Is this normal or acceptable in the journalistic world? http://www.drudgereport.com/mh.htm ABCNEWS POLITICAL DIRECTOR MEMO SPARKS CONTROVERSY: BOTH SIDES NOT 'EQUALLY ACCOUNTABLE' **Exclusive** An internal memo written by ABCNEWS Political Director Mark Halperin admonishes ABC staff: During coverage of Democrat Kerry and Republican Bush not to "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable." The controversial internal memo obtained by DRUDGE, captures Halperin stating how "Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win." But Halperin claims that Bush is hoping to "win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions." "The current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done," Halperin writes. Halperin's claim that ABCNEWS will not "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable" set off sparks in St. Louis where media players gathered to cover the second presidential debate. Halperin states the responsibilities of the ABCNEWS staff have "become quite grave." In August, Halperin declared online: "This is now John Kerry's contest to lose." x x x x x Halperin Memo Dated Friday October 8, 2004 It goes without saying that the stakes are getting very high for the country and the campaigns - and our responsibilities become quite grave I do not want to set off (sp?) and endless colloquy that none of us have time for today - nor do I want to stifle one. Please respond if you feel you can advance the discussion. The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done. Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win. We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that. I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage. This is all part of their efforts to get away with as much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions. It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest. Now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right.
That is devastating to ABC News journalistic integrity, just like the whole CBS Rathergate. Strike 2 for the liberal news media trying to advance the Forbes Kerry cause, without suffering the consequences of their left leaning actions...
Where was this left leaning media in the build up to the Iraq War? Conspicuously acting like a right leaning media.
They were listening to John Kerry, John Edwards, Joe Lieberman & the other liberal candidates who voted for the war. (Before some of them voted against it).
no they weren't...all you heard about before the war were the "massive protests" and how this was going to be a quagmire
No, they weren't doing their job. I don't have a link handy, but I believe the New York Times said as much in an editorial. Keep D&D Civil!!
This will end up being a non-story because Fox is the only station really covering it. And they are already speaking to an audience, who for the most part, believes the big 3 are biased to the left.
I was actually watching Fox News discussing this memo. Most of the reporters on Fox news were saying this wasn't a big deal. The memo does bring up a valid point. Bush's ads almost all rely on distortions and things that aren't true about Kerry. 1. Kerry flip flopped on Iraq - false 2. Kerry's votes agaomst the 87 billion dollars show he doesn't want to support our troops - false 3. Kerry voted to cut intelligence funding - false Kerry has distortions, but they aren't what he's basing his entire campaign at least in his ads. 1. The numbers Kerry uses aout job loss are from 2003. It's true Bush has a net loss of jobs, but not as bad as the 2003 numbers. 2. The amount of money that Edwards says Iraq has cost, is how much has been requested, it's not all been spent yet. But the Bush whitehouse has asked for that amount of money. The memo points out that the Bush side shows ad after ad with these distortions in it and the media either ignores it, or runs with the story as if it's true. Halprin wants to put an end to that. A liberal media wouldn't allow the false accusations the Bush camp is basing its campaign on to continue for so long. It's been very recently that some papers have printing the sory of Kerry's position on Iraq not changing since day one, and providing the evidence to back it up.
And here is the crux of the memo : Both sides do it, but one side not only does a great deal more than the other, that side has actually made it a campaign centerpiece - so to treat a singular distortion by Kerry the same as a distortion by Bush that falls into a consistent pattern and design really doesn't make sense.
How many times has Kerry said, "Mr. President, you're not telling the American people the truth..." Is that nothing but an opinion couched in absolute language? Is that not a grand distortion?
This is wrong. Period. It's wrong. You present them equally. It's up to the campaigns to get things right and to defend themselves. If they're unable to do so, then they have failed. Both sides are using misinformation. Bush is using it more- so that justifies the media balancing it out? I don't think I can agree to that. Keep doing the fact checking and hold them both accountable for lying/misleading. Let the readers judge for themselves- it's the American way.
I think we've seen already that the President wasn't telling the American people the truth. When he made the claim that Kerry voted to cut intel funding by billions of dollars he wasn't telling the American people the truth. When Bush calimed that Iraq was 6 months from a nuke, based on a IAEA report he read, and there was no IAEA report that said that, he wasn't telling the American the truth. That is in no way a grand distortion. I think that the distortions Kerry has said should be covered, but the coverage ought to be equal to the zeal the each side puts into the distortions. If one side bases it's campaign primarily on distortions, then the news about that campaign ought to be primarily about exposing those distortions. If one side distorts the facts occasionally then the news ought to expose those distortions occasionally.
Really. From 2000-2002, Viacom gave 81% of its 3.1 million dollars of political contributions to Democrats.
Deckard, you know I hold you and your opinions in high regard, but, come now. Who can believe anything written in the New York Times?
Fair enough. The bottom line - the top 25 media corps gave 26.7 mil dollars from 1999-2002* and 59% went to Dems. Link -> http://www.capitaleye.org/mediacontribs.6.2.03.asp *My previous post said 2000-2002, so I was off by a year.
LOL! Will they ever get over the damage done to their reputation by that silly man? (I forget his name... it was a man, wasn't it?) Seriously, this reminds me of the damage done to the BBC by their coverage of Blair and the gentleman who took his life... the top people at the BBC ended up resigning, and it did have an affect on their coverage, imo. Whether that affect is good or bad, putting aside the scandal in the UK, is left up the the reader/listener, but it did have an affect. I think ABC's Halperin, and I'm assuming this story is true, really went round the bend. We all know the news is affected by those reporting it, but don't put it on a damn memo! Not in today's world. Everything comes to light sooner or later. Whether or not people pay attention is another "story." Whether or not to believe "Drudge" is yet another story altogether. Keep D&D Civil!!
