CyberAlerts |
Diane Sawyer’s Iraqi minder did a fine job, making sure Diane’s report included street kids singing a song about Saddam and saying America was “bad.” For good measure, an average Iraqi who had one gun promised to fight whoever attacked him.