The Media covers for their "President" yet again:
July 6, 1999
Networks Cover Pro Wrestling
Over Chinese Espionage
By L. Brent Bozell III, chairman of the Media Research Center.
On May 25, the Cox report on Chinese espionage was released. The report, which enjoyed unanimous, bipartisan support in Congress, revealed perhaps the most serious nuclear security breach in history. The panel listed 11 cases of espionage, of which eight took place during the Clinton era. At least 24 times, the declassified version of the report states: "The Clinton administration has determined further information cannot be made public," especially when the subject dealt with espionage in the mid-to-late 1990s.
Perhaps the only thing more amazing than the report's revelations is that they have been met with a dismissive yawn from ABC, CBS and NBC--a reaction that stands in sharp contrast to the networks' overheated coverage of the Iran-contra affair in the 1980s. On the morning of the report's release, during the course of two hours, ABC's "Good Morning America" aired a total of three minutes on the report--compared to eight minutes on professional wrestling. NBC's "Today" gave professional wrestling triple the time it gave Chinese espionage. CBS's "This Morning" devoted seven minutes to the story, slightly more than the time it devoted to William Shatner and his new book about Star Trek fans. The following morning, ABC gave more time to a family with sextuplets; CBS more time to genetic testing and a former nun in business; and NBC more time to Geraldo Rivera on police brutality.
If anything, the networks' evening newscasts were even worse. On the day of the Cox report's release, the Big Three aired a grand total of five stories; only ABC's "World News Tonight" saw fit to make it the lead story. What about the following night by which time, one assumes, the networks' national security producers had time to sift through the 700 pages of documentation? ABC filed one story about how suspected Chinese spy Wen Ho Lee will never be prosecuted. NBC had nothing. One night later, CBS aired a "Reality Check" segment actually dismissing the Cox report.
When they did cover the report, the networks focused on two themes that had characterized Monica Lewinsky coverage: purported Republican partisanship and "everybody does it." CBS's Dan Rather: "With 20 years worth of blame for both Republicans and Democrats to go around, some in Congress are now singling out Attorney General Janet Reno for what they see as her failure to investigate the long-leaked nuclear secrets." NBC's Andrea Mitchell: "Although the report says the espionage began at least under Jimmy Carter and went on under four presidents, including George Bush, Bush's son, a likely candidate, leaped to blame the White House." ABC's Ted Koppel: "The Cox report makes clear that China's spying on US nuclear secrets occurred during the watch of two Democratic and two Republican presidents. You'd think that might cut down on the political opportunism. Think again."
What a difference a dozen years and a different party controlling the White House makes. Consider the evening of Nov. 18, 1987. That's when the House and Senate committees jointly probing the Iran-Contra affair released their final report. Unlike the espionage story, this time there had been no security threat to the U.S. and the report did not enjoy unanimous, bipartisan support. And the networks had already put on a year's worth of coverage pounding President Reagan. Yet the night that the Iran-Contra report was released, each network gave it no less than five stories apiece; CBS added a half-hour late night special to drive home the story's importance.
Mr. Koppel declared that "the central question has been that echo from Watergate: How much did the president know and when did he know it?" Mr. Rather announced that "The report concludes that President Reagan failed to do what the Constitution requires: that he is ultimately responsible for what happened." For good measure, he repeatedly called it Reagan's "debacle" and "fiasco." Tom Brokaw found that "The common ingredients of the scandal were secrecy, deception and disdain for the law. The two committees blamed President Reagan again and again."
The only network that gave the Cox report similarly serious coverage was the Fox News Channel. Unlike the Big Three--which virtually dropped the story within 48 hours of the Cox report's release--Fox reporter Carl Cameron has been uncovering one big story after another.
On May 24, Mr. Cameron reported evidence, based on a transcript of a phone call involving Johnny Chung, suggesting that Chinese premier Jiang Ziamen and Mr. Clinton may have agreed on a joint cover story regarding Chinese donations to the Clinton campaign. On May 27, he reported that, according to FBI sources, two other nuclear espionage labs had been compromised, and that 80 members of Congress had publicly called on National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and Attorney General Reno to resign.
On June 3, Mr. Cameron reported that U.S. military officials have learned China this year plans to test a second intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. On June 9, he reported that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and his deputy Ed Curran were scolded by Sen. Bob Kerrey (D., Neb.) for falsely stating the Senate also knew about the espionage back in 1995. On June 10, Mr. Cameron was back on the air, reporting that, on the eve of Senate hearings into fundraising abuses, the Justice Department abruptly pulled off the case two investigators looking into allegations that Charlie Trie had destroyed pertinent evidence.
Total number of news reports by the Big Three networks on all of these revelations? Zero.
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