NBC's Gregory to Sanford's Office: "Meet The Press Allows You To Frame The Conversation ..."

[mod mom]

NBC's Gregory to Sanford's Office: "Meet The Press Allows You To Frame The Conversation As You Really Want"
By Zachary Roth - July 17, 2009, 2:29PM
The Charleston Post and Courier has posted online (pdf) all 570 pages of emails obtained from the office of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

There's a bevy of information in there, but one exchange that jumped out at us was the one between Sanford's press secretary, Joel Sawyer (who just today announced he's quitting -- good for him!) and David Gregory, the host of NBC's Meet the Press. In courting Sanford's office, Gregory wrote that "coming on Meet The Press allows you to frame the conversation as you really want to."
All the networks aggressively wooed Sanford's office in the period during and just after his disappearance, in an effort to convince that their show offered the perfect forum for him to address the controversy. CNN's John King told Sawyer he had always appreciated Sanford's "kindness, candor, and hospitality," and added, in a transparent attempt to bond, "I'm all for anonymous escapes myself." George Stephanopoulos offered his show, ABC's This Week, as a "civil forum to address this week's events." And producers for CBS's Face the Nation, ABC's Good Morning America, several Fox shows, and many others gave Sanford's office the hard sell too.

But the emails of Gregory -- who in the past has been known as a pretty aggressive questioner -- make particularly clear just what a get Sanford was seen as, and how far the networks were willing to go in promising a safe landing place for the governor.

Gregory's first email to Sawyer was sent at 12:24 p.m. on Wednesday June 24 -- that is, after Sanford had admitted to The State that he had actually been in Argentina, but before the famed stream-of-consciousness press conference where he admitted to an affair. Gregory wrote:

Hey Joel ...
Left you a message. Wanted you to hear directly from me that I want to have the Gov on Sunday on Meet The Press. I think it's exactly the right forum to answer the questions about his trip as well as giving him a platform to discuss the economy/stimulus and the future of the party. You know he will get a fair shake from me and coming on MTP puts all of this to rest.

Let's talk when you can.

-snip

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/nbcs_gregory_to_sanfords_office_meet_the_press_all.php?ref=fpb

HOW SAD THAT ON THE DAY WE MOURN THE LOSS OF WALTER CRONKITE, WE ARE REMINDED OF THE DISMAL STATE OF JOURNALISM BY DAVID "dances with rove" GREGORY'S LACK OF JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY.

[FrenchieCat]

1. Which is why I don't watch that show....Meet the MediaWhore, David Grogory.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

44. Unfortunately it isn't just MTP that does this kind of thing n/t

[Joe Bacon]

49. Gregory has made it "MEET THE PRESSTITUTE"!

Such a shame, Lawrence Spivak and Bill Monroe spin in their graves over how Meet The Press became Meet The Presstitute.

[Thrill]

2. Gregory is a disgrace to MTP

Thats why the ratings continue to stink.

[jgraz]

37. Really? Looks like he's just continuing their fine tradition of journalistic prostitution

Which is probably why he was chosen for the spot.

[DireStrike]

45. Same thing russert did. -nt-

[Cha]

3. How in the world are we able to

read david gregory's emails to sanford's press sec?!! It's amazing! gregory thought that would be private between them, right?

jake tapper just made a mea culpa a few days ago about acting like an asshole trying to get the sanford interview.

Any Dem's getting emails that they can "frame" the fucking interview on press the repuke meat?

[spanone]

4. what i expected....

[mod mom]

5. link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln5RD9BhcCo

if you have the stomach!

[upi402]

6. TV news swing on the meat

Not really a surprise by now.
It's all MSNBC for me now, all the time.
Go KO!

[spanone]

10. how ironic to read this on the day we're reminded of Walter Cronkite. an honest to god journalist.

[Birthmark]

7. Definition

"David Gregory
- n.

1. another name for 'tool'
2. that tool on Meet the Press
3. very tall asshat

[Missy Vixen]

8. Congratulations, David Gregory

You've just offered a tongue bath instead of a "fair shake". It's too bad you're more interested in the "get" than you are in the facts.

I am glad that hopefully, Walter Cronkite never saw this.

What a travesty.

[Orsino]

27. I don't know how much money Sanford spent on his mistress...

...but he shouldn't turn down Gregory, who's giving it away for free.

[Oceansaway]

9. i cant watch MTP anymore, at least Tim

was tolerable....DG is a shill and a piss poor journalist...

[misanthrope]

19. Yeah, especially the way Russert enabled Cheney's dissembling in a march to war**nm

**

[depakid]

25. Russert was in some respects MUCH worse

I surely didn't mourn his passing.

[Blue For You]

11. I think the media needs to take a hike on the ol' Appalachian Trail,

and not come back. Pathetic.

[Spazito]

12. Despicable but not at all surprising ....

Journalistic integrity is an anachronism now, only to be remembered in phrases like "I remember when...." by those who were fortunate enough to have watched and listened to the likes of Mr. Cronkite and Mr. Murrow.

[tblue37]

13. I am reminded of the testimony in the Scooter Libby trial, about how the administration

saw Meet the Press as an ideal venue for "catapulting their propaganda."

Timmeh was just as bad, BTW. We just never got to see his suck-up emails.

[Old and In the Way]

14. David Gregory reflects all that is wrong with our broadcast news media

I'll drop my drawers if you give me the scoop. Hard to tell who the prostitutes are these days....

[izquierdista]

16. David Gannon, Jeff Gregory

They're all the same.

[BunkerHill24]

15. Pathetic

Kick & Recommend this....let everyone see a true American journalism at work.

k&R

[Canuckistanian]

17. Yes. That's what people want. More framing.

Especially from philandering GOP leaders who criticized Bill Clinton for his infidelities.

[misanthrope]

18. That's the Russert legacy**nm

**

[Cali_Democrat]

20. Journalism is a JOKE in the USA. n/t

[depakid]

24. And many if not most Americans don't even know it

because they either don't remember when it wasn't like this- or have never spent enough time abroad to realize that it's not so disgraceful in other western nations.

Bottom line is that folks watching these shows end up misinformed- even if they think they're immune from the propaganda and the framing.

[davidpdx]

21. Gregory needs to stick his head in the toilet and flush it....

over and over again. It's the only way he can redeem himself.

[SpiralHawk]

22. Gregory proves once again that he's a corporate Republicon toady

what a piss poor excuse for a journalist

[jasi2006]

23. Anyone who couldn't see throuogh Gregory long ago is a fool.

He appeared to be aggressive until you listened to what he said and how he said it. He always re-framed a question to favor his conservative guests positions and did the opposite for anyone who smacked of a liberal view. You folks just weren't listening. I stoppped watching MTP because of him.

[mod mom]

26. TPM Muck uncovers MORE COMPLICITY from Media lackies: (READ THIS!)

Morning Joe Producer Offered "Friendly Place" For Sanford To Tell Story
By Zachary Roth - July 17, 2009, 5:23PM
We've made it through all 570 pages of those emails sent from and to Mark Sanford's office in the period just before, during, and after his disappearance.

Earlier we highlighted how big name TV journalists like David Gregory, George Stephanopoulos, and John King aggressively wooed the South Carolina governor's press secretary in an effort to get the governor to come on their shows. But here are a few of the other interesting finds -- mostly press related -- from our search:

• Ann Edelberg, a producer at MSNBC, wrote to Sanford press secretary Joel Sawyer to say: "Of course the Gov has an open invite to a friendly place here at MJ, if he would like to speak out." MJ refers to Morning Joe, the MSNBC show hosted by former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough, and also frequently featuring hardcore right-winger Pat Buchanan.

• Politico's Jonathan Martin, after making a few inquiries to Sawyer, wrote sycophantically: "Jakie causing you guys problem?" That's a reference to state Sen. Jake Knotts, who had first raised questions about the governor's whereabouts.

• A woman named Jessica Gibadlo -- this seems like her -- wrote in an email to Sawyer that MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer was suggesting Sanford could come on her network to spin the story favorably. Wrote Gibadlo:
As you know I'm close to Contessa who has been in my ear on this. She said that the tone in the news room is that Mark could spin this favorably if he talks it up as the outdoors man in the woods etc. For all we know he's contemplating the last year of his term and thinking through his priorities before he goes on his family vacation.

-snip

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/morning_joe_producer_offered_friendly_place_for_sa.php?ref=fpb

[City Lights]

32. Thanks for that additional information.

Mourning Joe, Contessa Brewer and Politico. Three more confirmation of what I basically already knew.

msnbc gets worse by the day, IMHO. Without Ed, Keith, and Rachel, they'd be completely unwatchable.

Fuck the corporate media hoores.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

28. The email is complete confirmation of what a non-journalist is

I will not watch MTP again with David Gregory as host. Why bother?

[Bravo Zulu]

29. David"Lurch"Gregory(R)

Doesn't know how to ask an honest question, no wonder mtp is losing viewers by the millions!

[peekaloo]

30. reach around journalism at its finest.

[City Lights]

31. Well, well, well, isn't that special!

Thanks, David Wilkinson-Gregory, for confirming what most of us suspected.

I nominate David Wilkinson-Gregory for the Media Whore of the Year award!

:nuke:

[Catshrink]

33. Hey Gregory: A great journalist died yesterday.

You are not a great journalist. In fact, you are not a journalist at all.

[mod mom]

39. I'm sure he is glad this came out on the same day we lost a GREAT journalist, so it

will be lost in the shuffle. Gregory should be ashamed.

[Octafish]

34. GE really, really, really wants to sell more and more and more jet engines.

They're almost as subtle as The Washington Post.

[Mrs. Overall]

35. What a sorry ass media we have. No wonder Cheney/Bush are getting away with murder.

[mascarax]

36. If any DUer is part of the Nielsen ratings, please don't watch MTP!

or comparable...Gregory is pathetic.

I used to be, wish I was now.

[glitch]

38. Finally the whores are being open about their true services. Good for him, it's a baby step. nt

[spooky3]

40. someone'd better tell John King's wife to expect an "anonymous escape"!

I wish everyone who argues that the biggest problem with media today is simply "laziness" would read this link. Putting "currying favor to get 'access'" above getting to the truth is a much bigger problem.

[ibegurpard]

41. They all sounded pretty revolting to me

eom

[BlooInBloo]

42. Not like we would expect any different of David "It's not our role" Gregory...

"Gregory vigorously praised the job which he and his "journalistic" colleagues did in the run-up to the Iraq War -- the period which Salon's Gary Kamiya called "one of the greatest collapses in the history of the American media." Proclaimed Gregory, with a straight face: "Questions were asked. I think we pushed. I think we prodded. I think we challenged the President. Not only those of us in the White House Press Corps did that, but others in the media landscape did that." Most revealingly of all, Gregory said:

I think there are a lot of critics who think that . . . . if we did not stand up and say this is bogus, and you're a liar, and why are you doing this, that we didn't do our job. I respectfully disagree. It's not our role.

Indeed. Perish the thought that a reporter should point out when government officials are making "bogus" claims and are lying a country into a war. That is "not their role," says the New Tim Russert (and, unsurprisingly, the Old Tim Russert wholeheartedly agreed)."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/12/29/gregory/

[annabanana]

52. I will ALWAYS remember that... That and him cavorting on stage

with that doughy little warmongering worm Rove..

[BlooInBloo]

56. I dare the fucker to say word 1 about Cronkite.

[sasquatch]

43. Damn, David Gregory probably gives better fallacio than that Argentinian woman

It's only your dignity David, suck it.

[felinetta]

46. Gregory danced with Karl Rove. Case closed!! I don't watch Meet the Press anymore.

[elehhhhna]

47. so...Jeff Gannon wasn't the only whore in the WH press corps.

quel surprise!!!1!

[malaise]

48. We've known this for years

Was no different with Timmy - it's long been meet the 'presstitutes'.
At least it's now on the record

[Ikonoklast]

50. So, it's official. David "Happy Ending" Gregory doesn't even sell himself.

He gives it away for free.

Glad I stopped watching Press The Meat during Timmeh's slobbering over the manly idea of going to war, and being Cheney's footstool.

[annabanana]

51. "Gregory -- who in the past has been known as a pretty aggressive questioner "

oh my god I can't breathe. . . . .

[beac]

53. That's the quote that jumped out at me too.

What a joke!

[Seldona]

54. Just continuing the tradition. It was Cheney's favorite forum as well.

I don't think it matters who the host is, or the guest. As long as they are GOP, they are offered a relatively friendly forum to push their agenda.

[CoffeeCat]

55. I used to watch "MTP" religiously...

My entire morning revolved around it. In college, it was the only day I would get up early--Sunday morning, I never
missed Meet The Press.

When I got married, my husband and I had our routine. Get up, big breakfast, coffee and watch Meet The Press.

When we had kids, we explained to them when they were toddlers--that for a couple of hours in the morning, mommy
and daddy watched their "news programs". Our kids are 8 and 9, and they know Sunday morning we own the tv. They
don't even ask.

So....during the past year--we have really slipped watching it. It's just not even passable as a news or interview show.

Just what in the hell is it now? Come on our show, we'll kiss your butt and you can spew the lies to the lemmings? Sorry,
but I'm not a lemming. I could be sleeping in or jogging or other activities. I don't need to watch tv. I'm educated
and interested in politics. So, I'm hoping to find a journalist who can interview and report on politics--not craft an
interview that ensures the guest will get in all of those talking points.

It's not even watchable. It's boring.

If I want to read press releases coming out of Congressional and Senate offices--I'll watch the PR Newswire feeds or
read the politician's blogs or visit their Web sites.

MTP is a joke. Without even realizing it--we stopped watching. It just sorta slipped away from our entrenched routine.

I really miss watching a newsworthy show based on journalism, reporting and real interviewing. This week I give a C-.
Bob Shieffer gets a B-.

It's really pathetic what our media has become.