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This file contains:
From Colson to Haldeman RE: the creation of a media outlet for the White House and the staffers responsible for establishing it. 2 pgs. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/2/1972
Copy of the second page of a memo relating to national media bias and exposure for the Republican National Convention. Handwritten notes on original added by unknown. 1 pg. [Subject: Campaign] [Memo], no date
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26144498
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WHSF: Contested, 3-11
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26144498
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WHSF: Contested, 3-11
description
This file contains:
From Colson to Haldeman RE: the creation of a media outlet for the White House and the staffers responsible for establishing it. 2 pgs. [Subject: White House Staff] [Memo], 8/2/1972
Copy of the second page of a memo relating to national media bias and exposure for the Republican National Convention. Handwritten notes on original added by unknown. 1 pg. [Subject: Campaign] [Memo], no date
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Richard M. Nixon's Returned Materials Collection
Contested Materials Files
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Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Contested Materials Collection
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3
11
8/2/1972
White House Staff
Memo
From Colson to Haldeman RE: the creation
of a media outlet for the White House and
the staffers responsible for establishing it. 2
pgs.
3
11
>
Campaign
Memo
Copy of the second page of a memo relating
to national media bias and exposure for the
Republican National Convention.
Handwritten notes on original added by
unknown. 1 pg.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Page 1 of 1
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
August 2, 1972
MEMORANDUM FOR:
H.R. HALDEMAN
FROM:
CHARLES COLSON
SUBJECT:
Attached memo on Media Bias
The attached is not entirely satisfactory to me as I am sure it
will not be to you.
One extenuating circumstance is the fact that we are, of course,
laying off of any public attacks on the media which policy has
made the Schurz operation less urgent than it was when it began.
As you will see from the enclosed the monitoring operation is going
along. Keogh has now worked a deal with AIM which means that
we will have a very good outlet for media attacks and Keogh plans
to start the news letter operation as soon as he gets on board; that
is, a bi-weekly accounting of media inaccuracies mailed in the form
of a Kiplinger Letter to all editors and newscasters a Pulitzer
Prize in reverse.
The biggest weakness is the organizational monitoring apparatus
around the country. I started Shumway on this months ago. At
first there was no activity and then it began to come in pitifully
slow and very inadequate. At the last meeting when Strachan was
present, I urged Shumway to bring his regional media people into
Washington for a full day so that they could be briefed on exactly
what we want. As all of us have come to realize, Shumway was
way over his head in that job. Al Abrahams took over last week.
Al knows exactly how to do this and is a real doer. I now have
some degree of confidence that the thing will get rolling fast.
Even though we haven't been properly structured, we have been some-
what successful in nailing specific inaccuracies and as you look over
the last couple of months the job has been rather well done, notwith-
standing our internal confusion.
-2-
The other explanatory circumstance is that I have had virtually
no time to devote to this in the last four weeks and Clawson is
one of the most overworked people on the staff. Excuses don't
matter but those are the facts. I hope once Lord John is on his
own that I will have a little more time for this effort.
-2-
However, I do know that the plan has not been implemented
because of a lack of cooperation from the Committee for the
Re-Election of the President.
In order to rectify this situation, I am meeting early next
week with Schurz and Al Abrams, and I am confident that we
will now receive the cooperation that the monitoring project
merits.
We have had better luck with the Republican National Committee,
which is now supplying us with articles from all of the
newspapers in the key states on a daily basis. The RNC does
not have the capability to determine inaccuracies or bias,
but Schurz is getting the raw material and can make his own
judgments.
I am now meeting with Schurz on a daily basis and will pass
judgment on the material he collects.
Under our new policy, if the inaccuracy has to do with
newspapers, magazines or other print media, I am personally
\
calling the editors, publishers and reporters and pointing
out the errors or slanting of news. When the inaccuracy or
bias falls within the electronic media, I am calling on
John Scali to have him carry the ball in that area.
Since our focus for the next three weeks will be on the
Republican National Convention and coverage thereof, I want
you to know that Schurz has monitored and measured the
electronic and print coverage of the Democratic National
Convention down to the last column inch. We have these
reports prepared and ready to compare with the coverage
of our own Convention.
These comparisons will form the basis of contacts with
major news media who give short shrift to their coverage
of our Convention.
Schurz has been working closely with Jim Keogh and has
supplied him with considerable materials for use in speeches
and articles.
Schurz is also working directly with the Accuracy in Media
Group along with Keogh. He has fed them the UPI photograph
of the President appearing in the STAR on June 30, which was
a bad photograph and had a negative impact.