NBC: Metzenbaum a 'Populist,' But Jesse Helms an 'Ultra-Rightist'

(Media Research Center) - When far-left former Democratic Senator Howard Metzenbaum passed away in March, the NBC Nightly News didn't identify his party or apply any ideological label as fill-in anchor Ann Curry hailed his life as "the classic American success story" of a man who "always fought for the little guy, taking on the oil and insurance industries" while he "stuck to his populist principles." But on Friday night, Independence Day holiday fill-in anchor Lester Holt accurately described former Senator Jesse Helms, who passed away earlier in the day at age 86, as "a Republican and staunch conservative" as well as "a champion to the right and a lighting rod to the left." NBC reporter Martin Savidge, however, tagged Helms as "an ultra-rightist" when he won his Senate seat in 1972, though Savidge concluded his review of Helms' career by portraying the late Senator's ideology in a positive light: "Helms finally left the Senate in 2003 at the age of 81, and for the rest of his life would proudly wear the unofficial title of the Senate's most conservative Senator." Holt painted Helms from the negative, what he was against as opposed to what he favored: "He staked out firm positions against everything from communism and foreign aid to civil rights and modern art."