Fox 31's Zappolo uncritically reported Bush criticism of Iraq spending bill

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Ron Zappolo of KDVR Fox 31 uncritically repeated a complaint from President Bush that congressional Democrats are not working “quickly” enough to approve funding “for the sake of the troops” in Iraq. Zappolo did not mention that other reports state the Army has money for operations “through most of July,” or that the previous Republican-led Congress took longer to act on Bush's war funding requests.

On the April 16 broadcast of KDVR Fox 31's News at Nine O'Clock, co-anchor Ron Zappolo uncritically reported President Bush's criticism of congressional Democrats for not working “quickly” enough to approve Iraq war funding “for the sake of the troops.” However, as Colorado Media Matters has noted (here and here), a March 28 Congressional Research Service report concluded that the Army would be able to fund its operations in Iraq “through most of July 2007” with the money it has now. Furthermore, Zappolo also failed to mention that in 2005 and 2006, the Republican-controlled Congress took considerably longer than the current Democratic-led Congress to act on Bush's funding requests for Iraq and Afghanistan, as the weblog ThinkProgress.org noted.

From the April 16 broadcast of KDVR Fox 31's News at Nine O'Clock:

ZAPPOLO: President Bush warns Congress to approve Iraq war funding or face the consequences. Speaking before veterans at the White House, he criticized the House and Senate for going on spring recess without delivering a war spending bill. Now that Congress is back from break, the president is calling on lawmakers to work quickly for the sake of the troops.

BUSH [video clip]: I understand Republicans and Democrats in Washington have differences over the best course in Iraq. That's healthy. That's normal. And we should debate those differences. But our troops should not be caught in the middle.

ZAPPOLO: Both chambers have added deadlines for troop withdrawal to their versions of the legislation. The president says he'll veto any measure with a timetable.

Fox 31's April 16 report echoed an April 3 segment in which Fox 31 co-anchor Libby Weaver uncritically reported the White House's suggestion that congressional Democrats were being “irresponsible” for having not yet delivered spending legislation to the president, thereby leaving the “troops ... in harm's way.”