The MRC@25: The Worst Media Bias of 1995

For the past week, NewsBusters has been showcasing the most egregious bias the Media Research Center has uncovered over the years — four quotes for each of the 25 years of the MRC, 100 quotes total — all leading up to our big 25th Anniversary Gala September 27. (Click here for ticket information.)

If you’ve missed our recounting of the worst quotes from 1988 through 1994, you can find those here). Today, the worst bias of 1995, when Time magazine blamed the Oklahoma City bombing on “hot talk on the radio” even as NPR’s Nina Totenberg wished one of Jesse Helms’ grandchildren would get AIDS. [Quotes and video below the jump.]

“The new Republican majority in Congress took a big step today on its legislative agenda to demolish or damage government aid programs, many of them designed to help children and the poor.”
— Dan Rather, March 16, 1995 CBS Evening News.


“In a nation that has entertained and appalled itself for years with hot talk on the radio and the campaign trail, the inflamed rhetoric of the ’90s is suddenly an unindicted co-conspirator in the blast.”
— Time Senior Writer Richard Lacayo writing about the explosion at the Oklahoma City federal building that killed 168 people, May 8, 1995 issue.


 

“I think he ought to be worried about what’s going on in the Good Lord’s mind, because if there is retributive justice, he’ll get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it.”
— National Public Radio and ABC News reporter Nina Totenberg reacting to Senator Jesse Helms’ claim that the government spends too much on AIDS research, July 8, 1995 Inside Washington.


“The Rapture, and I quote, ‘is the immediate departure from this Earth of over four million people in less than a fifth of a second,’ unquote. This happily-volatilized mass of the saved were born again in Jesus Christ....The evaporation of four million people who believe this crap would leave the world an instantly better place.”
— New Orleans-based National Public Radio commentator Andrei Codrescu, December 19, 1995 All Things Considered.

Check back daily for more classic bias quotes, or visit our “25th Anniversary” section for the entire collection.