FOX SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRIT HUME (18:30)
February 26, 2003 Wednesday
Transcript # 022604cb.254

HUME: And now the most intriguing two minutes in television, the latest from the "Wartime Grapevine."

The White House says it has no problem with CBS News getting an interview with Saddam Hussein, but spokesman Ari Fleischer called Saddam's answers -- quote -- "lies and propaganda."

Fleischer said the White House asked to have someone on the CBS broadcast to rebut Saddam. CBS at first would accept only the president himself, then relented and suggested the president, vice president or secretary of state would be acceptable.

The White House said no to that and CBS would accept no one else.

Rather, by the way -- Dan Rather has said he was surprised that Saddam made the offer in the interview to debate President Bush, forgetting, apparently, that when Rather interviewed Saddam before the Gulf War 12 years ago he made the same suggestion, the only difference being that at that time he wanted to debate both -- first President Bush and then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The education commissioner in Maine has sent a memo to all the state's teachers urging them to be sensitive to the views of their students on the issue of Iraq.

The memo came yesterday after TV station WABI in Bangor reported that national guard officers were complaining that children whose parents were being called to active duty for a possible war with Iraq were being hassled by their teachers about their parents fighting in an unethical war.

WABI said that guard officers who had traveled to Maine recently said that complaints of such teacher behavior were relatively few, but had occurred in nearly every part of Maine.

And the latest Gallup poll indicates the public continues to be skeptical of the accuracy and fairness of the news media.

Fifty-eight percent of those questioned said that the media were often inaccurate, while just 39 percent thought they got their facts straight.

And on the question of bias, 60 percent thought the media were ideologically biased. Of those, however, only 15 percent thought the media too conservative, while 45 percent thought them too liberal. Thirty-six percent found the media just about right.

By the way, 48 percent of self-identified liberals thought the media just right, while 63 percent of conservatives thought the media too liberal and 43 percent of moderates agreed.

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