AMERICAN MEDIA

THE 25 MOST LIKED, TRUSTED & CAPTIVATING CABLE TV PERSONALITIES IN THE US. By Maximillien de Lafayette

To many of them, Ted Turner is considered one of the giants of world news and media. However, a great number of TV watchers in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Saudi Arabia, France and Germany believe that Ted Turner was just lucky and CNN had a stroke of luck in becoming famous worldwide. They contribute the international success of CNN to the unofficial acquaintance or even friendship that existed in 1990 and 1991 between Saddam Hussein or Saddam Hussein’s regime and Ted Turner’s groupies. Who knows? In fact, CNN was the only American TV network which was allowed to remain “very active” on the Iraqi soil and closely report the news directly from the battle fields. Iraqis trusted CNN reporters for several reasons, some we know and some we don’t. It is essential to keep in mind that Iraqis had a sort of an agreement with CNN people. Some of the aspects and facets of this agreement can be summarized as follows: watchers in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Saudi Arabia, France and Germany believe that Ted Turner was just lucky and CNN had a stroke of luck in becoming famous worldwide. They contribute the international success of CNN to the unofficial acquaintance or even friendship that existed in 1990 and 1991 between Saddam Hussein or Saddam Hussein’s regime and Ted Turner’s groupies.

Photo: Jeff Greenfield. La crème de la crème.

Who knows? In fact, CNN was the only American TV network which was allowed to remain “very active” on the Iraqi soil and closely report the news directly from the battle fields. Iraqis trusted CNN reporters for several reasons, some we know and some we don’t. It is essential to keep in mind that Iraqis had a sort of an agreement with CNN people. Some of the aspects and facets of this agreement can be summarized as follows:

1- 1- CNN reporters in Iraq and while reporting news on the war, Saddam Hussein and his cabinet should and must NOT undermine the legitimacy of the Hussein’s regime and cause any embarrassment to the Iraqi forces;

2- 2- CNN reporters will not report news that undermine the political and military strength of Saddam Hussein;

3- CNN reporters will not use their access to Iraqi officials and “restricted military areas” to diffuse misleading information and Pro-Israeli-American news/propaganda;

4- CNN network will allow Saddam Hussein to freely express his opinions and have access to the world community and more particularly to the American audience, when he deemed necessary.

So the deal was sealed! That’s according to what many foreigners, Europeans and more precisely Arab citizens strongly believe. Today, the element, image and magnitude of trust in American reporters did not change much. The overwhelming majority of foreigners around the globe still believes that American radios and TV stations are biased, mislead, misinformed and controlled by Zionistic power and influence. However, 86% of those foreigners who visited the United States and closely watched the major American TV stations and cable networks have changed their mind. Today, they tend to believe that the American media is not as biased and bad as they thought. They came to this conclusion for reasons we know and many reasons we don’t know. One way of finding out why they have factually changed their mind about the veracity and unbiased reporting on TV and radio stations, was to conduct a survey on the subject and learn about their favorite and most trusted (or admired) American media personalities. So we did.

The most fascinating part of the survey-poll was the section of the polls where commentaries and remarks were provided by the surveyors about their favorite American media personalities. We shall include in our article some of those remarks and commentaries, for they shed a new light on how foreigners from around the globe view, understand and assess American broadcasting and journalism. Equally important and fascinating are their very personal opinions about the personality, the character and even the looks (physical appearances) of those media reporters, anchors, correspondents and show hosts they saw on the American tube or heard on the radio.

Photo: Dr. Monica Crowley: Unquestionably, the brightest, most educated and captivating media celebrity. To many, Monica Crowley is the "PERFECT AMERICAN WOMAN"! and I don't doubt it! And many others regret the fact that Crowley is a Republican!?

Here are (in no particular order) the names of the most respected, trusted and admired American Media, Journalism and Broadcasting personalities as selected by 456,500 persons in 65 countries.

America's 50 Very Best: 1-Pat Buchanan, 2- Bill Press, 3-Alan Colmes, 4-Sean Hannity, 5-Bill O’Reilly, 6-Greta van Susteren, 7-Larry King, 8-Neil Cavuto, 9-Monica Crowley, 10-Nancy Grace, 11-Catherine Crier, 12-Charlie Rose, 13-Peter Jennings, 14-Helen Thomas, 15-Barbara Walters, 16-Jay Leno, 17-David Letterman, 18-Bill Mahr, 19-Diane Sawyer, 20-Paula Zhan, 21-Tom Brokaw, 22-Judge Andrew Napolitano, 23-Geraldo Rivera, 24- Christiane Ananpour, 25-Eve Ziebart, 26-Bill Kurtis, 27-Arthur Kent, 28-Judy Woodruff, 29-Walter Cronkite, 30-Dan Rather, 31-John King. 32-Jim Pinkerton, 33-Neal Gabler, 34-Cal Thomas, 35-Wolf Blitzer, 35A-Chris Matthews, 36-Carl Cameron, 37-Mort Kondrache, 38- Marianne McPartland, 39-Aaron Brown, 40-Chris Wallace, 41-Shepard Smith, 42-Oprah Wimfrey, 43-Ted Koppel, 44-Brit Hume, 45-Shepard Smith, 46-Bill Schneider, 47-Lou Dobbs 48-Jeff Greenfield, 49-Dick Clark, 50-Jeff Greenfield.

Photo: Diane Sawyer is an other all time favorite.

How the world community and our international readers describe the personality, talent and qualities of the selected media personalities. For reason of space, we are unable to print all commentaries in their entirety. We have selected the most a propos and entertaining/revealing ones. Unfortunately, a great number of correspondence and emails were written in languages we totally ignore, such as Chinese and Urdu. Thus, we will not able to print them in our magazine. We beg our readers who wrote these letters to understand the linguistic inconvenience and the reasons for not including their emails in this article.

PLAGIARISM IN AMERICAN MEDIA

Overwhelmingly, the responses of our readers and international responders were favorable and positive. Except 450 letters contained very derogative statements against women in the American media. Statements such as :” …American news women are arrogant and silly. They love to be seen on television and be listened to as if they were the center of the news…”, “…we do not trust American media women because they are easy pick-up…” or statements like these: “…funny and ridiculous to see dumb blond women on American television reporting on Palestinians and their struggles when they have never been to Palestine or struggled themselves…” and “…what they like most is sex and money then, money and sex and finally everything about themselves…”. It is ironic and “tragically coincidental”, those negative statements were received at the very time the nude photos (see below) of once upon a time a respected anchor woman in the United States appeared all over the country.

Photo: The legendary Mariane McPartland.

However, glowing statements and reviews were sent to us testifying to the integrity and excellence of outstanding media/news ladies like Helen Thomas, Dr. Monica Crowley, Barbara Walters, Greta van Susteren and Diane Sawyer. Approximately 3,500 persons in responding to our survey/poll took the liberty and seize the opportunity to hammer on members of the American media/press corp. who have been accused of plagiarism. Some of our readers went even further and emailed us press clippings (about reporters who fabricated stories and committed plagiarism) from the Los Angeles Time, National Enquirer, The Washington Post, USA Today and the New York Times. One of the clippings (assumingly from The Washington Post) included this: “The New York Times, in an extraordinary admission of journalistic fraud in at least 36 articles, called the repeated deceptions of reporter Jayson Blair "a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper." Describing Blair as "a troubled young man veering toward professional self-destruction," the paper today recounted how the reporter faked stories from Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio and Texas without ever leaving New York, using a cell phone and laptop computer to disguise his whereabouts and deceive his bosses. Many news organizations have suffered major embarrassments over the last two decades. The Post returned a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 over reporter Janet Cooke's invention of an 8-year-old heroin addict. The Wall Street Journal's R. Foster Winans was convicted of selling advance information from his column. NBC staged a fiery truck crash on "Dateline." The New Republic published 27 fabricated articles by Stephen Glass, and the Boston Globe several bogus columns by Patricia Smith.”

16. Cal Thomas Photo: Cal Thomas.

Two highly visible correspondents and editorial writers at Egypt’s powerful “ AL AHRAM” daily newspaper added more fuel to the heat and fire of the plagiarism controversy. They wanted us to know that they are diligently keeping an up-to-date file on all well-known American (men and women) reporters, writers and biographers who committed plagiarism. And more so, on American writers, historians and media members who wrote or co-wrote (or have been ghost writers) Presidential biographies and memoirs. They intend to make their findings public as soon as March 2004. They promised us a world premiere exclusivity. However, the majority of the responses were positive. Herewith is, an excerpt of selected glowing remarks, narrative observations and statements about some of the most highly admired and trusted members of the American media and press corp. Excerpts were condensed but remained unedited (despite many linguistic/grammatical/typo mistakes) to preserve the intention (s) of their writers and protect accuracy in reporting. Some of the readers letters were translated either verbatim or within the spirit of the intent of those who wrote them.

THIS IS WHAT THE WORLD COMMUNITY AND INTERNATIONAL READERS FROM 65 COUNTRIES WRITE ABOUT THE LEADING AND MOST TRUSTED MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN MEDIA AND PRESS CORP.

1-On Helen Thomas: 1-…a real pro… 2-…strong experience… 3-the best… 4-…we trust her because she is not afraid to say what it is on her mind. We applaud her for what she said about George Bush, when she said :He is the worst American president…

2-On Bill O’Reilly: 1-…we like him because he has a high standard of morality and ethics… 2-…he is tough, aggressive but he is fair and well-informed… 2-he researches the issues, he knows what he is talking about… 3-…he reinvented himself, he is smart…

3-On Alan Colmes: 1-…he is a prince, very classy man… 2-…very intelligent… 3-…very proper and polite 4-…honest analytical mind…

4-On Sean Hannity: 1-…right on… 2-…no monkey business reporting, right on the money… 3-…very entertaining and challenging… 4-…honest and sharp like a shark…

5-On Larry King: 1-…the lord of talks shows 2-…an institution… 3-…he is the standards and pilot-model for excellence in media and journalism… 4-…considerate and proper… 5-…most suitable for the crowd and our families…

6-On Monica Crowley: 1-…she is the brightest and the prettiest of all… 2-…she has a double “B”: Brains and beauty… 3-…it is a delight to watch her… 4-…one of the best in America… (Editor's note: They just adore her. Ms. Crowley got the highest rating and the larger number of the votes. She came first in the polls.)

7-On Diane Sawyer: 1-…a real pro… 2-…trustworthy… 3-…very bright…

8-On Nancy Grace: 1-…sharp… 2-…very intelligent… 3-…perfect for the job…

9-On Catherine Crier: 1-…a lady… 2-… she is a seasoned television “connoisseur” who knows what to say and what to report…

10-On Carl Cameron: 1-…we listen to him all the time because he makes sense… 2-…American television needs more reporters like Carl Cameron…

11-On Geraldo Rivera: 1-…Geraldo is the most honest American media man with the most guts and integrity…2-…we like Geraldo and we trust him because he travels abroad and talk directly to us…3-…Geraldo is to be trusted. He tells you the whole story, he researches his story very thoroughly and explains everything about it…