From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Newsgroups: alt.activism,alt.politics.elections,alt.news-media
Subject: FAIR's Campaign "CounterSpin" #15
Date: 16 Oct 92 03:24:33 GMT
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu

Topic 245       COUNTERSPIN #15 
fair    media.issues    11:48 am  Oct 15, 1992 
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From: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting <fair> 
Subject: COUNTERSPIN #15 

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-------------------------- COUNTERSPIN ------------------------ 
  
-------------A Memo on Campaign Coverage From FAIR------------- 
   
--------------130 W. 25th St., New York, NY 10001--------------  
  
-Phone: 212-633-6700 | Fax: 212-727-7668 | Email: fair@igc.org-  
  
No. 15: October 15, 1992 
  
INTIMIDATION FACTOR: Nothing more clearly shows the impact of the 
Bush campaign's efforts to intimidate journalists than the timid 
response of much of the media to Dan Quayle's daring them to check 
his facts.  
  
When Quayle treated "telling the truth" as the central issue in the 
campaign, and responded to factual disagreements by saying that he 
would provide the real facts to the press "if they're interested," 
one expects that journalists would do voters the favor of telling 
them who, if anyone, was telling the truth. 
  
Instead, the media mostly waffled.  Dan Quayle got mostly positive 
reviews for a performance that included several extreme 
distortions--some of which had already been debunked in the press.  
Even when reporters did take Quayle up on his taunts and look up 
the record, the results were usually on back pages, and abounded in 
euphemisms. 
  
ELEMENTS OF TRUTH: Perhaps the wildest charge was that Gore's book 
proposed that "the taxpayers of America spend $100 billion a year 
on environmental projects in foreign countries." As the New York 
Times pointed out the next day (10/14), what Gore said was that "an 
effort comparable to the Marshall Plan...would mean the expenditure 
of $100 billion a year.  Mr. Gore notes in the book that such 
levels of spending would be impossible given the country's economic 
distress and calls on the other industrialized countries to 
contribute."  So far, so good.  
  
But the New York Times, apparently afraid of seeming to say that 
the vice president was making up facts, included in its description 
of the exchange over Gore's book this inexplicable disclaimer: 
"There are elements of truth in the statements of both men." To 
drive home the point, the passage that dealt with the question of 
whether Gore advocated a $100 billion U.S. program--he hadn't, and 
Quayle said he had--was labeled "Truth on Both Sides." (The review- 
of-the-facts article had no byline, which sometimes indicates that 
a reporter was unhappy with an edit.) 
  
Another falsehood told by Quayle was the claim that 300,000 jobs 
would be lost if auto mileage standards were raised.  As Michael 
Kinsley pointed out in the New Republic (9/28), this figure 
"assumes that anyone now involved in making cars that get less than 
40 mpg will be unemployed ten years from now.  That is, it assumes 
that neither customers nor manufacturers will make the slightest 
effort to buy or manufacture more domestic cars meeting the higher 
standard."  When translated into the more polite language of the 
Washington Post by Michael Weisskopf (10/14), this became "Quayle's 
projection of job losses is subject to debate."  
  
ON THE BASIS OF FACTS: As usual, CNN's Brooks Jackson was 
forthright in his attempts to set the record straight.  He reported 
(10/13) that "judging it just on the basis of facts, Dan Quayle is 
the big loser here tonight."  Jackson also did a service by 
pointing out some Gore distortions, like the fact that welfare 
rolls in Arkansas have increased under Clinton, despite the half- 
truth that 17,000 individuals had gone off welfare. 
  
ABC's Jim Wooten also scrutinized the truthfulness of both Quayle 
and Gore the next day (10/14)--but neither the CBS or NBC newscasts 
made any attempt to do so, instead promoting the proposition that 
Quayle's mendacious performance had made Clinton's truthfulness the 
question of the day. 
  
CROSS PURPOSES: George Will faced criticism when it was revealed 
that he coached Reagan for the 1980 presidential debates and then 
went on to praise his "thoroughbred performance" on Nightline-- 
critics called him a "lapdog" and a "political shill."  Yet there 
have been few complaints that John Sununu is doing the same thing 
in 1992 that Will did in 1980.  Sununu is coaching Bush, playing 
the role of Ross Perot in mock debates, while continuing to co-host 
Crossfire episodes that evaluate the real ones. 
  
"We've invited spin doctors from all three campaigns," Sununu said 
on the Oct. 12 Crossfire--failing to include himself, or even 
acknowledge that he played any role in the debates other than 
observer.  His questions about Clinton were straight out of the 
Bush campaign playbook: "Is he ever going to expose himself to the 
detailed questions on trust?"  "Gov. Clinton is talking about 
increased spending, but he's hiding it behind his investment term." 
  
"Last night Bill Clinton again claimed he's only going to tax folks 
making $200,000 or more to raise $154 billion. All the analysis 
shows that only raises one third of it." 
  
Bush, on the other hand, was accused of "not arguing forcefully for 
what he's accomplished."  In his wrap-up, Sununu predicted that "I 
think you're going to see a tougher George Bush in the next two 
debates, and I think it's going to be good entertainment and good 
policy." In other words, maybe next time he'll pay more attention 
to my coaching. 
  
When CNN hired Sununu as a replacement for Buchanan, FAIR was 
concerned that conflict-of-interest problems would arise.  But we 
were assured by Crossfire executive Rick Davis, "When the 
topic could be seen as a conflict of interest, we'll put a 
substitute host on."  Crossfire has failed to follow that standard 
-- or even to disclose Sununu's coaching role when the subject is 
discussed. 
  
REVISED DRAFT OF HISTORY: When it comes time to do the 
retrospectives on how the media covered the campaign, journalists 
should refer to Eric Alterman's "Sound and Fury," which ends with 
a chapter on how the punditocracy began choosing Bill Clinton as 
the Democratic frontrunner as early as September 1991--largely on 
the basis of his hawkish military views.  
  
Counterspin is written by Jim Naureckas and edited by Jeff Cohen.