MediaWatch: October 1993

On Health, Network Morning Shows Slant Left in Picking Guests, slightly Right in Questions

Good Morning, Liberals

When Republicans controlled the White House, liberal critics complained the GOP dominated the networks' interviews. Now that the Democrats control the White House, no one can argue there's a conservative slant.

MediaWatch analysts watched all interviews on health care reform on ABC's Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, and NBC's Today from November 8, 1992, the day after the election, through the end of September of this year. Guests were classified as "left" if they supported the Clinton plan or an even stronger government role; or classified as "right" if they wanted less government than the Clinton plan.

In 51 segments, 45 interviewees (62 percent) came from the left; 19 (26 percent) came from the right. Another nine (12 percent) represented medical industries -- doctors (6), drug companies (1), insurance companies (1), and hospitals (1).

MediaWatch analysts went further, looking at the questions the networks asked. Questions were categorized as informational, from the left or from the right. Of the 356 questions asked, 228 were informational, 85 came from the right-leaning agenda, and 43 came from the left. If morning show hosts were playing the role of devil's advocates, left-leaning guests should be asked a fair number of right-leaning questions. But hosts didn't become truly adversarial, asking more right-leaning questions than left, until the Clinton plan emerged in September.

Guests. The study period is split into two parts: the 21 segments from November to August, and the 30 interviews in September, as media interest picked up in the release of the Clinton plan. Liberal bias reigned in the first part: the guest lists slanted dramatically (21 left, 6 right, 5 industry). Only in September did the overall guest list grow more balanced (24 left, 13 right, 4 industry).

Among those interviewed on the "right" side were Sens. John Chafee, Arlen Specter, and Dave Durenberger, all of whom have been receptive to the Clinton plan. Stephen Elmont of the National Restaurant Association made the "right" list, even though he told the NBC audience that he was an active Democrat and Clinton fundraiser, because he opposed employer mandates.

Guests on the left were also sometimes critical of the Clinton plan, as too conservative. NBC brought on Dr. David Himmelstein twice and ABC invited Dr. Steffie Woolhandler. The two doctors head Physicians for a National Health Program, a group favoring a Canadian-style single payer system that would abolish insurance companies. CBS invited single-payer advocate Sara Nichols of Public Citizen. By contrast, the networks never interviewed sponsors of a House Republican medical-savings-account plan or anyone who disagreed with the notion of government-enforced universal coverage.

The three networks differed not only in the balance of their guests, but in the amount of time they devoted to the health issue. ABC did the fewest interviews (7), but had the most politically balanced guest list (5 left, 4 right, no one from industry). CBS came in second in segments (18), but first in guest imbalance (15 left, only 4 right, and 4 from industry). NBC did the most interviews (26), and had much more balance in September (13 left, 8 right, 3 industry) than from November to August (12 left, 2 right, 2 industry).

Questions. Analysts categorized questions as informational, coming from the left (promoting the Clinton or single-payer plans, or skeptical of the private sector) or the right (promoting the private sector, questioning the effects of more government).

To illustrate, "Why managed competition?" is an informational question. From the left, take Bryant Gumbel on March 31: "In the greedy excesses of the Reagan years, the mean income of the average physician almost doubled, from $88,000 to $170,000. Was that warranted?" From the right, take Joan Lunden's September 24 question to Mrs. Clinton: "Some say this will create a huge bureaucracy. How do you respond to that?"

Again, the study period splits into two parts. From November to August, not only did the list of guests slant left, but the agenda of questions was evenly divided (25 left, 25 right, 95 informational). In one of the most slanted interviews, NBC's Scott Simon asked liberal professor Ted Marmor mostly liberal questions last December 27: "Should we have the nerve...to say that maybe we have to take private industry out of this. Maybe it has to be a government-assumed right?"

In September, the questions focused more on the Clinton plan and its possible flaws (57 right, 17 left, 130 informational).The networks were especially concerned about patients being able to choose doctors, the subject of 22 questions. Hosts also asked about rationing (7), higher taxes (6), and more bureaucracy (5).

Analysts made one exception in the right-leaning category: questions critical of privately-run health maintenance organizations (or HMOs) were sometimes categorized as right- leaning, since the Clinton plan envisions using government to force more Americans into HMOs. On September 23, ABC's Dr. Tim Johnson asked Dr. C. Everett Koop: "We know there will be more emphasis on HMOs, where their doctor may not be there. What's going to happen there?"

The networks rarely asked questions on side issues that could cause trouble for Clinton. Of 356 questions, only five focused on government-funded abortions, four by CBS co-host Paula Zahn, who told Hillary Clinton "some hard-core groups [are] out there saying they're going to derail this plan over the sole issue of abortion." Only two asked about the plan's malpractice provisions, and none mentioned health care for illegal aliens. As the debate rages on , the networks should be pressed into covering these subjects as well.

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