MediaWatch: September 1994
Table of Contents:
Criminal Gaps in Crime Bill Coverage
President Clinton's crime bill presented reporters with a large target for their renowned cynicism. Supporters claimed the bill contained funds to hire 100,000 new police and social spending essential for "crime prevention" programs. Crime bill backers maintained that conservative opposition to social spending was a veiled attempt to defeat the bill's assault weapons ban. Opponents argued the social spending was excessive, that the money allocated to pay 100,000 new policemen was insufficient, and that the assault weapons ban would not inhibit violent crime.
To determine if the media gave equal time to both sides' arguments, MediaWatch analysts examined the 82 crime bill stories which aired on four network evening shows (ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and CNN's World News) during the month of August. Crime bill supporters and their arguments dominated coverage, even though most stories (58 of 82, or 71 percent) focused on the bill's political fortunes, not specific provisions of the bill.
Among talking heads aired, crime bill supporters outnumbered opponents by nearly a 2-1 margin, 192 to 97. CNN's coverage proved the most one-sided, with 42 talking heads for the crime bill (70 percent), and just 18 (30 percent) opposed. On NBC, 43 of 62 (69 percent) favored the bill, while on ABC, 70 of 105 (67 percent) backed the Democratic plan. The least slanted was CBS, where crime bill proponents appeared in 37 of 62 soundbites (60 percent).
Prevention Or Pork? Stories referring to the bill's "crime prevention" provisions surpassed stories on "pork-barrel" spending by almost a 4 to 1 ratio, 19 to 5. On August 13. ABC's Michele Norris informed viewers the bill contained "crime prevention programs like midnight basketball." Another 10 stories mentioned both sides, usually without explaining where the money went. NBC's Lisa Myers declared on August 25: "What Republicans called pork was actually $6.1 billion for crime prevention programs."
Rep. Jack Brooks' $10 million grant to Lamar University was cited most often (five times) as a specific example of pork, and was removed from the final bill, but reporters ignored the bill's duplication of existing programs. Nor did a single story publicize items like the creation of a task force to study `non-indigenous plant and animal species' and their introduction to Hawaii, which remained in the final bill, according to the House Judiciary Committee's Minority Counsel.
Three of the four stories on a specific program to receive crime bill funding explored the midnight basketball program, but the stories glossed over the most questionable parts of the program. CNN's Christine Negroni asserted on August 20: "President Bush touted its crime prevention possibilities, because basketball is just part of the program. There are rules, educational requirements, and workshops where participants get help and advice....for inner-city players, the game is a crucial part of their newly structured lives."
Only ABC's Lisa Stark mentioned that many midnight leagues are funded privately, and none pointed out that Bush had praised the leagues as a privately funded "Point of Light," not as a federal mandate. The stories also omitted complaints about bureaucratic rules for the leagues, like the requirement that half of players must live in public housing and a certain percent must reside in areas with at least two percent HIV infection.
100,000 Cops? The Heritage Foundation discovered: "The funds provided in the bill can keep at most just 20,000 permanent cops on the street over the next six years." But 7 of 10 stories simply passed on the White House claim of 100,000 cops. CBS's Rita Braver claimed on August 11 that "the bill would have added 100,000 new cops to the streets." CNN anchor Linden Soles insisted that night it funded "100,000 new local police."
Just three stories mentioned the figure was in dispute, most notably Jim Stewart's August 23 report on how Kansas City leaders found "the crime bill itself only has enough cash in it to put new cops on the streets for three years...not enough time to recruit and train a rookie."
Whose Fault? Though nearly one-fourth of House Democrats and most of the Black Caucus voted against the crime bill two separate times, reporters blamed the bill's troubles on the National Rifle Association and Republicans over Democrats and the Black Caucus by a better than 6 to 1 ratio. In 32 stories where blame was assessed, 19 (59 percent) attributed setbacks to the GOP or the NRA, 10 stories (31 percent) to both sides, and just three (9 percent) faulted liberal opponents.
NBC portrayed the NRA and GOP as culpable in five of eight stories. Andrea Mitchell accused 11 Republicans who voted for the assault weapons ban previously of "hav[ing] caved in to pressure from the gun lobby and Republican leaders, and have said they'll vote against the bill...Members on both sides told NBC News the issue is really guns and politics."
On August 15, CBS's Scott Pelley alleged "the proposed ban on assault weapons did more than anything else to cut down the crime bill," while ABC reporter Cokie Roberts opined on August 19 that "Some Republicans still hope to deprive the Democratic President of a victory on crime." In contrast, NBC's Mitchell described how liberal Rep. Charles Rangel had a principled motive: "Ministers back home helped him overcome his moral objections to the death penalty."
NBC's Tom Pettit blamed Congress for letting people die on August 21: "Meetings on semi-automatic weapons went on. At about the same time, there was a shootout in New York City, 45 shots from a semi-automatic pistol, one dead, one wounded. Back at the Capitol, Representatives were still debating attack weapons."
Only ABC's Tom Foreman wondered if the gun ban would reduce crime. He found "there is no comprehensive nationwide data to show how often assault weapons are used illegally, although it's believed to be less than one percent." His story aired the day after the crime bill passed.
