NEWS AT THE FRONT

Presidential TV Critic: President Bush “is angry over the way the television networks have covered the Iraqi crisis,” read a Periscope column item in Monday’s Newsweek, quoting anonymous members of the Bush Administration. The item says Bush was irritated “by intelligence reports indicating that 35 American hostages were moved from their hotel last week in part to keep them away from (Ted) Koppel and Forrest Sawyer, who were, as one source put it, ‘roaming the hallways’ in search of interviews.” Newsweek claims Bush and White House staffers “were pleased when (Dan) Rather and Koppel were forced to leave Iraq.” Koppel told the magazine that such criticism is “nonsense.”