This week, Media Matters looks at the recent barrage of divisive commentary and reporting that has dominated media coverage for the past several days, and notes another Media Matters for America review of Sinclair Broadcast Group's conservative tilt:

Week ending December 3, 2004
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This week, Media Matters looks at the recent barrage of divisive commentary and reporting that has dominated media coverage for the past several days, and notes another Media Matters for America review of Sinclair Broadcast Group's conservative tilt:

CBS, NBC reject United Church of Christ ad; CBS indicated ad's inconsistency with Bush administration policies made it unacceptable

Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell spew hateful rhetoric; why are they given a forum for their divisive commentary?

ABC downplayed anti-gay bigotry

O'Reilly: “Even Jewish people like Christmas”

Media Matters for America review revealed even more conservative dominance in Sinclair broadcasts

CBS, NBC rejected United Church of Christ ad; CBS indicated ad's inconsistency with Bush administration policies made it unacceptable

The United Church of Christ (UCC), which has more than one million members, is currently running a television ad touting the fact that their church, “like Jesus ... seeks to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation.” The message seems to be an uncontroversial, valuable expression of American values of openness and inclusion.

Not so, according to CBS and NBC, which are refusing to air the advertisement. CBS and NBC claim they rejected the ad because they don't run “advocacy” ads. But that's simply not true. CBS has run advocacy ads from the Bush administration, which deal with smoking, drug use, and the administration's Medicare policies. NBC also ran the Medicare ad.

So why did CBS and NBC really reject the ad? CBS explained to the UCC:

Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations, and the fact that the Executive Branch [read: Bush administration] has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the Networks. [emphasis added]

CBS appears to be saying that the ad is unacceptable because it is contrary to Bush administration policy -- which, coupled with the network's previous willingness to air advocacy ads produced by the administration, raises serious concerns about the network's independence.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time CBS has refused to air advocacy ads that it judges to be contrary to Bush administration policies: In January, the network refused to run a MoveOn.org ad. The reasons may still be murky, but the pattern is clear: CBS runs advocacy ads produced by the White House, but rejects those contrary to White House policies.

CBS's statement raises further questions about whether or not the network even watched the ad or understands the current dialogue about gay rights. Though CBS seems to be saying that the ad is contrary to Bush's support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage, the ad makes no mention of gay marriage -- much less of the movement afoot to amend the Constitution to prohibit it. It makes only passing reference to homosexuality at all -- and that mention is made only in the context of saying, essentially, “all are welcome.” CBS's conflation of two separate issues, a constitutional ban on gay marriage and the concept of whether gay parishioners are welcome in church, seems to indicate a fundamental discomfort with some rather basic issues, as well as an unwillingness to understand them.

The Nation's John Nichols wrote of the networks' rejection of the ad:

CBS and NBC, networks that reap enormous profits from the public airwaves, are not serving the public interest. Rather, they are assaulting it by narrowing the dialogue and rejecting a message of inclusion that is sorely needed at this point in the American experiment.

Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell spew hateful rhetoric; why are they given a forum for their divisive commentary?

Christian Coalition founder Reverend Pat Robertson -- once memorably described as a “toothy flake” by conservative leader Steve Forbes -- did his best to prove Forbes's point on the November 30 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club. As Media Matters for America detailed this week, Robertson referred to gays and lesbians as “self-absorbed hedonists ... that want to impose their particular sexuality on the rest of America.” Robertson went on to explain that “The whole concept of marriage is to bring forth a godly seed, to bring forth children who will grow up to serve the Lord. That's what marriage is about and it is about nothing else.” This message will surely come as news not only to committed homosexual couples, but to the many married, loving heterosexual couples who cannot have children, or choose not to.

But at least Robertson was speaking on his own television show. Reverend Jerry Falwell, on the other hand, was inexplicably given a forum on NBC's Meet the Press from which to unleash a torrent of distasteful rhetoric. It is unclear why NBC thought Falwell -- a man who has said the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred not because a bunch of evil people hate the United States, but because God hates gay people and feminists -- deserved a coveted spot on the top Sunday political talk show.

In any case, Falwell performed predictably, claiming that when he blamed gay people for the September 11 attacks, he “likewise” held responsible “a sleeping church, a lethargic church.” Falwell was lying -- he hadn't held a “sleeping church” responsible in his original comments. But the better question is: Why does he think it would be better if he had blamed the church? A “sleeping church” is no more responsible for the terrorist attacks than are feminists or gay people. Osama bin Laden and his accomplices are responsible. Falwell's vicious slander against gays, feminists, and, now, innocent churchgoers, can't change that basic fact.

And CNN producers knew just what to do after Falwell delivered his hate speech on NBC: They made him a guest co-host of the December 2 edition of Crossfire.

ABC downplayed anti-gay bigotry

Also this week, Media Matters for America noted an extraordinary ABC News report in which the network provided a dramatic example of the media's willingness to whitewash anti-gay bigotry:

A November 28 “original report” on the ABC News website, titled “Evangelicals to Bush: Payback Time” (based on a segment that aired on the November 23 edition of ABC's World News Tonight) asserted that Gary Cass, executive director of the Center for Reclaiming America, a grassroots Christian political organization affiliated with Coral Ridge Ministries, “wants a U.S. Supreme Court that will outlaw abortion and gay marriage.” As apparent support for its assertion, ABC News offered a quote from Cass that reveals his real agenda, which is in fact far broader than ABC News's characterization: “Do you want to take your children to a National League baseball game, for instance, and have homosexuals showing affection to one another? I don't want my kids to see that.” This quote also aired during the World News Tonight broadcast.

[...]

What does a ban on gay marriage have to do with gays and lesbians “showing affection” at a ball game? Nothing. But you wouldn't know that from ABC News, which would have its audience believe that all Cass and his fellow conservatives want is to prevent gays and lesbians from getting married. Cass himself reveals that he wants much more.

Nor did ABC News ask Cass why his opposition to displays of homosexual affection applied only to National League baseball games, and not to those played in the American League. Perhaps Cass thinks homosexual affection, like the designated hitter, should be permitted only in American League ballparks.

Media Matters thinks that while displays of same-sex affection should be governed by the same rules of social propriety as heterosexual displays, the designated hitter rule is not appropriate under any scenario and not something to which children should be subjected.

O'Reilly: “Even Jewish people like Christmas”

Media Matters for America also noted this week:

FOX News Channel host Bill O'Reilly touted a group's complaint that department stores Macy's and Bloomingdale's have replaced their “Merry Christmas” greetings with “Season's Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” and declared on the December 1 edition of FOX News' The O'Reilly Factor, “Even Jewish people like Christmas.”

[...]

Apparently speaking seriously, O'Reilly's guest, Forbes magazine senior editor Elizabeth MacDonald, blamed department store decorations for holiday season alcoholism and depression: “And you have got to wonder why people become depressed alcoholics around the season, because the meaning is sucked out of it.” As if to confirm that this was not just an offhand remark, MacDonald repeated her hypothesis moments later: “Again, I have to say I'm not surprised people become depressed alcoholics during the Christmas season.”

After O'Reilly read from Federated's [Federated Department Stores, owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's] statement, in which the company notes that they “realize this is an important issue to many people and we respect everybody's views” but that “phrases such as 'Season's Greetings' and 'Happy Holidays'” are “more reflective of the multicultural society in which we live today,” he declared that the statement “teed me off worse.” MacDonald derided the statement as “really defensive.”

MacDonald claimed that the greetings "'Happy Holidays'" and 'Season's Greetings'" don't “speak to” Jews or Christians: "[B]eing Jewish or being Christian -- does 'Happy Holidays' speak to those people? No. Does 'Season's Greetings' speak to those people? No."

In declaring the Jewish people's support for Christmas, O'Reilly was perhaps referring to the Saturday Night Live skit "The Night Hanukkah Harry Saved Christmas."

Media Matters for America review revealed even more conservative dominance in Sinclair broadcasts

A Media Matters for America review of “The Point,” commentary by Sinclair Broadcast Group vice president Mark Hyman that is broadcast nightly on Sinclair television stations, revealed the systemic conservative tilt in the commentaries, which are not countered by commentaries from progressives:

Media Matters for America examined all segments of “The Point” that have aired since the November 2 presidential election. Hyman repeatedly attacked Senator John Kerry, former President Bill Clinton and his administration, and other prominent Democrats and progressives. Hyman charged liberal media bias and made repeated references to “The Angry Left.” Hyman's commentaries also served to promote President George W. Bush and his policies and proposals with little critique. And several contained misleading claims.

Media Matters for America previously detailed the “steady stream of pro-Bush and anti-progressive news items” Sinclair provides in its regular “Get This” segment.

Jamison Foser is Executive Vice President at Media Matters for America.