Heads Up from the East Coast: Compare Jennings to Rather tonight re: 9/11

[Stephanie]

Quite a difference in the coverage of the Kean commission deadline extension.

I was flipping channels and was able to catch both Rather and Jennings (did not bother with Brokaw), but I didn't take notes so I'd appreciate a more accurate report.

Rather showed Bob Kerrey's statement, he had a quick sound bite from a 9/11 widow complaining about the Bush admin non-cooperation. Rather showed both sides of the issue.

Jennings showed no clips. He announced that the deadline was extended, that the Bush admin had asked for the extension and Hastert had agreed. That the republicans were concerned about the report coming out to close to the conventions.

There was a stark contrast in the coverage, IMO. I'd appreciate second opinions on this. From now on, I'll watch Rather.

[alexwcovington]

1. Dunno what's going on with Jennings

I think ABC is losing its bite, especially since Disney higherups took command. Plus Jennings has had to play defense since the rightwingers keep calling him a Canadian every time he ventures into left field.

He's naturalized now, though...

[Warpy]

2. yes, you've hit the nail on the head

The parent megacorporation has obviously started to take a more active interest in micromanaging the news.

CBS News is still its own department. Although I doubt Vicacom will stay out of it for much longer, Rather has remained more at liberty to report on some stories.

I hope you notice that when the other two networks have led with stories against smoking in the past, ABC has rarely if ever mentioned them. Censorship shows.

CBS will remain "sensitive" to their sponsors, especially those owned by its parent company, and never report on the increasing monopoly of the mass media. A few stories still squeak through, though, to make it almost worth watching.

[Stephanie]

3. If you're going to compare, Rather's story comes first

And Jennings covers it right after Rather does.

[morningglory]

4. Rather also had on a piece about the Noah's ark flood,

single day theory that the Grand Canyon was scoured out in a single day and is 10,000 years old. Book in their gift shop. Holy cow, if I were a school teacher, I would get a kid to bring a Grand Canyon rock and spend the whole dang day spraying it with a high powered water hose and then weigh it afterward and see if more than 3 ions had eroded away. There must be a simple experiment one could do... Then Rather said something about this the kind of junk(not sic)the Bush white house is foisting off on us. Edit to put very liberally paraphrased wording in the last sentence.