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Center for American Progress - Progress Report

 

 

by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and

Jonathan Baskin

 

 

 

July 15, 2004

INTELLIGENCEMore Proof They KnewMEDIAFox Distorts, Fox

ConnivesLABORUnderhanded Overtime

UNDER THE RADAR

 

INTELLIGENCE

More Proof They Knew

 

This morning's Los Angeles Times uncovers an explosive

document buried at the end of the recent Senate

Intelligence report. It shows that before Colin

Powell's now-discredited U.N. speech justifying war in

Iraq, State Department analysts told Powell and top

administration officials about " dozens of factual

problems " in the address (which was written by Vice

President Cheney's staff). According to the Jan. 31,

2003 memo, there were problems with 38 of the claims

made in the speech draft, which was crafted at the

behest of the White House. (It was " intended to be the

Bush administration's most compelling case " for war in

Iraq.) In response, 28 were either " removed from the

draft or altered " #8211; but the others were left in.

Powell was reportedly irate when first given the

speech: According to the 9/3/03 U.S. News & World

Report, Powell threw the speech in the air, yelling,

" I'm not reading this. This is bulls--t. " This past

May, he reiterated his displeasure with the speech,

saying, " It turned out that the sourcing was

inaccurate and wrong, and in some cases deliberately

misleading. "

 

ADMINISTRATION WAS WARNED: Analysts advised Powell

that many of the claims were " weak " and " warned Powell

against making an array of allegations they deemed

implausible. " They also warned Powell that he " was

being put in the position of drawing the most sinister

conclusions from satellite images, communications

intercepts and human intelligence reports that had

alternative, less-incriminating explanations. "

 

DISCREDITED INFORMATION MADE IT IN, PART I: In the

speech to the U.N., Powell " showed aerial images of a

supposed decontamination vehicle circling a suspected

chemical weapons site. " The State Department

explicitly warned against using this claim. " We

caution that Iraq has given #8230; what may be a

plausible account for this activity #8212; that this

was an exercise involving the movement of conventional

explosives. " They concluded that the presence of a

water truck " is common in such an event. "

 

DISCREDITED INFORMATION MADE IT IN, PART II: The State

Department disagreed that the aluminum tubes imported

by Iraq could be used in a nuclear weapons program, a

claim also made by President Bush in his State of the

Union speech. The State Department memo said, " it is

taken out of context and is highly misleading.

Meantime, we will work with our IC colleagues to fix

some more egregious errors in the tubes discussion. "

 

MEDIA

Fox Distorts, Fox Connives

 

Just days after its release, " Outfoxed: Rupert

Murdoch's War on Journalism, " a film co-sponsored by

the Center for American Progress, is selling like

hotcakes, bouncing between the #1 and #2 most popular

DVDs on Amazon.com. (Watch a preview of the film, and

read major news coverage of it.) Not surprisingly,

that has brought on a blaze of attacks from Fox News,

whose credibility as a news organization has been

severely damaged. In a diatribe that only reinforces

Fox's unethical mix of conservative commentary and

" news, " Fox anchor/commentator John Gibson called one

of the movie's sponsors, MoveOn.org, a " liberal

hatchet organization " and claimed " America's major

media are dominated by the left - 80-some percent of

reporters are self-described liberals. " That, of

course, is untrue: As Media Matters notes, a report

released on May 23 by the Pew Research Center for the

People and the Press found that only 34% of national

journalists identified themselves as liberal, and 61%

identified themselves as moderate or conservative.

Despite this onslaught, however, more evidence emerged

yesterday of Fox's true bias. Georgetown law professor

David Cole recounts first-hand in The Nation how Fox's

Bill O'Reilly deliberately misled his viewers about

Iraq. And now, thirty-three separate memos from Fox

News director John Moody have been published for the

first time, showing just how far the network's

executives have gone to skew news coverage.

 

MEMOS URGE DOWNPLAYING OF U.S. CASUALTIES & VIOLENCE:

Amid White House calls for more positive news coverage

of Iraq, Moody's memos were instructing Fox

correspondents to downplay U.S. casualties and

violence plaguing Iraq. In a 3/24/04 memo, Moody

complained, " the real news in Iraq is being obscured

by temporary tragedy. " A few weeks later, he instructs

reporters to " not fall into the easy trap of mourning

the loss of U.S. lives. "

 

MEMOS TRANSLATE INTO RIGHT-WING SPIN: Moody's memo on

6/2/03 highlighted FCC Chairman Michael Powell's

interview on Fox after the FCC's decision to follow

Rupert Murdoch's demand to loosen ownership rules.

Moody said, " let's do a few hits on the commission's

vote. " That translated into Murdoch-style propaganda,

with a Fox News anchor that day disparaging the

previous rules preventing media consolidation as

" written back when we had black and white TV,

rabbit-ear antennas and three channels to choose from

- obviously, the media world is very different today. "

While Powell's decision was the most radical rollback

of media law in a generation, the Fox News anchor

claimed, " In fact, this wasn't really a major

overhaul. You simply loosened the rules a bit. "

 

MEMOS DEFEND JOURNALISTICALLY UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR: As

" Outfoxed " shows, Fox News viciously attacked former

Bush counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke after he

delivered a devastating account of how the White House

botched the response to 9/11. And Moody's 3/24/04 memo

shows just how dismissive of journalistic ethics the

network became in its quest to destroy Clarke. In that

memo, Moody justifies Fox's airing of an anonymous

briefing Clarke gave on background during his tenure

at the White House. When Clarke gave the briefing,

journalists agreed not to use his name, as he was

speaking generally for the White House, not giving his

own opinion. But instead of respecting that agreement,

Fox decided to follow the White House's smear campaign

and became the first network to air the briefing,

breaking a long-standing journalistic tradition of not

exposing sources correspondents agreed to leave

unattributed. The network then claimed Clarke's

two-year-old statements called into question his new

criticisms, even though he was no longer working for

the White House and now free to air his opinions. As

Moody bragged, " Neither [Fox correspondent Jim Angle]

nor Fox did anything wrong, except accomplish some

good reporting. "

 

FOX INSIDER ADMITS CHALLENGING GOP 'NOT THE FOX WAY':

Cablenewser, a respected cable industry trade

publication, published an anonymous e-mail from a

senior Fox News official in which the official admits

that challenging Republicans and conservatives " is not

the Fox way. " Instead, the official says, the mantra

is " Let the GOP off easy, and pound the Democrat du

jour. " The official, who according to the trade

publication " has been with the network since it

premiered, " says that " to suggest that the on-air

talent and producers are free to report the news as

they see fit is disingenuous at best " #8211; a point

corroborated by former Fox employees interviewed in

" Outfoxed. " Of course, that did not stop Fox from

disparaging those former employees in a statement this

week. But as the Fox official says, the decision to

attack Fox critics " can be laid right at [Fox News

executive/former GOP operative] Roger Ailes'

doorstep... nothing short of scorched-earth will do as

far as slamming these [ex-employees]. "

 

FOX'S FRIENDS ADMIT PREMISE OF 'OUTFOXED': While Fox

News desperately tries to defend its credibility, some

of its own right-wing allies are corroborating the

premise of " Outfoxed. " Insight Magazine, the far-right

publication of the Washington Times, admitted Fox's

news bias, noting themselves that the network is a

" conservative news network that claims to be fair and

balanced. " Review a long history of Fox's biased

reporting.

 

LABOR

Underhanded Overtime

 

According to two new studies published yesterday,

thousands of workers are going to lose overtime

compensation under the Bush administration's new labor

regulations. One study, by the Economic Policy

Institute, shows under the new rules published by the

Department of Labor, 6 million American workers will

be stripped of their overtime pay. At the same time, a

report by three former top-ranking Labor Department

officials found " implementation of these new

regulations will harm rather than promote and protect

the interests of U.S. workers and their families. " The

Fair Labor Standards Act established overtime rules to

ensure employers paid workers " time and a half " if

they worked over 40 hours a week. But the Bush

administration has sided with corporate interests,

creating rules which protect corporate profits by

denying workers their right to overtime pay. The new

rules go into effect August 23. (Read a summary of the

issue by American Progress's Scott Lilly.)

 

THE EPI STUDY: The new overtime rules published by the

Department of Labor will strip overtime pay from 6

million American workers. One way to do that is to

play with the language to redefine workers' roles.

Who's at risk? The Washington Post reports, " nearly 2

million administrative workers who can be classified

as team leaders would lose overtime protection. An

additional 920,000 workers who can be reclassified as

learned professionals, even though they do not have

college degrees, would be similarly affected. It also

said 1.4 million workers could lose overtime

protection by being reclassified as executives, as

could an estimated 130,000 chefs and cooks, 160,000

financial service workers and 117,000 teachers and

computer programmers. "

 

THE LABOR REPORT: Former Department of Labor officials

John Fraser, Monica Gallagher and Gail Coleman

released an independent review of the overtime

regulation this past Thursday. The three, who worked

under both Democratic and Republican administrations,

found the change was especially significant as " more

classes of workers and a greater proportion of the

work force overall will be exempt than we believe the

Congress could have originally intended. " The report

also found that, with these rules, the Labor

Department " fails to protect and promote the interests

of working people in the United States consistent with

its core organizational mission. "

 

ADMINISTRATION TIPS ON STIFFING WORKERS: Last January,

AP reported the Department of Labor was providing

employers tips on how to " avoid paying overtime to

some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would

become eligible this year. " Among the handy hints:

" cut the wages of the 1.3 million low-wage workers

newly eligible for overtime, then add the overtime to

equal the original salary; or raise salaries to the

new#8230;annual threshold so they would be

ineligible. " See more on all of the anti-worker

policies the Bush administration is pursuing.

 

SETTING THE BAR TOO LOW: The Bush administration

claims their new rules guarantee overtime pay for

workers who earn as much as $23,660 per year, up from

the current ceiling of $8,060. But the new figure is

still extraordinarily low, only $5,000 above the

poverty level for a family of four. Christine Owens,

AFL-CIO director of public policy, notes that

" families with that income [$23,660] qualify for food

stamps. " And, as EPI points out, since the salary

figure is set and doesn't take inflation into

consideration, " it will protect fewer and fewer

workers over time. "

 

GIVING THE FOX A HENHOUSE: The Department of Labor is

an agency which is supposed to exist protect the

interests of average workers. That makes Ed Frank, the

Labor Department's top spokesman in the effort to gut

overtime laws, a strange choice for protector. Frank

previously acted as the top spokesman for the National

Federation of Independent Business #8211; the main

special interest representing businesses who pushed

for the overtime changes.

 

 

 

 

 

BANKING #8211; RIGGING THE SYSTEM: Senate

investigators have concluded Riggs Bank, which employs

President Bush's uncle Jonathan as a top executive,

" courted business from former Chilean dictator Augusto

Pinochet and helped him hide millions of dollars in

assets from international prosecutors. " Meanwhile, the

top federal bank examiner on the case, Ashley Lee,

" kept details about Riggs's relationship with Pinochet

out of the Riggs case file. " She also recommended that

Riggs " not be punished for failing to take steps

designed to prevent money laundering. " Subsequently,

Lee retired from the government and became a senior

executive at Riggs. The revelations come just weeks

after " the bank agreed to pay $25 million in civil

penalties for what federal regulators called 'willful,

systemic' violation of anti-money-laundering laws in

its dealings with the embassies of Saudi Arabia and

Equatorial Guinea. "

 

CIVIL LIBERTIES #8211; RIGGING THE VOTE: Last week the

House rejected #8211; by a single vote #8211; an

amendment that would have scaled back controversial

provisions of the Patriot Act. Now, some of those who

voted against the provision are having second

thoughts. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) says, " it is quite

possible that I looked at [the bill] incorrectly. " His

Chief of Staff told reporters that Smith now " believes

he should have voted the other way. " Nevertheless, it

is not clear that Smith's vote would have changed the

outcome because Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX)

" extended the scheduled 15 minutes allowed for the

vote until they had convinced enough Republicans to

switch sides. "

 

DETAINEES #8211; RED CROSS SUSPECTS MORE GHOSTS: The

International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday

" that it suspected the United States of hiding

detainees in lockups around the globe. Some suspected

terrorists reported by the FBI as captured have never

turned up in detention centers, and the United States

has failed to reply to demands for a list of

detainees, said Antonella Notari, a spokeswoman for

the Red Cross, which has been granted access to

thousands of prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere. " The

report comes after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

admitted to ordering prison authorities to hold at

least one suspected terrorist at a high-level

detention center in Iraq without listing him on the

prison's rolls. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, the Army

officer who investigated abuses at the Abu Ghraib

prison, criticized the practice of allowing ghost

detainees as " deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine,

and in violation of international law. "

 

MEDICARE #8211; REIMPORTATION SAVES SPRINGFIELD: The

Washington Post reports 3,200 city workers in the

" deficit-plagued " town of Springfield, MA have saved

the city $2.5 million by opting " to order their

prescription drugs from a licensed Canadian pharmacy. "

Springfield, which has called its experiment with drug

reimportation a " rousing success, " is one of a dozen

cities which have ignored the " admonitions of Bush

administration officials and drug companies who say

purchasing medications outside the United States is

dangerous and illegal. " The administration has sided

with drug companies against reimportation, even though

it " can't name a single American who has been injured

or killed by drugs bought from licensed Canadian

pharmacies. " A poll released Wednesday by the advocacy

group AARP found that 79 percent of people older than

50 think reimportation should be legalized.

 

GAY MARRIAGE #8211; CONGRESS CUTS OFF DEBATE ON

AMENDMENT: Rebuffing conservative attempts to advance

the only constitutional amendment in American history

that would explicitly deny a group of Americans equal

rights and privileges, the Senate voted yesterday to

" block a White House-backed constitutional amendment

to bar same-sex marriages. " The vote " amounted to an

embarrassing defeat for President Bush and

conservative leaders who had pushed hard for

approval#8230;The proposed amendment, which defines

marriage as existing only between a man and a woman,

also includes language that some have interpreted to

cast legal doubt on civil unions. " The bill " got the

support of only 48 senators -- 12 short of the 60

needed and 19 short of the two-thirds majority that it

would take to amend the Constitution. " Check out

American Progress Talking Points on the proposed

amendment.

 

#160;Don't Miss

DAILY TALKING POINTS: The Failed Politics of Marriage

 

ALTERMAN: Fox Outfoxes Itself

 

AIDS: United States spurns Annan's plea to adequately

finance global AIDS fund

 

MEDIA: The American Prospect sponsors a panel on Fox

News and how to fix the media

 

INTELLIGENCE: Josh Marshall says there's more to be

learned about White House's fraudulent claims

regarding uranium sales between Niger and Iraq

 

PRISONER ABUSE: Lawmakers continue to probe the extent

of wrongdoing and who should be held accountable

 

INTIMIGATE: Sen. Harkin marks one-year anniversary of

White House leak of CIA operative name; today plans to

call for VP Cheney to be put under oath.

 

Contact The Progress Report:

pr.

 

 

 

 

#160;Daily Grill

 

" 80-some percent of reporters are self-described

liberals. "

 

- John Gibson, Fox News Host, 7/13/04

 

VERSUS

 

" About a third of national journalists (34%) and

somewhat fewer local journalists (23%) describe

themselves as liberals. "

 

- The Pew Research Center for the People and the

Press, 5/23/04

 

#160;Daily Outrage

Under the new rules published by the Department of

Labor, 6 million American workers will be stripped of

their overtime pay.

 

#160;Archives

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