a- I aimination in its midst" Continued from 1
. Asserting that the court may
have imposed overly strigent cal program,"
standards on State and Local The study was conducted for
governments, Conyers further FAIR by William Hoynes and
observed that ·it may now be the David Croteau of the Boston
time for Congress to step in to I College Sociology Department,
ease the evidentiary burden and underwritten by grants
facing these politicial entities. from the Fund for InvestigatiVe
The Court has said that the con- Journalism and the J. Roderick
gress has broader: powers to ad- MacArth oundation.
dress the effects of past dis- Research was based on an
aimination,andIfullyintendto analysis of all Nightline
press those powers to their transcripts for a forty month
limit" . period (January 1, 1985 to April
Conyers said he had already 30, 1988), totalling 865
solicited input from civil rights programs and 2,498 invited
groups and minority business guests. Following is a summary
trade associations to assist the of the study's major findings.
committee in its review.
In another development, Most frequent guests:
Conyers said he had met with - The top four were Henry
Attorney General Richard Kissinger and Alexander Haig
Thornberg to discuss civil righ (14 appearances each), Elliott
enforcment by the Bush Ad- Abrams and Jerry Falwell (12
ministration and to urge that the appearances).
White House convene a nation- - Of Nightline's top US
al conference on civil rights to guests (more than five ap­
produce "recommendations on pearances), a1119 are men, all
how best to achieve equality of but two are white, and 13 of the
opportunity." 19 are conservatives, most of
______________________ ......;.� whom were associated ith the
Reagan administration. .
- Strong critics of US
foreign policy are usually for­
eigners (Soviets, Ir anians,
Nicaraguans, etc.), not US
critics. .
Continued from Page 1 dition to meeting with prime
other contractors such as those contractors, minority business
in the aerospace industry, 'she owners are able to attend
said. The enterprise olficejn- workshops that will help them
dentifies poten tial minority with their businesses ventures, Elite:
businesses and gets them in con- she said. - 80% of the US guests were
tact with the contractors to Fannie Watson, owner of professionals, 'goverilme�t offi­
negotiate possible business BasketCase Gift Services in cials or corporate repre­
deals: downtown Detroit, said she sentatives. By contrast, only 5%
Past conferences have took advantage of a fmancial were public interest repre­
proven to be successful and the workshop called "Taking Care sentatives (peace, civil liberties,
future ones look bright, she said. of Business." environmental, etc.) and less
The last conference attracted "It was a learning experience than 2 % were labor or ra
about 500 participants, U p- for me," Watson said. "I learned cial/ethnic leaders.
shaw-Royal said. About as just by attending the workshop," - Elites speak more often
mflIlY are expected to attend the Watson said. than other guests. Government
upcoming conference in May. Watson said that she was not officials got one fourth more of Programs on So th Africa: I
Other regional conferences an expert in the financial aspect a chance to speak on average - Nigbline's S uth Africa
will be held March 9 in Detroit, of her business but now with the (59 transcript lines) than public coverage was prais worthy for
March 16 in Flint and March 23 knowledge she has gained, she interest (48 lines) and labor including people of lor: 45%
in Grand Rapids. These con- is, indeed able to take care of leaders (45 lines). of the guests were Back, mostly
ferences are an extention of the her business, she said. - Elites are more likely to South Africans.
office's education system. In ad- appear early in the program, - While deba es within
____________________ � __ __;_ ., Sou th Africa w re well-
presented, the de te among
Americans about US policy
regarding South Af ica was in­
adequate and ge erally ex­
eluded representati es of anti­
apartheid grou ps.
ommittee
Coatin d
ing us back to the days when
cial discrimination was 0
tolerated by government, " n­
yersdeclared. 'Wearen . told,
in effect, that the Co . tion
demands thi ning for
employing a e coscious
remedy."
Conyers, who i chairman of
the House committee, said
there was no doubt that past dis­
aimination had caused a wide
economic disparity. between
minorities and non-minorities
in this country. He said the
court's ruling may have jeopard­
ized the validity of well over 200
State and Local government
programs, which channeled mil­
lions of dollars to minority busi­
nesses each year.
"There is nothing to show
that Richmond has escaped this
aational legacy (of discrimina­
tion): Conyers said. "In fact, as
s ed by Justice Thurgood
Marshall it is a welcom symbol
of racial progress when the
former capital of the Con­
gederacy acts forthrightly to
. confront the effects of racial dis-
BE office
Black Caucus charge
Continued from P 1 housing crisis" faced by low and
- "Additional attention and moderate income families."
resources paid to job creation, The caucus expressed agree­
housing, education, health and ment with the governor's
crime in such areas. proposals to:
- "Educational finance - Appoint a high level coor-
reform", so that there would no dinator to organize the State's
longer be less money spent per drug e"forcement efforts, ex­
pupil in poor districts than in pressing the hope that this in­
rich ones. dividual "is aggressive and crea-
- "Quality guarantees in the tive" in defeating "drug pushers
G vernor's "Schools for die Fu- and financers."
ture" educational package. - Use state resources to en-
- "C?r.eating the atmosphere" courage local school districts to
and spmt for entrepreneurial "return to the basics in math,
activities.in �tressed areas." . sciences and language skills."
- Allocation of resources to - D iseuss crea t ing an
"create greater accessi.bility by aut 0 n m pus Age n c yon
e . ling �usin� in distresse� Children and Family Services
areas with particular emphasis to encourage family preserva­
on minority participation." tion and to reduce high depend-
Encouraging state ency on state services."
regulat0rJ agencies to 100 into There 'were some area
and prevent re4ljning practices. where the caucus' approval was
-" More discussion and mixed with concerns. .
more programs to deal with "the The caucus supported
I .
Blanchard's idea to create a
Rural Business Partnership
program as "a step in the right
direction by focusing on the dis­
tribution of newly created jobs."
However, it also expressed
concern about whether this
might be "shifting economic
development activity" away
from the cities, empbasizing the
Governor's "urban initiatives
should be strengthened, not
reduced or refocused."
The caucus supported the
governor's idea for a Home
Ownership Saving Trust, wbile
adding, such a program "does
not; nor does it claim to, sdlve
the housing crisis faced by low
and moderate income families."
"In large part," the caucus
stated, "the
governor's ... proposals ... con­
tinue to ... emphasize state sup­
port for middle and upper in­
come families."
19-25 1989 MICHl
andGe •
89% of the t tal US guests
are , 92% are ite.
. n progr about inter­
na!lnal issues, 94% of t e
gu were men. omen were
most visible on pr grams about
soci issues, but e n here only
19% f the guests re women.
- Women s less than
men � 43 vs. 50 tr cript lines on
aver�e).
- The low isibility of
women and mino ities was at­
tribu d to the fa that they are
gross y underrepr ented in the
elites from. whic ightline
draws most of its ests. (While
comprising less t an 10% of
Nig tline's "eli e" guests,
wome;� comprised 6% of labor
guests and 18% of ublic inter­
est guests.)
Progr-ams
Union:
- Nearly half Nightline's
guests (48.6%) d· cussing U
Soviet relations we e current or
former US gove nment offi­
cials; 'the US pea movement
was virtually invisi le (less than
1%).
orism: ,
equentUS
programs
ith similar
guests on terroris
are conservatives
views: Henry
Alexander Haig an "terrorism
experts" Brian Je kins (Rand
. Corporation), Mi ael Ledeen
(Iran arms scandal , Noel Koch
(Defense Depar ent) and
Robert Kupper (Center for
Strategic and In ernational
Studies).
Programs on Central
America:
- Nightline's Central
America coverage eemed to
follow an agenda p moted ,by
the Reagan Admi istration.
Twenty-two Nightlin programs
dealt principal y with
Nicaragua; not on focused.
principally on EI alvador,
Honduras or Guate la, US­
backed countri s with'
deplorable hum n rights
records.
The caucus stated it invited
the administration to join us in
addressing" its own gisl- tive
priorities" of "Drug, Crime,
.. Prbgrams on t e Economy:
- .... More than one out of
three guests (37%) on shows
disc sing the economy were
corporate representatives; only
one i twenty represented labor.
- Corporate re pre­
seatatives were also more likely
to appear early in the show,
being three times as likely' as .
labor If/oires to be heard bef re
the f�t commercial reak.
D1usion of B ance:
While Night ine often
presents two sides of an issue by
balancing an official view with a
"critical" view, more often than
not, e critical view as that of
estab ishment insiders while
progr ssive and public interest
voices were generally excluded
- Bill Moyers, Quoting a
Newsday columnist, com­
mented on TV's balance: "It's
usually two experts out of the es­
tablishment who are called on
this talk show or that lk show.
It's usually a politician, a
pollster, a pundit, or a, quote,
expert I It's a very tiny sample of
thou�t, of ideas, of language
that g�ts on televisio ... There's
another kingdom of ought out
there that never gets t pped."
'.
Fi ote:
The study con udes by
encouraging Nigh line to great-
1y diversify its guest list, thereby
becoming "a truly informative
and edbcational program.
FAIR commissioned this
study because of Nightline's
major role in setting the agenda
for the nation's polic� debates
and in certifying who is and is
not an "expert,"
In delivering the study to
Nightline, FAIR' cover note
recommended: "We e courage
you to include more women and
minorities on your panels. We
hope you will look beyond Call
the usual suspects' from the US
government/military estab­
lishment when booking guests
to discuss foreign policy issues.
We are hoping that in
Nightline's future, strong critics
of US foreign policYI will no
. longer be primarily foreigners
(Soviets, Iranians, Nicaraguans,
etc.) but also US critics and dis-.·
senter�. I
In addition, FAIR urged
Nightline "to include more
leaders" and experts from th
various citizen movements
(consumer rights, labor, en­
vironmental, peace, etc.) th t
help keep American democracy
alive. Your view rs are ill­
served if Nightline is primarily a
one-way street where those in
government or corporate power
speak to the public, but active
citizens and public interest rep­
resentatives don't get to speak
ba�"
- I
Economic Development,
Education, Health and Human
Services, and Housing. "