The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Chewing the fat about federal pork; Oil tax just 'a hill of beans'; ABC reporter driven to shame over SUV.

Nov. 23, 2005

     CNN's "American Morning" served up both the Good and Bad brews this past week while on "Good Morning America," ABC's Bill Weir poured out a latte guilt about driving an SUV.

The Good
     CNN's Soledad O'Brien awakened her viewers on the November 17 "American Morning" with the unmistakable stench of congressional pork. She and her guest, Heritage Foundation budget analyst Brian Riedl, discussed the recently defunded "Bridge to Nowhere" in rural Alaska, as well as other earmarked projects like a cool quarter-million-dollar grant to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Riedl pointed out the danger of rampant pork project spending to O'Brien and her viewers: "the entire government expands."

The Bad
     Andy Serwer's economic reporting brings to mind the "Saturday Night Live" skits portraying Sean Connery as a contestant in "Celebrity Jeopardy" - he's often providing answers that don't correspond with reality. That was case on the November 18 "American Morning" as Serwer reported on legislation on Capitol Hill. Serwer labeled a House-passed bill, which barely trimmed the rate of growth for entitlements, as "spending-cut" legislation while dismissing a "windfall tax" passed by the Senate as amounting to a "hill of beans." But Robert J. Shapiro, a former Clinton/Gore economist, published a study which showed a "windfall tax" would harm domestic oil production and soak retired investors who directly or indirectly benefit from owning oil company stock.

The Ugly
     "I have an SUV, and I feel guilty about it," ABC reporter Bill Weir sheepishly confessed to liberal activist Laurie David on the November 18 "Good Morning America." Weir's admission was the pièce de résistance of his unbalanced plug of the TBS special David helped coordinate which aired two days later, "Earth to America." Weir also assured audiences that the slanted special would be relatively nonpartisan, while dismissing as an unimportant distinction scientists who believe in global warming but aren't so sure that humans are the cause.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news tips to staff writer Ken Shepherd at kshepherd@mediaresearch.org.