CBS Has Its Eye On MoveOn

Over at CBSNews.com Public Eye, there is a statement about a MoveOn.org "action alert" that was sent out to its members. It was about the “60 Minutes”interview with former FBI Director Louis Freeh last weekend. MoveOn.org seems to think it played an important role in allowing the Clinton clan a rebuttal. There is much unintended comedy here. First, that Clinton would use Sandy "Baggy Pants" Berger to reply for him. The man has lost all credibility along with top secret memos and his security clearance. Second, that the editor of MoveOn.org is a Winer.

So here, without further delay, is the "action memo".

Dear Media Action member,

Last Friday was a big day for anyone who believes regular people can positively impact media coverage.

MoveOn Media Action found out CBS' 60 Minutes planned to air a one-sided interview with former FBI Director Louis Freeh criticizing the Clinton administration's handling of national security but they refused to let President Clinton's national security team respond. Many of you leapt into action, making nearly 600 calls and emails to the producers of 60 Minutes. Your phone calls and emails helped convince CBS to balance this influential program before it aired.

On Sunday, 60 Minutes added a short rebuttal by Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger to the program. News reports indicate they didn't decide to include the comments until Friday afternoon, as your comments were pouring in.

The program featured former FBI Director Louis Freeh's allegations about a national security meeting he did not attend. Those allegations were directly refuted by at least five officials who were in the meeting, but CBS initially refused to include them in the segment.

60 Minutes' eventual inclusion of a brief rebuttal still doesn't compare to last year's 60 Minutes interview with ex-counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke criticizing President Bush on national security. At the time, CBS included a full rebuttal interview with a Bush administration official¬ far more time than CBS gave to Clinton's national security adviser.

This double standard raises concerns that CBS is caving to pressure from the right-wing in the wake of the uproar over sloppy reporting in the Bush National Guard story, so we'll continue to watch CBS closely. But last week proved the public can make a difference in promoting good journalism, and that's exactly why we've launched MoveOn Media Action.

Stay tuned, and thank you for all you do.

Noah T. Winer and Adam Green

MoveOn Media Action
Friday, October 14th, 2005

Here's a little gem from the posting regarding the alert.

The alert, which included PE’s e-mail address and urged recipients to contact and within three hours, we had received 38 e-mails doing just that and dozens continue to trickle in. Many of the e-mails parroted lines from the alert. Many apparently never even saw the piece in question, with some e-mailers saying they never watch CBS and one referring to an “upcoming” interview. Glad they were able to make those individual judgments based on an “action alert.”

When it comes down to cBS and MoveOn.org which one do you believe? Probably neither one but the confrontation alone is very amusing.

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