MediaWatch: April 1990
Table of Contents:
Networks Miss Another Election
Standing By Socialism. Nicaragua was not the only political shift to the right missed by the media. Two days before the March 18 East German elections, as thousands were fleeing to the West, ABC's Jerry King described the leftist Social Democrats as "descendants of the communists [who] strike a responsive cord when they claim to be the new social conscience of the left." And why might they be popular? "East Germans are afraid unification with West Germany will spell the end of their generous social security programs."
NBC's Mike Boettcher saw the same nonexistent trend on March 16: "The communists, pronounced dead only a few months ago, have been resuscitated by fears that capitalists might eliminate the benefits of East German socialism." Bob Simon of CBS finished the triad, whining about the demise of "the whole East German system which covered everyone in a security blanket from day care to health care, from housing to education," bizarrely adding: "Some people are beginning to express, if ever so slightly, nostalgia for the Berlin Wall."
These reporters somehow managed to miss the overwhelming sentiment for quick reunification that helped the conservatives win. The day before the vote, Boettcher attributed the wish for quick elections to worries that "East Germans might rethink their support for democratic principles if they had more time to think about the consequences of reunification." ABC's King cited polls showing the conservative party "running a close second, partly because it's pushing for a quick unification."
U.S. News & World Report's Michael Barone explained the media have exaggerated the strength of the left: "The voters are saying, in the slogan of the East German winners, 'No more socialist experiments.'...History is not, it seems, an endless move to the left." Mr. Simon, Mr. Boettcher, and Mr. King, take note.
