THE WEEKLY SLANT

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Couric Uncomfortable with Patriotism

" … And, you know, the whole culture of wearing flags on your lapel and saying 'we' when you were referring to the United States, which, and, and, you know, even the 'shock and awe' in the initial stages, it was just too jubilant and just a little uncomfortable. And I remember feeling when I was anchoring the Today show this inevitable march toward war and kind of feeling like 'Will anybody put the brakes on this?' and 'Has this been properly challenged by the right people?' …"

-- Katie Couric, in an interview by former CBS newsman Marvin Kalb at the National Press Club that aired September 26 on C-SPAN2; reported by MRC's CyberAlert Friday September 28


A Sampling of Media Bias Highlights
From the Media Research Center

Ignorant Reporting or Deliberate Attempt to Silence Conservative Talk Radio? - 1

A dishonest attempt to discredit and impugn the character of Rush Limbaugh was in full view last week for all to see. Even after Limbaugh clarified remarks he had made on his radio program, MSNBC continued to smear him for something he did not do. Limbaugh used the term "phony soldiers" to refer to one Jesse MacBeth, a cut-and-run defeatist who passed himself off as a veteran Army Ranger but who in fact had never even finished basic training. Ignoring the facts, MSNBC jumped on Limbaugh for insulting the troops. Others in the liberal media followed, also defying the truth. The continuing smear led MRC to point out that such "character assassination" amounted to "nothing short of a deliberate pattern to smear the reputations of conservative media personalities in order to eliminate any voice of opposition."

-- MRC press release, October 1; CyberAlert October 1 and NewsBusters Blog September 28

Ignorant Reporting or Deliberate Attempt to Silence Conservative Talk Radio? - 2

The smearing of Rush Limbaugh by leftists in the media followed hard on the heels of the smearing of Bill O'Reilly by leftists in the media. Do you see a pattern here? O'Reilly had made on-air remarks to black journalist Juan Williams about his pleasure over the harmony that prevailed during a meal at a mostly-black-clientele restaurant in Harlem. Somehow, CNN and MSNBC saw this a possible "Imus moment" for O'Reilly. Soon, CBS's Early Show picked up the story with "In Hot Water" and "O'Race Factor" on screen. Then an MSNBC on-screen graphic abandoned all subtlety and flat-out accused O'Reilly of racism. It read: "Anchor's Racist Comments." Amazingly, none of these shows bothered to mention that Juan Williams himself, the black journalist who was with O'Reilly when he made the remarks, defended O'Reilly: "It had nothing to do with racist ranting by anybody except these idiots at CNN." MRC's CyberAlert has documented that behind bo th the Limbaugh smear and the O'Reilly smear was the leftwing, Clinton-allied group, Media Matters.

-- MRC CyberAlert Sept. 27, Oct. 1-3.

We are Not Making This Stuff Up, People

On Thursday's Good Morning America, ABC host George Stephanopoulos provided another example of the media carrying the Clinton camp's water. After playing a debate clip of the New York Senator publicly disagreeing with her husband over a question about torture, Stephanopoulos revealed to co-host Robin Roberts: "My e-mail started going off the minute after that exchange happened. All the Clinton people." Stephanopoulos, a former top aide to Bill Clinton, explained that Mrs. Clinton's operatives "were thrilled" with the retort and "they like any moment where she can show that, actually, she's the one in charge. He's not pulling the strings." In other words, the Clinton camp e-mailed the ABC anchor, told him the debate moment they most appreciated and Stephanopoulos dutifully highlighted it the next day on Good Morning America.

-- MRC's CyberAlert, Friday, September 28