MEDIA
Right-Wing Blowhards Target CBS
With CBS' mea culpa this week about documents surrounding President Bush's National Guard service, the usual right-wing hacks are out in force. Artfully employing dishonesty, innuendo and contradictory double standards, conservatives are huffing and puffing about how the whole episode exposes a vast left-wing conspiracy. But a look at the record paints a much different picture. First, CBS News had the decency to apologize and take responsibility for its mistake. That contrasts with Fox News, which has never once even acknowledged its repeated and aggressive violations of journalistic ethics on behalf of the Republican Party. Second, the very same conservatives who claim to be so concerned with forged documents being inadvertently used in a newscast have been silent for the last year, even as evidence emerged that President Bush recklessly cited forged documents the White House knew to be suspect in his 2003 State of the Union speech. And perhaps most importantly, none of the major media have explained why they continue to give credence to unsubstantiated allegations made against Sen. John Kerry by the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
FOX NEWS AND BUSH TEAM'S LONG HISTORY OF COORDINATION: Leading the charge in attacking CBS has been Fox News – a network owned by one of the most powerful right-wing moguls on planet earth (Rupert Murdoch) and run by a top GOP political operative (Roger Ailes). And as a new American Progress backgrounder shows, Fox is hurling stones at CBS from a very fragile glass house. Fox "reporters", for instance, are echoing the White House's bloviations about the impropriety of a CBS producer calling the Kerry campaign. They claim it is proof the network improperly "coordinated" with the campaign. Yet, Fox made no apologies when revelations surfaced that Roger Ailes sent a secret memo to President Bush after 9/11 giving him political advice about how to consolidate GOP power. There was also no contrition when news reports revealed that Fox News allowed George W. Bush's cousin John Ellis to lead up the network's projections unit in 2000. Despite data showing the Florida election totals were inconclusive, the Bush cousin made sure Fox was the first network to call the election for Bush – with most of the other networks following Fox's lead. According to AP, Ellis was conferring with George W. and Jeb Bush the entire election night. And Fox News still employs correspondent Carl Cameron as its top political reporter, even though he was caught on film discussing with George W. Bush how his wife was having such a good time working on the Bush campaign.
GOP CALLS FOR CBS INVESTIGATION; WHERE ARE OTHER PROBES?: The San Francisco Chronicle reports House Republicans, led by Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), are demanding a congressional investigation into CBS. In calling for the probe, Cox criticized the network for "declin[ing] to reveal its source 'despite the growing abundance of evidence that CBS News has aided and abetted fraud.'" Yet, Cox and other Republicans have not demanded a congressional investigation into columnist Robert Novak, who is declining to reveal his administration sources that leaked the name of a covert CIA operative. The GOP has also refused to investigate who forged the Iraq-uranium documents. See all of the other investigations Congress is refusing.
ROGER STONE-WALLED: The New York Post reports that "the hot rumor in New York political circles has Roger Stone, the longtime GOP activist, as the source for Dan Rather's dubious Texas Air National Guard 'memos.'" Stone is the same man who was associated with "political dirty tricks" under President Richard Nixon, and who played a pivotal role in the Republicans' shenanigans in Florida during the 2000 election. Reached at his Florida home and asked about his connection to the CBS controversy, Stone refused to comment.
American Progress Action Fund <progress@americanprogressaction.org>
