Through the magic combination of TiVo, TVEyes, and real-time viewing, we were able to have a look at how each of the networks and cable channels responded to last night’s major convention speeches. Below you’ll find our scorecard, with rankings from best to worst:
CNN: Everybody’s talking about Sen. Zell Miller’s meltdown on MSNBC, but the real evisceration of Miller took place on CNN, thanks to Jeff Greenfield, Judy Woodruff, and Wolf Blitzer, who fact-checked Miller with a rigor rarely seen on the self-styled most trusted name in news. The trio pointed out that many of the charges that Miller had leveled at Kerry — including the fact that he had referred to Americans abroad as occupiers, and that he’d opposed spending on certain weapons — also applied to the president and vice president. They also noted that, while Miller Tuesday night condemned what he characterized as Kerry’s “atrocious” 20-year record in the Senate, as recently as three years ago Miller had praised Kerry’s record. (In response, Miller explained that, as a newcomer to congress, he’d only praised Kerry “because that was the biographical sketch that [Democrats] gave me.”) The commentators who followed the dynamic trio on the network — including Joe Klein, John Harwood, and Joe Conason — all seemed to take their cue from the Miller interview, providing a strong dose of insightful analysis and illuminating context. Long story short: CNN — in a sharp departure from its usual placid reliance on “he said/she said” journalism — last night gave viewers the facts they needed to cut through a veritable avalanche of misleading spin. A surprisingly excellent performance. GRADE: A
Fox News: Fox followed Cheney’s speech with a panel featuring the Weekly Standard‘s Bill Kristol, who mostly pushed conservative conventional wisdom (“Voters have an awful lot to question about Kerry’s public record”); National Public Radio’s Mara Liasson, who said Miller, with an angry speech, may have gone too far; and Roll Call‘s Mort Kondracke, who claimed everything said in the speeches “was legitimate” except for Miller’s characterization of his fellow Democrats. (There, he “went over the line into demagoguery,” said Kondracke.) Like CNN’s trio, both Liasson and Kondracke pointed out that it’s not just John Kerry who has called Americans occupiers, as Miller suggested in his speech, but also George Bush. The Standard‘s Fred Barnes was also on the panel, but he was clearly in it for the sell, praising both speeches and at one point saying that “it is significant that [Miller] didn’t scream,” a non sequitor that apparently represented an effort to compare Miller favorably to Howard Dean. Moderator Brit Hume at one point did a pretty good imitation of a real journalist, pointing out that 20-year Senate voting records are long and easy to cherry pick for criticism, but he ultimately relapsed into default mode, asking questions like, “What is it in Kerry’s record that will be hardest to defend?” Considering the source, not a total train wreck … but nowhere near good enough. GRADE: C-
MSNBC: Chris Matthews’ already legendary face-off with Zell Miller has gotten all the attention — a blessing for MSNBC, because its performance was otherwise pretty dismal. Democrats weren’t given any time to respond to the speeches, and the commentators — Andrea Mitchell, John Meacham, and Joe Scarborough — failed to provide any useful context. There was a lot of rereading of favorite lines from the speeches, and Matthews characterized Cheney’s speech as “a powerful indictment of John Kerry’s record” containing “no rhetoric” — a ludicrous statement, given that for long periods Cheney simply strung together campaign slogans. MSNBC followed the lovefest among the commentators with interviews from the floor with two Republicans — Ohio Gov. Robert Taft and Georgia Rep. Johnny Isakson — who were, of course, big fans of both speeches. The only break came when Tom Brokaw, getting a little screen time with Tim Russert, pointed out that John McCain had said during the speech he was uncomfortable with Miller’s choice of language and tone. Brokaw also raised the question of whether Miller went too far. But even Matthews’ vaunted flame-up with Miller wasn’t an unalloyed testament to the host’s journalistic acumen; it seemed to grow more out of a misunderstanding between the two over one specific question than out of Matthews’ incisive, if sometimes smug, questioning, and Miller’s anger looked like a carryover from the unexpected whack-a-mole he had encountered earlier from CNN. Fireworks notwithstanding … GRADE: C-
The Broadcast Networks: ABC, NBC, and CBS had only a few minutes to give viewers a little context between the end of Cheney’s speech and the start of their regularly scheduled programming. But they wasted even that. None of the networks pointed out the misrepresentations in the speeches, and NBC even went to a brief interview with Newt Gingrich, who called the evening “devastating” (apparently for the opposition), but failed to offer up a rebuttal from an actual Democrat. There were a few interruptions to the Grand Old Party’s party: On ABC, George Stephanopolous joined the chorus with the observation that Miller’s performance might have been overkill, and CBS’s Dan Rather briefly discussed a protester who had infiltrated the convention earlier in the evening. But that was it in terms of context or non-sanctioned spin, and that wasn’t much. The networks, without exception, failed to give viewers either the information or the context they deserve. We’ve seen better political reporting on ESPN. GRADE: F
Correction: The above post has been changed to reflect the fact that Jeff Greenfield, not Bill Schneider, participated in the interview with Zell Miller.
