Media Matters. org Info Week ending Sept 3, 2004

[Only Me]

Week Ending Sept 3, 2004
MediaMatter.org
http://mediamatters.org/items/200409030013

The video CNN won't show you: Media ignores Ben Barnes, while lavishing attention on Swift Boat liars
While CNN and other media outlets continue to give invaluable free coverage to the discredited liars attacking Senator John Kerry's Vietnam record, they continue to ignore President George W. Bush's own Vietnam-era record.

On August 25, a Media Matters for America analysis found that in 2004, Bush's Alabama National Guard record (or lack thereof) had come up in only 752 news reports available on Nexis. By comparison, 1,924 reports discussed Kerry and swift boat veterans.

The disparity in coverage has only grown: From January 1, 2004, to September 3, 2004, 4,199 reports have mentioned Kerry and swift boat veterans; only 803 reports have mentioned Bush and the Alabama National Guard.

This growing disparity in coverage comes despite the fact that, last week, a video surfaced showing former Texas Speaker of the House Ben Barnes admitting he got Bush into the National Guard. The Barnes video was virtually ignored by the broadcast media; according to a search of the LexisNexis database, from the time the video surfaced a week ago through September 2, CNN had mentioned Barnes six times but only once aired a few seconds of the video. CBS had mentioned Barnes three times; FOX had mentioned him only once; and ABC, CNBC, MSNBC, and NBC had all completely ignored him. A search of the LexisNexis "All News" directory for Ben Barnes and Bush yields only 65 hits for the period August 27 to September 2 -- less than one-tenth the hits for Kerry and the swift boat vets during the same period.

As Paul Waldman, editor-in-chief of the online magazine The Gadflyer and co-author of The Press Effect: Politicians, Journalists, and the Stories That Shape the Political World, noted:

Speaking of George W.'s lost years, this Sunday Ben Barnes -- the man who, as Speaker of the Texas House, got George leapfrogged over 500 less fortunate young men to obtain a spot in the "Champagne Unit" of the Texas Air Guard -- will at long last be telling his story on 60 Minutes. Let's see if Barnes' story -- which no one has offered a factual refutation of -- gets one-tenth the coverage given to the fabrications of the Swift Boat Veterans for Bush.

(There have been conflicting reports about when the 60 Minutes interview will air; CBS has not made an announcement.)

The other video CNN won't show you: Cable network airs ads that falsely attack Kerry but rejects truthful ad critical of Republicans

CNN is refusing to air an ad produced by Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay Republicans. The Log Cabin ad, described by writer Joshua Micah Marshall as a plea for an "an inclusive, rather than an intolerant Republican party," was rejected by CNN for being "too controversial" -- presumably because it accurately depicts right-wing gay-basher Fred Phelps, carrying his trademark placards emblazoned with the words "GOD HATES FAGS."

But while CNN rejects ads critical of Republicans as "too controversial," the network airs false attack ads lying about John Kerry's Vietnam record -- and gives them near-constant free airtime. Vicious lies and distortions about John Kerry are apparently acceptable to CNN, but truthful criticism of Republicans is "too controversial."