MediaWatch: October 1993
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: October 1993
- On Health, Network Morning Shows Slant Left in Picking Guests, slightly Right in Questions
- NewsBites: Watching the Ad Watch
- Revolving Door: CNBC's New Chief
- Reporters Heap Heaving Helpings of Mush, Ignore Substanse of Testimony
- 'Kiss Ass, Move with the Mass'
- Wallace on U.N. Waste
- What a Difference a Producer Makes
- Janet Cooke Award: NBC's Jim Maceda Attacks Conservative "Myths" About Health Care
What a Difference a Producer Makes
ABC Admits Bias
ABC got more than it bargained for when selecting an outsider to take the Executive Producer slot for World News Tonight -- a journalist who thinks the media tilt left. In April, ABC hired Emily Rooney from ABC's Boston affiliate. In the September 27 Electronic Media Rooney explained that in assembling the American Agenda segments "we're trying to tap more into a conservative point of view, the `heart of America' point of view, rather than the traditional media liberal spin on programs. I think we are aware, as everybody who works in the media is, that the old stereotype of the liberal bent happens to be true, and we're making a concerted effort to really look for more from the other, without being ponderous and lecturing or trying to convert people to another way of thinking."
A 1989 MediaWatch analysis of a year's worth of American Agenda stories proved Rooney's contention. MediaWatch found that on health, social and environmental issues ABC stuck to liberal themes "while items on the conservative agenda were ignored."
Within a week, Rooney had convinced Peter Jennings of the problem. He told the October 9 TV Guide that American Agenda has "revolved around a liberal axis" because "a lot of the activism in terms of the social issues we deal with -- education, drugs, the family, health, welfare, and the environment -- has tended to emanate from liberal circles." He promised to "pay more attention to what conservatives are saying."
How about Person of the Week? A 1992 MediaWatch study found from 1988 to 1991, eleven political officials profiled were liberals or Democrats, while only five were conservative or Republican. In the political activist category, liberals were selected 16 times, "but not one conservative made the cut."
