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1. NBC Turns Mourning Into 'Voices of Dissent' Growing 'Angrier' While Tuesday's NBC Nightly News commendably devoted a story to mourning in the Fort Bragg community after the loss of nine 82nd Airborne soldiers in Iraq, a loss to the division anchor Brian Williams described as "the largest since June of 1969," reporter Bob Faw pivoted from sadness over the deaths to how "even here, where support for the war has been unswerving, the latest round of casualties raised new doubts about the American military presence in Iraq." Faw included the views of those in the Fayetteville, North Carolina community who praised the soldiers and still support the war, but stressed, based on a few anecdotal quotes from people on the street, how "on this day, publicly, the voices of dissent grew louder and angrier -- even here." Viewers then heard a woman declare: "It's senseless. All they're doing is going over there and dying for nothing, absolutely nothing." 2. Liberal CBS Groupthink: 'Embarrassed' by Anti-Abortion Commentary Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer story on the troubles at the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- a story bulging with anti-Couric quotes from anonymous CBSers -- included a revealing window into the news network's intolerant liberal mindset, with the newsroom in "an uproar" after the father of a slain high school student was given roughly 60 seconds to condemn the lack of morality in public schools and said the culture of abortion devalues human life. "'There's a difference between free speech and responsible speech,' an embarrassed correspondent says," according to Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Gail Shister. 3. ABC's GMA Spins Crow Toilet Paper Comments as 'Quirky Solution' Considering that Good Morning America has repeatedly adopted left-wing solutions to environmental issues, it's not surprising that the program acted as a press agent for singer Sheryl Crow on Tuesday's program. (After all, ABC allowed Crow to kick off her global warming tour on GMA.) Anchor Chris Cuomo claimed that Crow's assertion (she called for a limit to the amount of toilet paper Americans can use), was meant as a "comment about the environment." Reporter Bianna Golodryga alternated between calling the statement, which has been widely mocked in much of the country, a joke and also a "quirky solution." In a brief interview, the ABC correspondent, who mostly covers celebrities, took all of Crow and "eco-activist" Laurie David's comments at face value. After making the requisite joke about toilet paper, Golodryga threw a few softballs to Crow and David as they sat in the "Stop Global Warming" bus. 4. Goldberg Slams Rosie O'Donnell Types, 'Bush Derangement Syndrome' Former CBS News reporter Bernard Goldberg appeared on Tuesday's Today show to promote his new book and in the process took several jabs at wimpy Republicans who don't stand by conservative principals and the "Rosie O'Donnells of the world" who suffer from "Bush Derangement Syndrome." While Goldberg wasn't a 100 percent conservative, he criticized the Iraq war and supports embryonic stem cell research, it was still refreshing to hear a former member of the liberal media criticize liberals on their own airwaves. 5. Hume Picks Up on ABC Spiking How Culture Blamed for Gun Violence You read it here first. Matching a CyberAlert item, FNC's Brit Hume reported, in his Tuesday "Grapevine" segment, how "ABC devoted nearly two minutes," during Monday's World News to a new ABC News poll on guns, "but never mentioned one of the most interesting results. When asked the primary source of gun violence, 40 percent said popular culture, and 35 percent said the way parents raise their children. Only 18 percent blamed the availability of guns."
Growing 'Angrier' While Tuesday's NBC Nightly News commendably devoted a story to mourning in the Fort Bragg community after the loss of nine 82nd Airborne soldiers in Iraq, a loss to the division anchor Brian Williams described as "the largest since June of 1969," reporter Bob Faw pivoted from sadness over the deaths to how "even here, where support for the war has been unswerving, the latest round of casualties raised new doubts about the American military presence in Iraq." Faw included the views of those in the Fayetteville, North Carolina community who praised the soldiers and still support the war, but stressed, based on a few anecdotal quotes from people on the street, how "on this day, publicly, the voices of dissent grew louder and angrier -- even here." Viewers then heard a woman declare: "It's senseless. All they're doing is going over there and dying for nothing, absolutely nothing." [This item was posted Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video for the April 24 NBC Nightly News story:
Bob Faw: "At the home of the legendary 82nd Airborne, paratroopers often first to be sent into harm's way, where they're taught sacrifice is necessary. Today all this base and a community nearby could do was come together in sadness and resolve."
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by Anti-Abortion Commentary Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer story on the troubles at the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- a story bulging with anti-Couric quotes from anonymous CBSers -- included a revealing window into the news network's intolerant liberal mindset, with the newsroom in "an uproar" after the father of a slain high school student was given roughly 60 seconds to condemn the lack of morality in public schools and said the culture of abortion devalues human life. "'There's a difference between free speech and responsible speech,' an embarrassed correspondent says," according to Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Gail Shister. The revelation of how staffers were revolted by the short conservative comment came deep in the story about CBS's troubles, much of which recounted the clashes between the celebrity Couric and CBS News veterans. But, Shister noted, "for many CBS News staffers, the nadir was a 'Free Speech' segment Oct. 2," following the murders of five Amish schoolchildren. Brian Rorbaugh, the father of a student killed at Columbine High School in 1999, was granted a minute of CBS's airtime to blame the "moral free-fall" of today's society. [This item, by Rich Noyes, was posted Tuesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Here's part of what Rorbaugh said that night: When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting. Since that day, I've tried to answer the question, "Why did this happen?" This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value. We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children. END of Excerpt CBS staffers were apparently infuriated -- even though Rorbaugh's segment was clearly his own personal commentary, and other FreeSpeech segments on CBS featured liberal commentators like the far-left The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel and liberal Illinois Senator Barack Obama or featured liberal points of view, like Bob Schieffer's September 13 editorializing against the Bush administration's "secret prisons" saying the U.S. has adopted "the methods of our enemies." (No "uproar" over that?) See: www.mrc.org Shister revealingly wrote: One of the early casualties was "Free Speech," a segment in which ordinary people as well as celebrities sounded off on various issues. For many CBS News staffers, the nadir was a "Free Speech" segment Oct. 2, the day five Amish schoolgirls were murdered in Lancaster County. The father of a child killed in Colorado's Columbine High School massacre in 1999 blamed the Amish tragedy, in part, on the teaching of evolution in public schools and on abortion. Despite CBS's avowed intention to include all viewpoints in "Free Speech," the segment caused an uproar in the newsroom, according to CBS insiders. "There's a difference between free speech and responsible speech," an embarrassed correspondent says. It was another significant misstep in Couric's uphill climb to legitimacy, a trek that seems to grow steeper by the day. END of Excerpt
For Shister's article in full, "CBS evening blues: Katie Couric hasn't redeemed the No. 3 newscast. Can she survive as anchor?", go to: www.philly.com
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as 'Quirky Solution' Considering that Good Morning America has repeatedly adopted left-wing solutions to environmental issues, it's not surprising that the program acted as a press agent for singer Sheryl Crow on Tuesday's program. (After all, ABC allowed Crow to kick off her global warming tour on GMA.) Anchor Chris Cuomo claimed that Crow's assertion (she called for a limit to the amount of toilet paper Americans can use), was meant as a "comment about the environment." [This item, by Scott Whitlock, was posted Tuesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Reporter Bianna Golodryga alternated between calling the statement, which has been widely mocked in much of the country, a joke and also a "quirky solution." In a brief interview, the ABC correspondent, who mostly covers celebrities, took all of Crow and "eco-activist" Laurie David's comments at face value. After making the requisite joke about toilet paper, Golodryga threw a few softballs to Crow and David as they sat in the "Stop Global Warming" bus:
Bianna Golodryga: "...But tell us how this happened." In closing, Golodryga briefly mentioned Crow and David's verbal sparring with White House advisor Karl Rove at this past weekend's correspondent dinner. With a straight face, the GMA correspondent reported that for the two women, "this is not a political issue at all": Golodryga: "Now, the press also picked up on Crow's run in with Karl Rove at the White House correspondent dinner over the weekend. But, they really wanted to stress that this, for them, is not a political issue at all. So, you know, they took with a grain of salt. They had a good humor about it."
Considering ABC's collusion with David and Crow ("GMA's Champion Promotes Leftist Celebrity's Global Warming Tour," see: www.mrc.org ), it's not surprising that Cuomo, during the transition to the weather, appeared to be offering a wink over the connection between weatherman Sam Champion and the environmentalists: "Well, it is now time for the weather. There will be no segue. I will go right to Sam Champion and leave the topic alone. Sam?" A transcript of the brief segment, which aired on April 24 at 7:31am:
Chris Cuomo: "But first, Sheryl Crow's recent comments about the environment. They took an odd turn, in direction of her bathroom, specifically how much toilet tissue we should all be using. She meant for it to be a comment about the environment. It became something else and ran afoul of some critics and caused even more foul humor. I put that the right way?"
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'Bush Derangement Syndrome' Former CBS News reporter Bernard Goldberg appeared on Tuesday's Today show to promote his new book and in the process took several jabs at wimpy Republicans who don't stand by conservative principles and the "Rosie O'Donnells of the world" who suffer from "Bush Derangement Syndrome." While Goldberg wasn't a 100 percent conservative, he criticized the Iraq war and supports embryonic stem cell research, it was still refreshing to hear a former member of the liberal media criticize liberals on their own airwaves. [This item, by Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Tuesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] First up, NBC's Matt Lauer opened the segment by deriding Goldberg's new employer Fox News as out of the mainstream: "In the world of the media Bernard Goldberg used to bat lefty now he bats righty. He sold millions of books taking swings at liberals in the press. Now a regular on the Fox News Channel, Goldberg used to be a card-carrying member of the mainstream media establishment." Then in the set-up piece before the interview Lauer took another shot when he identified Goldberg, who works with Bryant Gumbel on HBO's Real Sports, as "more than just a right wing talking head."
However the highlight of the interview came when Lauer prompted him to criticize the GOP: "Then you're, were kind of married to the Republican Party and now by your own definition that marriage is on the rocks. Is this a, a long brewing conflict or one fight that got you sleeping on the couch?" The following is the full segment as it occurred on the April 24th Today show: Matt Lauer: "In the world of the media Bernard Goldberg used to bat lefty now he bats righty. He sold millions of books taking swings at liberals in the press. Now a regular on the Fox News channel Goldberg used to be a card-carrying member of the mainstream media establishment." [On screen headline: "Between 2 Parties, Crazies, Wimps and Goldberg"]
Lauer: "He spent almost three decades as a reporter for CBS News winning six Emmy Awards. But these days Bernard Goldberg is better known for his blistering critiques of the news business."
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Blamed for Gun Violence You read it here first. Matching a CyberAlert item, FNC's Brit Hume reported, in his Tuesday "Grapevine" segment, how "ABC devoted nearly two minutes," during Monday's World News to a new ABC News poll on guns, "but never mentioned one of the most interesting results. When asked the primary source of gun violence, 40 percent said popular culture, and 35 percent said the way parents raise their children. Only 18 percent blamed the availability of guns." The April 24 CyberAlert recounted: ABC News polling chief Gary Langer, in a posting buried on ABCNews.com, revealed that a poll taken Sunday discovered that when "asked the primary cause of gun violence, far more Americans blamed the effects of popular culture (40 percent) or the way parents raise their children (35 percent) than the availability of guns (18 percent)." ABC's World News on Monday devoted nearly two minutes to results of ABC's survey, but didn't get to that finding which shows the public does not share the media assumption that gun availability is to blame for the murders at Virginia Tech. Although George Stephanopoulos did point out how "a strong majority of Americans, 52 to 29, prefer enforcing existing laws to passing new laws," anchor Charles Gibson led with a widely-held view, how "a new ABC News poll finds 83 percent of Americans say states should do more to report mentally ill people to the federal gun sales registry." He went how to highlight that "61 percent of the people in this country say they favor stronger gun control laws, although people are split right down the middle as to whether stricter gun control laws would actually curb any kind of violence..."
Hume's first "Grapevine" item on the April 24 Special Report with Brit Hume:
-- Brent Baker ![]()
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