Posted on 03/03/2005 4:16:33 PM PST by RatherBiased.com
Tom Fenton, the ex-CBS overseas reporter and author of "Bad News," the unofficial sequel to Bernard Goldberg's Bias and Arrogance will be appearing on MSNBC's "Hardball" in a few minutes.
We've seen the book and in many ways the book extends Goldberg's argument to say not only have journalists been liberally biased (he speaks favorably of Goldberg's book) and arrogant, they're also lazy and think TV news should be dumbed down. Fenton also compares the "peace dividend" attitude that prevailed in foreign policy in the 90s with the cutbacks in foreign news coverage during that time period. Both attitudes, he says, led to 9/11 and the media needs to share some of the blame that they place on the government.
Fenton also revealed (in a footnote unfortunately) that the "CBS Evening News" censored a report on the Clinton Administration's bombing of a Sudanese pharmeceutical plant during the impeachment mess:
"A CBS News producer who prefers to remain anonymous recalls walking through the rubble of the factory two days after the missile strike, and writing an on-camera piece in which the correspondent picked up bottles from the debris and read their labels. They appeared to be animal antibiotics. The 'CBS Evening News' producers in New York forbade the team in Sudan to air it, and a new on-camera had to be done in which there was no implied criticism of the attack. The field producer who told me this said: 'This felt like the beginning of the censorship we had always said did not exist. It now does; often it is tacit.'"
Thanks for the heads up.
Ex-CBS News anchor - Dan Rather.
Actually, I'm only interested in the "ex-CBS" part.
LVM
Rather will be on Letterman tonight. He will not allow a TV news person to interview him.
The irony is palpable.
Fenton on now!
No mention of al Qaida in the 3 months prior to 9/11 on broadcast networks.
He seems to be agreeing that the media did not do enough to refute Bush's conflation of Iraq and 9/11. Other than maintaining that Iraq was part of the WOT, I do not recall Bush stating that Saddam was responsible for 9/11.
The interview has ended.
We'll post a transcript on our site momentarily.
You can catch the rerun of the show at 11pm and 4am ET later tonight.
I saw it. Chrissy sits there and says there was no connection between Saddam's Iraq and Al Qaeda. He's a liar.
At the end, Fenton said Bush took a gamble on Iraq, and it's starting to look like it paid off. We all should hope it works, he says.
Saddam Hussein harbored, funded, and supported terrorists, including those who attacked America.
Matthews seemed to be trying to fit Fenton's view into that. Fenton went along with it but he also praised Bush for trying to advance freedom in the world.
Yes, he did. If little old me knows this, why doesn't Chris Matthews?
I am a former journalist myself. I used to watch CBS news every night back in the days when Tom Fenton was a regular and I had the impression then that he was OK, and now I feel vindicated.
I haven't followed him.
He retired from CBS in 2004. Hopefully he will get a position at one of these journalism schools in the next few months.
In an ideal world, both he and Bernie Goldberg would be running the networks.
Great to hear Fenton is all over radio and tv pushing his book! Hope sales go through the roof.
I was looking at all the posts and the tone of the posts and I sense the same horse race attitude that permeates the media today; one of the problems Tom Fenton speaks about in his book. Why don't you all read Mr. Fenton's book, and then post. It certainly would make for a more intelligent exchange of ideas.
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