| ||||||||||||||
MEDIA CRITICISM & ACTION ALERT:Fear and Favor at the PBS NewsHour
According to a report by Cynthia Cotts in the Village Voice newspaper (3/17/04), Lehrer objected to comments Parenti made in response to a question about whether bombings in Iraq would "make the American job harder on the ground in Iraq": PARENTI: I would think so. I would think that we have to look at some of the deeper causes as to why there's so much frustration. Why are Iraqis so angry and willing to point the blame at the US after this sort of bombing? A lot of it has to do with the failure of meaningful reconstruction. There still is not adequate electricity. In many towns like Ramadi there wasn't adequate water. Where is all the money that's going to Halliburton and Bechtel to rebuild this country? Where is it ending up? I think that is one of the most important fundamental causes of instability, is the corruption around the contracting with these Bush-connected firms in Iraq. Unless that is dealt with, there is going to be much more instability for times to come in Iraq.Two nights later (3/4/04), Lehrer made an unusual on-air announcement: "An editor's note before we go, for those who were watching two nights ago: A discussion about Iraq ended up not being as balanced as is our standard practice. While unintentional, it was our mistake, and we regret it." According to the Voice report, producers for the show suggest that Parenti's mistake was referring to the Halliburton contracts. The Voice quoted NewsHour senior producer Michael Mosettig saying: "This was not reportage, this was giving his opinion, and that's not why we brought him on." Mossetig's deputy, Dan Sagalyn, told the Voice that Parenti's comments lacked "balance." The remarks seem to have gotten Parenti virtually blacklisted from the show. "I would have liked to have him on again... but because of this it would be very hard," Sagalyn told Cotts. "When you have a loose-cannon experience with somebody, you're going to be wary," Mossetig said. It would be understandable for the NewsHour to be concerned with the accuracy of comments made by any guest; that would be responsible journalism. But the show is not claiming Parenti said anything inaccurate. Instead, the show seems to be saying that journalists shouldn't give opinions on the show. Lehrer has declared that one of his principles of journalism (1997 Catto Report on Journalism and Society) is to "carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight news stories and clearly label them as such." But that's not been a consistent policy. New York Times reporter John Burns, for example, often shares opinions on the NewsHour while being interviewed about his reportage. On the November 17, 2003 broadcast, for example, Burns suggested that he felt "profoundly dispirited and disappointed" by the situation in Iraq six months after U.S. troops pulled down Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad. Burns recommended a renewed commitment to the occupation: "It's going to take stout hearts on the part of the people of the United States, and the government of the United States, to see this through." Those are certainly opinions, and the NewsHour audience is entitled to hear them. What the NewsHour seems to be arguing is that it just didn't care for Parenti's opinions--specifically, that official corruption might be to blame for some of the problems the occupation is facing. Far more important than regulating journalists who cross such arbitrary lines, though, is challenging official sources who misstate the facts. The NewsHour, unfortunately, does not always exhibit a keen interest in correcting misinformation from Bush administration officials.
In September 2002 (9/20/02), Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed in an interview with Lehrer that Iraq "threw the [U.N.] inspectors out" in 1998, and that in 1990 Iraq had plans for "invading Saudi Arabia, which they were ready to do." Both assertions are false, and neither was challenged by Lehrer. Despite the fact that hundreds of FAIR activists wrote to the NewsHour to point out Rumsfeld's distortions (see FAIR action alert, 9/20/02), Lehrer made no attempt to correct the record. FAIR suggests that the public take action by writing to the NewsHour and "ask them to explain why Jim Lehrer apologized for airing the opinions of Christian Parenti when other journalists are routinely allowed to offer their opinions on the NewsHour. Ask them why Parenti's analysis merited an on-air apology, while Rumsfeld's distortions were not challenged or corrected." Send email messages to: mailto:newshour@pbs.org
For more information about FAIR, go to: fair.org Copyright © 2004 The Baltimore Chronicle.
All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. This story was published on March 18, 2004. |
Local News & Opinion
07.03 Notice for Extension of Unemployment Insurance Benefits Travel
07.02 A Cost-Saving Way to Travel: Rent a House Books, Arts & Education
Letters
Ref. : Letters to the editor Open Letters:
06.30 An Open Letter to Barack Obama Health & Environment
Media Watching
07.17 Corporate Media Blackouts Continue as Iran War Looms and Impeachment Moves Ahead 07.17 The Pentagon and the Hunt for Black Gold 07.16 Washington Post's McCain-Friendly Poll 07.15 You Can’t Tell a Magazine by Its Cover Or A Candidate by His Rhetoric 07.09 The Forgotten: Somalia's American-Made Road to Perdition 07.03 Press distorts Clark’s comments 06.30 Iran-Contra's 'Lost Chapter' 06.27 Robert McChesney's The Political Economy of Media (Part II) 06.25 Robert McChesney's The Political Economy of Media (Part I) 06.20 Remembering Russert US Politics, Policy & Culture
07.18 Making Americans Unsafe 07.18 I Was a Victim of the Government’s Absurd and Over-Hyped War on Terror 07.15 Thinking About Safety 07.15 The High Cost of Bush's Iraq Gambit 07.11 McCain's Nomination - A Possible September Surprise? 07.07 Is Barack Obama Patriotic? Is Any Politician? 07.07 Obama's FISA Statement is a Mess (Just like his Stand on Faith-based Programs) 07.07 Campaign Notes: Of Flip-Flops and Fly-Bys 07.07 Supreme Court, Inc.: Supremely Pro-Business 07.03 The Real Meaning of the Fourth of July 07.03 Three Amigos: Bush, McCain, Obama Draw a Blood-Red Line on Iran 07.02 Rep. Ron Paul Assails Congress's "Virtual Iran War Resolution 07.02 How Ignorant Are We? 06.28 Primary Season Over, Barack Channels Hillary 06.27 Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Bill to Fund Iraq War Until Mid-2009 06.27 Defending the President as Tyrant 06.25 Critical Malfunction: Misreading Gore Vidal 06.23 Campaign Finance Reform Has Failed 06.23 Thinking About Flip-Flops 06.23 Heat Waves: Burning Off the Fog of the FISA Fiasco 06.23 Alarm over 'Unfair' Campaign Money 06.23 The Supreme Court, Habeas, John Yoo and Murdoch's Wall Street Journal 06.20 Keeping America Safe from Child "Terrorists" 06.20 SuperCorridor Defeat? Don't Bet On It US High Crimes & Misdemeanors
07.19 'Justifying' Torture: Two Big Lies 07.18 Torture As Official US Policy 07.16 Bush Asserts Exec Privilege; Blocks DOJ From Releasing CIA Leak Documents 07.16 Impeachment Hearings: A Win is a Win 07.15 Torture for the Torturers 07.14 Imperial Wizards: The Nangarhar Massacre and U.S. Plans for Central Asia 07.12 Kucinich Pushes on Impeachment 07.11 Disorderly Conduct: Subverting the Bipartisan Paradigm on Iraq 07.10 Mukasey: Bush's New 'Mr. Cover-up' 07.09 Legitimizing Permanent Occupation of Iraq 07.08 Buchanan, MacDonogh, Pilger Books Explode Illusion Of American Exceptionalism 07.07 Bush-Cheney Crony Got Iraq Oil Deal 07.07 Keeping Count (When Ours Goes Down, Theirs Goes Up) 07.02 Iraq Oil Deals Fulfill Cheney's Goals 07.02 Bush's 'Wonderland' Logic 06.30 Operation Horse's Head: U.S. Raid Sends Message on Iraq "Agreement" 06.30 Invisible Hand: Washington Role in Iraq Oil Deal Revealed 06.27 It Was Oil, All Along 06.27 Big Dog, Little Tail: The American Elite Resolves on War With Iran 06.26 A Totally Lawless Regime 06.23 Top Dems Hand Bush Key Victories 06.23 Democrats Legalize Bush's Crimes 06.20 Torturegate: Truth, But No Consequences 06.20 Bomb Iran? What's to Stop Us? Economics & Business
07.11 Running on Empty 07.10 A Work Force Betrayed 07.08 Paul Krugman and Blindness About the War and the Economy 07.07 Thinking About Turnarounds 06.30 Thinking about Dependence 06.26 Health-Care Crisis Endangers Economy International
07.17 Renunciation and Escalation: Conflicting Tides in the Terror War 07.16 Maliki's 'Timetable' Shakes Iraq Debate 07.16 Drought and Israeli Policy Threaten West Bank Water Security 07.14 Enabling Tyranny—Brigitte Bardot And Other Victims 07.14 Duce Bags: Italy Leads Fascist Revanche in Western Democracies We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
|
| ||||||||||||