Rating The Media Overall on Iraq coverage. Jennings Has Fail

ABC, Anchor Jennings Graded Way Down on War CoverageBy Chad Groening
April 30, 2003(AgapePress) - A media watchdog group has released its report card for television news coverage of the war in Iraq.The Media Research Center (MRC) says ABC received a near failing grade for its "mindless negativism" that played up Iraqi claims of civilian casualties and hyped American military difficulties. And MRC spokesman Rich Noyes says ABC indulged anti-war protestors with free air time, while ignoring support for the troops."The anti-war protestors have been proven to be completely wrong in their assumptions and their arguments," Noyes says. "And [when] people who are supporting the troops [come] together in a large public gathering, as they did in New York City, ABC has no time -- not even a single second -- for that on its evening newscast. It's outrageous."Noyes says ABC received a "D-minus" overall, while anchor Peter Jennings received an "F" for pumping up the anti-war effort. He says that before the conflict began in March, Jennings gave both time and "great attention" to anti-war protestors -- and then during the war, was "actually beseeching people to stay with his story and keep focused on the anti-war protestors."Noyes also points out that Chris Cuomo, the son of Mario Cuomo and now a correspondent for Good Morning America, talked about how the anti-war protestors "deserved to be listened to because they were probably an indicator of where we all would be sooner or later on the war." Noyes calls that "a ridiculously editorial statement."On the other hand, Noyes says the Fox News Channel (FNC) scored a "B-plus" for displaying a patriotic attitude, while not compromising the quality of its war reporting and analysis. FNC's anchor Britt Hume was given an "A," while anchor Shepard Smith scored a "B-plus."Read MRC's "Grading TV's War News" in its entirety© 2003 AgapePress
web page INFOPOP HOMEPAGE[ 05-01-2003: Message edited by: Oracle ][ 05-01-2003: Message edited by: Oracle ]