ALEXANDRIA, VA – Since a blurry and mysteriously edited tape of Mitt Romney answering a campaign strategy question at a fundraiser back in May was released on Monday, the liberal media have used it to declare his candidacy all but dead. On Tuesday, the Romney campaign exposed a 1998 video showing then-State Sen. Barack Obama espousing his far-left philosophy of wealth redistribution (a theme consistent with his 2008 presidential run), and the liberal media almost completely ignored it.
According to an analysis from the Media Research Center, the three broadcast networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, covered the Romney tape for 1 hour 28 minutes over 42 stories on their morning and evening news broadcasts. For comparison, they covered the Obama tape for a total of 6 minutes 28 seconds over 8 stories. That’s a 13-1 ratio.
Even if you only start counting from the moment on Tuesday when both tapes were available, the ratio is still 10-1, (1 hour 6 minutes committed to the Romney tape vs. 6 minutes 28 seconds to the Obama tape).
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:
“We’ve seen this play out over and over and over again. If it hurts Barack Obama’s chances of re-election, the media ignore it. If it hurts Mitt Romney, they obsess over it night after night.
“We saw it in July when Obama disparaged small business and at this point in the cycle the networks had given it ZERO coverage. We saw it last week when the networks relentlessly attacked Romney’s criticism of the Obama Administration’s spineless response to anti-American violence in the Middle East. Now we’re seeing it again this week with this manufactured controversy surrounding the secretly recorded - and edited - Romney tape.
“The Obama campaign wants the Romney tape to be a big issue, and the liberal media obey, covering it for nearly an hour and a half. Romney counters with a damaging tape of Obama, and it’s gets less than seven minutes of total coverage. The double standard is absolutely staggering. The liberal media are nothing more than the press office of the Obama campaign.
Like an overeager Labrador retriever, the liberal media will do anything to please their master, even if it means biting his opponent every day between now and the election.”
To schedule an interview with MRC President Brent Bozell or another MRC spokesperson, please contact Jeremy Little - jlittle@crcpublicrelations.com [1] (703)-683-5004