MediaWatch: August 1992
Table of Contents:
Networks Coddle the Democrats
During the Democratic National Convention July 13-16 in New York City, a team of MediaWatch analysts watched live prime time coverage offered by the four networks. The information gathered appeared in a special daily MediaWatch Convention Watch newsletter and has been analyzed since for this month's study which has determined that, as in 1984 and 1988, the Democrats failed to receive tough scrutiny of their records, ideology, or policies.
In short: (1) Democratic delegates, speakers and candidates were described as moderate, centrist or middle-of-the-road more often than they were tagged liberal; (2) Reporters and anchors posed more questions from the Democratic or left-wing agenda than which matched the conservative or Republican agenda; (3) Controversies, such as charges about Bill Clinton's draft record or the party's refusal to let pro-life Governor Bob Casey speak, were raised just 8 times by the broadcast networks, on another 7 occasions by CNN.
This year's study follows 1984 and 1988 studies of how the television networks covered the Democratic versus Republican conventions (as summarized on page 5). The study covered all ABC, CBS and NBC night time coverage, the combined NBC/PBS broadcast for 90 to 120 minutes a night and CNN from 8pm to 12am Eastern time. In the September issue, MediaWatch will publish the final results comparing and contrasting coverage of the two conventions.
LABELING. Network reporters attached moderate or even conservative ideological labels to convention attendees 51 times, while using liberal labels 38 times. Only ABC referred more to liberals than moderates in Madison Square Garden, by a ratio of 12 mentions to two. While PBS/NBC joint coverage balanced moderate and liberal labels (11-11), the other networks concentrated more on moderate labels: CBS by a ratio of 10-3, CNN 14-7, and NBC on its solo broadcast 10-4. During the last night, NBC's Tom Brokaw concluded: "Bill Clinton and Al Gore will try to capitalize on some of the goodwill that you see here tonight, and lead a unified centrist party."
Bill Clinton and Al Gore were never once directly labeled liberal, only "moderate," "centrist," "middle of the road," or "conservative" a total of 19 times. Before his July 16 speech, for instance, Tom Brokaw tagged Clinton "a moderate of modest means." A bit later, John Chancellor decided "they've done a good job of moving this party back to the center of the political spectrum."
Some reporters went so far as to call the ticket "conservative." During the first night, Susan Spencer of CBS asserted: "I think it's fair to say that if you talk to delegates, even liberal Democrats now, they think that Al Gore and Bill Clinton could be a winning ticket. They're willing to swallow their problems that they have with such a conservative pair in hopes of winning." Late Thursday night CNN's Candy Crowley noted that many delegates "are more of the liberal wing of the party," who "are willing to put aside some of their policy differences with this man. Bill Clinton, of course, is a conservative Democrat, he is a moderate Democrat."
Similarly, the platform which stands by abortion on demand and calls for massive new spending, including a public works job program and a national health care system, was never called liberal. All 12 prime time references described it with moderate labels. During a July 14 All-Star baseball game break-in, Dan Rather announced: "Delegates approved the Clinton-Gore, center- of-the-road Democratic Party platform, trying to move the party closer to voters around the malls in America's suburbs." On CNN the same night, Ken Bode reported that the convention had "passed this moderate platform" and Tom Brokaw declared: "This is a centrist platform."
Most liberal labels were reserved for Mario Cuomo, Jerry Brown and delegates. On opening night, Schieffer labeled Brown and then Clinton: "It doesn't hurt to have someone acting kind of goofy off to the left because it leaves the man in the center looking more moderate." Similarly, Peter Jennings wondered: "Doesn't Tom Harkin represent sort of a dilemma here, because he's on the left wing of the party and Bill Clinton and Al Gore are really trying to move this party to the center?" On Wednesday, Sam Donaldson declared: "Mario Cuomo's speech was a liberal speech."
AGENDA QUESTIONS. Reporters normally play devil's advocate, making politicians respond to points from their opponents. In 1988, Republicans were challenged with 128 Democratic agenda questions, the Democrats just 49 Republican agenda questions. Judging by those posed this year, reporters considered liberal Democrats just as much, if not more of, an opponent for the Clinton-Gore ticket than the GOP and conservatives. The networks asked more questions (or raised points) from the left than from the right, by a count of 46 to 38. Of these, CNN and NBC asked a higher proportion of questions from the left than right, both with a ratio of 10 to 6. The other networks either balanced their agenda questions or came close: ABC, 8-6, CBS, 5-5, and PBS/NBC, 14-15.
Some examples of questions from the left. Nine minutes into Monday's solo NBC show, Brokaw asked Ann Richards: "Do the poor and the inner cities get left out with this ticket?" During Monday's joint PBS/NBC show, NBC's Andrea Mitchell told House Speaker Foley that Clinton has "been trying to move the party further to the right. Doesn't that leave you traditional liberals out in the cold?"
Tuesday night Maria Shriver continued the theme. To U.S. Representative Maxine Waters: "After the L.A. riots, you talked about people needing change, wanting to empower themselves. What specifically should give them a reason to vote for this ticket -- two white boys from the South?" And, "Do you feel that you have to sell out here?" Shriver to Mario Cuomo: "Some say this ticket is hard to distinguish from the Republicans. I mean, they've moved so far to the right."
After Elizabeth Glazer's AIDS speech, Shriver asserted: "You place responsibility for the death of your daughter squarely at the feet of the Reagan Administration. Do you believe they are responsible for that?"
On Wednesday Ed Bradley asked Walter Mondale: "In 1984 you were very honest, very up front, very open with the American people. At the convention you said in San Francisco, 'I will raise your taxes. It will be necessary.' There are people today who say that you cannot solve the problems of this country without raising taxes. Your recommendation?"
ABC's Cokie Roberts the same day: "I'm talking to Frank Gallegos from California who is a Teamster official, a union man. Bill Clinton has not been terribly sympathetic to the unions. Are you going to be, is it going to be comfortable for you to be working for him?" On Thursday, CNN's Gene Randall queried Sen. Howell Heflin: "You were part of the Anita Hill hearings this year. Will there be some kind of effect from those hearings that will play to the Democrats' advantage?"
As for conservative agenda questions, Dan Rather asked U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton two: "What about the ticket? It's light on foreign policy experience." And, "I know Indiana, I've traveled there many times. They care about family values in Indiana. Isn't this going to hurt him [Clinton] badly?"
Also on Monday, CNN's Catherine Crier interviewed Al Gore: "You are seen as someone with the environment as a major part of your agenda, even at the cost sometimes of economic recovery. How are you going to avoid the label of being environmentally radical at a time and period when people are so worried about the economy and dollars?"
Jeff Greenfield asked Congressman Louis Stokes on Wednesday: "You know the Republicans are going to run against people like you as the cause of the real problems, the evil, big spending, insulated Congress. Isn't that going to resonate a lot with American voters?" In a twist on the usual "gender gap" issue, NBC's John Cochran asked a delegate: "Has the party become too sensitive to the women's movement?"
A few times anchors made points that reflected a political agenda. Polls show two-thirds of the public support the Pennsylvania abortion restrictions, but on Tuesday, for instance, John Chancellor endorsed the liberal view of how the issue plays: "My own guess is that the Supreme Court's recent decision, which ...in the minds of many Americans, kept Roe v. Wade alive, but fuzzed up the question for a lot of ordinary people. That helps Democrats in this. As we all know all the polls over the years have shown that people favor in this country, by varying mounts, a woman's right to choose." A few minutes later Brokaw made a conservative point: more money for AIDS will mean less for bigger killers like cancer.
CONTROVERSIES. Network reporters steered clear of asking Democrats many questions about recent controversies that might make the liberal ticket look bad. Contrast that to the 1988 Republican convention, when Tom Brokaw led off NBC's coverage: "In this hall, you'll hear nothing of Iran-Contra, or Meese, or Deaver, or Nofziger, or the tragedy in Beirut." In New Orleans, network anchors and reporters raised controversies like this on 32 occasions. Democrats in New York clearly got an easier time, with only 15 mentions of controversy, and CNN was responsible for half of those. The others were even more sparing: three mentions on ABC, two on NBC, two on PBS/NBC, and only one on CBS.
Seven of the mentions were brief references to Clinton's struggles with charges of marijuana use, draft dodging, and infidelity. Reporters vaguely listed them as character tests Clinton faced down during the primaries. But reporters never made any Democrat respond to a question about the draft issue or discuss the political impact of Clinton's draft avoidance. Two additional mentions, both on CNN, brought up the Democrats' role in the S&L imbroglio. Among the other controversies barely touched on:
Pro-life Democrats. Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey was denied permission to address the convention against the Party's abortion-on-demand stance. He was also denied permission to address a network audience. Only CNN and NBC interviewed Casey in the four days of prime time convention coverage. CNN made another four mentions in prime time.
House Bank and Post Office. The House Bank and Post Office fiascos, scandals involving the Democratic House leadership, never came up on ABC, CBS, or NBC during the convention. CNN's Bernard Shaw, however, did mention the scandal in the 7pm hour, outside the time frame of this study.
South African Profits. Also outside the study period: only CNN's Shaw, on Monday night, highlighted the recent revelation that Bill and Hillary Clinton reported small capital gains on the sale of stock in the South African diamond conglomerate DeBeers in 1980 and 1981, years in which apartheid continued and liberals called for divestment.
