NBC News' bad week: Russert, Williams, and Huffington
By Eric Boehlert
Created May 8 2008 - 9:50am
Progressive author and Internet powerhouse Arianna Huffington has appeared
on MSNBC more than 30 times over the last 12 months, offering up her
combative opinions on current events. The tally probably would have been
double that if the stretched-too-thin writer and editor had accepted all
the
channel's requests that flood her office.
So when Huffington set out late last month to promote her new book [1],
MSNBC seemed like an obvious first stop. In fact, producers had already
been
in touch, asking about Huffington's availability during her book push. And
I
hear an informal memo circulated within MSNBC detailing the order in which
Huffington would appear on the various MSNBC news programs in coming
weeks.
But then suddenly, the doors were slammed shut and Huffington's camp was
told thanks, but no thanks; it was an across-the-board shutout [2] from
both
MSNBC and its big brother, NBC.
Huffington told me she was surprised by the snub, considering she's had
such
good working relation****ps with the MSNBC programs for years.
The channel's spokesman, Jeremy Gaines, emailed to inform me that
Huffington
"was never booked on MSNBC," and that "[a]t NBC News, we receive countless
books from authors and publishers, in hopes that they get on our air. Some
of them do, many of them do not. This one did not."
NBC and MSNBC fill hundreds of hours each month with political
programming,
and Huffington -- perhaps the most high-profile progressive writer in the
country right now -- is releasing a political tome amidst a heated
campaign
season. But sorry, no room at the inn for her.
Those close to Huffington said the word inside NBC was that the unofficial
boycott stemmed from the fact that her new book, Right is Wrong: How the
Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us
All
Less Safe, takes [3] long, page-after-page jabs at NBC Wa****ngton bureau
chief Tim Russert, ****traying him as a hapless, "conventional wisdom
zombie." And that it was because of Russert's bruised ego that the
company's
anti-Huffington edict was issued.
Truth is, Russert has been a target of Huffington's for years. She
launched
Russert Watch [4] on her site to dissect the host's often-lacking Q&A
approach on Meet the Press. (That weekly feature was recently picked up
[5]
by the Columbia Journalism Review.) And Huffington was especially critical
[6] of the NBC newsman's less-than-forthcoming role in the Valerie Plame
leak investigation.
In that context, it sure looked like payback: Huffington was critical of
NBC
News heavyweight Russert, and suddenly Huffington was banned from NBC and
MSNBC at a time when she's looking for exposure to help promote her new
book.
Such is the state of affairs at NBC News, where last week it was not only
re****tedly boycotting Huffington, but also steadfastly boycotting [7] a
blockbuster [8] New York Times re****t from April 20 that detailed how the
Pentagon, during the run-up to the war with Iraq and for years after that,
had worked closely with retired military officers now working as talking
heads. The Pentagon selected scores of officers, many of whom had defense
industry clients, and worked to "transform the analysts into a kind of
media
Trojan horse -- an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from
inside the major TV and radio networks," according to the Times. The
Pentagon did that by, among other things, treating the analysts to special
briefings and taking them on guided tours of Iraq.
But this wasn't simply a fact-finding initiative. According to the Times,
when at least one of the analysts eventually began to criticize the war,
he
was promptly suspended from the Pentagon program.
Among the participants -- witting or unwitting -- in the Pentagon program
were NBC and MSNBC, which threw open their studio doors to the Pentagon
pundits without ever disclosing their closed-door prep sessions with the
pro-war administration.
Yet two weeks after the Times billboarded the news above-the-fold on Page
1,
neither NBC nor MSNBC had seriously examined their roles in the Pentagon
program. In fact, the news teams at both outlets appeared allergic to the
controversy. Despite the fact that the Times story ignited congressional
inquiries, raised doubts about the legality [9] of the program, and
prompted
the Pentagon to suddenly halt [10]
the initiative altogether, NBC considered the issue to have zero news
value.
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams did belatedly address the
propaganda
story, not on the air but on his daily blog, where last week he assured
[11]
readers that neither the network nor the retired generals did anything
wrong
(i.e., trust us).
So to recap NBC News' revealing performance last week: It continued its
on-air boycott of the story about the Pentagon's pro-war propaganda
program -- a program NBC willingly participated in. And it re****tedly
banned
one of the nation's top progressive writers from appearing on its news
programs.
Behold your so-called liberal media at work.
Of the two sad tales last week, one seemed petty; the other rather
profound.
In both cases, NBC News appeared more interested in protecting egos and
holding off honest critiques than it did being held accountable.
The reason NBC/MSNBC's heavy-handed blackout of Huffington is so im****tant
is that it highlights precisely why so few prominent voices from the left
openly criticize the media. They fail to do so because it's personally
awkward to disparage their colleagues. But more im****tantly, they resist
doing it because it comes with a professional price attached: If you
present
sustained, damning critiques of the media (and name names in the process),
you run the risk of being locked out by those same media outlets, and at
inop****tune moments. Like when you're out trying to promote a new book.
Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler has written about these phenomena for
years -- why mainstream liberal columnists and pundits almost never tell
you
the truth about the media. And trust me, they don't. As Somerby has noted,
there was almost universal, real-time silence from them back in 2000 when
the press unleashed perhaps the most sustained, unfair attack [12] on a
U.S.
presidential nominee in modern times. Virtually none of the A-list liberal
commentators came to Al Gore's aid when it mattered most; when the press
was
at times depicting him as unstable and pathological. (Conservative pundits
never would have stood by silently if their nominee were torn apart by the
media like that.)
Huffington, thanks to the online empire she has amassed at The Huffington
Post, is among the few who don't really need NBC or MSNBC to help her sell
books. She already has access to an extraordinarily wide audience.
And it's true she was invited on scores of other TV news outlets in recent
days, some of which she criticized in her book. So it's not as if the
press
automatically locks out every liberal critic. But NBC's Russert has for
years been a key Huffington media target, and he came under the roughest
treatment in her book, so it was NBC's allegedly petulant reaction that
was
the most telling.
Keep in mind that NBC News has a history of overreacting to Huffington. In
2006, when she was raising questions about Russert's ethics (specifically,
when he used Meet the Press to hype the launch of a new XM Radio s****ts
program co-hosted by his son, Luke Russert), an NBC News flack resurrected
old allegations -- which Huffington has repeatedly denied [13] -- that a
decade ago she hired a private investigator to snoop on a writer who was
profiling her for Vanity Fair. That writer was Russert's wife, Maureen
Orth.
By suddenly refusing to book Huffington, NBC and MSNBC came across as
petty
and insecure. Executives claimed they were not retaliating against the
writer for the Russert critiques she's posted. But it sure looked that
way.
There is a simple way, however, for the news giant to prove it holds not
grudge against Huffington, or against honest media criticism. And that's
to
have Russert invite her on Meet the Press. Then all will be forgiven.
By contrast, it's probably impossible to repair the damage done to NBC by
its refusal -- like the rest of the broadcast network news teams -- to
tackle the Pentagon propaganda story. What made NBC's sins even more
egregious last week was Williams' attempt to explain the story away as no
big deal, when he tried to play his readers, and NBC News viewers, as
rubes.
The trouble began when Williams used his Daily Nightly blog to mock [14]
The
New York Times for being out of touch with everyday Americans. Williams'
hook was that announced Sunday circulation was down at the Times. ****ing
over the newspaper, Williams insinuated readers were fleeing the paper
because of the goofy articles being published. He noted that Elizabeth
Edwards had recently written an op-ed in the
Times decrying the state of serious journalism in the presidential race.
But
Williams, after dissecting the Sunday paper section-by-section, scratched
his head and wrote, "It's tough to figure out exactly what readers the
paper
is speaking to, or seeking." Meaning, the Times is out of touch with
regular
folk, like himself, the coiffed TV anchor.
And where did Williams turn to prove the Times was publi****ng too many
wacky
articles that alienate the common man? Williams singled out purposefully
light pieces from the Times' Travel section, the Styles section, and the
Food section. And, oh yeah, he snickered at a New York Times Magazine
cover story about gay people.
After blogger Glenn Greenwald chided [15] Williams for taking the time to
poke fun at the Times lifestyle coverage while NBC itself remained silent
about the Times' penetrating Pentagon propaganda story, Williams' blog was
inundated with commenters demanding that he address the issue. So the next
day Williams did.
Keep in mind, NBC had never broadcast a single story about the Pentagon
article, but Williams did, y'know, blog about it. Reading his explanation
[16], no wonder NBC hasn't wasted its time with the silly Pentagon
controversy -- it's a non-story. At least at NBC. Because the news team
did
nothing wrong and its military analysts were above reproach. (Why
did the Times waste 7,000 words on such nonsense?)
Here was the nub of Williams' defense of NBC and the Pentagon-friendly
analysts they paid for years:
All I can say is this: these two guys never gave what I considered to be
the party line. They were tough, honest critics of the U.S. military
effort
in Iraq. If you've had any exposure to retired officers of that rank (and
we've not had any five-star Generals in the modern era) then you know:
these
men are passionate patriots. In my dealings with them, they were also
honest
brokers.
[...]
At no time did our analysts, on my watch or to my knowledge, attempt to
push a rosy Pentagon agenda before our viewers. I think they are better
men
than that, and I believe our news division is better than that. [emphasis
added]
What's the fuss, people? Millionaire anchor Brian Williams, who thinks
Democratic-ba****ng columnist [17]
Peggy Noonan should win [18] a Pulitzer, who frets [19] that Rush Limbaugh
might not get enough credit as a broadcaster, and who has been dubbed by
GOP
pollster Frank Luntz as the Republicans' "go-to network anchor," [20] says
NBC and the generals did nothing wrong. Period.
Nothing to see here, folks, keep moving ...
Note how Williams vouched for the generals' patriotism and insisted they
were "better" than spinning Pentagon talking points. (In his blog post,
Williams noted he had entered "close friend****p[s]" with the generals.)
That's all well and good. But the facts are clear: The generals did
participate in the Pentagon program and they often did spout Pentagon
spin.
(The anchorman expressed little interest in the fact that some of the
generals stood to profit from their defense industry connections while
they
promoted the costly Iraq war on NBC.)
That the pro-war Pentagon spin campaign existed and that NBC's military
media analysts participated is not in dispute. Yet Williams wants us to
believe that NBC News represented some sort of oasis from the pro-war spin
between 2002 and now, that it was an honorable exception to the broadcast
rule.
For the record, retired Gens. Wayne Downing (who has since passed away)
and
Barry McCaffrey appeared on, or were quoted by, MSNBC and NBC regarding
the
Iraq war at least 500 times since late 2002. But Williams suggested the
men
never engaged in Pentagon spin.
And to prove that the men didn't roll over, Williams reproduced a quote
from
2006, three years after the war began, in which one of the NBC military
media analysts expressed "harsh criticism" of the war.
For Williams, that's case closed. For any thinking observer, that's just
plain dumb.
It was a very bad week for NBC News. By so obviously snubbing Huffington,
NBC looked petty. By stubbornly refusing to acknowledge its role in the
Pentagon propaganda program, NBC looked weak.
News organizations are supposed to shed light, not cower in the shadows.
Last week, NBC News got it backward.
--
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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an op****tunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are
at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
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