On the September 16 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, host and Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz repeated a pattern in which he suggests that the media skew coverage in favor of Democrats and against Republicans by asking -- regarding scrutiny of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's actions related to 9-11 -- “Why all the press scrutiny of the mayor's performance that day?” and “Is there any possibility that he's being kind of Swiftboated here?” He also asserted: "[M]y impression is that these stories are being driven by New York Fire Department officials and others in the city who just don't like Rudy." But scrutiny of Giuliani has not been confined to “the mayor's performance that day,” and it is not just “Fire Department officials” and others “who just don't like” him who have said that his actions have been inadequately scrutinized.

Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented examples of Kurtz promoting the notion of a liberal bias in the media by asking leading questions, including: "[A]re the media openly siding with the Democrats?"; "Is the press to blame for the fact that" former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) “is under indictment?”; and "Is the press playing up U.S. military mistakes in Iraq?"

Kurtz began the September 16 segment on coverage of Giuliani by saying:

KURTZ: Now, this week was also, of course, the sixth anniversary of 9-11, and the media observed that, although not quite with the wall-to-wall coverage that they have in past years. But suddenly there are all these stories about Rudy Giuliani and what he did as mayor of New York City on that awful day. Let's take a look at some of those pieces.

But recent scrutiny of Giuliani's actions in confronting terrorism as mayor is not confined to “what he did as mayor of New York City on that awful day.” As Media Matters has repeatedly noted, Giuliani has been criticized over a number of issues, including his failure to ensure that firefighters would have radios that could communicate with those of other first responders and his decision to locate the city's emergency command center in the World Trade Center.

Kurtz made reference to Giuliani's decision regarding the command center, but did not explain its relevance to Giuliani's actions on 9-11 or its contribution to the photographic images from that day, which Giuliani and supporters have used to dramatize his role:

KURTZ: Giuliani made some mistakes, especially by putting the emergency command center in the World Trade Center. But my impression is that these stories are being driven by New York Fire Department officials and others in the city who just don't like Rudy.

As Media Matters has documented, Giuliani headed to the city's emergency command center in the World Trade Center on September 11 but was advised that it was too dangerous, which left him searching for a location from which to manage the situation. In the book Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 (HarperCollins, 2006), authors Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins wrote that Giuliani's “original destination” after hearing about the attacks was his “much-ballyhooed command center” at 7 World Trade Center (Page 6). However, according to the authors, then-New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, “who was waiting to meet [Giuliani], decided it was too dangerous to bring the mayor up to the command center [Giuliani] had so carefully and expensively built” (Page 340). Barrett and Collins wrote that “Giuliani then began a harrowing trek to find a temporary headquarters where the city could manage the unfolding disaster” (Page 6). As Media Matters has noted, Barrett and Collins concluded that if the command center had not posed such a safety risk to Giuliani, “all the dramatic visuals that turned the soot-covered Giuliani into a nomad warrior would instead have been tense but tame footage from its barren press conference room” (Page 41).

Further, contrary to Kurtz's suggestion, it is not just fire department officials “and others in the city who just don't like Rudy” who have said that Giuliani's record related to 9-11 should be scrutinized. The co-chairmen of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission, former Gov. Thomas Kean (R-NJ) and former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-IN) noted that Giuliani's 9-11 record had escaped scrutiny. They wrote in their book Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission (Random House, 2006) that "[t]he questioning of Giuliani was ... 'a low point' in the commission's examination of witnesses during public hearings," according to the Associated Press. The AP added that Kean and Hamilton wrote: “We did not ask tough questions, nor did we get all of the information we needed to put on the public record. ... It proved difficult, if not impossible, to raise hard questions about 9/11 in New York without it being perceived as criticism of the individual police and firefighters or of Mayor Giuliani.”

Moreover, while Kurtz played short clips of reports from ABC, NBC, and CBS mentioning criticism of Giuliani's 9-11 record, Kurtz did not actually air or otherwise note most of the substantive criticism from those network reports, including Giuliani's failure to upgrade firefighters' radios after the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center or Giuliani's claim that he spent more time at Ground Zero than most rescue workers. Both the NBC and ABC reports clipped by Kurtz noted criticism over the radios. As Media Matters has noted, New York City's firefighters have been critical of Giuliani for what they see as his failure to ensure that the New York police and fire departments had interoperable radios. At the time of the attacks, the New York Fire Department was using outdated VHF radios that were incompatible with the police department's UHF radios. On March 14, The New York Times reported that Harold A. Schaitberger, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), said of Giuliani: “The whole issue of the radios is unforgivable. ... Everyone knew they needed a better system, and he didn't get it done.” As Media Matters documented, problems with the firefighters' radios were known years before 9-11. Barrett, also a staff writer for The Village Voice, reported in an August 7 article that a 1995 sarin-gas drill conducted by New York City officials highlighted the radio interoperability problem that “would be identified years later in official reviews of the 9/11 response.” After the 1993 World Trade Center rescue effort, then-New York City Fire Chief Anthony L. Fusco wrote about the radios' limited ability in the December 1993 issue of Fire Engineering. In addition, the September 11 NBC News report that Kurtz clipped also noted criticism of Giuliani's August 9 claim that he “was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers” participating in the hazardous cleanup. As Media Matters noted, The New York Times reported that Giuliani's archive showed that he spent “a total of 29 hours” at Ground Zero from “Sept. 17 to Dec. 16, 2001,” while "[i]n that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts."

Kurtz did acknowledge that Giuliani made “some mistakes, especially putting the emergency command center in the World Trade Center,” but he later asked: “But who was expecting planes to fly into the World Trade Center?” In fact, many observers had noted that the World Trade Center was a potential terrorist target before 9-11. As Media Matters documented, the final report of the 9-11 Commission noted that the New York City Office of Emergency Management's “headquarters was located at 7 WTC. Some questioned locating it both so close to a previous terrorist target and on the 23rd floor of a building (difficult to access should elevators become inoperable). There was no backup site.” Additionally, as Media Matters noted, Barrett wrote in his August 7 article that then-Police Commissioner Howard Safir “called it [the proposed command center location] 'Ground Zero' because of the earlier attack.”

Finally, contrary to Kurtz's suggestion that Giuliani might not be “getting a fair shake” about his 9-11 record, media outlets have routinely touted Giuliani's heroism or leadership on September 11 while ignoring criticism of his record. In fact, as Media Matters has documented, Kurtz himself touted Giuliani as a “9/11 hero[].” Kurtz wrote in his February 6 online column that Giuliani was “one of the heroes of 9/11,” adding that his “accomplishments are undeniable.” Further, in a July 14, 2006, column Kurtz wrote that "[t]hose who think that the 9/11 hero would be a formidable candidate are forgetting about the 9/10 Rudy. Meaning, this is a guy who is pro-choice on abortion, pro-gay rights and moved in with a gay couple after a messy breakup with his wife that came as he was dating another woman." Similarly, in a December 14, 2006, column, Kurtz asserted that Giuliani would “have trouble with some GOP primary voters, who now think of him primarily as a 9/11 hero, when he gets pounded for his liberal positions on abortion rights and gay rights.”

From the September 16 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources:

KURTZ: Coming up in the second half of Reliable Sources, Rudy Giuliani and 9-11. Why all the press scrutiny of the mayor's performance that day?

[...]

KURTZ: Six years after 9-11, Rudy Giuliani's role is getting dissected by the networks, but is the former mayor getting a fair shake? We'll tackle that in a moment.

[...]

KURTZ: Now, this week was also, of course, the sixth anniversary of 9-11, and the media observed that, although not quite with the wall-to-wall coverage that they have in past years. But suddenly there are all these stories about Rudy Giuliani and what he did as mayor of New York City on that awful day. Let's take a look at some of those pieces.

[begin video clip]

CYNTHIA McFADDEN (co-anchor of ABC's Nightline) [video clip]: But he does have critics, many of whom say his leadership on that day six years ago was not what it should have been.

BRIAN WILLIAMS (anchor of NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams): And that day became the basis, really, for his run for president. And not everyone feels the same way about it.

JEFF GREENFIELD (CBS News senior political correspondent): Some critics have questioned Giuliani's judgment in planning for a terrorist attack and caring for rescue workers afterward.

[end video clip]

KURTZ: Now, Gene Robinson [Washington Post columnist], Giuliani made some mistakes, especially by putting the emergency command center in the World Trade Center. But my impression is that these stories are being driven by New York Fire Department officials and others in the city who just don't like Rudy.

ROBINSON: Well, that's true. Rudy Giuliani left behind a lot of enemies in New York City, as you well know. I mean, look, it's fair game. The guy's running for president, and so examining his role on the day that is really, in many ways, the centerpiece of his campaign is perfectly legitimate.

I think we should kind of draw a line between mistakes he made or might have made in the time before 9-11. Was he prepared? Did he put the command center in the wrong place? That sort of thing. All these decisions that were made earlier. And when you look at his performance on the day, you know, you can complain this way or that way. I think --

KURTZ: But who was expecting planes to fly into the World Trade Center?

ROBINSON: Exactly, who was expecting that? And, you know, as somebody who's not necessarily a huge fan of Rudy Giuliani, I think you have to give him that he was an amazing, inspiring force that day.

KURTZ: It's --

BLANQUITA CULLUM (conservative radio talk-show host and Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member): You bet. And you know what? None of the other candidates, not one single one of them has that learning curve. Now, granted, some people are going to say that, “Well, he didn't do this right and he didn't do that right.” There's not one of the other candidates that had to suffer the learning curve that Rudy did. And he was the one that was the symbol of strength during 9-11. He was more than --

KURTZ: A symbol. The key word is “symbol.”

CULLUM: But you know what?

KURTZ: Some people are saying when you get to his performance --

CULLUM: But you know what, Howie? The thing of it is, he's already learned those lessons.

KURTZ: But let --

CULLUM: He knows what he has done wrong. And he --

KURTZ: Let's talk about the stories focusing on this. Is there any possibility that he's being kind of Swiftboated here?

CULLUM: Oh, well, they're going to try to Swiftboat him. But I've got to tell you that --

KURTZ: Who? His critics or the media?

CULLUM: His critics, the critics in the media. And I've got to tell you, it's not going to play with Rudy because Rudy has got a strength that is beyond his critics. And frankly, he has the only experience in that venue and he's -- what he can do better? I think Rudy ought to say, “This is what I learned, and this is what I'm going to do in case it happens next time,” and very well it could happen next time.

This is important for people to consider when they're looking at the candidates, because none of them have that experience.

KURTZ: All right. You both agree that at least this subject is fair game, especially with somebody who is running for president.

ROBINSON: Sure.

CULLUM: Yeah.

KURTZ: But what about Senator David Vitter [R-LA]?