Posted on 06/02/2004 3:09:39 AM PDT by RatherBiased.com
After running 28 stories last month on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American forces, Dan Rather and his colleagues relegated the announcement of the new Iraqi government to third place on Tuesday's CBS Evening News.
In almost parodic fashion, Rather decided that tapes being used in the little-noticed trial of employees of defunct energy company Enron should be the top story of the night, more newsworthy than a huge development on the number one issue in the presidential campaign.
Rather and correspondent Vince Gonzalez hyped the tapes, which the anchor proclaimed as "a CBS News exclusive."
"You're about to hear the shocking words of Enron employees as the company was boldly ripping off the state of California and consumers high and low," Rather breathlessly announced.
"CBS News investigative correspondent Vince Gonzalez obtained the audio tapes the U.S. government had kept under wraps, hoping, along with Enron, that you would never hear them."
Continuing the unwitting parody of CBS News as a Democratic news operation, Gonzalez used guilt-by-association to tie the anonymous employees to President Bush.
"Before the 2000 election, Enron employees pondered the possibilities of a Bush win," Gonzalez said over a video of Bush at the 2000 Republican convention. A clip of one energy trader was played in which he speculated about the possibility of Enron CEO Ken Lay as Secretary of Energy under the Bush administration.
"That didn't happen," said Gonzalez.
The correspondent tried again to link the Bush administration to comments on the tapes, this time playing a profanity-laced clip with four bleeped out words. It was barely understandable what the clip with frequent bleep sound effects was actually saying, as the soundbite was provided more for effect than to provide new information.
"They were sure that President Bush would fight any limits on sky-high energy prices," said Gonzalez, before playing the employee's profane comment, some of which can be deciphered, that Bush would not "play with this price cap bulls---."
Of the expletive-deleted soundbite, Gonzalez said it was "crude but true," and showed a clip of Bush denouncing price caps on oil.
He closed his report with a final attempt at linkage:
"Both the Justice Department and Enron tried to prevent the release of these tapes," the "investigative correspondent" said. Left out was the fact that the Department of Justice probably wanted to use the tapes in court against Enron and didn't want its evidence tainted by having it broadcast on national television.
Our friends at CBS might defend themselves by saying that the tapes were an exclusive, and as such merit being the top story of the broadcast. That argument doesn't work, however, when you consider the fact that CBS routinely puts "exclusive" information later in the broadcast. The fact that the Enron story is hardly a hot topic should also have convinced Rather and his team to put the tapes later in the broadcast. There simply is no excuse for not leading with the biggest Iraq development of the entire year.
Ping list ping.
Heck, all of the news I happened to hear yesterday was leading with the Scott Peterson trial.
A person could write a whole book detailing cases of the Big Media ignoring or giving scant attention to major news developments that do not help or further the lib agenda. And Bernard Goldberg has of course revealed the lib bias extensively. When the discovery of wmds were made a few weeks ago, the next broadcast day only ABC mentioned it in their leadin (and Jennings smugly dismissed it as a "small amount". CBS barely mentioned it during the course of their program, and NBC totally ignored it. The libs have their agenda, deposing Bush, and major important news stories be damned...they've got to get rid of Bush.
Ironic since Enron was a product of the Clinton Admin. But we didn't hear that from CBS either.
I enjoy the articles about ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, CNBC, NPR, PBS and MSNBC. Since I don't watch those networks I feel I am a bit in the dark lately. Thanks for the updates.
As for using it, yesterday's announcement about the new Iraqi government was positive news.
The media can't have any of that.
need the obligatory photo of rather and saddam shaking hands, smiling....
And NBC Today show followed right along the same path. Hardly mentioned Iraq and moved right to the usual various court cases that have been in the news for over a year. If it wasn't so serious, it would be a comedy.
From eHow.com, "How to Shake Hands" http://www.ehow.com/how_2737_shake-hands.html:
"A two-handed handshake is not for first meetings. It is a sign of real affection, and you should reserve it for friends and intimates"
Next: Sean Penn.....
Translator For Saddam Hussein:... Iraq was not defeated in 1991. And you will remember that the (UNINTEL) were published, talking about the battles, especially the tank battles that took place in the south, near Basra., and how Bush, the father, came out on a - Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush.Translator For Saddam Hussein: I actually want to take time to explain to you that we're always gentle, we refer to people as gentle.
Rather: I understand when he calls him Mr. Bush.
Translator For Saddam Hussein: Yes.
Translator For Saddam Hussein: When Khomeini died, bless his soul, and when I heard about his death, the Minister of Information at the time, do not gloat over the death of Khomeini. It is the law of God. That is the law of Allah. Let me tell you, in jest, I didn't used to say Mr. Bush when I addressed him when he was in power. But when -- as soon as he left power – I -- whenever I have referred to him, I refer to him as Mr. Bush. And in any case - And in any case, the law of faith says even your enemy, you have to respect his humanity. For that reason that I refer to Mr. Bush.
Rather: I understand now.
Translator For Saddam Hussein: So when Mr. Bush came out--
Rather: Senior?
[snip]
Rather: Mr. President, you've been so patient with your time. I appreciate you (UNINTEL). And I'm gonna--
Translator For Saddam Hussein: I'm happy. And I hope to see you in the future. I hope--
Rather: I would like very much to see you in the future, Mr. President.
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Wait a minute! Are you trying to tell me that the Medieval Media would try to sway the opinion of the American public by ignoring major events for which Americans can be justifiably proud?
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