TV news, except Keith and Jack Cafferty, was two months late with coverage of U.S. Attorney firings

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: The Big Picture, Paint-by-Numbers Slow
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 19, 2007; Page C01

....On Jan. 12, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the Bush administration had quietly asked the local U.S. attorney, Carol Lam, to step down. The next morning, the Web site TPMmuckraker.com posted an item about the firing. Two days later -- under the heading "White House Pushes Out Another Prosecutor" -- the liberal site touted a Las Vegas Review-Journal piece on the dismissal of the U.S. attorney in Nevada....

The breakthrough came on Jan. 16, when the Wall Street Journal reported that as many as seven U.S. attorneys were losing their jobs. The Los Angeles Times and New York Times weighed in the next day, followed by The Washington Post. The seeds of a scandal that would lead to calls for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had been planted, but would not blossom as a full-blown television story for nearly two months.

The Muckraker page of TalkingPointsMemo.com acted as a catalyst, vacuuming up press accounts and doing its own digging. Founder Josh Marshall says he was interested in Lam because she was broadening an investigation that had convicted GOP congressman Duke Cunningham. "We're basically building the narrative for the story when there are isolated reports in different newspapers," Marshall says.

Cable television paid little attention, except for two commentators who often criticize President Bush. In mid-January, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann asked whether Bush had "been targeting United States attorneys, squeezing them out because they prosecuted politicians, then changing the law so the attorney general can appoint replacements without anybody confirming them." CNN's Jack Cafferty called the firings "another sign the Bush administration is circling the wagons in the face of possible corruption investigations." The first Fox News story appeared on "Special Report" Feb. 15.

As for the nightly newscasts, they took no notice of the controversy until this month, but by last week it was repeatedly leading "NBC Nightly News," ABC's "World News" and the "CBS Evening News."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801146.html

[Sherman A1]

1. Well for the rest of them

please be kind enough to remember.... they had to cover Brittney, Anna Nicole and I am sure at least one shark attack somewhere. :sarcasm:

[Berry Cool]

2. Kurtz doesn't necessarily mean it as a compliment.

He routinely refers to people like Keith as "anti-Bush." As if there were something wrong with that.

[Clark2008]

3. And the thing about it is: telling the TRUTH about Bush doesn't

necessarily mean one is "anti-Bush," but, in journalistic fields, it should mean someone is doing their job!

[OneGrassRoot]

4. My local ABC affiliate (Raleigh, NC) just showed clips...

about USA firings, as well as Leahy's clip regarding issuing subpoenas for Rove, etc.

Two scandal clips back to back. Oh, and I don't recall what I had on in the background yesterday (I rarely have the sound on) but they were showing fairly extensive anti-war protests around the country.

Maybe the tide is changing, be it very, very late in the game.

Just sharing. :)