Day: December 4, 2005

FAIR Finds Quantifiable Rightwing Bias on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal

Jon Ponder

Unbalanced: Here in the West Coast wing of Pensito Review’s electronic garret we start our day seven days a week by watching “Washington Journal” on C-SPAN. (Yes, it starts at 4M.) It is a great source of news about the goings-on in the Capitol, and one gets the sense that they try hard to prevent pros and cons for each side of every issue. But one also gets the sense that they tilt to the right.

Now Extra, a service of FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), has done an analysis that quantifiably proves just that:

To test C-SPAN’s claims of fairness, Extra! studied Washington Journal’s guestlist, tabulating all 663 guests that appeared on the show in the six-month period from November 1, 2004 to April 30, 2005. Guests were classified by gender, ethnicity, party affiliation (if any) and occupation. The study also looked at the think tanks most prominently represented on the show.

Despite C-SPAN’s stated goals, Extra!’s study found Washington Journal skewing rightward, favoring Republican and right-of-center interview subjects by considerable margins over Democratic and left-of-center guests. The study also found that women, people of color and public interest viewpoints were substantially underrepresented.

Overall, people of European ancestry made up 85 percent of Washington Journal’s guestlist—563 out of 663. (Extra! was able to identify the ethnic background of more than 99 percent of guests.) People of African (26) and Asian (24) heritage accounted for 4 percent each, while those of Middle Eastern (22) and Latin American (18) descent represented 3 percent each. No Native Americans were identifiable on the guestlist from November 1, 2004 to April 30, 2005.

Gov. Blanco Releases Katrina Docs That Show Bush Disengagement

Jon Ponder

Whitewash: The Republicans in Congress promised a thorough investigation into the federal government’s tragically negligent response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. They were lying, of course. Their intent then, as now, was to sweep this lowest benchmark in the Worst Presidency Ever under the rug.

Blanco’s request from FEMA of 40,000 more troops; ice, water and food; buses, base camps, staging areas, amphibious vehicles, mobile morgues, rescue teams, housing, airlift and communications systems never materialized.

The Republicans have succeed in this – and probably will prevail. But Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has launched a broadside at them in the form of a document dump of over 100,000 pages of emails, notes and other correspondence from the days before and immediately after the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast:

“We need everything you’ve got,” Blanco is quoted in a memo as telling President Bush on Aug. 29, the day Katrina made landfall. But despite assurances from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that 500 buses were “standing by,” Blanco’s aides were compelled to take action when the FEMA buses failed to materialize, documents show. “We need buses,” Andy Kopplin, chief of staff to Blanco, said in an e-mail to Blanco staffers late on Aug. 30, the day after the storm hit. “Find buses that can go to NO [New Orleans] ASAP.”

Two days later, on Sept. 2, Blanco complained to the White House that FEMA had still failed to fulfill its promises of aid. While cloaked in customary political courtesies, Blanco noted that she had already requested 40,000 more troops; ice, water and food; buses, base camps, staging areas, amphibious vehicles, mobile morgues, rescue teams, housing, airlift and communications systems, according to a press office e-mail of the text of her letter to Bush.

“Even if these initial requests had been fully honored, these assets would not be sufficient,” Blanco said. She also asked for the return of the Louisiana Army National Guard’s 256th Brigade Combat Team, then deployed to Iraq.

Tensions between state leaders and the White House seemed at times near the boiling point. At 3:49 p.m. on Sept. 2, after spending three hours to appear with Bush at a Mississippi news conference, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) wrote Blanco’s staff, “I am returning home to baron[sic] rouge in hoping I can accomplish something for the people I represent other than being occupied with PR.”

He added that Bush’s “entire effort on behalf of the federal government has been reflected in his and his people’s nonchalant attitude to the people of LA. You may give him this to read.”

Gov. Blanco Releases Katrina Docs That Show Bush Disengagement

Jon Ponder

Official apathy: The Republicans in Congress promised a thorough investigation into the federal government’s tragically negligent response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. They were lying, of course. Their intent then, as now, was to sweep this lowest benchmark in the Worst Presidency Ever under the rug.

The Republicans have succeed in this – and probably will prevail. But Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has launched a broadside at them in the form of a document dump of over 100,000 pages of emails, notes and other correspondence from the days before and immediately after the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast:

“We need everything you’ve got,” Blanco is quoted in a memo as telling President Bush on Aug. 29, the day Katrina made landfall. But despite assurances from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that 500 buses were “standing by,” Blanco’s aides were compelled to take action when the FEMA buses failed to materialize, documents show. “We need buses,” Andy Kopplin, chief of staff to Blanco, said in an e-mail to Blanco staffers late on Aug. 30, the day after the storm hit. “Find buses that can go to NO [New Orleans] ASAP.”

Two days later, on Sept. 2, Blanco complained to the White House that FEMA had still failed to fulfill its promises of aid. While cloaked in customary political courtesies, Blanco noted that she had already requested 40,000 more troops; ice, water and food; buses, base camps, staging areas, amphibious vehicles, mobile morgues, rescue teams, housing, airlift and communications systems, according to a press office e-mail of the text of her letter to Bush.

“Even if these initial requests had been fully honored, these assets would not be sufficient,” Blanco said. She also asked for the return of the Louisiana Army National Guard’s 256th Brigade Combat Team, then deployed to Iraq.

Tensions between state leaders and the White House seemed at times near the boiling point. At 3:49 p.m. on Sept. 2, after spending three hours to appear with Bush at a Mississippi news conference, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) wrote Blanco’s staff, “I am returning home to baron[sic] rouge in hoping I can accomplish something for the people I represent other than being occupied with PR.”

He added that Bush’s “entire effort on behalf of the federal government has been reflected in his and his people’s nonchalant attitude to the people of LA. You may give him this to read.”