Bozell: Media Are Obama's "Squawking Parrots"

Sequestration Hysteria Is Major Media Embarrassment

ALEXANDRIA, VA – In spite of the dishonest, over-the-top fear-mongering perpetrated by the Obama Administration and its willing friends in the liberal media, the sky did not fall on Friday. Media Research Center analysts reviewed all of the 88 sequestration stories that ran on ABC, CBS and NBC during the two-week period between February 14 and March 1 when the “cuts” took effect. They found that 58 (66%) of them advanced the most hysterical Obama administration talking points without any hint of skepticism. Some of the most outrageous examples include:

  • On CBS This Morning (March 1) co-host Charlie Rose raised the specter that U.S. "troops could pay with their lives.”
  • Earlier on the February 25 CBS This Morning, Rose highlighted "the worst-case scenario" for the sequester: "Kids without vaccines; schools without teachers; and massive airport delays.
  • On ABC's World News (February 24) David Kerley likened the cuts to a "disaster movie," warning of "child care canceled for tens of thousands of kids."
  • Over on NBC's Today (February 25), correspondent Peter Alexander claimed the puny budget cuts would eliminate "meals for needy seniors" and deprive children of "vaccines for diseases like whooping cough and the flu."

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:

“There is a reason that public confidence in the news media is down to 6%.”

“The Obama administration couldn’t have made its cheerleaders at ABC, CBS, and NBC look any more foolish. Thanks to the bogus sequestration panic pushed by the administration and the liberal media, the American people recognize that the networks are nothing more than an adjunct of the Obama White House press office.

“Like squawking parrots, ABC, CBS, and NBC mindlessly repeated the administration’s phony, over-hyped doomsday talking points during the two weeks leading up to sequestration. That a full two thirds of their stories didn’t include a shred of skepticism is an abomination. Their breathless prognostications of swift, certain doom should be an embarrassment to the entire news industry, but the liberal media have proven that they are beyond shame and are fully devoted to pushing Obama’s message no matter how preposterous it is.”



 To schedule an interview with MRC President Brent Bozell or another MRC spokesperson, please contact Jeremy Little - jlittle@crcpublicrelations.com (703)-683-5004