Below is the text of a Media Reality Check study conducted by MRC
Research Director Rich Noyes with the assistance of news analyst
Scott Whitlock.
For the PDF, which matches the hard copy, of the 2-page report:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/realitycheck/2007/pdf/fax1107.pdf
The HTML version, with colorful charts:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/realitycheck/2007/fax20071107.asp
Now, the text of the November 7 Media Reality Check:
Slanted Morning TV Helps 2008 Democrats
Study: ABC, CBS and NBC Morning Shows Promote Democratic Candidates,
Push Liberal News Agenda
A Pew Research Center poll released late last month found that while
four out of five American adults (81%) could name one of the
Democratic presidential candidates, far fewer (just 59%) could recall
any of the GOP candidates. Even among self-described Republican
voters, Pew found "Clinton and Obama are much more visible than
Giuliani or any other GOP presidential candidate."
Pew's poll:
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=364
One reason may be that the big broadcast networks have treated the
Democratic frontrunners like celebrities worthy of intense coverage,
while the Republican candidates have received far less TV time. A new
Media Research Center study of the ABC, CBS and NBC morning news
shows has found that in the first 10 months of 2007, the networks
spent more time covering the Democratic race and spent far more time
interviewing the Democratic candidates than the Republicans. And
those interviews were much friendlier to the Democrats, with the
morning show anchors emphasizing a predominantly liberal agenda.
These results echo those presented in MRC's Special Report, "Rise and
Shine on Democrats," which examined how TV's morning shows covered
the presidential campaign from January 1 through July 31.
See:
http://www.mrc.org/SpecialReports/2007/Riseandshine/report0829_exec.asp
For this new report, MRC analysts studied all 797 campaign stories that aired on NBC's Today, ABC's Good Morning America and CBS's The Early Show from January 1 through October 31. Key findings:
TV's DEMOCRATIC NEWS AGENDA
All three networks spent more time covering the Democrats' nomination
race than the contest for the GOP nomination. Overall, 431 out of the
total 797 campaign segments (54%) focused on the Democrats, compared
to 247 (31%) devoted to the Republicans. The remaining 119 stories
(15%) either dealt with both parties about equally, or dealt with a
nonpartisan campaign topic, such as the growing use of YouTube by all
candidates.
Of the three morning shows, ABC's Good Morning America was the most
tilted, airing 167 Democratic stories (59%), vs. 83 about the
Republicans (29%). CBS's Early Show and NBC's Today were nearly
identical in emphasizing Democrats in just over half of all campaign
stories (51% on NBC, 52% on CBS), with the GOP featured in less than
one-third of stories (32%) on each show.
The reason for the disparity: ABC, CBS and NBC have chosen to cover
the top Democrats as celebrities, elevating them above the ranks of
ordinary candidates. Back in January, the networks excitedly jumped
on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's official announcements with
heavier coverage than any Republican received. Since then, the
morning shows have covered the Democratic duo as "rock stars,"
providing national TV coverage for otherwise trivial campaign events.
In August, for example, NBC's Lee Cowan chronicled the day Obama
spent posing as a home health care worker as demanded by the SEIU
labor union. "Mr. Mom, he's not. But on a day after some big rallies
and high-priced fundraisers, Barack Obama seemed genuinely at home,"
Cowan warmly reported. A few weeks later, NBC's Andrea Mitchell
similarly touted Clinton's day spent shadowing a nurse. Back at the
nurse's home for dinner, Mitchell recounted, "[Hillary] pitched right
in. She was clearing the table, washing the dishes....She got her
hands wet."
In October, all three networks covered Clinton's 60th birthday
fundraiser, with ABC's Kate Snow swooning the hardest: "On the eve of
this birthday, Hillary is trumpeting the strength of their
marriage....Clinton says she never doubted her decision to stay in
her marriage, and she says Bill is romantic, buying impromptu gifts
like a gift of a wooden giraffe from this shop in Africa over the summer."
Beyond the day-to-day coverage, TV's morning shows offer candidates a
generally friendly forum to speak to millions of viewers. Once again,
the networks have given the Democrats an advantage. Since January 1,
MRC analysts counted 102 morning show appearances by an announced or
prospective presidential candidate or one of their representatives.
Of these, nearly two-thirds (64) featured Democrats, compared to just
36 for the Republicans and two for potential independent candidate
Michael Bloomberg.
When it came to airtime, the Democratic advantage was even more
pronounced. Interviews with the various Democratic campaigns totalled
6 hours 24 minutes, compared to just over three hours (184 minutes)
for the GOP, a greater than two-to-one disparity. Top Democrats
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards all received more
interview airtime than any Republican candidate. For the GOP, John
McCain was granted the most airtime, but his 62 minutes amounted to
less than half of the 2 hours 12 minutes received by Clinton's campaign
LIBERAL QUESTIONS FOR BOTH PARTIES
In addition to tallying the airtime each campaign received, MRC
analysts also analyzed the questions posed by the network hosts.
While most of the questions were about campaign strategy or the
candidates' personal attributes, 191 were policy-oriented questions
that could be categorized as reflecting a liberal or conservative
view.
An even-handed approach would be to confront candidates of both
parties with the best arguments of their opponents. But regardless of
whether their guests were Democrats or Republicans, network reporters
proposed questions reflecting largely liberal agenda. Of the 137
agenda questions posed to Democrats, 72 percent reflected liberal
priorities, as were 80 percent of the 54 agenda questions posed to Republicans.
For example, NBC's Matt Lauer interviewed Hillary Clinton on
September 18 and hit her from the left, suggesting her health care
plan was too pro-industry and not aggressive enough. "Critics are
saying that this in some ways is the kind of plan you would have
rejected back in 1993," Lauer scolded. "Have you watered down reform?"
Ten days later, ABC's Good Morning America framed a segment on
government-mandated family leave in liberal terms. "There are paid
leave proposals in Congress right now. So, what's stopping the
government from making the law truly family friendly?" co-host Robin
Roberts urged. She cued up Democratic candidate Chris Dodd. "I know
you have been very passionate about this in recent years," Roberts
told Dodd. "So why isn't Congress moving a little faster on this issue?"
While such liberal questions were a frequent gift to Democratic
candidates, Republican candidates were seldom treated to friendly
conservative questions. On September 25, after liberal PBS host Tavis
Smiley claimed that GOP candidates who skipped his debate were
insensitive, ABC's Robin Roberts adopted Smiley's outrage as her
premise. "Why are Republicans so reluctant to talk to minorities?"
she demanded of Newt Gingrich. On October 15, ABC's Diane Sawyer
confronted Iraq war supporter John McCain with the criticisms of
retired General Ricardo Sanchez: "America is living in a nightmare
with no end in sight."
As for the rare conservative-oriented questions, back on August 13
NBC's Meredith Vieira hit Mitt Romney with the charge that Romney's
pro-life position was inauthentic. And as Clinton made the rounds to
tout her health care plan on September 18, ABC's Diane Sawyer
confronted her with the notion that her plan could be far more
expensive than advertised. "Medicare is already $16 trillion over
what has been funded," Sawyer told Clinton, asking of her new
program, "can you realistically keep it at $110 billion?"
The broadcast networks have a responsibility to cover both parties in
a fair and even-handed manner. These early returns suggest that ABC,
CBS and NBC are instead using their airwaves to boost the Democrats
in 2008.
END of Media Reality Check study
