liken to Rathergate.
Posted on 10/09/2004 1:04:02 AM PDT by Cableguy
ABC News was under fire last night after an internal memo surfaced suggesting President Bush should be held more accountable for his statements than John Kerry.
The memo to staffers from the network's powerful political director, Marc Halperin, noted that while both campaigns are distorting the truth, Kerry's bending of the facts shouldn't be hit as hard.
"Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win," Halperin wrote.
But "the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done," Halperin added.
Halperin further advised the ABC staff to keep that in mind when reporting.
"We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable when the facts don't warrant that," the memo continued.
"It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest, now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right."
A spokesman for ABC news insisted "we are not interested in taking sides, we are only interested in getting at the truth."
Halperin plays a mostly behind-the-scenes role at ABC, and is known as the father of "The Note," a daily political memo that is read by thousands of D.C. insiders, political players and journalists.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
And, years after it started, they are still clueless that it is neither something the audience expects nor wants. Now, when will they figure out that they are spending millions simply propagandizing each other?
More to the point, when will the sponsors figure it out?
Does anyone know if there was a rule against a question drawing a candidate to a physical display in relations to a verbal answer? I am referring to the question to Kerry drawing him to make a statement to the TV viewing audience.
ABC - ping.
Please someone help me find the quote in Rush's 24/7 stack of stuff (I'm not a member). I heard this on Rush's show in 2001 and was floored.
After 9-11, the President of ABC News spoke to a college or university and stated he could not take sides between the US and Osama because he was an unbiased journalist. 3,000 people die and the ABC News department head can't side with the USA.
If anyone can find the original article with exact quote it would be much appreciated.
Halperin is a regular guest of the fair and balanced Charlie Rose.
Bump for Fox. Please let this survive the weekend and grow legs next week.
I called the office of the President of ABC last night and spoke with his secretary.
She did not deny that the memo was authentic.
In fact, the first words after I started to speak were "Are you calling about the Halpern memo?"
Don't know if it is "the" Catholic priests group but does sponsor many of the liberal meets out at Rice University in Houston.
Very good point/question.
Let's ask Mr. Halperin.
/sarcasm
Nagourney, Stevenson, and Fineman shouldn't get a pass on this either.
Will Halperin admit he was strong-armed by these guys to write it?
We'll see.....
The only folks that ABC will pay attention to are the Affiliates.
I e-mailed the GM at my local ABC affiliate and told him that I had blocked CBS on my remote due to Rathergate and switched to ABC. I was now going to block ABC unless they renounced this memo and took corrective action.
This is a more effective route than targeting ABC in NYC.
I did.
Code Pink? Isn't that Hanoi Jane?
What is with Fox these days? Their post-debate coverage after the first debate was so biased that I turned to MSNBC where their panel at least gave the appearance of trying to evaluate fairly. After last night's debate, FOX had the same biased group claiming that Pres Bush had barely managed a "tie", if that. FOX should revisit its "fair and balanced" claim - they are starting to sound like just another branch of CBS/ABC.
It is time for the entire main stream press to be exposed for what it is. They are liars trying to manipulate and election. There is now documented proof of this for both ABC and CBS. NBC will get exposed in due course.
As Rush ranted so bluntly about the recent campaign coverage by so-called conservative pundits who've been falling all over themselves to blast Bush about the his first debate performance, rather than examining what was said by Kerry: "They want to be accepted by their liberal friends at cocktail parties."
Truth has left the building as far as the media is concerned. It is no longer relevant, and besides, it takes work to get at the truth, as O'Reilly proves in his nightly display of lazy ignorance.
What's become more and more apparent, though, is that some of these personalities, particularly Hume, now rely heavily on the internet for story lines. They are running scared in the sense that they are realizing that their relevancy to the fast-paced flow of electronic information is being undermined, and they are trying to keep the attention of those who are tired of being told how to think and who turn instead to the internet to form their own opinions.
i forgot about that!
BUMP.
Fox went sour last night too.
Danno has penned a great letter to Roger Ailes.
Let me see if I can find the link.
Here it is, IMPORTANT link.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1239785/posts
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