Nets Trumpet Global Warming Warnings from 'Movie Star Named Gore' --3/22/2007

1. Nets Trumpet Global Warming Warnings from 'Movie Star Named Gore'
ABC anchor Charles Gibson teased his lead Wednesday night story by touting how "Al Gore goes back to Capitol Hill for the first time since the year 2000 and finds a heated debate on global warming." But the broadcast network evening newscasts didn't get to the debate. They were too busy trumpeting Gore's cause. ABC's Kate Snow gave a doubter ten words before running a much longer laudatory clip from former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill) which ended with Hastert calling Gore "a movie star." When Gore demurred that "I just have a slide show," Snow, far from exploring the "debate," endorsed the premises of Gore's most dire ideas: "Of course, that slide show won an Oscar. And the man dubbed the 'Goracle' now jets around the planet trying to save it. Gore today called on Congress to freeze carbon emissions and figure out how to drastically reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. The message endorsed by much of the scientific community." Over on CBS, Katie Couric celebrated "a lot of excitement on Capitol Hill. A movie star showed up to testify before Congress -- a movie star named Al Gore." Gloria Borger recalled that "the last time Gore appeared on Capitol Hill was in his official role as Vice President, certifying his own loss in the disputed 2000 election," but she championed how "he came back today as a winner..." AUDIO&VIDEO [1] [1]

2. Today: White House Bid By Al 'Warrior for Climate Change' Gore?
In the first hour of Wednesday's Today show, there were not one but two segments that would make Al Gore smile. First NBC's Andrea Mitchell explored whether Al "warrior for climate change" Gore would consider jumping into the presidential race, then in the second half hour Today co-host Matt Lauer, in a segment about environmentally-friendly gadgets, gave Gore face time via a clip from An Inconvenient Truth. In fact, both segments featured preachy clips from the documentary.

3. CNN Anchor Lauds Boxer's Scolding of Inhofe: 'Good for Her'
CNN anchor Don Lemon just couldn't resist editorializing over liberal Senator Barbara Boxer's slam against a conservative colleague, James Inhofe. During the 3pm EDT hour of the CNN Newsroom program, anchors Lemon and Brianna Keiler played a contentious exchange between Boxer and Inhofe in which the Democratic Senator chastised the Republican for interrupting former Vice President Al Gore's global warming testimony. After the clip, Keiler enthused: "Wow. All right. That was quite an exchange. And, you know, we were expecting something from Senator James Inhofe. He is a critic of global warming....We thought maybe it might be with him and former Senator, former Vice President Al Gore, but it ended up between him and Senator Barbara Boxer. She really got a stinger in there, I will say." Don Lemon laughed, then quietly offered his admiration: "Good for her." AUDIO&VIDEO [1] [1]

4. CNN's Surprise: Anchor Raises Clinton's Executive Privilege Claim
On Wednesday's American Morning, CNN co-host Soledad O'Brien probably surprised former Clinton administration official and Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel with a tough question concerning the Bush administration's use of executive privilege versus the Clinton administration's use. O'Brien proposed: "You worked in the White House, the Clinton administration, where they claimed executive privilege for Bruce Lindsey and for Sidney Blumenthal in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, essentially. Why that time around was the efforts you made -- it failed, but there was an effort to say executive privilege. Let's protect these guys. They shouldn't have to go testify before Congress. It failed. But that was what was claimed, so why this time around does it not seem fair?"

5. Poll: Media Coverage of Iraq Too Negative & Not Fair or Objective
Catching up on an item from last week, a new poll conducted by the polling firm TIPP for Investor's Business Daily found that most Americans think media coverage of the war in Iraq has been too negative (57 percent), too liberal in viewpoint (55 percent) and neither fair nor objective (61 percent). In an op-ed, TIPP's President, Raghavan Mayur, argued that the poll's results showed the media are at risk to "lose their 'customer base' by consistently disregarding what most people believe to be true." Mayur contended: "Americans are sending a clear message: They want their news fair and honest, and if the mainstream media can't provide it, they'll take their business elsewhere."

Nets Trumpet Global Warming Warnings
from 'Movie Star Named Gore'

With "Planetary Emergency" on screen, NBC anchor Brian Williams excitedly announced, "Look who was back on Capitol Hill today: Al Gore." Over on CBS, Katie Couric celebrated "a lot of excitement on Capitol Hill. A movie star showed up to testify before Congress -- a movie star named Al Gore." Gloria Borger recalled that "the last time Gore appeared on Capitol Hill was in his official role as Vice President, certifying his own loss in the disputed 2000 election," but she championed how "he came back today as a winner, his popular movie, An Inconvenient Truth, grabbing an Oscar." Borger concluded: "Gore could still get in late and run for President. Maybe that's why Hillary Clinton didn't gush all over him today like her fellow Democrats." What excuse do journalists have for their gushing?

ABC's Snow and NBC's Chip Reid highlighted Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer's admonition of former Chairman Jim Inhofe for interrupting Gore -- "You're not making the rules....Elections have consequences" -- but neither bothered with any of Inhofe's substantive points. CBS's Borger, however, did: "There are non-believers, like Senator James Inhofe, who all but called Gore a hypocrite since he paid about $30,000 last year for his home energy. Gore's answer: It's not cheap being green." CBS viewers than heard from Gore: "We buy green energy, we do not contribute to the problem that I'm joining with others to try to help solve. We pay more for clean energy."

For Inhofe's opening statement: epw.senate.gov [5]

[This item was posted Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [6] ]

(In her Wednesday "Couric & Company" blog, Couric celebrated Gore's "triumphant return" to Capitol Hill to expound on his views on which "the scientific consensus is clear." Abandoning any pretense of not being a liberal advocate, she concluded: "Here's hoping Congress puts partisanship aside, and comes together to act boldly on global warming." See: www.cbsnews.com [7] )

Not that you would know it from network journalists who treated Gore as an oracle, but even the New York Times reported last week how there's a backlash against Gore amongst scientists who believe he's exaggerating. On the MRC's TimesWatch site, Tim Graham highlighted the March 13 "Science" section article:

William Broad gave New York Times subscribers a surprise Tuesday, reporting that some scientists are "uneasy" with the soundness of Al Gore's science in his movie and book, that some think "Gore's central points are exaggerated and erroneous." Broad found that underneath all the hype and the glamour and the Oscar, "part of his scientific audience is uneasy. In talks, articles and blog entries that have appeared since his film and accompanying book came out last year, these scientists argue that some of Mr. Gore's central points are exaggerated and erroneous. They are alarmed, some say, at what they call his alarmism." For example:

"I don't want to pick on Al Gore," Don J. Easterbrook, an emeritus professor of geology at Western Washington University, told hundreds of experts at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. "But there are a lot of inaccuracies in the statements we are seeing, and we have to temper that with real data."

END of Excerpt

For the posting in full: www.timeswatch.org [8]

The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video for the March 21 ABC and CBS coverage on their evening newscasts; I handled NBC:

# ABC's World News. Anchor Charles Gibson teased his lead story: "Welcome to World News. Tonight, Al Gore goes back to Capitol Hill for the first time since the year 2000 and finds a heated debate on global warming."

Gibson led, with "Global 'Emergency'" above video of Gore: "Good evening. There was something of a time warp on Capitol Hill today. People might have been excused for taking a double take. What is Al Gore doing back at the Capitol? The last time he was on Capitol Hill, he was Vice President, there to certify the election of George W. Bush as President. Today, as Kate Snow reports, he was back to testify before two committees in his new role as an advocate on global warming."

Al Gore, at the House hearing: "I promise you, a day will come when our children and grandchildren will ask: What in God's name were they doing? Didn't they see the evidence?"
Kate Snow: "It was a reunion of sorts. Familiar-"
Gore, at the Senate hearing: "I so vividly remember when your mother came down the hallway and I opened the door and she looked at me and said, 'You made a good pick!'"
Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT): "Mom was a straight talker."
Snow: "-at times, contentious-"
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas): "You're not just off a little. You're totally wrong."
Gore, at House hearing: "The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that tells me it's not a problem.'"
Snow: "-but the discussion was, for the most part, civil. Most Democrats and Republicans agreed climate change is an urgent problem."
Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill): "I agree with you that the debate over climate change is over. The fact is you've laid out some things in places that we need to go. And as a thinker, as a personality, and now a movie star-"
Gore: "Rin Tin Tin was a movie star. I just have a slide show."
Snow: "Of course, that slide show won an Oscar. And the man dubbed the 'Goracle' now jets around the planet trying to save it. Gore today called on Congress to freeze carbon emissions and figure out how to drastically reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. The message endorsed by much of the scientific community."
Prof. Michael Oppenheimer, Princeton University: "I haven't heard any complaints from scientists who are actually experts on global warming. Quite the contrary, most scientists who know about the issue are really thrilled to have someone out there explaining it in plain English to the public."
Snow: "Today's hearing also produced a dramatic reminder of the shift in power on Capitol Hill."
Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma): "Why don't we do this: At the end, you can have as much time as you want to answer all of the questions-"
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Cal): "No, that isn't the rule. You're not making the rules. You used to when you did this [holding gavel]. You don't do this anymore. Elections have consequences."
Snow: "At the end of the Senate hearing, Gore asked Senator Boxer if there would be a little statue for him for his appearance, Charlie. All joking aside, while there is consensus now, a lot of them agreeing that there's a problem, very hard to find legislative solutions."

# CBS Evening News led with a big cocaine seizure by the Coast Guard. Katie Couric set up the Gore story late in the first segment: "Also in Washington today, a lot of excitement on Capitol Hill. A movie star showed up to testify before Congress -- a movie star named Al Gore. Here's our national political correspondent Gloria Borger."

Al Gore: "Our world faces a true planetary emergency."
Gloria Borger: "The last time Gore appeared on Capitol Hill was in his official role as Vice President, certifying his own loss in the disputed 2000 election. He came back today as a winner, his popular movie, An Inconvenient Truth, grabbing an Oscar."
Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill): "As a thinker, as a personality, and now a movie star, you can come back with those general themes, those broad things and say, 'Do this.'"
Gore: "Rin Tin Tin was a movie star. I just have a slide show."
Borger: "Actually, he now has a pulpit. Gore is the nation's foremost environmental evangelist, and Preacher Al was here."
Gore, at the House hearing: "The planet has a fever. If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant."
Borger: "Professor Gore showed up, too."
Gore: "The tilt oscillates a degree and a half on a 41,000-year cycle. There's a wobble-"
Borger: "But if presidential candidate Al Gore was in the room, he tried to stay above it all."
Gore: "We do not have time to play around with this. We do not have the luxury of making it a political football."
Borger: "But it is political. Americans now believe global warming is a real problem, so not as many Republicans are mocking Gore as they once did."
George H.W. Bush in 1996: "You know why I call him 'Ozone Man'?"
Borger: "But there are non-believers, like Senator James Inhofe, who all but called Gore a hypocrite since he paid about $30,000 last year for his home energy. Gore's answer: It's not cheap being green."
Gore: "We buy green energy, we do not contribute to the problem that I'm joining with others to try to help solve. We pay more for clean energy."
Borger: "Gore could still get in late and run for President. Maybe that's why Hillary Clinton didn't gush all over him today like her fellow Democrats. Gloria Borger, CBS News, Capitol Hill."

# NBC Nightly News. The tease from Brian Williams, with "Planetary Emergency" on screen: "Look who was back on Capitol Hill today: Al Gore with an urgent warning about what he called a 'planetary emergency.'"

After leading with the "constitutional crisis" over subpoenas, Williams arrived at the story: "There were more cameras than usual on Capitol Hill today, as former Congressman, former Senator, former Vice President and presidential candidate Al Gore returned to talk about the subject that's been a life-long passion of his, the environment. Our report tonight from NBC's Chip Reid."

Chip Reid: "Al Gore spent 16 years in the House and Senate and today was welcomed like an old friend, bringing his crusade against global warming to committees in both houses."
Gore at the House hearing: "Our world faces a true planetary emergency."
Reid: "Just as he did in his Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, he laid out his argument in great detail."
Gore, in An Inconvenient Truth: "More of the outgoing infrared is trapped and so the atmosphere heats up worldwide. That's global warming"
Reid: "Greenhouse gases are trapping that heat, he said, causing everything from fierce hurricanes to forest fires to rising sea levels."
Gore at the Senate hearing: "Nature is on the run."
Reid: "If we don't act now, he said, later generations will suffer dearly."
Gore: "They will ask, what in God's name were they doing? Didn't they see the evidence, didn't they hear the warnings?"
Reid: " Some praised Gore, who held hearings on global warming in this same room decades ago."
Congressman Ed Markey, (D-Mass): "What you were saying about environmental issues back then, now, retrospectively, really do make you look like a prophet."
Reid: "But critics accused him of greatly exaggerating the threat."
Congressman Joe Barton, (R-Texas): "On this point, Mr. Vice President, you're not just off a little, you're totally wrong."
Reid: "And condemned his proposal for a massive tax on polluting industries. When Senator Jim Inhofe, who chaired this committee when Republicans were in charge repeatedly interrupted Gore, it took Chairman Barbara Boxer -- all four foot eleven of her -- to come to Gore's rescue."
Senator Barbara Boxer: "You're not making the rules. You used to when you did this [holding gavel]. You don't do this anymore. Elections have consequences." [applause]
Reid: "Gore's biggest supporters say he could do a lot more to fight global warming as President, but today he again told reporters he has no plans to run, leaving the door open just a little. Chip Reid, NBC News, the Capitol."

Today: White House Bid By Al 'Warrior
for Climate Change' Gore?

In the first hour of Wednesday's Today show, there were not one but two segments that would make Al Gore smile. First NBC's Andrea Mitchell explored whether Al "warrior for climate change" Gore would consider jumping into the presidential race, then in the second half hour Today co-host Matt Lauer, in a segment about environmentally-friendly gadgets, gave Gore face time via a clip from An Inconvenient Truth. In fact, both segments featured preachy clips from the documentary.

First up, Mitchell's piece featured the following movie clip of Gore: "The misconception that there's disagreement about the science has been deliberately created by a relatively small group of people."

Then Lauer, in his piece featured a clip from the movie with Gore declaring: "Scientific consensus is that we are causing global warming."

To her credit, Mitchell did note, at the end of her piece that "some scientists complained recently that Gore's documentary exaggerated some of its claims."

[This item, by Geoff Dickens, was posted Wednesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [9] ]

However, Lauer and Today co-host Vieira shed any doubts about their stance on global warming in their teases for the segment on green technology:

Matt Lauer: "Plus with all the talk about global warming you maybe wondering how you can save some energy and by the way, save a little green of your own along the way. We're gonna show you some energy efficient gadgets that will make you feel good about yourself and allow you to chip in with a very worthwhile and important cause."

Later, Meredith Vieira: "But up next doing well by doing good. Useful household items that will save you money and help protect the environment too, right after this."

Before showing off the enviro-friendly products with Men's Journal's Paul Hochman, Lauer pushed the green cause in his set-up piece that was full of liberal pontification from Gore and some pretty self-righteous consumers:

Matt Lauer: "And this morning on Today's Tech we are talking about going green. You don't need to be a tree-hugging environmentalist any more to be worried about the planet and what you're doing to it."
Al Gore from An Inconvenient Truth: "Scientific consensus is that we are causing global warming."
Lauer: "In Al Gore's Oscar winning documentary about the dangers of climate change he issues a challenge."
Gore: "Once we face the danger and decide to solve the crisis we can do it. We have everything we need."
Lauer: "And people seem to be getting the message, green is in!"
Unidentified woman: "I went green a long time ago and I go greener and greener."
Unidentified woman #2: "People are really beginning to look around them and say, 'well how can I do better or how is this gonna affect me?'"
Unidentified woman #3: "Definitely more and more thinking green everyday."
Lauer: "Last month the world's top climate scientists determined that global warming is real and that human activities are the cause of it. Now after years on the fringe energy saving techniques are moving into the mainstream. Money spent on green home building is projected to rise as high as $38 billion by 2010. And big business is getting into the green too. Companies like Wal-Mart, Hilton Hotels and NBC parent company GE have all launched environmental initiatives."
GE ad: "To make it a better place to live for everyone."
Lauer: "The energy efficient Hybrid Prius has already helped Toyota become the world's leading automobile manufacturer. And Philips recently teamed up with environmentalists to call for the end of traditional incandescent light bulbs within 10 years to be replaced by compact fluorescent bulbs which use a third less energy."
Unidentified woman #4: "You know I was thinking of Kermit the Frog the other day when he sang the song, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'"
Kermit the Frog singing: "It's not that easy being green."
Unidentified woman #4: "It's very easy being green. You sleep better, you feel better."
Lauer: "Today's tech editor and Men's Journal contributor Paul Hochman has some simple environmentally-friendly items that can save you some real green in the long run and of course do great for the planet. Paul, nice to see you, good morning."

The full Andrea Mitchell speculation piece as it aired on the March 21 Today:

Meredith Vieira: "Now from the weather to global climate change. Al Gore says global warming is threatening the Earth and he's taking his message to Capitol Hill today and there's that big question in the air will he run for President? NBC's Andrea Mitchell has more on that. Andrea, good morning."

[On screen headline: "Warming Up For 2008? Gore Returns To Washington."]

Andrea Mitchell: "Good morning, Meredith. This will be Al Gore's first visit to Capitol Hill since what must have been a painful moment for him, watching George Bush take the oath of office seven years ago. The question now, does Gore still have dreams of some day taking that oath himself? Al Gore -- warrior for climate change."
Al Gore from An Inconvenient Truth: "That brings up the basic science of global warming."
Mitchell: "Today bringing his battle against global warming to Congress."
Gore from An Inconvenient Truth: "The misconception that there's disagreement about the science has been deliberately created by a relatively small group of people."
Mitchell: "But is the former Vice President with an Academy Award winning documentary and nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize also considering another type of campaign? One to win political vindication for the 2000 election."
[Clip from post-Oscars press conference with reporter calling for Gore: "Mr. President, Mr. President."]
Michael Feldman, Gore adviser: "He hasn't completely shut the door but I think he's been pretty clear that he's not planning a campaign."
Mitchell: "In the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll Democrats are evenly divided on Gore. 40 percent want him to run, 39 percent do not. Gore is so well-known and well-financed he can benefit from waiting."
Bill Clinton, standing next to Hillary: "I give you the person for who 35 years I have always believed would be the bets America could offer. Thank you."
Mitchell: "To see if Hillary Clinton, whose husband helped her raise money Tuesday night stumbles or if the Democratic hopefuls knock each other out making room for Gore."
Chuck Todd: "He could be tempted into this thing but he doesn't want to run a long campaign because I think Al Gore doesn't sit well in a long period of time with the American people."
Mitchell: "But supporters say this is a new Al Gore, more confident than ever."
Gore, from Saturday Night Live: "What if the scientists are right and one of those giant glaciers hits Boston? That's why we have the lockbox."
Mitchell: "A man with a mission."
Sen. Barbara Boxer: "Whether Al Gore gets into the presidential race or not and that's something he only knows the answer to, because of his work this is an issue already in the presidential race."
Mitchell: "Some scientists complained recently that Gore's documentary exaggerated some of its claims. Still no one questions that Al Gore is helping shape the debate over global warming whether or not he gets into the race, Meredith."
Vieira: "Andrea Mitchell thanks very much."

CNN Anchor Lauds Boxer's Scolding of
Inhofe: 'Good for Her'

[This item is adapted from a posting, by Scott Whitlock, on the MRC's blog. A video clip will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert. But in the meantime, to watch the Real or Windows Media video, or MP3 audio, go to: newsbusters.org [13] ]

A complete transcript of the segment, which aired at 3:38pm EDT on March 21:

Brianna Keiler: "Let's go now to some new sound coming from the Hill. This is a heated exchange change be between Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat from California, Senator James Inhofe, Republican from Oklahoma. This came during former Vice President Al Gore's testimony on the Hill about global warming. Apparently this heated exchange started because Senator Inhofe wanted shorter answers from Gore. Let's listen in."
Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma): "I mentioned this in my opening statement about they're, they're criticizing you for some of your, your being too alarmist and hurting your own cause. Now, I'll ask you to respond in writing for that one because that would be a very long response, I'm afraid. Now, it seems that everybody -- Global warming in the media joined the chorus last summer-"
Former Vice President Al Gore: "Well, I would like to'€" May I'€" May I-"
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California): "Excuse me, Senator Inhofe. We'll freeze the time for a minute."
Inhofe: "Oh, yes."
Boxer: "I'm just trying to make-"
Inhofe: "Take your time. We're freezing the time."
Boxer: "No, no. We're freezing the time just for a minute. I want, I want to talk to you a minute, please. [Laughter] Would you, would you agree, would you agree to let the Vice President answer your questions? And then if you want an extra few minutes at the end, I'm happy to give it to you. But we're not going to get anywhere."
Inhofe: "Why don't we do this, why don't we do this'€" At the end, you can have as much time as you want to answer all the questions?"
Boxer: "No, that isn't the rule. You're not making the rules, used to when you did this. [Boxer holds up the gavel.] You don't do this anymore. Elections have consequences."
Brianna Keiler: "Wow. All right. That was quite an exchange. And, you know, we were expecting something from Senator James Inhofe. He is a critic of global warming. In fact, he once said that global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on the American people. So, certainly, we were expecting something from him. We thought maybe it might be with him and former Senator, former Vice President Al Gore, but it ended up between him and Senator Barbara Boxer. She really got a stinger in there, I will say."
Don Lemon: "Good for her."

CNN's Surprise: Anchor Raises Clinton's
Executive Privilege Claim

On Wednesday's American Morning, CNN co-host Soledad O'Brien probably surprised former Clinton administration official and Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel with a tough question concerning the Bush administration's use of executive privilege versus the Clinton administration's use. O'Brien proposed: "You worked in the White House, the Clinton administration, where they claimed executive privilege for Bruce Lindsey and for Sidney Blumenthal in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, essentially. Why that time around was the efforts you made -- it failed, but there was an effort to say executive privilege. Let's protect these guys. They shouldn't have to go testify before Congress. It failed. But that was what was claimed, so why this time around does it not seem fair?"

[This item is adapted from a posting, by Matthew Balan, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [14] ]

Emanuel replied: "The answer is right in your question. The fact is it all got worked out and they did testify under oath. And Bruce Lindsey testified many times under oath and as did many other senior advisors. That privilege is usually reserved for national security issues. This is not national security, this is whether we respect the Constitution and leave politics out of the pursuit of justice."

Poll: Media Coverage of Iraq Too Negative
& Not Fair or Objective

Catching up on an item from last week, a new poll conducted by the polling firm TIPP for Investor's Business Daily found that most Americans think media coverage of the war in Iraq has been too negative (57 percent), too liberal in viewpoint (55 percent) and neither fair nor objective (61 percent). In an op-ed, TIPP's President, Raghavan Mayur, argued that the poll's results showed the media are at risk to "lose their 'customer base' by consistently disregarding what most people believe to be true." Mayur contended: "Americans are sending a clear message: They want their news fair and honest, and if the mainstream media can't provide it, they'll take their business elsewhere."

For the op-ed in the March 14 Investor's Business Daily: www.ibdeditorial.com [15]

[The MRC's Rich Noyes contributed this item to CyberAlert.]

The results of the IBD/TIPP poll of about 900, conducted March 5 to 11, were displayed in a large graphic above Mayur's op-ed in the March 14 print edition of Investor's Business Daily. Three pie charts displayed the public's response to the poll's questions, which asked them to agree or disagree with the following statements:

# Q. "Generally speaking, media coverage of the Iraq War has been too negative."

Strongly agree: 34%

Somewhat agree: 23%

Somewhat disagree: 22%

Strongly disagree: 19%

# Q. "Generally speaking, coverage of the war favors a liberal point of view."

Strongly agree: 32%

Somewhat agree: 23%

Somewhat disagree: 23%

Strongly disagree: 15%

# Q. "Generally speaking, coverage of the war has been fair and objective."

Strongly agree: 12%

Somewhat agree: 23%

Somewhat disagree: 27%

Strongly disagree: 35%

The disconnect between the public and the press is not new. A survey conducted in 2005 by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found reporters were more likely to have opposed the decision to go to war in Iraq, were more pessimistic about the chances of success in Iraq, and were far less likely to see immigration reform as a national priority. Reporters were also more disapproving of President Bush's job performance.

For example, the public was nearly evenly split on whether the U.S. should have invaded Iraq in 2003, with 48 percent agreeing with the decision and 45 percent disagreeing. But among journalists, 71 percent said they considered it a bad decision, compared to just 28 percent that thought it was the right move.

For more results from that poll and others which document the comparatively liberal views of the so-called mainstream media, visit our "Media Bias Basics" page: www.mrc.org [16]

-- Brent Baker