Posted on 01/18/2003 6:17:32 AM PST by Timesink
Friday, January 17, 2003
MEDIA MATTERS
Critic slams ABC over 'bias'
Calls report of president's U. of Michigan decision 'personal attack'
Fox News media critic Eric Burns did something this morning he's loathe to do - pick on another network's reporter.
But he said he found ABC White House correspondent Terry Moran's report on President Bush's decision to file a "friend-of-the-court" brief opposing the University of Michigan's admissions policies so "dead wrong" and overwhelmingly "superficial" he had to speak out.
"It was a character attack - done subtly - that presented no information and presented only a bias, which certainly inflamed me," the host of "Fox Newswatch" told morning anchor Brigitte Quinn.
Moran's report headlined "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" Wednesday night. After describing Bush as "punting" on the "big legal question" because the brief stops short of asking the Supreme Court to outlaw all racial preferences, Moran called the president's decision to take a stance on the matter "politically tricky."
Moran's report then presented back-to-back soundbites from Bush and Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who recently stepped down from his leadership post amid outrage over racially charged remarks he made in support of the 1948 segregationist platform of then-presidential candidate Strom Thurmond.
The transcript of the news report reads:
"TERRY MORAN (Voice Over): Politically, this was a very tricky decision for the President.
SEN. TRENT LOTT: When Strom Thurmond ran for President, we voted for him.
TERRY MORAN (Voice Over): Coming just a month after another racially charged episode, Trent Lott's resignation as Senate majority leader after he praised Strom Thurmond's segregationist past. At that time, Mr. Bush spoke out forcefully.
PRESIDENT BUSH: We must continue our advance toward full equality for every citizen, which demands the guarantee of civil rights for all."
"What the narration did and the juxtaposition of the elements did, was it said this: 'Bush is a hypocrite,'" explained Burns in his critique. "On one hand, [Bush] says that he's in favor of fair, racial treatment in the Lott case. On the other hand, because of his feelings about the University of Michigan, he's not in favor of fair treatment to blacks," he continued.
"The reporter will say what he did was give context to Bush's remarks. What he did was place his remarks in an unfair context. And I took it personally ... because I think what happened to Trent Lott should have happened. And I think affirmative action is another name for injustice. It just changes the victims. So what this guy did in his report is insult me. He called me a hypocrite. ... and he called everybody who believes as [I] do a hypocrite racially," said Burns.
"Why was Trent Lott in the piece to begin with?" he added.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., alluded to the Trent Lott scandal in his comments from the Senate floor following Bush's announcement, suggesting the two events fit a pattern.
"Once again today, the administration has shown as clearly by their actions as anyone can, that they will continue to side with those opposed to civil rights and opposed to diversity in this country," he said.
As Moran's report continued, he said Democrats were accusing the president of hypocrisy and rounded out his coverage with a comment from Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
"Actions speak louder than words, Mr. President. That is our message to you today," Rep. Cummings said.
In response to Burns' criticism Moran told WorldNetDaily he'd let the piece stand on its own and said criticism "comes with the territory" at the White House.
Moran said that with the advent of the Internet, he gets a lot of critical e-mails and that he likes the feedback.
"It comes from both the Left and the Right. And it strikes me, the only thing that satisfies those who get angry is if you echo people's pre-existing prejudices," Moran said.
Then I'm sure Mr. Moran won't mind me letting you know that his email address is terry.moran@abc.com.
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Count on little tommy to repeat his Divide Amerika rants...Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., alluded to the Trent Lott scandal in his comments from the Senate floor following Bush's announcement, suggesting the two events fit a pattern.
"Once again today, the administration has shown as clearly by their actions as anyone can, that they will continue to side with those opposed to civil rights and opposed to diversity in this country," he said.
Hooray!
Rush usually is right on the mark. In this case, he underestimates Bush I would imagine. That's what folks do to Bush, and have for forever. I'm more patient. I'm willing to stand back and see how this pans out. I think his speech was great...
You've probably seen this one?...
| Entrapment by Bush: He plays Democrats for fools, and they always rise to his bait |
We need to de-stigmatize "discrimination". We all discriminate every day. I discriminated today when I picked Krispy Kremes over Dunkin' Donuts.
Discrimination isn't bad, but racism is, and that's clearly what the Black Caucus, Affirmative Action, and the UoM admissions policy is doing - making decisions about a person based only on their race.
Yet you are convinced that Rush broke the story on the 17th. You need to expand your horizons.
He's "punting" on the question of his own bias. It is, after all, professionally tricky, to report the news AND influence perception the correct way.
Bottom line;'W' narrowed the scope of the amicus brief, which another poster this morning pointed out was a very good move. SCOTUS will do whatever they want, and a broad position only sets 'W' up to get smacked down. I'll post the story in a minute.
Soul Mates: The Meltdown Continues
Tom Daschle calls Dick Gephardt
his "partner and soul mate" in the
afterglow of his mid-week meltdown.
This is too good...
Week of 9-23-2002
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