Halperin Memo Dated Friday October 8, 2004

It goes without saying that the stakes are getting very high for the country and the campaigns - and our responsibilities become quite grave

I do not want to set off (sp?) and endless colloquy that none of us have time for today - nor do I want to stifle one. Please respond if you feel you can advance the discussion.

The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done.

Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.

We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.

I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage. This is all part of their efforts to get away with as much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.

It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest. Now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right.
An internal memo written by ABCNEWS Political Director Mark Halperin admonishes ABC staff: During coverage of Democrat Kerry and Republican Bush not to "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable."

The controversial internal memo obtained by DRUDGE, captures Halperin stating how "Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win."

But Halperin claims that Bush is hoping to "win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions."

"The current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done," Halperin writes.

Halperin's claim that ABCNEWS will not "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable" set off sparks in St. Louis where media players gathered to cover the second presidential debate.

Halperin states the responsibilities of the ABCNEWS staff have "become quite grave."

In August, Halperin declared online: "This is now John Kerry's contest to lose."

Mark Halperin ABCNEWS Political Director Mark Halperin has been the Political Director of ABC News since October of 1997. As Political Director, Halperin is responsible for the planning and editorial content of all political news on the network.

He also regularly appears as a correspondent and political analyst on ABC News television and radio programs.

Halperin joined ABC News in January, 1988. He has specialized in national political coverage, working through four presidential and four mid-term elections.

He started at ABC News as a desk assistant and was a researcher for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings in New York for the 1988 election. He spent the next four years working in the investigative unit of World News Tonight and as a general assignment reporter in Washington.

In 1992, he worked full-time as an off-air reporter assigned to travel with the presidential campaign of then Governor Bill Clinton. He covered President-elect Clinton during the transition in Little Rock and Washington and was assigned to White House coverage for the first two years of the Clinton Administration.

In fall of 1994, Halperin became a producer with ABC's Special Events unit in New York. There he worked as an editorial producer, both in the control room and in the field, on events including the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, the Democratic and Republican conventions, election night, and presidential news conferences.

Halperin received his college degree from Harvard University in 1987, He is 39 yrs old..

ABC News "fact check" corrections for President Bush now at four-to-two over those for Senator Kerry since ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin's memo last Friday calling upon his colleagues to hold Bush more accountable since "the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done." After Friday's debate, ABC corrected two Bush claims but just one Kerry allegation and, in the first "fact check" since then, Tuesday's World News Tonight corrected two supposed Bush misstatements in a campaign speech, but just one Kerry charge.

ABC's fresh corrections of Bush were for marginal misstatements at best: How Bush claimed Kerry "earned his ranking as the most liberal member of the United States Senate" when that rating was just for 2003 and over his career the same publication actually ranked Kerry as the "11th most liberal Senator" -- as if that means he's not liberal -- and how Bush charged that in Kerry's health plan eight of ten people covered will be added to a government program when it's really a mere 6.5 in ten.

Peter Jennings on Tuesday also failed to take advantage of the "fact check" slot to correct his own inaccurate Friday night correction of Bush. Jennings had scored Kerry correct and Bush incorrect on whether Bush owned an interest in a "timber company," but FackCheck.org, Kerry's source, noted the day after the debate that "the Lone Star Trust now owns 50 percent of the tree-growing company, but didn't get into that business until two years after the $84 in question" which Kerry had cited as Bush's income from a timber company. FactCheck.org acknowledged: "So we should have described the $84 as coming from an 'oil and gas' business in 2001, and will amend that in our earlier article."

For FactCheck.org's September 23 posting modified on October 9: www.factcheck.org

FactCheck.org's post-debate rundown of candidate errors, with their earlier misstatement noted: www.factcheck.org

After Friday's debate, Jennings asserted: "First of all, there was this question of the President being accused by Senator Kerry of owning a timber company, or having a part interest in a timber company and taking $84 in a tax rebate. Mr. Bush looked up and said, 'I own a timber company?' We all sort of looked at one another and said who was right? Well, it turns out Senator Kerry was right and here's how he figured it out, that under the Republican definition and based on the President's federal income tax returns of 2001, he reported $84 of business income from his part ownership of a timber-growing enterprise. He shifted it in 2002 and 2003 when he reported his timber income as royalties on a different tax schedule." ABC's Jake Tapper then corrected Bush's claim that 75 percent of al-Qaeda operatives had been captured and Kerry on how General Shinseki lost his job after he criticized the Bush policy on Iraq and called for more troops to be used.

For more about Halperin's memo and a full rundown of ABC's "fact check" corrections after Friday's debate, see the October 9 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org

Fast forward to Tuesday's World News Tonight, and Jennings brought Tapper back aboard for another session:

"Couple things the President said today made us want to get in touch with our fact-checking team. We asked them to check on Senator Kerry, too. Here's ABC's Jake Tapper."

Tapper: "It has become one of the President's favorite lines." George W. Bush, in Tuesday campaign speech: "My opponent has shown why he earned his ranking as the most liberal member of the United States Senate."

Tapper: "That remark is based on rankings given by the non-partisan National Journal magazine, which says the President has his facts wrong."

Patrick Pexton, Deputy Editor of the National Journal: "The Bush campaign has been misleading in the way it's used our vote ratings. John Kerry was the most liberal senator in 2003, a year when he missed many votes because he was on the campaign trail. But over his lifetime, he's only among the most liberal Senators."

Tapper: "The 11th most liberal, to be exact. The President was using a different study when he made that claim about Senator Kerry's health care plan today."

Bush: "The facts are eight out of ten people who get health care under Senator Kerry's plan would be placed on the government program."

Tapper: "The Bush campaign says that figure is based on a study by the Lewin Group. What does the Lewin Group say?"

John Sheils, Lewin Group: "It's not eight out of ten people."

Tapper: "The Lewin Group says it's closer to 6 and a half out of 10, not 8. Those are mostly people near the poverty line moved from no insurance to Medicaid. Senator Kerry yesterday unleashed a new line of attack against the President on why gas prices are so high." John Kerry: "And one big reason is because of President Bush's gross mismanagement and miscalculation regarding the war in Iraq." Tapper: "A check of the facts:" Seth Kleinman, PFC Energy: "There are a host of other reasons at play here. There's issues in Russia. There's rampaging Chinese demand growth. There's a lack of tankers. There's a shortage of refinery capacity. So it's not exactly accurate to lay all of the blame for expensive gasoline on the war in Iraq."

Tapper: "It's often said that facts are stubborn things. Jake Tapper, ABC News, Washington."