during these david shuster host to take action news on we act radio on take
action news dot com and also on you tube that you too dot com slash take action
news t_v_ david idoney should probably build up to this but i just want to get
right into the good stuff that i know people want to know right away so from
from ninety-six the two thousand two
you were of washington d_c_-based correspondent for fox news channel and
then you went on to msnbc so when you were at foxnews
explicit is the right wing talking point point of view in terms of the direction
that that and on air staff get
approx was a very different organization back and then it is now when i joined
fox news i've been a local reporter little rock arkansas though i had led
them on local stations covered to the whitewater investigation i really good
contacts and ken starr's office
with the flats news hired me to washington to essentially keep track of
white water case and when anywhere
and then when the monica lewinsky scandal broke a lot of the prosecutors
are covered in arkansas they were then working for stars like a great contacts
in the office of independent counsel
and i never really had any um issue with fox outbid saying do a store display or
door don't do it that way
are the biggest problem and have worked with
some of the on-air talent uh... some of the host to a cake that sort of
carefully crafted information about the whitewater investigation
for about the monica lewinsky scandal and take it out of context and use it
for their own agenda but that was a sort of a constant battle charlie
we would also get their memos from other head of the sort of editorial planter
boxes saying here's the types of stories we're gonna be following but i didn't
really think that there was a m
our heavy hand
or a unattractive sort of right wing hand on fox news until really uh...
starting with the porter recounted two thousand
and then it became or i_v_f_ and that's what i felt like wow
maybe this isn't that a great place for me
right said you were on the you decide to thousand i don't know if it's staffer or
whatever you were part of you decide to thousands and and everything that took
place around the two thousand election so at that point
as things were developing with the supreme court and with the greek counts
in all of the stuff was there any kind of
uh... of concerted decision about what the point of view would be is it just
kind of known what it would be
well it became pretty obvious to me and i i had that cover the john mccain
campaign and it felt like it a lot more sort of a apt word to try to get me to
do negative stories about john mccain and the two thousand republican primary
tend to get the guy who is covering george w_ bush to do negative stories
about him
so i felt like the network it management attempt was more sort of in the george
w_ bush camp is enjoying the floor to recount
i've got to tell happy for a for four weeks
where became so apparently is that uh... you recall that on election night when
all the networks got it wrong one of the talking points from the republicans with
that well the network had not called the state of florida when they did
thousands of voters in the panhandle forum would not have been
disenfranchised and they keep in mind for the polls colton portable pathetic
seven o'clock and then the panhandle which is a central time zone it actually
cause of that
seven o'clock central time which is eight o'clock eastern the networks
called florida for gore initially
hand gel until the argument was oh my god or thousands of conservative
republicans in the
the panhandle of florida
that didn't vote at the network and that call detroit for al gore than george w_
bush would've won the vote period
that was a talking point on election night in for several days afterwards
what fox news there to take that one of my colleagues
guy by the name of brett there
right of the panhandle
to flying the thousands of republican voters who had heard that al gore one
quarter were disenfranchised who decided not to vote
and brad couldn't find any of them pianist exhibit in advance there were no
people if they were waiting in line a quarter of the vote anyway racking up by
many people think even come to tallahassee tells me
you know there's parking for this republican party point is wrong
after all when you're gonna do the story then write your get a report that there
is there were none of these you thousands of people that we're getting
franchise that in fact al gore that the networks
that george will be which would not have won the overall bpl regardless of the
networks did
he said no i'm not gonna do that story
and i said whoa wind up in our job as you go a report and we've got people on
the air right now saying that george will be bush
would've won florida had not been for the networking to god
i'm just not you know i'm just not to do this try not to rock the boat
and that's when i realized that ok but did have an agenda to sort of left of
talking point be out there that george will be bush would've won had it not
been for network
and i felt like dad brett bear is going to a very far parking is news channel
because
he's playing to management he's not as the third cling to journalism and that
was
you know there was a choice that he may tie was done but i was disturbed by a
control like no that's not the truth but i would have made
and when i was in florida are reported what i was finding and that is both i'd
we're working like hell to try to win the recap the more shenanigans on both
sides it wasn't just al gore that was you know trying to
touring certain things that wasn't just george w_ bush
but the network starting in the porter recant had very much a manage end of
today al gore's trying to steal the thing so that's a pretty candid
discussion to have with brett there who now hosts the six p_m_ news hour he's
one of the main fox news guys at this point you were writing your for your
prediction that he would go far with that point of view
and he basically just admit it you know it's it's it's gonna it's gonna stirred
things up if i report that i missed does not gonna talk about it all do you find
that this kind two sites that we saw the bills salmon memos were they say
faces how we're gonna talk about health care and that's like a very proactive
way to push basically republican talking points but you're talking about a
different thing which is just the exclusion of certain stories that might
conflict with the party lines so so it's really it's like a two-sided approach
absolutely and it's just i mean by then apply them perfectly the one side would
be the holes
who you know that the people who hold certain shows soon they will express
whatever opinion a bill famine or somebody for management and in a memo
they will we need that into their commentary to their discussion
and in effect inside is involve the people who consider themselves to be
reporters and that is they will report uncertain stories and they will not
touch
other stories and felt you know folks like a breath there are other people who
considered themselves journalist
they will do an admirable job with the story that they are prepared under the
story they are asked to cover
but there's a whole range of stories that these reports even they make their
hey we should go cover this story over here apart his mental state not knowing
racket cover that's where we're not going to talk about that in some time
the absolute of covering stories particularly ones that
kichu in the face
that's where the bias and show up
so let's talk a little bit about msnbc because we get out
beyond the on the progress of side of independent media myself i hear tooth to
kind of opinions about msnbc what is people who really like it and they like
rachel maddow and uh... and they like everything that's going on on the
channel and others who say you know the keith olbermann thing is really just
kind of an example keith olbermann
uh... the controversy over his political donations and and eventually leaving the
channel is really an example that msnbc has chosen as a profit product to have
editorially more progressive uh... commentator's but really that it's
indistinguishable for from fox news in the sense that they both urges corporate
media putting out the product they think will make them the most money rachel
maddow has come back and said now you know these are both for-profit companies
but there's a huge difference between the kind of of decidedly right wing
talking points that purveyed the supposedly news coverage on fox and
msnbc having liberal opinion programming having worked for both what's your take
how do you compare them
well well have a great question in a greater an electrician and that is i
would play a couple of things yes bearer is a uh... there if the buyer from both
died in once upon a time i would have had foxnews far more conservative than
m_f_n_ if you could ever be quotable
old liberal these however i would think that it started to doubt that a little
bit more that put that them a permit to become much more sort of progressive
liberal uh... than before and then certainly when i started their but a
couple of things i would also argue though that the rachel maddow things
that people remains
uh... and shold though i prefer rapid it's much more money fact-based approach
and i think that's also been something the progress of the loan thing tivoli
tell you that progress is tell me look
we don't want the parliament
the out but we simply want that
fact-based affiant based discussion of these issues
and therefore i think you know they have a committee commentators do a better job
in five pin that yes you may think will reach a battle at the point of view
or lord of da doran chilled but they tend to be they can do it here to fax
and basic
much more than a strict spectra fashion
and you get on the opposite side over at fox news and that frankly the
differences that you could
and i think that the funding of programs of local say of court
progressive i think most progresses we'll tell you if you have it backbase
discussion
progresses again win seventy percent of the time and i think that seems to be
what i hear from put my former colleagues at msnbc they just want to
have a arduous
arg of very arduous
uh... on point discussion that in fact based
and and they believe that their progress in point of view will win
lastname we saw after the twenty twelve election results viewers tuning out
allot from fox news their ratings have while they're still very good in the
kind of aggregate sens
in in the key demographics in prime time they've been lower than they they were
since before tonight eleven in fact
what do you think this is a response to is this just some fifty dash they're
losing an election or could this be kind of the start of a longer term shift away
from that type of program
i think it's part of a longer term ship i mean the credibility gap and fox news
had been there for a long time and i think it is finally catching up with
them but but the drone tm beat of criticism legitimate criticism the big
apple organization to pay attention to fax
with their pay fox news gets it wrong or they got it wrong or jon stewart for
example perhaps the most effective at that
i mean boxes of credibility simply doesn't exist anymore cutesiness as they
republican health oregon of g_o_p_ propaganda and even want box build a
straight new story added nell viewed through the prism of will distribute the
food eating done to further a particular republican agenda and i think americans
realized even from moderates and conservatives hoping that burned in the
last election by all the predictions on fox news about
mit romney winning the election and it can be a landslide at all that of course
turned out to be wrong
and i think people are realizing that it might be an age when you want to have
accurate information randy regardless of your pre-existing political views
you wanna accurate information and i think more more american
deal that what they're getting from pocket simply is not accurate and cannot
be trusted
all right david shuster host to take action news and we act radio check it
out to take action news dot com also youtube dot com slash take actions
tv
i can't say you have anything back david this is great to have a lot of
opportunity
erode welcome david congradulations and all your success
okay we'll take a break more after this