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Jim Axelrod Responds To Media Matters Criticism Of May 8 Story

By Brian Montopoli

May 10, 2006 / 10:55 AM EDT / CBS News

(CBS)

Left-leaning media watchdog group Media Matters is criticizing CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Jim Axelrod for mischaracterizing the debate over domestic surveillance in his May 8 "Evening News" report on the forthcoming Senate hearings over Michael Hayden, who has been nominated to become the new CIA director.

Writes Media Matters:

[Axelrod] noted that "[t]he White House believes it wins any time there's a debate on electronic eavesdropping of terrorists and would welcome the grand stage for Hayden to defend" the Bush administration's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program. However, the debate over the surveillance program is not a question of whether the government can conduct "electronic eavesdropping of terrorists," but rather whether the government can conduct warrantless surveillance of residents of the United States in apparent violation of federal statute.

I asked Axelrod to respond.

"I don't think these are inconsistent points," he said. "Warrantless surveillance is a subset of the general issue. The White House believes anytime the debate turns to electronic eavesdropping, it plays to their advantage."

"I didn't go through every subset of the general topic that I introduced," he continued. "This was a subset of a larger topic. I don't think there's any conflict."