"New Anchor's Record of Liberal Advocacy:..." [ ABC's Ted Koppel signs off after 25 years]

MRC ^ | Monday November 21, 2005 | BrentBaker RichNoyes

[fight_truth_decay]

"As ABC's White House Correspondent, New Nightline Anchor Terry Moran Pushed a Liberal Agenda"

Below is the text of a Media Reality Check, put together by the MRC's Rich Noyes, which was distributed by fax this afternoon.

Moran: We're Now World's Bad Guys "Mr. President, recently Amnesty International said you have established, quote, ‘a new gulag of prisons around the world beyond the reach of the law and decency.' I'd like your reaction to that, and also your assessment of how it came to this, that that is a view not just held by extremists and anti-Americans, but by groups that have allied themselves with the United States government in the past, and what the strategic impact is, that in many places in the world the United States these days under your leadership is no longer seen as the good guy."

Now, the text of the rest of the November 21 Media Reality Check:

Another network news broadcast is about to undergo a major transformation. Tomorrow, Ted Koppel signs off after 25 years as Nightline anchor. A week from tonight, an ABC News triumvirate of Martin Bashir, Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran will take the helm. But while the characters change, expect the spin to remain the same.

Bashir is a recent addition to ABC News, probably best known for his Michael Jackson documentary that helped push Jackson's arrest and trial on child molestation charges. McFadden is a veteran ABC correspondent whose focus has been legal cases, but she's offered political opinions on the air. For example, when film director Elia Kazan was given a lifetime achievement award at the 1999 Oscars, McFadden spoke for liberals still furious that Kazan opposed communism in the 1950s, explaining on Good Morning America the next day that her "favorite moment was in the car driving up to the red carpet, a lone protester holding a sign that said, ‘Kazan: the Linda Tripp of the '50s.'"

White House correspondent (and World News Tonight/Sunday anchor) Terry Moran, on the other hand, has earned something of a cult following on the far left with his obnoxious liberal questioning of President Bush and Press Secretary Scott McClellan. A blogger on the far-left Daily Kos Web site suggested a right-wing conspiracy in Moran's elevation: "Terry Moran has been one of the strongest question-askers and hounders of Scott McClellan in the past few months. He has stood up to Scott again and again....This smacks as a strategic move from the WH to me. Just when the scandal looms, you find ways to get rid of your critics."

Moran's record is filled with quotes that make liberals cheer. On the Sunday before President Bush's second inauguration, Moran began his newscast: "In a time of war and natural disaster, is it time for a lavish celebration?"

In May, during the controversy over Newsweek's faulty story about claims the U.S. military had abused the Koran, Moran told Press Secretary McClellan: "Scott, you said the retraction by Newsweek magazine of its story is a good first step. What else does the President want this American magazine to do?" After McClellan offered a suggestion, Moran erupted: "With respect, who made you the editor of Newsweek?" Uh, hadn't Moran himself just asked for an editorial opinion?

In May 2003, Moran was upset by a new tax law that would not provide families with a child "credit" over and above any taxes actually owed. He argued with Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: "I just wanted to make sure that you are saying the White House agreed to make the choice to leave these children behind." At a televised press conference in March 2003, Moran lectured the President: "So many governments and peoples around the world now not only disagree with you very strongly, but see the U.S. under your leadership as an arrogant power."

Moran isn't always a tough guy. In 2000, he covered Al Gore's campaign and empathized with the Vice President after his third debate with Bush: "You've spent a quarter century in public service and have worked on a lot of these issues, obviously have mastered a lot of the details of them. When you look across the stage, are you frustrated at all?"

END Reprint of November 21 Media Reality Check

- Brent Baker

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

Is is Moran or Moron?

[fight_truth_decay]

More of the Same.............

Rather was honored with a lifetime achievement award. ABC's Ted Koppel praised Rather as "a man of honesty and integrity and decency."

Referring to Rather's "memogate," Koppel sarcastically suggested: "I would simply urge your most vociferous critics to take a page from the White House's own playbook. When one of their own a makes a mistake, they stress the importance of looking to the future and of not playing the blame game."

MSNBC President Rick Kaplan, a former executive at ABC and CNN, asserted that "Dan was meticulously careful to be fair and balanced and accurate" during his career. Kaplan then lashed out: "When did we allow those with questionable agendas to take the lead and convince people of something quite the opposite? It's shameful." Kaplan went so far to declare that Rather's "legacy" is "the gold standard journalists (code words for "yellow journalism"?)today have struggled to live up to."

[fight_truth_decay]

ABC is similarly trying to reinvent "Nightline," responding to Ted Koppel's imminent departure with a three-anchor lineup and an abandonment of the single-story format that some programmers now regard as quaint in a channel-surfing universe. Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Martin Bashir may be able to jump-start the franchise, but Disney executives were perfectly willing to junk it three years ago in favor of David Letterman. And ABC has yet to settle on a successor to the late Peter Jennings, in part because of concern about pulling Charlie Gibson off the more lucrative "Good Morning America."

Except for an uptick during Hurricane Katrina, the media's stock seems to be in a gradual decline -- journalistically, financially and psychologically. That is unlikely to change as long as journalists keep behaving in ways that alienate their audiences.

washingtonpost.com
Singing the News Blues
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 7, 2005

[Cobra64]

After he did that once I would have said--next question! I can't believe they let these buzzards get away with questions like this!

I agree. Rummy would ripped Mr. "Moron" a new one.

[nopardons]

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeesh...what an idiot this guy is!

[Republican Wildcat]

New boss same as the old boss. Still no need to watch.

[Brimack34]

Do these idiots on the MSM need to be hit with a 2 by 4. They do not get it.