It's the Media, Stupid.
Campaign Desk, Columbia Journalism Review: NBC, and CBS had only a few minutes to give viewers a little context between the end of Cheney's speech and the start of their regularly scheduled programming. But they wasted even that. None of the networks pointed out the misrepresentations in the speeches, and NBC even went to a brief interview with Newt Gingrich, who called the evening "devastating" (apparently for the opposition), but failed to offer up a rebuttal from an actual Democrat.
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http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000884.asp
Fact Check
September 02, 2004
Wednesday Night Report Card
Through the magic combination of TiVo, TVEyes, and
real-time viewing, we were able to have a look at how
each of the networks and cable channels responded to
last night's major convention speeches. Below you'll
find our scorecard, with rankings from best to worst:
CNN: Everybody's talking about Sen. Zell Miller's
meltdown on MSNBC, but the real evisceration of Miller
took place on CNN, thanks to Jeff Greenfield, Judy
Woodruff, and Wolf Blitzer, who fact-checked Miller
with a rigor rarely seen on the self-styled most
trusted name in news. The trio pointed out that many
of the charges that Miller had leveled at Kerry --
including the fact that he had referred to Americans
abroad as occupiers, and that he'd opposed spending on
certain weapons -- also applied to the president and
vice president. They also noted that, while Miller
Tuesday night condemned what he characterized as
Kerry's "atrocious" 20-year record in the Senate, as
recently as three years ago Miller had praised Kerry's
record. (In response, Miller explained that, as a
newcomer to congress, he'd only praised Kerry "because
that was the biographical sketch that [Democrats] gave
me.") The commentators who followed the dynamic trio
on the network -- including Joe Klein, John Harwood,
and Joe Conason -- all seemed to take their cue from
the Miller interview, providing a strong dose of
insightful analysis and illuminating context. Long
story short: CNN -- in a sharp departure from its
usual placid reliance on "he said/she said" journalism
-- last night gave viewers the facts they needed to
cut through a veritable avalanche of misleading spin.
A surprisingly excellent performance. GRADE: A
Fox News: Fox followed Cheney's speech with a panel
featuring the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, who
mostly pushed conservative conventional wisdom
("Voters have an awful lot to question about Kerry's
public record"); National Public Radio's Mara Liasson,
who said Miller, with an angry speech, may have gone
too far; and Roll Call's Mort Kondracke, who claimed
everything said in the speeches "was legitimate"
except for Miller's characterization of his fellow
Democrats. (There, he "went over the line into
demagoguery," said Kondracke.) Like CNN's trio, both
Liasson and Kondracke pointed out that it's not just
John Kerry who has called Americans occupiers, as
Miller suggested in his speech, but also George Bush.
The Standard's Fred Barnes was also on the panel, but
he was clearly in it for the sell, praising both
speeches and at one point saying that "it is
significant that [Miller] didn't scream," a non
sequitor that apparently represented an effort to
compare Miller favorably to Howard Dean. Moderator
Brit Hume at one point did a pretty good imitation of
a real journalist, pointing out that 20-year Senate
voting records are long and easy to cherry pick for
criticism, but he ultimately relapsed into default
mode, asking questions like, "What is it in Kerry's
record that will be hardest to defend?" Considering
the source, not a total train wreck ... but nowhere
near good enough. GRADE: C-
MSNBC: Chris Matthews' already legendary face-off with
Zell Miller has gotten all the attention -- a blessing
for MSNBC, because its performance was otherwise
pretty dismal. Democrats weren't given any time to
respond to the speeches, and the commentators --
Andrea Mitchell, John Meacham, and Joe Scarborough --
failed to provide any useful context. There was a lot
of rereading of favorite lines from the speeches, and
Matthews characterized Cheney's speech as "a powerful
indictment of John Kerry's record" containing "no
rhetoric" -- a ludicrous statement, given that for
long periods Cheney simply strung together campaign
slogans. MSNBC followed the lovefest among the
commentators with interviews from the floor with two
Republicans -- Ohio Gov. Robert Taft and Georgia Rep.
Johnny Isakson -- who were, of course, big fans of
both speeches. The only break came when Tom Brokaw,
getting a little screen time with Tim Russert, pointed
out that John McCain had said during the speech he was
uncomfortable with Miller's choice of language and
tone. Brokaw also raised the question of whether
Miller went too far. But even Matthews' vaunted
flame-up with Miller wasn't an unalloyed testament to
the host's journalistic acumen; it seemed to grow more
out of a misunderstanding between the two over one
specific question than out of Matthews' incisive, if
sometimes smug, questioning, and Miller's anger looked
like a carryover from the unexpected whack-a-mole he
had encountered earlier from CNN. Fireworks
notwithstanding ... GRADE: C-
The Broadcast Networks: ABC, NBC, and CBS had only a
few minutes to give viewers a little context between
the end of Cheney's speech and the start of their
regularly scheduled programming. But they wasted even
that. None of the networks pointed out the
misrepresentations in the speeches, and NBC even went
to a brief interview with Newt Gingrich, who called
the evening "devastating" (apparently for the
opposition), but failed to offer up a rebuttal from an
actual Democrat. There were a few interruptions to the
Grand Old Party's party: On ABC, George Stephanopolous
joined the chorus with the observation that Miller's
performance might have been overkill, and CBS's Dan
Rather briefly discussed a protester who had
infiltrated the convention earlier in the evening. But
that was it in terms of context or non-sanctioned
spin, and that wasn't much. The networks, without
exception, failed to give viewers either the
information or the context they deserve. We've seen
better political reporting on ESPN. GRADE: F
--Brian Montopoli