MediaWatch: April 1991
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: April 1991
- Gumbel's Morning Gospel
- NewsBites: Telling McGrory's Story
- Revolving Door: Two Times A Nader
- CBS Claims Millions of Kids Almost Starving
- Address Dismisses Conservatives, Iraq War Victory
- Joining Stahl's Quest for More Money
- ABC News on Lee Atwater
- Janet Cooke Award: CBS: Faking the Nation
CBS Claims Millions of Kids Almost Starving
MEDIA EAT UP HUNGER STUDY
When the little-known left-wing Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) released preliminary findings of its study on child hunger March 26, it became an immediate smash with major media outlets. Several liked it so much they further exaggerated its already- questionable conclusions.
FRAC classified children as "hungry" if respondents answered "yes" to five of eight questions about the previous year. Some questions didn't necessarily indicate hunger. "Do your children ever eat less than you feel they should because there is not enough money for food?" and "Do you ever rely on a limited number of foods to feed your children because you are running out of money to buy food for a meal?" Some didn't even deal with children: two asked about the eating habits of adults.
CBS made the FRAC study the number one story on the Evening News. Dan Rather began the broadcast: "A startling number of American children are in danger of starving...Good evening. One out of eight American children is going hungry tonight." Starving? Not only did FRAC not claim their "hungry" children were hungry every night -- just at least once a year -- the study did not even focus on clinical malnutrition.
Others also inflated FRAC's claims. Newsweek erred in its April 1 issue: "Childhood hunger in America appears to be worse than many feared....one in eight children under 12 years old -- 5.5 million kids -- goes hungry each day." The Boston Globe's Stephen Kurkjian identically asserted: "The survey, the first nationwide study of the level of childhood hunger in the United States, estimates that one child in eight under the age of 12 -- 5.5 million -- goes hungry each day." Kurkjian should have checked the facts with his wife Ann, who worked as a spokesperson for the FRAC study, a conflict the Globe failed to mention.
Diane Duston, an Associated Press reporter who wrote the story run by most of the country's newspapers, also puffed the study. She began: "One of every eight youngsters under age 12 is hungry, according to a new report that is the most comprehensive look yet at childhood hunger in America." This "comprehensive" study by local activists included only ten counties in seven states.
"It's a joke," said Heritage Foundation poverty expert Robert Rector, who told MediaWatch the Agriculture Dept. found that low- income kids receive roughly the same nutrition as upper-middle class children. But none of the major media stories included any critics, or labeled FRAC as liberal, even though the study's technical adviser, Dr. Victor Sidel, recently wrote a "socialist perspective" on health care for the Democratic Socialists of America.
