Spurred by Bush, ABC Seeks Feedback on Iraq Coverage

[UpInArms]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/business/media/10gma.html?ex=1302321600&en=493affd730351d28&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

(free registration or try www.bugmenot.com)

When President Bush commented on the media's coverage of the war in Iraq on March 21, and followed it up the next day by sympathizing with a supporter in West Virginia who complained that "our major media networks don't want to portray the good" developments in Iraq, he provoked a response from "Good Morning America" on ABC.

On March 22, the show went beyond reporting on the war coverage to ask viewers to suggest in e-mails the stories they would choose to headline. Posed by the co-anchor, Diane Sawyer, the question came at the end of a segment in which Dan Harris, the show's Baghdad correspondent, gave a rundown of the stories breaking in Iraq that day. They ranged from hard news, like reports of insurgent attacks on police stations, to human interest stories like the celebration of a Kurdish spring festival.

"All week there was this drumbeat on the topic," said Ben Sherwood, the executive producer. "The president was challenging the news media and saying there's a whole world of stories that we don't cover."

By March 23, "Good Morning America" had received more than 1,800 responses. Although the show did not give a breakdown of the results, Mr. Sherwood said the reaction "was not uncommon."

...more...

[electropop]

1. They won't reveal what the public wanted...

because ABC wants to continue to feature Kurdish Spring festivals, rather than the truth.

[Supersedeas]

16. let them eat cake

[Frank Cannon]

2. Well, let's send that "supporter in West Virginia" to Iraq!!

I, for one, would love to hear FIRSTHAND from a true patriot and West Virginian on how well things are going over there!

[arewenotdemo]

10. excellent idea

I'm certain he would jump at the opportunity to report the good news from Baghdad!

[Olney Blue]

3. Why won't they reveal the data? Waiting for sweeps week?

[rocktivity]

4. The results were "not uncommon," but they won't disclose them?

That's so--common.

:eyes:
rocknation

[IndianaGreen]

5. That West Virginian was a military wife whose hubby did PR work in Iraq

Her husband never went to combat, his job was to write propaganda pieces on fictitious accomplishments.

[leftchick]

6. now how did you find that out?

???

[acmejack]

7. It was was one of his typical set up audiences.

Friendly military dependents mostly, I read that posted on here somewhere.

[atreides1]

8. It was in the paper the day after

It seems that the husband was a US Army Warrant Officer, whose MOS was Broadcast Journalist. He was also not an active duty soldier he is part of the West Virginia Army Reserve.

According to the transcripts of Bush's little meet and greet in Wheeling, her husband was in Tikrit
and had brought back DVD's "full of wonderful footage".

[leftchick]

9. thank you

Damn! These people do Goebbels proud!

[IndianaGreen]

11. She said so herself

and the story was posted in DU at the time because it was the start of the PR campaign to get people to rally behind Bush.

I also saw the video of her on TV.

[saigon68]

12. Pickles Bush Buys new Douche-Bag

Chimpanzee swears he won't have to wear gas mask anymore


NOW THAT'S "GOOD NEWS"

[adigal]

13. They were on Chris Matthews and he said

that he knows the war was right, and that there were good things going on in Iraq, because Bush was a good Christian man whose values he shares.

To his credit, Matthews went after him: he asked him if the reporters were not good people with values, or if he thought they were liars with bad values? THe couple spun and weaved, and ultimately ended up talking of the reporters who were their friends. SO Matthews said something like: so I guess the media do have good values.

It was pretty funny.

[TankLV]

14. I'll take ABC's WAR MONGERING, complete with snappy logos and theme music,

to their SWIFTBOATING of Kerry without challenging those lies.

That's just for starters.

[54anickel]

15. Last week ABC suspended a GMA producer for e-mail content

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/04/arts/television/04morn.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

While anyone who chooses to memorialize a private opinion in an e-mail message accepts some risk that those words might somehow become public, the risk to one's reputation can be especially high for journalists, who are paid to maintain their objectivity, at least on the subjects they cover.

In the case of John Green, executive producer of the weekend edition of "Good Morning America" on ABC, the penalty for such a breach has been a month's suspension. Mr. Green was disciplined by executives at ABC on Friday, a week after the Drudge Report Web site reproduced an 18-month-old e-mail message in which he was critical of President Bush, and a day after The New York Post disclosed a year-old e-mail note in which he expressed his displeasure with Madeleine K. Albright, the former secretary of state. His punishment was first reported on Friday on the Web site of The New York Observer.

In the first message, which Mr. Green sent to a colleague on Sept. 30, 2004, while watching a debate between President Bush and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, he wrote: "Are you watching this? Bush makes me sick. If he uses the 'mixed messages' line one more time, I'm going to puke."

snip>

It is not immediately clear how the e-mail messages, which Mr. Green originally sent to one individual, were leaked to news organizations — or why they have surfaced only now. But Marvin Kalb, senior fellow of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, said their disclosure underscores the need for journalists to be vigilant about how they express themselves in an era in which whole blogs and Web sites are dedicated to following their actions and utterances as if they were Hollywood celebrities.

While endorsing the notion that journalists should aspire toward objectivity in their work, Mr. Kalb said he feared that the standard for what a producer might or might not be permitted to say outside the bounds of his or her news organization was now set too high.

[HuffleClaw]

21. a fox news guy was quoted saying something equally biased,

and it wasn't in an email. he wasnt' fired.

[winston61]

17. I'd like more 'happy' news too-

Let's give 'em what they want. Send a crew out to the airport and report every time a plane lands safely. Send a crew to the hospital, report every time a healthy baby is born. Send a crew out to a local school, report "No school bus crashes today"! Make 'em sick with cheery, happy non-news, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and My Personal Angel. Oh gee, I'm making myself sick.

[Ilsa]

18. I'll get you some insulin... eom

[yellowcanine]

19. Instead of just reporting on child abuse/neglect stories , the news

media should tell us about all of the wonderful dads and moms who don't hit their kids, who properly feed, clothe and house them and take them to Disney World. :sarcasm:

[HuffleClaw]

20. "...the show did not give a breakdown of the results"...

translation: despite bushco. claims, the public doesn't want a happy happy joy joy version of the war, they want the TRUTH. and i just bet a part of the truth they wanted was more coverage of the fallen americans instead of the usual 20 second snippet.