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.
The problem is quotas. The problem is artificially adding "points" to admission scoring based on race alone. This introduces discrimination of blacks and hispanics over whites and asians. Its wrong, and hopefully the Supreme Court will do more than produce a narrowly focused decision. They now have an opportunity to resolve some issues.
I'd be ecstatic to see colleges put a stop to that as well.
We must be talking about state colleges and not private colleges.
A private college could elect to allow the children of hindu elephant herders to be preferred if they so wish. They are PRIVATE!!
A publicly funded college, on the other hand, must permit ANY taxpayer to have equal access. If they get my money, then I should have some chance of attending. The best way to do it is probably by lottery of ALL who are fully qualified. (Notice that I didn't say BEST qualified.)
They can enable the BEST QUALIFIED to jump the lottery by providing them scholarships for academics, music, sports, whatever.
Then put the rest in a hat and draw names. Can't get more fair than that.
What's Bill Clinton doing with that opossum?
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