10/08: ABCNews political director memo sparks controversy

[grasswire]

To the mods: the secret and unique ABC memo was leaked to Drudge. The original document is available only on his site. There is no coverage of this elsewhere. The content of the memo is REALLY important for DU-ers to see and be able to use. I beg you to keep it here so it won't get lost elsewhere. Also note: the memo itself is not copyrighted.



ABCNEWS POLITICAL DIRECTOR MEMO SPARKS CONTROVERSY: BOTH SIDES NOT 'EQUALLY ACCOUNTABLE'

An internal memo written by ABCNEWS Political Director Mark Halperin admonishes ABC staff: During coverage of Democrat Kerry and Republican Bush not to "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable."

The controversial internal memo obtained by DRUDGE, captures Halperin stating how "Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win."

But Halperin claims that Bush is hoping to "win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions."

Halperin Memo Dated Friday October 8, 2004

It goes without saying that the stakes are getting very high for the country and the campaigns - and our responsibilities become quite grave

I do not want to set off (sp?) and endless colloquy that none of us have time for today - nor do I want to stifle one. Please respond if you feel you can advance the discussion.

The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done.

Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.

We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.

I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage. This is all part of their efforts to get away with as much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.

It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest. Now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right.


http://www.drudgereport.com/mh.htm

[bemildred]

1. Right. I smell a plant. nt

[Gruenemann]

2. Did Rove write this

to further discredit TV news?

[Tuttle]

3. Looks forged to me n/t

Tut-tut

[NVMojo]

6. i smell rove spirit

he's spanking his monkey right now and laughing it off!

[HereSince1628]

30. RW has to plant evidence of liberal bias to protect dear leader

That not only fits with Rove's personal history it meets the expectatio of the "we have a few surprises for Kerry" headline of another post.

[Liberal Veteran]

4. What the fuck is up with that document?

Looks like a drunk scribe from the middle ages copied it.

Something smells fishy here.

[Rose Siding]

10. Yes but if it's true that there's been "stepped up" efforts...

I wish they'd report those!

snip>
I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage.
-----------------

The content of the memo is basically what I've been agreeing with Krugman for saying in every forum that's aired. The media has the obligation to say "today the candidate said that black is white. we checked on that and we can report that it isn't true."

[Seabiscuit]

28. I looks like Rove used it as toilet paper, then handed it to Drudge who...

then used it as a Kleenex.

[napi21]

5. If this were on any other site but Drudge.....maybe, but I don't trust

him at all. Just don't buy it!

[pop goes the weasel]

7. 2 things

1. what the heck sort of memo is that? Is there another memo-gate lurking, cuz that sure doesn't look like a memo that would have been sent out by a professional journalist. Who would use a font like that? Who would have it on their computer?

2. OK, let's say the memo is authentic, and that Mr. Halperin just has a thing for obscure fonts. I have to congratulate him on his intelligence. There is indeed a huge difference between making a mistake here or there or being imprecise enough that it leads to distortions or even distorting through generalization and the Bush-Rove practice of making things up and presenting them as the truth. The first is just not being perfect all the time, but the second is bald-faced lying. There is simply no Democratic counterpart to what the Republicans have done. I mean, saying the Kerry will ban the Bible? Saying that Kerry lied about his actions in Vietnam so that he could go home early? Posting and distributing as real a doctored photo showing Kerry and Jand Fonda together? The Republicans lie, lie, lie, and then lie some more. It's about damned time someone called them on it.

[Robert Oak]

8. what he's saying is true

Dunno if it's a plant or what, but it's certainly true
that Bush & Co are way greater in distortion than Kerry.

Could be because Kerry has a brain and can remember facts and Bush
can't, but if anybody is keeping a score card, I'm sure bush is way ahead in lies and distortions.

[Cocoa]

9. if true, then I have a new respect for Halperin

whoever wrote this memo has put their finger on exactly what is wrong with this campaign so far.

The reason I'm skeptical is that I don't see ABC News as doing anywhere near what this memo correctly recommends.

Also the writing style doesn't smell right, but I don't really have a basis to judge this.

[grasswire]

11. absolutely

This is NOT something the WH would want journos talking about. It is precisely the problem and the weakness of the press.

I'm in an argument with an editorial page editor about the newspaper's need to create parity of integrity between Cheney and Edwards where there is none. This memo will cinch my argument.

[ClassWarrior]

12. Well, for one, some of the passages are downright clumsy...

...for a supposed NEWS man.

23.

[grasswire]

13. anyone got photoshop?

We learned through memogate that blacked out portions of documents can be read if viewed through photoshop with the brightness intensified.

Care to try it, anyone? It's probably the distribution list of the memo.

[troubleinwinter]

14. Hahahahahahahahahahaaaaa!!!!!!

Puhleez. In this day and age, why would a document look like that? Everybody has a better photocopier and scanner than that.

It is utterly unreadable, deliberately, so that it can never be proven what it says.

A bunch of hooey, in my book.

[wabeewoman]

16. My question?

Does anyone really send memo's like this anymore? Isn't it all done by email?

[SoCalDem]

21. Looks like an old thermo-fax ...copied many times.

the sentiments ring true, but ....

[CO Liberal]

15. It Looks Like a Printout From Microsoft Outlook

A generic e-mail printout that could have come from anywhere. Especially since there are no ABC logos on it, and all identifying marks have been blacked out.

Believe, me - an official ABC inter-office memo would have an ABC logo on it. That's the case with virtually ANY company.

[Cats Against Frist]

17. I agree that it is suspicious

HOWEVER, if it WERE true, then I think this is a huge story. I watch A LOT of cable news, and it perplexes me to NO END how people like Ed Gillespe and Ben Ginsberg can go on television and tell BLATANT lies, and how the GOP tactics that someone mentioned above: the dems banning the bible, Kerry faking to get out of Vietnam, saying things like "the whole Democratic party has been taken over by Michael Moore.

At some point, the amount that they LIE, almost has to become news, in and of itself.

A whole spectrum of lies is integral to their campaign: W is a cowboy, Saddam blew up the twin towers, the language of "Clear Skies" and other initiatives -- and I don't know why anyone hasn't brought up that their tax cuts have shifted the tax burden onto the middle class. There are just too many more to name -- most of them petty and cheap -- ad hominem attacks, false dilemmas -- it's ridiculous.

It sounds like the person in this memo has enough balls to make a journalistic decision and try to not just be "fair" but to get to the truth, and get good information to the viewers.

[grasswire]

18. Halperin isn't denouncing the memo

So I guess we have to assume it's real.

The distortion is probably the result of FAX transmission.

Freepers are up in arms, wanting to "rather" Halperin now. They consider the memo evidence that ABC is biased toward Kerry, oddly enough.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1239754/posts?q=1&&page=101

[MaineDem]

19. The grammar is pathetic

I have my doubts about this.

[Bread and Circus]

24. Yeah, if this guy is a newspaper guy....then I'm a fucking astronaut

Sheesh....that's pitiful

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. The grammar is fine for an internal memo

that someone would type once and then send straight away with checking it. I can also see at least one point where Drudge's retyping of it has inserted a mistake.

[TacticalPeek]

20. Hmm. Perhaps, but.

Halperin was excruciatingly "fair" to Shrub on Charlie Rose last night, IMHO.

[Duncan Grant]

22. As if this would excuse the fact that * was an incoherent thug last night.

Consider the scenario in which John Kerry, Al Gore, or Bill Clinton bulldoze the moderator. All hell would break loose.

Liberal media my ass. Oh, please. :eyes:

[clydefrand]

23. I think Osama scribbled this memo while getting

his dialysis treatment!! What the devil is that written in and with? Is there a font that looks like that? Who was able to translate it? Someone from FBI or CIA? Oh, I forgot, they are short on translators and are encouraged to work slowly.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

25. BULLSHIT!

:grr:

I'll tell you right now that ABC is right. Bush distorts important facts and Kerry does not. It's as simple as that!!!

[Uroboros]

26. Fake!

How the hell could a document in this day and age look THAT bad?! I mean who are they kidding? I doubt very much that ABC has a copier, printer or fax machine in their offices that produces output that bad. If so it would have been thrown out with the trash. As for it being a copy of a copy; the copier would have to be broken to ever produce output that bad.

Looks to me like someone took that text file and converted it to a bitmap; then brought it into something like Photoshop and roughed it to give it that "copy of a copy" or fax look. (and possibly to make moot any questions about fonts, etc.)

But damn they went overboard with it.

[wildflower]

27. So is the ultimate goal here to take down every media outlet that isn't

Fox? Thus making sure viewers only watch Fox - since all the others have been discredited - and thus ensuring * wins the election?

-widlfower

[spotbird]

37. Bingo.

It has worked so well so far, why stop?

[AmerDem]

29. Rove is at it again!

Pathetic, first they try to destroy CBS now it's ABC. Damn I can't wait until Kerry gets in office and investigates these fascist fucks to their end!

[Eric J in MN]

31. There is nothing wrong with that memo (nt)

nt

[Lefta Dissenter]

32. All I know is

we ought to fire Dan Rather! :shrug:

[damntexdem]

33. I don't know whether this is real, but ...

consider the problem: 'factchecking' articles after the debates seem to find it necessary to 'uncover' an equal number of misstatements on each side. Some of the entries are ludicrous, but they do tend to bulk out each side as having as many errors as the other.

[OnionPatch]

34. I see no bias in this memo

or any reason to think this proves bias. It actually shows that someone is at least trying to make an intelligent assessment and analysis of the information before presenting it. Let the freepers run with it. They'll just sound like the crybabies they are.

[grasswire]

36. ABC..

...has confirmed the authenticity of the memo to various freepers who have phoned the network. Freepers are now starting a campaign of harassment against Halperin.

[Eloriel]

49. Where did you get that?

Free Repuglic? Got a link?

(Hah! Notice I can't even type Republic or Republican the right way any more.)

[spotbird]

38. Wait a minute. Faux published a fake story this week which

betrayed outrageous bias against Kerry. That story caused barely a ripple because the bias of Faux is so well understood that it hardly deserved a shrug.

Now ABC sends out a memo stating that the gravity of the lie should be a consideration in the reporting of the lie, and that is supposed to indicate bias?

Please, bring this debate on! The Freepers better be careful what they wish for.

[teryang]

39. I don't believe that ABC suddenly got religion

ABC sucks.

[Jackpine Radical]

40. This is bullshit.

This isn't what any responsible news org would do. First, they would do a story on the undue pressures from the White House. Then they would do a story comparing the magnitude and audacity of Bush's distortions with those of Kerry. They just wouldn't be writing vague memos with no particular call to action.

I find the3 general illegibility of this thing to be highly suspicious as well. A terrible font plus maybe multiple fax transmissions or other crude scanning. There's no legitimate reason for any of this.

Just...bullshit.

[grasswire]

41. I don't think you understand

ABC has an insider political newsletter called The Note. Halperin is the founder of the newsletter and its editor. It is very influential among Washington journos, to the point of being clique-ish and snobby. Name-dropping and so on. Halperin comments on the Note's unique status as opinion-shaper. That's why he urges the staff not to be spun by WH distortions.

If you've ever read Halperin in The Note, you know that it's not news writing. It's a whole other thing.

You can berate it all you want, although I don't know why you would want to, since Halperin is asking for something we Democrats wish for daily -- objectivity.

[troubleinwinter]

45. Print out the graphic of that document.

Place it 18" in front of your face, and read it aloud.

"Gi#bbl ygu0)nchft, a^cbo8l ctcbha fns. >5rafnc, ab85% mf Preso7ent Bus< 8nd giddt3ct....." (or just use the DRUDGE 'transcription'! Haha!)

I think it would be a reallllly, reallllly valuable expenditure of time and effort for DUers to be sidetracked by this nonsense.

[grasswire]

46. who is sidetracked?

And who needs to look at the blurry document? ABC has confirmed the content. I phoned them myself.

[troubleinwinter]

50. ABC confirmed it to you on the phone...

cool. Did you ask if they could send you a clean copy?

"ABC has confirmed the authenticity of the memo to various freepers who have phoned the network" Ohhhkaaaay...

"Who needs to look at the blurry document?" Well, um... so far, there is Drudge's transcript, and you talked to "them" at ABC and, of course, "various Freepers". So yeah, I would like to see a legible copy.

[Jackpine Radical]

48. Well, you're right; I'd never heard of The Note.

Maybe the whole thing is legitimate--anyone with a current legit copy could verify this, I suppose, so there'd be little point in fabricating a fake.

My "berating" was related to the idea that this is something that, even if I agree with it (and I do), would provide ready fodder for Rove and his minions to spin into a "Poor Victimized Us" story about the Libberul Press going after his boy.

[AP]

42. Remember that study of least well informed news viewers?

Other than NPR, ABC's viewers scored the highest on the test of current events. They were the least mis-informed viewers.

[candy331]

43. Might be good if ABC gets attacked then maybe they will join the

fight for responsible journalism rather than cowering down as they did when CBS got attacked.

[Grillymom]

44. So, did they even test the Faux news viewers?

[AP]

51. They were the most misinformed. No surprises there.

[KoKo]

47. Mark Halperin the voice behine ABC's "The Note" is a RW PNAC supporter

so if his memo ended up on Drudge...beware what's behind his leaking of it. Whether "he" leaked it, or someone who knew his political sympathies leaked it, it's probably not worth our getting involved other than to speculate. :-( I heard him on a "Media Panel on C-Span" back during the "Primaries." He was awful saying NONE of the Democratic Candidates had a chance of winning because they couldn't talk about religion in a way that Average American can understand.

I stopped reading "The Note" at the "Mid-term Elections" in disgust. And, some Repug DC insider that I ran into was promoting it to me as the "Washington Bible" and so the "Must Read." Halperin...ugh...

[AP]

52. The religion comment isn't that far off base. What's the evidence of...

...being a PNAC'er?

(Why all the quotation marks?)

[grasswire]

55. I don't favor The Note either..

...but for a different reason. Too much kissy-face hand-holding going on.

Halperin is hated by the right, so I can't see how he's one of them.

[KoKo]

57. I mis-spoke about Halperin's ties to PNAC .His father wrote a paper with

the PNAC crowd, is a Council on Foreign Relations member with along political history including advising our new Dem Think Tank, and tends to be more Maxist/Socialist than PNAC. Mark Halperin's comments about our Democratic Candidates are true in that he attacked our candidates for not being able to talk about relgion because none of them were religious like Bush. The panel discussion I heard on C-Span had him as the most conservative in his comments attacking Democrats. Perhaps he was overcompensating but given his father's long history in DC I question the incestuousness of all these folks who are getting so inbred that it appears they run in the same crowds moving from "think tank" to "think tank" and moving in and out of government positions depending on the Administration. Morton Halperin has worked with them all in his long career it seems.

I apologize for popping off that Mark Halperin is a PNAC'er. I will ask the Mods to delete my comment.

Here's some backgound on Mark Halperin from the "Washington Monthly" online from 1999.

At 34, ABC News political director Mark Halperin seems astonishingly young to be advising the likes of Peter Jennings and Sam Donaldson about politicians and elections. But this Bethesda native (yes, he's the son of national-security expert Morton Halperin) has zoomed through the ranks at ABC since signing on as a desk assistant in 1988. As funny as he is smart, Halperin does drop-dead impersonations of pols he covers; they say his Al Gore is to die for.

[grasswire]

60. thanks for the correction!

son of Mort, eh? Very interesting.

[KoKo]

59. I've asked Mods to delete my post about Halperin/PNAC...above. The

rest of the info is correct from the Panel I heard on C-Span...

Sorry...

[Aunt Anti-bush]

53. Did anyone happen to save the jpg of the memo?

It has mysteriously disappeared and I'd like a copy.

[mia]

54. right click, properties shows this jpg

http://www(dot)drudgereport.com/abcmemo.jpg

[grasswire]

56. I tried to import it...

...into my photo editor to see if I could read through the black marker, but for some reason can't import it. DU-ers found that useful on the AWOL documents, to see what was censored out.

[americanstranger]

58. I opened it in Photoshop

Completely illegible. It almost looks as though it was typed, and then other characters were typed over it.

It's basically worthless as it sits. Nothing I've tried makes it the least bit readable.

-as