1. Nothing To See Here: ABC, CBS and NBC's Sunday Shows Ignore Latest In IRS Scandal
Over the last seven days, three major revelations have emerged surrounding the IRS’ targeting of Tea Party groups. Despite the new stories, on Sunday April 13, three of the four Sunday interview shows on the broadcast networks -- NBC’s Meet the Press, CBS’s Face the Nation and ABC’s This Week -- all ignored them, whereas Fox News Sunday was the only broadcast network program to mention the IRS at all.
2. AP’s Julie Pace: Media Not Covering IRS Scandal Because ‘We Don't Have a Lot To Work With’
Last week, the House Oversight Committee asked the Justice Department to seek criminal charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner. Despite the newest revelations in the IRS scandal, the Associated Press’ Julie Pace attempted to excuse the lack of media coverage.Appearing as a panelist on Fox News Sunday on April 13, Pace, AP's White House correspondent, argued: “If you are going to keep the story going and you want to keep the investigation going, eventually there has to be some material there to work with. And we're in this period of time where we don't have a lot to work with.” Pace seemed to be the only guest to downplay the seriousness of the IRS scandal, with Brit Hume complaining about the lack of media attention the story has received: "What we had was kind of a campfire in most of the media, which was doused before very long and the story has been basically dormant."
3. CBS’s Bob Schieffer Interviews Democrat Elijah Cummings, Ignores His Relationship With Lois Lerner
Earlier this week, Town Hall revealed that former IRS official Lois Lerner fed tax information from the conservative group “True the Vote” to Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD). Cummings is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and recently made headlines for his confrontation with Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) over Lois Lerner’s recent testimony before the committee. Despite this new report, CBS’ Bob Schieffer failed to bring up the IRS scandal at all during his interview with Cummings on Face the Nation on Sunday April 13. Instead, Schieffer found time to discuss liberals’ newest talking point, that women get paid less than their male counterparts.
4. CBS Host Bob Schieffer: ‘Are Republicans Against Equal Pay for Women?’
CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer forwarded the liberal line that women get paid 77 percent of what their male counterparts earn as was evident during an interview with Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Blackburn appeared with Schieffer on Sunday April 13 and was accused of being against equal pay: “Are Republicans against equal pay for women and is that going to be a good political issue in these coming midterm elections?” For her part, Blackburn shot back and mocked Schieffer’s condescending question: "I find this war on women rhetoric just almost silly. It is Republicans that have led the fight for women's equality. Go back through history and look at who was the first woman to ever vote, elected to office, go to Congress." The CBS host seemed shocked that Senate Republicans blocked a bill that did nothing to prevent pay discrimination, which is already illegal, presuming the specific law pushed by liberals is the only solution: “Why did the Senate Republicans then block blocked this?”
5. ABC Hypes IRS's Help Line Wait Times, Smaller Budget; Yawns at Criminal Referral for Lerner
On Friday's World News, ABC's David Kerley pressed I.R.S. Commissioner John Koskinen about taxpayers who are unable to "get an answer as to how much they're supposed to pay," due to long wait times on the agency' help line. However, Kerley didn't bother to ask Koskinen about the House Ways and Means Committee's Wednesday vote to refer former IRS official Lois Lerner to the Justice Department for prosecution, over alleged targeting of Tea Party groups for auditing. In fact, as of Friday, none of the Big Three evening newscasts have covered the House committee's criminal referral, nor the House Oversight Committee voting on Thursday to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress.
6. Media: Hillary Shoe-Thrower 'Frightening'; Bush Shoe-Thrower A 'Folk Hero'
On Friday, all three network morning shows fretted over a woman throwing a shoe at Hillary Clinton during a speaking event in Las Vegas. NBC Today co-host Tamron Hall was particularly melodramatic: "I mean, but how scary is that?...Had it hit her, that would have been awful. It would have been awful." Weatherman Al Roker added: "Jeez, that's frightening." Hall declared: "It's hard for me to watch, actually." The shoe was on the other foot in 2008, when an Iraqi journalist threw two shoes at then-President George W. Bush during a Baghdad press conference. At that time, ABC and CBS referred to the shoe-thrower as a "celebrity" and "folk hero" who "thrilled the Arab world." In 2009, then-MSNBC host David Shuster actually cheered the release of the footwear assailant from prison. Tamron Hall happened to be on the show at the time and observed that people would have been "more outraged" if someone threw a shoe at President Obama.
7. ABC Apologizes for Story That Connected Mozilla CEO to Hateful Westboro Baptist
ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider has apologized for a story on his network that connected a CEO who supports traditional marriage to the Westboro Baptist Church and their offensive "God hates fags" signs. Mr. Schneider contacted the Media Research Center on Thursday after our social media department requested members call and complain about the comparison. Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich was fired earlier this month when it was revealed that he donated $1000 in 2008 to Proposition 8. As Good Morning America reporter Linzie Janis explained the story on April 4, footage of the completely unrelated Westboro protesters holding "soldiers died 4 fag marriage" signs appeared onscreen. ABCNews.comoffered this apology.
8. CBS Touts Showtime's 'Groundbreaking,' 'Well-Done' New Series Hyping Climate Change
Friday's CBS This Morning set aside almost six and a half minutes of air time to promote Showtime's upcoming series about climate change, which features liberal New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and CBS's Lesley Stahl. Charlie Rose heralded the "groundbreaking new documentary series," and let Friedman spotlight Arab environmentalists, who supposedly "understand that there's no Shiite air or Sunni air. If we don't protect the commons, nobody's going to breathe."
Over the last seven days, three major revelations have emerged surrounding the IRS’ targeting of Tea Party groups. Despite the new stories, on Sunday April 13, three of the four Sunday interview shows on the broadcast networks -- NBC’s Meet the Press, CBS’s Face the Nation and ABC’s This Week -- all ignored them, whereas Fox News Sunday was the only broadcast network program to mention the IRS at all.
On Wednesday April 9, The Washington Times revealed that a Dallas IRS office was covered with Vote for Obama stickers and engaging in campaign cheerleading. On the same day, The Hill broke a story revealing that Lois Lerner fed tax information to Elijah Cummings (D-MD) who sits on the committee in charge of overseeing the IRS investigation. And finally, the House Ways and Means Committee voted last week to refer Lois Lerner for criminal charges, yet the big three didn’t mention any of these stories on Sunday.
When questioned on Fox News Sunday by Chris Wallace, the Associated Press’ Julie Pace defended the lack of IRS coverage, explaining that “We don’t have a lot to work with.“ Fox News contributor Brit Hume shot her down and argued that "The same set of facts…would have touched off in previous days a media firestorm. What we had was kind of a campfire in most of the media, which was doused before very long, and the story has been basically dormant.”
Bob Schieffer, host of CBS’ Face the Nation had the best opportunity to discuss the IRS when he interviewed Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) but chose to ignore the scandal altogether. The Sunday show blackout of the IRS scandal should come as no surprise given that the networks have refused to cover the latest revelations for much of last week.
On Friday April 11, ABC’s World News had time to hype the IRS’s help line wait times and smaller budget but didn’t mention the criminal referral for Lerner. On April 9, the day the vote urging criminal charges against Ms. Lerner occurred, none of the network nightly news shows covered the vote, and CBS This Morning was the only network morning show to cover the story on Wednesday April 10.
-- Jeffrey Meyer
Appearing as a panelist on Fox News Sunday on April 13, Pace, AP's White House correspondent, argued: “If you are going to keep the story going and you want to keep the investigation going, eventually there has to be some material there to work with. And we're in this period of time where we don't have a lot to work with.” Pace was responding to host Chris Wallace, who had wondered: "You're the chief AP reporter and correspondent at the White House. And I think it's fair to say there was a storm of interest and then it faded. Why?"
Pace seemed to be the only guest to downplay the seriousness of the IRS scandal, with Brit Hume complaining about the lack of media attention the story has received:
What we had was kind of a campfire in most of the media, which was doused before very long and the story has been basically dormant. We at Fox News have continued to pursue it and some other media outlets have as well…There are minute details leaked, they get reported and the thing develops a life of its own and ultimately the combination of things, you know, brings the issue out and you get to the facts. It has not happened here.
Conservative columnist George Will spoke of the IRS scandal using much stronger rhetoric, likening the scandal to Watergate:
It rises to that level because the Internal Revenue Service is the most intrusive and potentially the most punitive institution in the federal government and has been thoroughly politicized…In Texas and Kentucky and probably elsewhere, IRS employees have violated the Hatch Act by using federal resources for campaigning and obviously for Barack Obama.
Journalist Bob Woodward expressed similar sentiments, and noted that:
There should be answers. It's quite correct. And for the president to take that position is very, very, very unusual and says there is not a smidgeon of evidence here. I mean clearly George has got a good list, I think actually there’s more.
And there's a question and you're right, the IRS particularly this week, as we know will file our tax returns, has a big place in everyone's life and they have immense power. And the power of the federal government to come and say we're auditing you or we're going to do something to you.
It’s astonishing that a reporter like Julie Pace would claim that there has been no new information worthy of media scrutiny. Just in the past week the House officially asked Lois Lerner be charged with criminal activity and two IRS offices were found to have been placing President Obama campaign merchandise throught their building. Apparently the Associated Press doesn’t consider that “a lot to work with.”
From the April 13 Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace:
CHRIS WALLACE: George, I was struck a couple days ago on our sister broadcastSpecial Report when you said that there have been three great scandals over the last 40 years here in Washington. Watergate, Iran-Contra and IRS. A couple of questions. One, why do you think this rises to that level? And why do you think the investigation is still on?
GEORGE WILL: The investigation, I’ll take the last one first, has stalled because the Justice Department has already leaked its conclusion, which is that no one would be prosecuted. It rises to that level because the Internal Revenue Service is the most intrusive and potentially the most punitive institution in the federal government and has been thoroughly politicized. Let me give you five things we know that she's done right now. She said the delay approving conservative groups is caused by a serious uptick in applications. The inspector general of the IRS says that is just not true. She said the Tea Party group was very dangerous. In Texas and Kentucky and probably elsewhere, IRS employees have violated the Hatch Act by using federal resources for campaigning and obviously for Barack Obama.
WALLACE: Can we -- I just want to point that out because the office of special council came out this week with a report and they said, now, there weren't vast cases although in Dallas they were wearing campaign buttons and their screen savers said Obama and stuff like that. But there was at least one case where if you called the helpline this person would in effect tell you well you should vote for Obama not for the Republicans because they'll keep you in this mess. On the IRS helpline so go ahead with your recitation I’m sorry.
WILL: Confidential taxpayer information of the organization the National Organization for Marriage was leaked to a rival group. And finally, when Senator Schumer and Durbin and others wore extorting the IRS to be more political in their application of views, she said, with regards to Crossroads GPS, the most important conservative group, “we are working on a denial of the application.” Not expediting, not coming to a quick conclusion but we’re working on denial of it. That's why this rises because as Bob Woodward remembers, the Watergate scandal was fundamentally, in the words of John Dean, using the machinery of the federal government to punish our enemies.
WALLACE: All right, Mr. Woodward, you know something about scandals and investigating them. How serious is the IRS scandal and, you know, I think one of the key questions is does this really begin and end with a mid-level bureaucrat who we never heard of a year ago named Lois Lerner.
BOB WOODWARD: Well, there’s obviously something here. The question is does this committee know how to investigate? And they're worried about this one person who has invoked her Fifth Amendment rights not to answer questions and you have congressmen on the committee going on saying we have evidence she's involved in criminal activity. I don't think you should cross that line. The second thing is there's always one person who's not going to talk. And when you conduct an investigation like this, I have not gone into the details. You need to find people who will talk. And there are always people who will do this. You know, we should dig into it. There should be answers. It's quite correct. And for the president to take that position is very, very, very unusual and say there is not a smidgeon of evidence here. I mean clearly George has got a good list, I think actually there’s more. And there's a question and you're right, the IRS particularly this week, as we know will file our tax returns, has a big place in everyone's life and they have immense power. And the power of the federal government to come and say we're auditing you or we're going to do something to you. I mean it's a ten-ton truck coming at you. It's the sort of thing that the leadership and in the White House should take a position. Look, we will not tolerate this.
BRIT HUME: Chris, the same set of facts that Bob and George have described would have touched off I think in previous days a media firestorm. What we had was kind of a campfire in most of the media, which was doused before very long, and the story has been basically dormant. We at Fox News have continued to pursue it and some other media outlets have as well. But when that kind of firestorm occurs, it creates an atmosphere in Washington where for the administration with a message to try to promote day-by-day, you can't get it out. You can get nothing out. We can all remember what it was like. And that creates a hothouse sort of atmosphere in which all investigations end up being accelerated. There are minute details leaked, they get reported and the thing develops a life of its own and ultimately the combination of things, you know, brings the issue out and you get to the facts. It has not happened here.
WALLACE: Let me bring Julie in an we got to move on after this. You're the chief AP reporter and correspondent at the White House. And I think it's fair to say there was a storm of interest and then it faded. Why?
JULIE PACE: Well, I think part of it has to do with the fact that the amount of information that we've been getting on it has run out. There has been so much focus on Lois Lerner and she's not talking so you're in this period of time, I say this about a lot of congressional investigations, that if you are going to keep the story going and you want to keep the investigation going, eventually there has to be some material there to work with. And we're in this period of time where we don't have a lot to work with.
WOODWARD: They need to be non-partisan. I mean this really should have gone to joint committee. If you look at Congress--they don't know how to investigate.
HUME: I agree with that, Bob. I don't think if you look back at these investigations when Republican presidents were in the White House that you could say that those investigations were particularly nonpartisan. Partisanship is a part of it. You can't take the politics out of politics.
-- Jeffrey Meyer
Earlier this week, Town Hall revealed that former IRS official Lois Lerner fed tax information from the conservative group “True the Vote” to Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD). Cummings is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and recently made headlines for his confrontation with Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) over Lois Lerner’s recent testimony before the committee.
Despite this new report, CBS’ Bob Schieffer failed to bring up the IRS scandal at all during his interview with Cummings on Face the Nation on Sunday April 13. Instead, Schieffer found time to discuss liberals’ newest talking point, that women get paid less than their male counterparts.
According to Town Hall:
New IRS emails released by the House Oversight Committee show staff working for Democratic Ranking Member Elijah Cummings communicated with the IRS multiple times between 2012 and 2013 about voter fraud prevention group True the Vote. True the Vote was targeted by the IRS after applying for tax exempt status more than two years ago.
Further, information shows the IRS and Cummings' staff asked for nearly identical information from True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht about her organization, indicating coordination and improper sharing of confidential taxpayer information.
Instead of asking Congressman Cummings about this damaging new report surrounding the IRS scandal, Schieffer ignored the entire issue, and focused on ObamaCare and equal pay for women for the entirety of the interview.
The CBS host even falsely claimed that the GOP did not support equal pay for women: “Marsha Blackburn says Republicans are actually for equal pay for women. But yet, it was blocked in the Senate by Republicans…What is going on here?”
Given that Schieffer had the opportunity to interview the ranking Democrat on the committee leading the IRS investigation, it would have made sense to ask Cummings about the scandal, or the Democrats' questionable relationship with IRS agents.
From the April 13 Face the Nation:
BOB SCHIEFFER: And joining us now Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings who has come down from his district in Baltimore this morning. Congressman thank you for being here.
ELIJAH CUMMINGS: Good to be with you, Bob.
SCHIEFFER: What about this, Marsha Blackburn says Republicans are actually for equal pay for women. But yet, it was blocked in the Senate by Republicans.
CUMMINGS: Yes.
SCHIEFFER: What is going on here?
CUMMINGS: I respectfully disagree with my colleague. Keep in mind, Bob, that white women are making 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, African-American women and Hispanic women, 64 cents .54 respectfully. There is something absolutely wrong with that picture. I have not seen them leading, as a matter of fact they seem to be very much against it. And I for the life of me I can't understand why
SCHIEFFER: Let me go back to Kathleen Sebelius and her resignation. You heard Marsha Blackburn say and she was at this conference of this group of Republicans many of whom are thinking about running for president. She says it is not going to change anything. Do you think -- what was the impact of her resignation?
CUMMINGS: Well, I think first of all, I am glad that Secretary Sebelius was able to accomplish all the things that she set out to do. Keep in mind she was with the president from the very beginning of doing what no president has been able to do in over 50 years. That is bring healthcare to people who do not have it. She’s accomplished what she needed to accomplish. She set a goal of 7 million people signing up for healthcare. She got 7.5 million, 3 million others, expanded Medicaid. She’s accomplished a lot with regards to disparities, healthcare disparities, women’s health and she brought us, Bob, closer to an HIV/AIDS free generation than anyone. She has accomplished a lot. And now she sends the baton off to a wonderful public servant, Sylvia Burwell of OMB.
SCHIEFFER: Do do you think that ObamaCare is going to be an anchor, a rock around the neck of Democrats running this fall? It is by every poll still very unpopular.
CUMMINGS: Yeah, I think that we have to go out there and argue the moral issues, Bob, and I have said that. I’ve never ran away from ObamaCare, because I see in my district and I have a very diverse district of people who have been helped by it. And the idea that we now have gotten rid of preexisting conditions, which was affecting millions upon millions of Americans stopping them from getting insurance I think that is very significant. We have got to look at the good things, and we have got to go out there and make it clear it is something good for America.
SCHIEFFER: Is your sense of it that the problems with this system, not disastrous rollout, I mean that is over. But the problems with the system itself is it your sense that those have more or less been smoothed out or will there be more problems ahead?
CUMMINGS: I think that they have been smoothed the out. When it comes to the web site, the web site was a significant problem and that goes back to Sebelius. She was able to even with all of that and with opposition from the Republicans, she was still able to achieve the 7.5 million goal. And again, Bob, I think that it is going to be fine, and I think a as far as the web site situation it will be a footnote in history.
-- Jeffrey Meyer
CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer forwarded the liberal line that women get paid 77 percent of what their male counterparts earn as was evident during an interview with Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
Blackburn appeared with Schieffer on Sunday April 13 and was accused of being against equal pay: “Are Republicans against equal pay for women and is that going to be a good political issue in these coming midterm elections?”
For her part, Blackburn shot back and mocked Schieffer’s condescending question:
I find this war on women rhetoric just almost silly. It is Republicans that have led the fight for women's equality. Go back through history and look at who was the first woman to ever vote, elected to office, go to Congress.
The CBS host seemed shocked that Senate Republicans blocked a bill that did nothing to prevent pay discrimination, which is already illegal, presuming the specific law pushed by liberals is the only solution: “Why did the Senate Republicans then block blocked this?”
Unfortunately, Schieffer did not challenge his Democratic guest on the issue of equal pay the way he did with Ms. Blackburn. The CBS host asked Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) “Marsha Blackburn says Republicans are actually for equal pay for women. But yet, it was blocked in the Senate by Republicans…What is going on here?”
If Schieffer were an objective host, he would have challenged Cummings when he falsely claimed that “White women are making 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, African-American women and Hispanic women, 64 cents .54 respectfully. There is something absolutely wrong with that picture.” Instead of being an actual journalist, Schieffer eagerly accepted to liberal
See relevant transcript below from the April 13 Face the Nation on CBS:
BOB SCHEIFFER: Let me ask you about this debate over equal pay for women.
MARSHA BLACKBURN: Sure.
SCHIEFFER: There was a lot of debate on that last week, finally Republicans blocked it in the Senate. Are Republicans against equal pay for women and is that going to be a good political issue in these coming midterm elections?
BLACKBURN: You know, I find this war on women rhetoric just almost silly. It is Republicans that have led the fight for women's equality. Go back through history and look at who was the first woman to ever vote, elected to office, go to Congress.
SCHIEFFER: But why did the Senate Republicans then block blocked this?
BLACKBURN: Well, because the legislation was something that was going to be helpful for trial lawyers and what we would like to see happen is equal opportunity and clearing up some of the problems that exist that are not fair to women. We are all for equal pay. I would love for women to be focused on maximum wage and I have fought to be recognized with equality for a long time. A lot of us get tired of guys being condescending to us. But you know I got to tell you, one of the things that we need to do is look at access to capital. Small business owners that are female, that is their number one problem, is access to capital. We need to also look at regulations. How that is affecting them, ObamaCare has been very unfair to women. We hear a good bit about this. Women are the primary healthcare consumers in the country. 80 percent of all healthcare decisions are made by women. Whether they are for their family or elderly relatives they are caring for, so I think -- and by the way, the White House paying women 88 cents for every dollar that a guy earns in comparable positions and, you know, they need to go clean up their own act first.
SCHIEFFER: Alright we have to stop there. There’s so much news this morning congresswoman. We’ll get the other side of this from the Democrats, but thank you.
BLACKBURN: Thank you.
SCHIEFFER: And joining us now Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings who has come down from his district in Baltimore this morning. Congressman thank you for being here.
ELIJAH CUMMINGS: Good to be with you, Bob.
SCHIEFFER: What about this, Marsha Blackburn says Republicans are actually for equal pay for women. But yet, it was blocked in the Senate by Republicans.
CUMMINGS: Yes.
SCHIEFFER: What is going on here?
CUMMINGS: I respectfully disagree with my colleague. Keep in mind, Bob, that white women are making 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, African-American women and Hispanic women, 64 cents .54 respectfully. There is something absolutely wrong with that picture. I have not seen them leading, as a matter of fact they seem to be very much against it. And I for the life of me I can't understand why
SCHIEFFER: Let me go back to Kathleen Sebelius and her resignation....
-- Jeffrey Meyer
In fact, as of Friday, none of the Big Three evening newscasts have covered the House committee's criminal referral, nor the House Oversight Committee voting on Thursday to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress. Instead, the ABC correspondent zeroed in on taxpayers' complaints about the IRS help line, as well as the commissioner's YouTube video warning about how to deal with the poor service there: [MP3 audio available here; video below]
DAVID KERLEY (voice-over): The government wants your tax dollars. But if you call in with a question...good luck getting an answer....It's so bad, recently, the head of the I.R.S. even went on YouTube with a warning.
JOHN KOSKINEN, I.R.S. COMMISSIONER (from YouTube.com video): And there will frequently be extensive wait times....
KERLEY (voice-over): What can you do? Try the I.R.S. website; buy a tax software program; or go to a voluntary tax assistance office – because all the head of the I.R.S. can offer is-
KOSKINEN (from YouTube.com video): And I apologize that we can't do more.
Anchor Diane Sawyer led into Kerley's report with a brief on President and Mrs. Obama's latest tax return: "The Obamas reporting $481,000 in income last year, and that's a sizeable drop from the year before – 21 percent down from 2012 – over $600,000. The big drop is because sales of the President's books are down." She continued by noting that "since it is last-minute tax time, we decided to check up on the I.R.S. service for taxpayers – help. If you're one of the millions of Americans with questions about your tax return, can you get an answer?"
Kerley wasted little time before playing five straight soundbites of video complaints from people who tried to call the I.R.S. help line. He spent the bulk of the rest of the segment on clips from his interview of Koskinen – interrupted only once by a rebuke from Nina Olson from the National Taxpayer Union:
KERLEY (voice-over): ...[W]e went to the I.R.S. commissioner with a simple question.
KERLEY (on-camera): How do you expect taxpayers to pay when they can't get an answer as to how much they're supposed to pay?
KERLEY (voice-over): Last year, there were 109 million calls to the I.R.S. Forty percent of those calls trying to reach an agent went unanswered. Those who did get through: the average wait time was 18 minutes.
Your advocate inside the agency has never seen service so bad.
NINA OLSON, NATIONAL TAXPAYER ADVOCATE: I'm outraged. You know, I'm – I feel that taxpayers have a right to quality service.
KERLEY (on-camera): Some might ask, why don't you reallocate funds so you can serve the taxpayer better?
KOSKINEN: We have reallocated every dollar we can to serving the taxpayer better. But we have obligations we can't avoid.
KERLEY (voice-over): The commissioner says the agency has cut 10,000 employees the past four years, because its budget was cut by a billion dollars. This tax season, he hopes only 30 percent of all calls are unanswered.
KERLEY (on-camera): That's a huge failure rate.
KOSKINEN: I view it as intolerable – and, as I say, nobody cares more about it than the people that work for us.
Kerley ended his report with Koskinen's "I apologize that we can't do more" line from his YouTube.com video. One wonders if ABC (not to leave out its competitors at CBS and NBC) is ever going to apologize for going out of its way to avoid covering the I.R.S. scandal.
-- Matthew Balan
On Friday, all three network morning shows fretted over a woman throwing a shoe at Hillary Clinton during a speaking event in Las Vegas. NBC Today co-host Tamron Hall was particularly melodramatic: "I mean, but how scary is that?...Had it hit her, that would have been awful. It would have been awful." Weatherman Al Roker added: "Jeez, that's frightening." Hall declared: "It's hard for me to watch, actually." [Listen to the audio]
The shoe was on the other foot in 2008, when an Iraqi journalist threw two shoes at then-President George W. Bush during a Baghdad press conference. At that time, ABC and CBS referred to the shoe-thrower as a "celebrity" and "folk hero" who"thrilled the Arab world." In 2009, then-MSNBC host David Shuster actually cheered the release of the footwear assailant from prison. Tamron Hall happened to be on the show at the time and observed that people would have been "more outraged" if someone threw a shoe at President Obama.
By contrast, on Friday's ABC Good Morning America, White House correspondent Jon Karl reported: "Hillary Clinton took that with good humor. But it was a scary moment." Co-host George Stephanopoulos remarked: "Yeah, Hillary Clinton, quick with the quip. But that was a scary moment there for a second."
On CBS This Morning, co-host Charlie Rose observed that Clinton "handled that quite well" before noting that the thrower was "facing federal charges." Fellow co-host Norah O'Donnell gushed: "You know, it was amazing to see how calm she [Hillary Clinton] was....she didn't really react much at all and had a great retort, you know?" Rose agreed: "It was amazing." O'Donnell concluded: "Incredible, indeed."
In 2008, concerns over Bush's safety were less important to the networks, who seized on that shoe-throwing incident as a gaffe that showed his unpopularity.
Here are transcripts of the coverage on the April 11 morning shows:
Today 9:05 AM ET
TAMRON HALL: Well, who's not in good shape is this person who's been arrested and now charged with throwing a shoe at Hillary Clinton. It happened in Las Vegas. Take a look here. The former secretary of state giving a speech. And then listen to her reaction. That's a shoe going past her.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: She's Got Sole; Hillary Clinton Dodges Shoe During Speech]
AL ROKER: Whoa.
NATALIE MORALES: There you go. She dodged that one.
HALL: And take a listen to-
ROKER: Well, she didn't really dodge it. She just missed her, thankfully.
MORALES: Bad aim.
HALL: The woman there with the blonde hair is the person who goes out with her hands up, she's taken into custody. But listen to Hillary Clinton's reaction.
HILLARY CLINTON: Was that part of Cirque du Soleil?
ROKER: "Was that part of Cirque du Soleil?"
MORALES: Cirque du Soleil.
HILLARY CLINTON: What was that, a bat? Was that a bat? That's somebody throwing something at me? Is that part of Cirque du Soleil? Thank goodness she didn't play softball like I did.
[LAUGHTER]
HALL: Her reaction was priceless. I mean, but how scary is that? She thought it was a bat, so it didn't process what was really happening. But that shoe came so close to her face. Had it hit her, that would have been awful. It would have been awful. But this woman is in custody. We don't know a lot about her at this point. But we do know.
ROKER: Jeez, that's frightening.
HALL: It's hard for me to watch, actually.
(...)Good Morning America 7:06 AM ET
(...)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: On another front, another politician, high-profile politician under fire in a different way. Hillary Clinton out in Las Vegas, you see it right there, she took a shoe right – whizzing right by her head. And here's what she had to say about it.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Shoe Thrown at Hillary Clinton; Woman in Federal Custody]
HILLARY CLINTON: Recycling, about two – what was that? A bat? Was that a bat? That's somebody throwing something at me? Is that part of Cirque du Soleil? My goodness. I didn't know solid waste management was so controversial.
JON KARL: Well, as you can hear-
CLINTON: Thank goodness she didn't play softball like I did.
KARL: As you can hear there, George, Hillary Clinton took that with good humor. But it was a scary moment. Reminiscent, of course, you remember that time when George W. Bush had two shoes thrown at him at a press conference in Baghdad.
As for the woman who did it, no indication of who she is yet. They haven't identified her by name. And no indication as to why she threw that shoe.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah, Hillary Clinton, quick with the quip. But that was a scary moment there for a second. Okay, Jon Karl, thanks very much. We'll have all the week's politics Sunday on This Week.CBS This Morning 7:18 AM ET
CHARLIE ROSE: And the Las Vegas Sun says a woman threw a shoe at former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. She ducked out of the way.
HILLARY CLINTON: It's already recycling about two – was that a bat? That's somebody throwing something at me? Is that part of Cirque du Soleil? Thank goodness she didn't play softball like I did.
ROSE: Boy, she handled that quite well, didn't she?
NORAH O'DONNELL: She really did.
ROSE: We don't know why the woman threw the shoe, but she is facing federal charges.
O'DONNELL: You know, it was amazing to see how calm she was.
ROSE: It was, exactly.
O'DONNELL: Yeah, she didn't really react much at all and had a great retort, you know?
ROSE: About Cirque du Soleil.
O'DONNELL: About Cirque du Soleil. And saying, "Glad she didn't play softball like I did." Maybe she would have had a better throw.
ROSE: It was amazing.
O'DONNELL: Incredible, indeed.
-- Kyle Drennen
ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider has apologized for a story on his network that connected a CEO who supports traditional marriage to the Westboro Baptist Church and their offensive "God hates fags" signs. Mr. Schneider contacted the Media Research Center on Thursday after our social media department requested members call and complain about the comparison.
Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich was fired earlier this month when it was revealed that he donated $1000 in 2008 to Proposition 8. As Good Morning America reporter Linzie Janis explained the story on April 4, footage of the completely unrelated Westboro protesters holding "soldiers died 4 fag marriage" signs appeared onscreen. ABCNews.com offered this apology:
The segment as originally aired on Good Morning America on April 4, 2014, and included on this page, has been updated to correct an error. Video of a demonstration by the Westboro Baptist Church, which is not connected to this story, was inadvertently used in the original segment. We apologize for the error and have removed that video.
To see the original video, as it appeared on the April 4 GMA, go here. (Also, see picture above.)
On the December 07, 2012 World News, ABC reporter Terry Moran used the same hateful Westboro Baptist video for a story on the Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling.
ABC News has assured the Media Research Center that such footage will not be used in the future. The network deserves credit for realizing their error and taking action.
-- Scott Whitlock
Rose, along with co-anchor Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King also turned to Stahl, who ballyhooed how "all these floods we've heard about – much more disastrous than they have been in our lifetime. That's because the ice is melting. It's affecting the seawater all along the eastern shore of the United States." King fawned over the new TV series, and set up Friedman to speculate about "climate change skeptics" might react to it: [MP3 audio available here; video below]
GAYLE KING: ...How do you think that the climate change skeptics will react to what they're going to see on this series? It's fascinating and so well-done.
TOM FRIEDMAN: Well, you know, I can't predict – you can't talk someone out of something they haven't actually been talked into. You know, so much of this is, I think, emotional reaction.
King previewed the segment with Friedman and Stahl by trumpeting how "the biggest names in Hollywood and journalism combine for a new documentary series on climate change. It features everybody from Matt Damon and Harrison Ford to Tom Friedman and Lesley Stahl." Moments later, Rose continued with his "groundbreaking" label of the series, titled Years of Living Dangerously, and played a clip from the documentary where Friedman interviewed a man in Syria about the drought there that apparently contributed to the lead-up to the ongoing civil war.
The veteran PBS host continued by asking the columnist to explain "the connection between drought and the war in Syria." Friedman noted the "droughts in the Middle East since the Bible" and wondered if "the Mediterranean region [is] warming and making the droughts more frequent or more intense. And there are a lot of scientists who believe they do – that's what's happening...beginning in 2006 and lasting until 2010, Syria experienced the worst drought in its modern history....The drought didn't cause the revolution, but when the revolution came, all these farmers and herders could not wait to join."
King followed up with a softball question to her guest: "Tom, you know this area very well. You've been covering it for many years. What did you learn that surprised you most working on this documentary?" Friedman replied with his focus on the Middle Eastern environmentalists:
FRIEDMAN: ...I actually spent, you know, all these weeks traveling through the Middle East only talking to Arab environmentalists, and they're a remarkable community – small but extremely able – and it gave me a whole new perspective on the region. You know, because one thing young Arabs will tell you is, 'Hey, we've tried everything. We tried nationalism, socialism, Communism, Islamism, capitalism, liberalism, and nothing worked.' And I always tell them there's actually one 'ism you haven't tried, and that's environmentalism. And that's actually not a joke. Because environmentalists start with the commons. They understand that there's no Shiite air or Sunni air, if we don't protect the commons, nobody's gonna breathe.
O'Donnell then played a clip from the series of Stahl witnessing ice falling off a glacier in Greenland, and where the correspondent played up how "Greenland is melting at a pace that is hard to fathom – five times faster than it was just twenty years ago." The CBS This Morning host then asked her colleague, "Lesley, this is so fascinating because no place on Earth has seen the effects of global warming as the Arctic has, right?" She answered, in part, by claiming that "not only are the glaciers falling into the ocean, but they're melting from the top."
Rose then wondered what were the "consequences for the rest of the world." Stahl replied with her line about the "floods we've heard about – much more disastrous than they have been in our lifetime, that's because the ice is melting, it's affecting the seawater all along the eastern shore of the United States."
Near the end of the segment, the hosts, along with their guests, brought up the climate change skeptics and how, supposedly, the reason that there's still many of them is because the media hasn't hyped the issue enough:
KING: ...How do you think that the climate change skeptics will react to what they're going to see on this series? It's fascinating and so well-done.
FRIEDMAN: Well, you know, I can't predict – you can't talk someone out of something they haven't actually been talked into. You know, so much of this is, I think, emotional reaction. But I think the power of this series is that it tells the story through the experiences of real people, you know, living in real communities. Al Gore did an amazing job with An Inconvenient Truth, but that was one man telling millions. What this series is about is actually millions telling many more millions about how climate change is impacting their real lives.
O'DONNELL: And Lesley, there's been a lot of talk that the media has not focused on climate change.
STAHL: Right, well, this is a series that focuses on it.
But to your question [pointing to King] – Don Cheadle, the actor, has what I think is one of the most powerful pieces, because he goes down into the South – and he is remarkable as – no opinion. He just is on a quest to find out why so many people in the South don't believe climate change. And he finds this Christian scientist who goes into churches to persuade them that science and religion can live together. And it's really an emotional, wonderful part of this series.
-- Matthew Balan
No comments:
Post a Comment