[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 59 (Monday, May 15, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H3032-H3033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE BIASED MEDIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, newspapers, magazines, and nightly 
news shape the opinions of its readers and viewers. In fact, it has 
been said that whomever controls multimedia controls our culture.
  Unfortunately, more often than not, the media's message is biased, 
but in few cases has it been as slanted as it has been with the saga of 
Elian Gonzalez.
  April 22nd was the first time in American history that the U.S. 
Government decided that a custody case should be settled with automatic 
weapons. Yet, to those who know the biased media, it was no surprise 
that, according to the Media Research Center, major news outlets such 
as the New York Times, USA Today, and Newsweek magazine, did not run 
the photo of a Federal agent seizing Elian with an automatic weapon in 
hand.
  The Media Research Center, which is a media watchdog group which 
seeks to expose bias and favoritism among multimedia, has compiled an 
impressive record showing how the national media built the public 
relations rationale for Elian's eventual return to Cuba, and then 
justified the government's raid on a private residence to ensure a 
political victory for the Clinton administration and the Communist 
regime of Cuba.
  In all of the coverage and controversy over the rescue of 6-year-old 
Elian Gonzalez, the media have taken the stark contrast between 
American liberty and Cuban tyranny and muddled it to the point that 
much of the American public could now think that Cuba is no different 
than the United States, or even that Cuba is better than America.
  We would like to think that the Cold War is over, but for the people 
of Communist Cuba, the Cold War remains. Is it any wonder that after 
being barraged with liberal arguments, the public told network 
pollsters that they approved of the violent seizure of Elian?
  Analysts from the Media Research Center identified four patterns of 
distinct liberal media bias:
  One, the news media have deliberately undermined the moral legitimacy 
of Elian's Miami relatives specifically and anti-Communist Cuban 
Americans in general; two, the news media have consistently praised the 
actions and achievements of Fidel Castro's Cuba, claimed that it was 
better for children than America, and played up the paradise that Elian 
could dwell in among the Communist party elite.

                              {time}  1915

  Three, the news media have justified Attorney General Janet Reno's 
actions and arguments and lamented any resistance and delay in sending 
Elian back to Cuba.
  Four, the news media have dismissed congressional criticism of the 
INS raid and have branded calls for investigation as unpopular and 
totally unnecessary.
  Analysts concluded that, if the media were interested in a balanced 
presentation of the Elian controversy, they would have scrutinized the 
administration more than justified it.
  They concluded that the media would have explained the regimented 
reality of family life in Castro's Cuba.
  The Media Research Center states that the media would have balanced 
the questioning of the motives of Elian's Miami relatives by 
questioning the motives of the reunification camp and they would have 
encouraged more discussion and oversight instead of trying to cut it 
off.
  Thomas Jefferson said that ``the advertisement is the most truthful 
part of a newspaper.'' He may have been correct because, regarding the 
Elian controversy, it is apparent the media have been more interested 
in entertainment than in covering the facts.
  The media do not tell the American public of the everyday horrors 
that take place in the homes of 11 million enslaved Cubans, the horrors 
that take place in the scores of Cubans, like Elian's mother Elisabet 
Brotons, who was willing to take the risk of their lives to escape.
  The media have failed to question why Joan Campbell, posing as a 
church lady for the National Council of Churches, feverishly raised 
funds to send a boy back to a country that persecutes religious 
believers.
  Why did the INS send a heavily armed SWAT team to seize Elian in the

[[Page H3033]]

name of parental rights, but it has done nothing to reunify another 
survivor from that ill-fated freedom journey with her beloved 5-year-
old daughter in Cuba.
  On Tuesday, May 23, at 2:30 p.m., I invite each of my colleagues to 
come and learn the answers to these questions by attending a special 
briefing to be held by Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research 
Center, who will give a presentation on how the media have distorted 
the truth regarding the case of Elian Gonzalez.
  Come learn the real reason why the Gonzalez family and anticommunist 
Americans everywhere are valiantly fighting for a fair chance to give 
Elian in his fair day in court in the United States.
  If the fact that blacks and Jews are persecuted in Cuba, that gays 
and HIV patients are quarantined in concentration camps, and that all 
Cuban children are stripped from their parents and sent off to forced 
work camps is news to my colleagues, they can blame the biased media.
  Galileo said ``all truths are easy to understand once they are 
discovered; the point is to discover them.''
  Mr. Speaker, I hope to see many of our colleagues attempting to 
unveil the truths about Elian Gonzalez' case by attending next 
Tuesday's briefing and discovering the truths about this case.

                          ____________________