[Image][Image] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Networks Offer Scant Coverage of Chung Testimony 06 April, 1999 By the Media Research Center CNS News Analysis On Monday only CNN, which gave the story 29 seconds on The World Today, considered newsworthy Sunday's Los Angeles Times scoop about how Johnny Chung told a federal grand jury that in 1996 the chief of military intelligence for China gave him $300,000 to donate to the Democratic National Committee to help re-elect Bill Clinton. Not a syllable about the revelation aired on the broadcast networks Monday morning or evening nor, surprisingly, on FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume or Fox Report Monday night, though it should be noted FNC has done quite a bit on this general subject over the past year. Not even the intriguing news about how the FBI thought a "hit squad" may have been sent from China to silence Chung interested the networks. The broadcast networks cannot claim Kosovo war coverage consumed all their time as the morning and evening shows found time for stories on topics such as a sinking freeway, controversy over FDA approval of a drug to prevent breast cancer, luggage theft, how many hot dogs baseball fans will consume this season, and the White House Easter Egg Roll. The April 4 LA Times story generated a question each on Fox News Sunday and Meet the Press, but was ignored Sunday night by ABC, CBS and CNN. (NBA Basketball bumped NBC Nightly News.) April 5 Evening Shows: Zilch on the Chinese military intelligence-Clinton link, but in addition to pieces on Libya turning over suspects in the Pan Am 103 bombing case and a plea bargain in the Matthew Shepard case, the networks made time for less serious and/or less than pressing stories. ABC's World News Tonight: An "It's Your Money" segment by Judy Muller on how the 105 Freeway is sinking in Los Angeles because of underground water. CBS Evening News: A brief item on how baseball's opening day in Los Angeles featured a Dodgers pitcher with a $100 million contract. Plus, Ray Brady delivered an Eye on America piece on tax kinks," specifically how a Kansas family with 13 kids which earns $90,000 was hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax. NBC Nightly News: A feature story by Robert Bazell on the controversy over FDA approval of Tamoxifen (sp?), a drug meant to prevent breast cancer. April 5 Morning Shows: Kosovo dominated, but even within the first hour ABC and NBC found room for other material, though not China, as did CBS in its prime 8am half-hour. In other words, the examples of other stories cited below do not even touch the fluff aired in the second half of the shows. ABC's Good Morning America: MRC analyst Jessica Anderson documented, featured 7am news stories on baseball's opening game in Monterey, Mexico, and how the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council says baseball fans will consume at least 26 million hot dogs during Major League games this season. A 7am half-hour interview segment looked at the Pan Am case and 7:30am half hour segments focused on the Jenny Jones trial and how to avoid luggage thefts at airports. CBS's This Morning: MRC analyst Brian Boyd noted, devoted its last segment in its prime 8am half hour to travel tips for New Years Eve 1999. NBC's Today: MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens observed, read items on the 7am news about opening day in Mexico and a strike by submarine builders in Newport News. Like GMA, Today dedicated a 7am interview segment to the Pan Am bombing. During the 7:30am half hour Today explored the case in North Carolina in which two 11-year-olds shot their parents, killing their father. (In the 8am half hour Today went live to the White House with Al Roker at the Easter Egg Roll where he talked with actress Jamie Lee Curtis.) CNN: Anchor Jim Moret squeezed in a 29-second item on the April 5 The World Today. During Inside Politics, in a story previewing Tuesday's arrival in Los Angeles of China's premier, Chris Black gave the latest allegations nine seconds: "The visit comes on the heels of allegations China may have stolen sensitive missile technology in the 1980s and claims by a former Democratic fundraiser that a Chinese official gave him $300,000 to support President Clinton's re-election, a violation of U.S. law. And then, there is the perennial issue of human rights in China...." Anchor Judy Woodruff then talked to Brooks Jackson about the Chung revelations. He emphasized how only about $35,000 of the $300,000 made it to the DNC and that there's "no evidence" Democratic official or Bill Clinton knew where the money came from, though he added that maybe they should have known. Jackson also pointed out that last year on May 15 the New York Times first broke the same basic story, about how Chung received money from the Chinese Army, to which the LA Times has added details. Indeed, Jackson is correct, which reminded me how CBS and NBC also ignored that New York Times story. As reported in the Monday, May 18, 1998 CyberAlert: Two big developments on the campaign fundraising scandal front, but the networks barely noticed. Friday's New York Times linked Democratic money to China's People's Liberation Army. On Sunday, both the New York Times and Washington Post featured front page reports on how the Justice Department had launched an investigation into, as the May 17 Post put it, "whether a Clinton administration decision to export commercial satellites to China was influenced by contributions to the Democratic Party during the 1996 campaign." Some foreign policy observers have suggested China's improved missile abilities may have pushed India to hold the nuclear test last week. So, you have two big stories involving substantive policy issues, none of that sex stuff so many in the media criticize Starr for delving into. And how do the networks react? In three weekday evenings (Friday to Sunday) only ABC aired full stories on both developments. Neither CBS or NBC mentioned the Sunday newspaper reports on the China satellite/missile deal. -- Three day total CBS Evening News time devoted to either development: 27 seconds. -- Three day total NBC Nightly News time devoted to either development: 15 seconds. -- From Friday through Sunday evening total number of nights CBS or NBC aired a scandal story: 1. But before you think that they would have provided thorough coverage if it weren't for Frank Sinatra's passing, check out some of the topics they made time to explore: "Powerball fever," collecting blues albums, and the effort by scientists to determine if Thomas Jefferson had offspring with slave Sally Hemings. And no major scandal news cycle would be complete without the usual disconnect between Tim Russert and the actual content of the network news division for whom he serves as a Vice President. On Meet the Press he called the revelations "devastating." That night and the night before the total amount of coverage on NBC Nightly News: Zip, zero, nada. (Editor's Note: The Media Research Center is the parent organization of the Conservative News Service.) ----------------------------------------------------------------