PrintAugust 30, 2007
Bias? What Media Bias?
After all the sound and fury, the bombastic rhetoric thrown around by Democrats over the supposed partisanship of Fox News, comes this stunner of a study done by the conservative Media Research Center about coverage of the presidential campaigns on the three biggest morning shows on television.
In a word; mindboggling:
The study found that 55 percent of campaign stories on ABC's "Good Morning America," CBS's "The Early Show" and NBC's "Today" focused on Democratic candidates while only 29 percent focused on Republicans. The remaining 16 percent were classified as "mixed/independent."Truly remarkable.
The morning shows aired 61 stories focused exclusively on Sen. Hillary Clinton, 44 stories on former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, and 41 stories on Sen. Barack Obama, all of whom are seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Former Vice President Al Gore, who is not officially running, was the subject of 29 stories.
Republican candidates received less attention, according to the study. Sen. John McCain was the focus of 31 stories. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the focus of 26 stories and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney was the focus of 19 stories.
While some allowances should be made in coverage given the historic nature of the Clinton and Obama candidacies, it is ridiculous to posit the notion that those circumstances rate double the coverage given to Republicans.
This is bias, pure and simple. And where are the yelps of outrage about this clear and obvious bias from those liberals who continue to raise such a stink about Fox News?
The silence from that quarter is deafening.
Hat Tip: Rich Baehr
