NBC questioned feasibility of ISG proposals but not McCain plan
During a report on the "military realities" of the Iraq Survey Group's (ISG) final report, the December 7 broadcast of NBC's Nightly News featured Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) criticism of the ISG's suggestion that "all combat brigades not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq" by early 2008 as "a recipe that will lead to, sooner or later, our defeat in Iraq." However, in citing McCain's remarks on whether the ISG's military suggestions for Iraq are "realistic," NBC ignored the fact that McCain's own military proposal for Iraq is likely unfeasible and that top military commanders have questioned its utility. Read more
Fox's Baier misrepresented recommendations of Iraq Study Group
Brett Baier reported that President Bush had "praised the report and the members on the Iraq Study Group [ISG] for tying any withdrawal to commanders' assessment of the conditions on the ground in Iraq." In fact, the ISG's recommendations run counter to Bush's policies and assumptions regarding U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Read more
Conservatives attack Iraq Study Group report as "surrender," "not a serious document"
Conservative media figures, including Bill Kristol, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck, have attacked both the members of the Iraq Study Group and its report: Kristol has called the report "an evasion" and "not a serious document"; Limbaugh asserted that ISG members are "doing everything they can to unite the American people" in "defeat" and "surrender"; while Beck has called the ISG report "Operation White Flag." Read more
NBC's David Gregory accused of partisanship for confronting White House with ISG findings
Following a confrontation between Tony Snow and NBC's David Gregory, numerous conservative media figures attacked Gregory, calling him "angry," "partisan," "grouchy," and "ignorant," and claiming that he is "doing this for personal gain." Read more
NY Times joined in crediting Wolf with ISG while ignoring op-ed citing "significant successes"
Following other media outlets that have recently asserted that Rep. Frank Wolf pushed for the creation of the Iraq Study Group because he believed the situation in Iraq was deteriorating, The New York Times reported that Wolf urged the panel's creation after he "grew alarmed by what he saw in Iraq during a visit last year." However, shortly after his return, Wolf released an official trip report and wrote an op-ed in which he stressed that "real progress is being made [in Iraq], despite the ongoing security concerns." Read more
Tumulty said it's "absurd" to attack U.S. press for not challenging Bush, while Froomkin praised U.K. press' "different tack"
On December 8, Time magazine national political correspondent Karen Tumulty and washingtonpost.com columnist Dan Froomkin appeared to offer very different takes on questions from American and British reporters at the December 7 joint press conference with President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In response to an email read on the December 8 edition of the National Public Radio-distributed Diane Rehm Show, in which the e-mailer mentioned a "very tough" question asked by a British reporter and wrote that it is "infuriating" that "[r]eporters in this country are still not taking this president to task about Iraq or any of his other botched policies," Tumulty said "the idea that the American press has not raised these questions is absurd." Tumulty added: "I don't think that, you know, one particular question in a press conference, where reporters tend to be asking to impress each other as much as anything else, is a measure of the entire American press corps." By contrast, in his December 8 column, Froomkin wrote: "Long live the British press!" He added: "American reporters dutifully but fruitlessly tried to get Bush to explain what he meant. Their colleagues from across the pond took a different tack." Read more
MSNBC's Imus referred to "Jewish management" of CBS Radio as "money-grubbing bastards"
As the Forward newspaper reported in a December 8 online article, Don Imus referred to the "Jewish management" of CBS Radio as "money-grubbing bastards" on the November 30 broadcast of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning. Imus was discussing a past conflict with his bosses about hosting the musical group the Blind Boys of Alabama. Executive producer Bernard McGuirk asked, "Even if you wear a beanie, how can you not love the Blind Boys?" Imus continued, "I said, 'They're handicapped, they're black, and they're blind. How do we lose here?' And then a light bulb just went off over [the managers'] scummy little heads." CBS Radio owns WFAN, the New York station that is the flagship for Imus' radio show. Read more
On Fox, Inhofe claimed without challenge that "[i]t was warmer in the [19]30s"
On Special Report, correspondent Molly Henneberg uncritically aired Sen. James Inhofe's false claim that "[i]t was warmer in the '30s than it is today," and Inhofe's baseless assertion that "it was warmer in the 15th century than it is today." Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment