Front
cover of the September 11, 1996 report: | Best and
Worst, from page 2 of the 15 page report
One item today: Wednesday morning
at 10am the MRC will hold a press conference with MRC Chairman L. Brent
Bozell to release our final Media Reality Check 96 report on TV network
coverage of the conventions. C-SPAN should be there to tape the press
conference, so you may be able to see it Wednesday night.
Below are the front page summary
and page 2 explanation of the best and worst networks and reporters. If
you'd like to get the entire 15-page report which includes tables, graphs
and network by network examples of labeling, agenda questions and the
disparity in the highlighting of negativity, please send an e-mail to me:
bbaker@mediaresearch.org (or reply to this e-mail address but I may not
see it until Wednesday night). Tell me either your address and we'll snail
mail it, or your fax number. Or, call me at (703) 683-9733.
Front
cover of the September 11, 1996 report:
Final Report on
1996 Television Network Convention Coverage:
TV Analysts Label Democrats Twice as Often, But Fire Liberal Questions
Both Parties Too Conservative for the Networks
Alexandria, VA -- The television
networks substantially increased the number of labels they applied to
Democrats during their 1996 convention over 1992, but at both the
Republican and Democratic conventions this year the networks demanded
answers to a barrage of questions from the left. For Republicans gathered
in San Diego, GOP intolerance on abortion was the issue. For Democrats
convened in Chicago, going too far to the right on welfare reform became
the media focus. Adding up both questions and statements made by reporters
to one another, abortion or exclusion of pro-choice voices were raised as
an issue 55 times in San Diego, while viewers heard about welfare reform
43 times in Chicago.
After producing a daily Media
Reality Check '96 newsletter during the August political conventions, the
Media Research Center's (MRC) news division staff organized its analysis
of prime time coverage into this special 15-page report. This analysis
covers ABC, CBS, CNN (starting at 8pm ET), NBC and the joint NBC/PBS
broadcast.
Key findings:
- Democrats labeled liberal more
often than Republicans tagged conservative. Studies of the 1984, 1988
and 1992 conventions found Republicans labeled much more frequently
than Democrats. In 1992, the MRC determined the networks applied 118
conservative labels during the GOP conclave, but just 38 liberal
labels during the Democratic gathering. This year, Republicans were
tagged 59 times (13 moderate, 30 conservative, and 16 more extremist
terms), but Democrats were labeled 119 times (44 moderate, 71 liberal
and four more extremist terms).
In Chicago, Bill Clinton got
28 moderate labels and captured about half as many liberal tags with
16. In San Diego, the networks focused most of their labeling on
conservative delegates and speakers as Bob Dole went largely untagged
-- three moderate and two conservative labels. The Republican platform
was never called moderate and the Democratic platform was never
described as liberal. See page 3 for a summary table and graph, pages
6-14 for examples.
- Convention attendees pummeled
with questions from the left side of the political spectrum. On 51
occasions in San Diego Republicans were hit with questions from the
left, especially about intolerance and abortion, but they heard just
six inquiries from the right. Two weeks later instead of questioning
Democrats from the right, the networks posed 47 from the left, the
vast majority on how many Democrats opposed President Clinton's
decision to sign the welfare reform bill, but just 11 questions from
the right. In this area the networks have grown more biased. Four
years ago, while the GOP got the same treatment, hearing 131 questions
from the left compared to 17 from the right, Democrats got a more even
going over with 46 questions from the left and 38 from the right. See
page 4 for a table and graph, pages 7-15 for examples.
- Republicans blamed repeatedly
for displaying a negative tone, but Democrats go unscathed despite
some pretty vitriolic speeches. In San Diego the networks
characterized Republicans with terms like "negative,"
"harsh," "strident" or "mean" or
described GOP speeches as an "attack," 34 times. Democrats
were hit with the negative descriptions just six times during their
convention, but even in Chicago Republicans got hammered more with 23
references to GOP negativity. In 1992, the networks questioned the
Republican tone as too negative 70 times, but never once raised the
subject against Democrats at their convention. See page 5 for a
summary table and examples of the contrast.
- Controversies such as
Whitewater and Travelgate barely acknowledged. The Clintons are under
active investigation by an independent counsel, but the networks made
only seven references to Democratic scandals. NBC and the joint
NBC-PBS broadcast aired two mentions; ABC, CBS, and CNN, only one.
Topics never mentioned: the FBI files scandal, the Iran-Bosnia
scandal, and the special counsel investigations of Cabinet members
such as Henry Cisneros and Mike Espy. Controversies about Republicans,
such as questions about Elizabeth Dole's blind trust, were also
ignored.
Best
and Worst, from page 2 of the 15 page report:
Best Network: ABC News
Posed the fewest ideological questions at both conventions, had the least
disparity in blaming the parties for being too negative and, given the
amount of airtime, were the most willing to identify Democrats as liberal.
Worst Network: CNN
Failed to take advantage of their added airtime to offer viewers something
beyond just more of what the other networks showed. CNN had the greatest
disparity in the agenda of questions posed, with 23 from the left to just
three from the right.
Best reporters
- Sam Donaldson, ABC News:
In San Diego he refrained from gratuitous attacks on the Republicans
for being too intolerant. In Chicago, on the first day of the
convention, Donaldson offered a balanced appraisal of the party
delegates, noting that the Democratic delegates "are far to the
left of the mainstream just as the Republicans were to the right of
the mainstream." In the midst of hoopla over Bill Clinton's
speech, only Donaldson realized that while he gave a "great
speech," the "record shows that the next day he may give a
different speech, change his mind, trim it a little bit, do something
else."
- Lisa Myers, NBC News: One
of the few reporters to pose questions from both the left and right.
In San Diego, she asked Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from the right
about how she "has generally opposed efforts to cut off benefits
to illegal immigrants, particularly education and health benefits. Why
would hardworking American taxpayers pay for people who are here
illegally?" Then she asked her about how people who saw her
speech "found it too negative. They didn't particularly like the
degree to which you attacked the President. In retrospect, do you
think you went too far?" On the first night in Chicago, Myers
quizzed a delegate about whether liberals or New Democrats control the
party.
- Brian Ross, ABC News:
Although CNN's Brooks Jackson appeared early in prime time with
stories on corporate contributions and union influence, ABC's Ross
deserves recognition despite the fact his pieces did not air in prime
time. In a series of World News Tonight stories, Ross went after the
big money contributors to both parties. Ross raised unique issues,
such as "the giant media corporations...very much in the middle
of the mix." In San Diego he noted that "the ABC hospitality
suite was a lobbyist's dream." In Chicago he looked at one big
donor: "His name is Arthur Coia, who despite being president of a
labor union the FBI says has long been controlled by the Mafia...has
become one of the Democrats' top money people."
Worst reporters:
- Maria Shriver, NBC News:
Seemed baffled why a rape victim would have anything to do with the
GOP and her interview with Hillary Clinton following the First Lady's
address was more like two old friends sharing tales of their suffering
than a dispassionate interview. Just after Jan Licence addressed
Republicans about victim's rights, Shriver asked her: "But why
[speak] at a Republican convention? So many people have said that they
don't think this ticket, or perhaps this party, is supportive of
women's issues. Why make this stand here?" Shriver's interview
with the First Lady assumed Mrs. Clinton had been unfairly attacked by
Republicans. Shriver posed questions like, "This has been a
difficult couple of years for you. Did that applause, the way you've
been treated here, the way people have been reacting to you, kind of
make it all go away?" And, noting GOP criticism of her book,
Shriver wondered, "How did that affect you when you heard about
that?"
- Judy Woodruff, CNN: In
San Diego she demanded that Republicans explain why there weren't more
female delegates, but in Chicago instead of challenging Democrats on
the appeal of their pro-partial birth abortion stand, she worried
about welfare reform going too far. Woodruff peppered Mrs. Clinton
with six welfare questions, all from the left. She pleaded with her to
stop it: "Eleanor Roosevelt, whom you admire, mentioned her again
just now, said that much of the time she kept her disagreements with
the President to herself in private, but there were times that she
felt it was important to disagree publicly. Does there ever come a
time with you, and if not welfare reform, then what?"
- Tom Brokaw, NBC News:
Found Republican speakers threatened to be perceived as too mean, took
a pot shot at Ronald Reagan, and portrayed Republicans as insensitive
to rape, but praised the speaking power of Democrats. In San Diego he
warned that the GOP knows "it has to lower the threshold of
perceived meanness on the part of the country." In Chicago, after
Jesse Jackson's speech which attacked conservatives, he admired how
his words grew "out of a very deep passion." Brokaw did at
least mention Whitewater in Chicago, but after the moving tribute to
Ronald Reagan in San Diego he took this swipe: "Ronald Reagan
will have to learn how history will judge his time in office -- the
deficits, the Iran-Contra affair." At the GOP conclave he told
rape victim Jan Licence: "This is a party that is dominated by
men," so, he wondered, "do you think before tonight they
ever thought about what happens in America with rape?"
--
Brent Baker
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