Posted on 10/05/2004 11:38:39 AM PDT by FlyLow
NBC's "RATS"? Four years ago, the NBC Nightly News took seriously the appearance of the letters "RATS," in a single frame of an enlargement of part of the word "BUREAUCRATS," in an anti- Gore ad from the Bush campaign. The September 12, 2000 NBC Nightly News carried two full stories on the controversy. Jump ahead four years, and on Monday night the NBC Nightly News displayed the letters "ILIE" for 16 seconds next to President George W. Bush's face in a "Decision 2004" graphic beside anchor Tom Brokaw as he introduced a story by David Gregory.
The letters came from the word "FAMILIES" in a sign on the far side of Bush, which read: "TAX RELIEF FOR AMERICAN WORKING FAMILIES"
At the Iowa event, Bush signed bills to extend some provisions of his tax cuts which otherwise would have expired next year.
The right half of NBC's screen was consumed by a waist-up shot of Brokaw. On the right, at the bottom, the NBC News "Decision 2004" graphic. Above that, a side shot of Bush's head turned slightly toward the TV viewing audience. The letters "ILIE," the MRC's Tom Johnson astutely noticed, ran from screen edge to his Bush's chin. The rest of the background was blank. The letter "I" could be seen, but since it was partially cut off on the lower left side of it, viewers may have assumed they were only seeing part of another letter and so saw "LIE." If they identified it as an "I," then they saw: "ILIE." Brokaw's intro took 20 seconds, but for four seconds Bush's movements obscured the last two letters, "IE."
To view a picture of what NBC displayed, go to the posted version of this CyberAlert where the MRC's Mez Djouadi will place it: http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20041005.asp#3
Inadvertent, I'm sure. Just as was "RATS," for much less time, in the 2000 anti-Gore ad from the Bush campaign. But NBC took it quite seriously, covering it for two straight mornings on Today and devoting campaign stories to it at night.
From the September 13, 2000 CyberAlert, about the Tuesday, September 12, 2000 NBC Nightly News:
Claire Shipman showed the ad and allowed Gore to maintain: "I find it a very disappointing development. I've never seen anything quite like it."
Shipman then took the Gore campaign complaint gimmick quite seriously, trying to nail down who knew what, when: "The Bush campaign says it's a meaningless flash, silly even. But explanations for how it got there are confused. Last night, Alex Castellanos the veteran Republican ad man who made the commercial, says the reference is unintentional but today he suggests he put it there on purpose to emphasize the tail end of the word 'bureaucrats,' but he says he wasn't trying to call Al Gore a rat." Castellanos: "It doesn't matter, all it was was a drumbeat to get you to pay attention to the real thing, bureaucrats." Shipman ominously warned: "A marketing expert on the effects of so-called subliminal advertising says in his experience, this sort of word flash is not accidental and it can be effective." Professor Robert Goodstein, Georgetown University: "I think it was a curious selection of letters to take the last four letters in bureaucrats, in saying Gore's health plan is being developed by rats. I think it's a word that contains a lot of emotions when you're talking about people's health." Shipman concluded by admitting the stunt she was gullible enough to buy: "In public the Gore campaign is trying to stay away from this story, but behind the scenes aides are pushing it relentlessly, expressing shock, passing out background materials on subliminal advertising. As for the ad itself, Republicans say it was due to be pulled off the air today anyway."
Next, David Gregory noted how the Bush campaign was "knocked off message" as Bush was "forced to answer" questions about the "rats" ad. Gregory argued: "Similar missteps last week and the debate over the debates consumed most of Bush's efforts to get his message out."
Gregory surreally concluded: "Today Bush says all of this is just another example of Democrats making quote 'everything out of anything.' Maybe so, but some believe the problem for Bush is that it doesn't take much to throw him off his message or his game."
Rush Limbaugh just mentioned this on his show. This pic was up for 16 seconds.Remember the big deal that the media made when "rats" appeared for
ONE FRAME in a Bush-Cheney ad in 2000 ??
You got it right Doc.
We are the Pajamahadeen and the MS will be assimiliated...
How appropriate that this appears after he throws out the label Political Jihadists.....
Brokaw. YOU ARE INSIGNIFICANT, and congratulations on retiring at the BOTTOM of your career in the ratings.
Down, down, down, you go....
Wrong Graphic, Wrong Message, Wrong Anchor.....
next...
Regards,
Sonar5
There seem to be more and more people doing nothing but indulging in flame wars at that site.
Greetings, fellow Freepers, lurkers, Patriots, and all USA-loving folks!
This is the new media speaking, and we are growing faster than a pond full of guppies. The old media is deadthey just dont know it yet. But they are starting to sense it, and are panicking.
The genie is out of the bottle. The internet now has hundreds of millions of fact-checkers, lie detectors, and cool brainiacs in their pajamas, laughing our butts off at the lame attempts of the journalism majors on TV to spin things their way.
The media wing of the democrat party is dying. CBS, ABC, NBC, all except FOX are tanking in their ratings, losing money, and dying a slow, welcome death.
Who broke the Dan Rather phony document story? One of our braniacs here, in pajamas, Buckhead. The th heard round-the-world ignited blew Dan out of the water in a couple of hours.
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But Rathergate allowed NBC to get away with a worse crime than that; and that was treating Kitty Kelly as a non fiction author. Larry King turned down Kitty Kelly and he is Mr. Gossip on television. We all know what Clinton was accused of, and there was a lot of merit although no legal proof, owing to the fact those in the know either became dead or were bribed. But to say that Laura Bush dealt dope is absolutely fiction. For NBC to give Kitty Kelly the exposure they gave her tells the whole story.
To have present former Democratic operatives such as the Weasel Russert and the Blowhard Mathews as journalists gives you more idea of how biased NBC is. Those boys are just as biased as Rather but differ in style. Gunga Dan is not slick, but Russert and Mathews are so slick as to be oily.
For Mathews to berate, belittle, and loudly besmirch Michelle Malkin on something which has now been more or less admitted by Camp Kerry and for Mathews to never raise his voice to Kitty Kelly, tells you that on the journalistic food chain, Mathews is pond scum.
Graphics people get paid to pay attention to detail. Whoever did the graphics at NBC will get a wink and a nod from all the slick Clinton-Kerry scum who have proven themselves over the years, Couric, Brokaw, Russert, Mathews, et al.
(Photo: CBS) "Conspiracy theories abound in American politics. I don't think we need to be subliminal about prescription drugs." George W. Bush "Very disappointing and strange." Joe Lieberman on the RNC ad |
|
Counterspin Frustrated Republicans say a New York Times story on the Bush campaign's "rats" offensive is revenge for the governor's "major league" gaffe. |
September 12, 2000; Tuesday
Democrats Smell a 'Rat' in GOP Ad
LAURA MECKLER
WASHINGTON
The GOP ad decries bureaucrats but Democrats see something more subtle: rats.
In a Republican National Committee ad that has aired in several key states, the word ''rats'' appears on screen for a fleeting moment before the full word ''bureaucrats'' appears.
Aides to Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic presidential candidate, made the point clear by giving a copy of a slowed-down version of the 30-second ad to The New York Times, which reported on it in Tuesday editions of the newspaper.
Gore aides told the Times that a Democrat in Seattle had spotted the ad's seemingly subliminal message and contacted county Democrats, who then alerted the Gore campaign.
Gore campaign officials did not return telephone messages left by The Associated Press on Monday night.
The ad touts Republican George W. Bush's plan for adding prescription drugs to Medicare, arguing that seniors will have more control over their health care under Bush's proposal. Under the Gore plan, the ad says, the program will be run by bureaucrats.
Words flash on the screen to echo the announcer's message: ''The Gore prescription plan: Bureaucrats decide.''
As the announcer says ''Bureaucrats decide,'' the word ''rats,'' in large capital letters, flashes on and off the screen just as the phrase ''Bureaucrats decide,'' appears.
Republicans say they were not trying to send any subliminal messages.
''It's a silly charge to try and get an effective ad off the air,'' said Alex Castellanos, who made the ad for the RNC.
He said he faded the word in so it would look more visually interesting, and that it was just a coincidence that the letters appearing first spell the name of a rodent.
''It's a visual drum beat,'' he said. ''People get bored watching TV. You're trying to get them interested and involved.''
Democrats are trying to make a case out of nothing, said Terry Holt, spokesman for Victory 2000, which represents the Bush campaign at the RNC.
''The word bureaucrats ends with 'rats' just like the word Democrat,'' he said. ''It is a spot about health care. It's not a spot about rodents.''
The Bush campaign was equally dismissive.
''It sounds like happy hour at the Gore campaign lasted a little too long,'' said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. And, referring decades-old buzz about a Beatles song, he added: ''If you play the ad backwards, you hear the words 'Paul is dead.'''
Even if it was intentional, it isn't necessarily effective, said Bill Benoit, who studies political advertising at the University of Missouri. There's been only limited research on ''subliminal perception,'' he said.
''There's no conclusive evidence that it works,'' he said. ''Of course, that doesn't stop advertisers.''
If use of the word ''rats'' was intentional, Benoit said it might be inappropriate or questionable, though not necessarily unethical.
Still, he cautioned: ''It's awfully hard to tell whether it's intentional or not.''
The point is the MSM made a tempest in a teapot when the 'rat' showed up on the screen. Have the Republicans ever received an apology for that tempest? I'm going to point out their bias. No big deal when it's a Republican, but if it's a Democrat, we'll hear about it for days if not weeks. Sorry, I'm sick of them. I'll make a tempest just to make a point. These people need to hear from us peons in Middle American (aka the Silent Majority).
They have been feeding their kids (including her) that Bush is a 'liar' for months now and will (almost) disown her if she votes GOP.
She called my wife this p.m. asking for advice. Needless to say she is going to vote for Bush.
Not.
..... Needless to say she is going to vote for Bush.Yay! :^D
Excallent!
Ak! ka! ka! ka! ka! ka! ka! ka! ka!
If Brokaw does not come out and make a full renunciation of the 'RATS' tempest in a tea pot of four years ago -- including why the MSM media was wrong in creating it -- it will be clear that Tom Brokaw does in fact acknowledge his liberal bias as a major news maker/reporter/anchor.
More important, everyone else will acknowledge that Brokaw knows he is biased in his news reporting. Thus everyone will know that Brokaw is intentionally liberal biased as a news anchor.
Time to Freep the Hell out of NBC. Let them get a taste of being on the receiving end of the Pajamahadeen's ire.
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