TV News Runs Hot for Kerry, Cold for Bush

MediaChannel.org ^

[Howlin]

NEW YORK, March 11, 2004 - Mainstream news organizations may "filter" the news, as President George W. Bush claimed late last year, but not to omit good stories from their Iraq coverage, but to broadcast more negative news about the president himself, according to a report released today by MediaChannel.org and Media Tenor.

The report reveals a strong negative cast to ABC, CBS and NBC news coverage of the president thus far in 2004. Meanwhile, Senator John Kerry, Bush's certain opponent for November, has received more positive coverage by the same three networks.

According to data compiled for MediaChannel.org by international media monitoring firm Media Tenor, network news broadcasts in January and February contained on average nearly three times more negative news statements about President Bush than about Senator John Kerry.

[MEG33]

It's one thing to know it,to hear about it..but these charts make it so real and it makes me very angry.I can't threaten to quit watching as I don't watch them anyway.

[Mo1]

I'm SHOCKED!! ... did that sound believable .. I didn't think so

[BigSkyFreeper]

I have to wonder who they're really polling. I just can't imagine that there can't be that much anger out there, but it exists, but the media's polls make it look much larger, when I think it's just contained within pockets.

[BigSkyFreeper]

I've been "boycotting" ABCBSNBCNN for over 10 years now by flat-out not watching them.

[shrinkermd]

I am really discouraged with the Bush campaign. They put out a big buy on an ad that said Kerry was going to raise taxes 900 billion; however, to make this statement they had to infer it from Kerry's claim he wants a health care proposal that costs that much.

Kerry's people ran a very effective counter-ad almost immediately. It will surely blur any good effect that the Pubbies did.

Our ad could have been so simple, "...Kerry has promised a 900 billion dollar health plan and no increase in the deficit...this means you will pay this..."

It is a tragic mistake to run an ad that requires inferential thinking by people unaccustomed to making abstract inferences. Do we have idiots running this campaig or just ignoramuses?

To beat Kerry we need to continue to picture him as the usual politician who gives views on both sides of every issue and makes promises to get elected that are impossible or require enormous tax increases.

Also, it is time for a trial run (no ads please)suggesting he won't answer direct questions such as on homosexual marriage and Gibson's movie. I don't know how this could be done, but there must be a cadre of willing helpers to pounce on this on the airways.

It wouldn't hurt to quote Kerry's opponents from the primary campaign with, "..Dean said this about Senator Kerry and he was right..." Or the top 50% of wage earners already pay 97% of the Federal Income Taxes. If you pay taxes when Kerry promises more spending it means more money from those who pay taxes. Or,'...it used to be we rewarded success but Kerry promises to punish it... we don't need class warfare and a divided country..." Or something to that effect.

Somebody in our campaign has to begin thinking. So far, the RATS have the upper hand in both the pundit and ad war. We simply have to do better.

[deport]

Isn't it about time for Dan the Man Rather to retire?

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It has been hinted at before but I have no idea if it is his intention...... He was born on Oct. 31, 1931 in Wharton Texas and grew in Houston and graduated with a Journalism degree from Sam Houston State in Huntsville...

For some reason he has had a dislike for the Bush family for a long as I can remember....

[deport]

We simply have to do better.

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If'n they don't improve maybe you can jump in and run it for them...... Give them some time as it's still over seven months to the Lever Pull and some 30% normally don't make up their mind until the last month.... I doubt they are trying to lock up votes with these ads but rather trying to get selected data in the mix. Just my guess.

[jackbill]

It's one thing to know it,to hear about it..but these charts make it so real and it makes me very angry.

I will be writing - snail mail - to Mr. Andrew Heyward, President of CBS (e-mails are too easily deleted). And I'll find a way to get these graphs in the letter. And I'll follow it up weekly.

Anyone else who wants to do this? The address is:

Mr. Andrew Heyward, President

CBS News

524 West 57th Street

New York, NY 10019

I have a particular interest. I worked for 35 years for Westinghouse, which bought CBS. At that time, I wrote to the CEO, Michael Jordan (not the Chicago Bull) and begged him to fire Dan Rather. He passed the letter to one of his underlings who "assured" me that they intended to be unbiased. I can't remember who wrote the letter, but it's probably somewhere in my files.

Even though Viacom bought up the Westinghouse/CBS entity, I still get retiree benefits from Viacom. I'm willing to risk them to get rid of Rather, Pitts, John Roberts, Pizzey, Plante and the whole liberal cabal at CBS.

[Lily4Jesus]

you, I and the rest of this group may be covered but the average person is not. The general population need to be truthfully informed and educated. We had to do it one person at a time. Try it works. I had converted a few. Do it in love; although, I have a friend that does it with a 2X4 and it works too. It depends who you do it to.

[Bahbah]

I saw that. Thank heaven for FR.

[Howlin]

right wing HATE internet groups, such as Drudge and Others (Guess who), terrified Kerry into preemptive action against the president.

Well, I'm getting my monthly donation's worth, how about you?

And we all know the reason Kerry, and the rest of them, attacked Bush; they have nothing to offer the voters.

[jincarolina]

Rush said kerry was dean without the mental stability.

[Howlin]

I heard two polls on TV yesterday that actually had Bush up by 2 points, but I can't remember where.

[Howlin]

LOL......I have a feeling when you're shocked, we'll know it.

[Lady Jag]

Didn't they say they wouldn't run Kerry movies like the didn't run Arnold movies?

What's with this?

[shrinkermd]

This is from the LA Weekly and it is posted in its entirety on FR.

"L.A. Weekly has learned that, according to research exit polls, The Passion of the Christ is attracting a gargantuan 40 percent Latino audience in the cities tested. Until now, there has been only anecdotal evidence that Latinos, as well as Asians and African-Americans, are flocking to the film. The research shows that Latinos are rating Passion higher than does any other ethnic group, and 76 percent say theyre inclined to pay to see the movie again. Not only do 86 percent of Latinos say the film is excellent, but 80 percent say the movie is better than they expected. And while a whopping percentage of the overall audience say they would definitely recommend it, that figure among Latinos is a startling 91 percent.

All I hear is about how we are going to lose the Hispanic vote. Doesn't anyone in the Bush campaign understand what motivates people? I am sure the President is a nice guy (in fact I know it since I met him), but we don't need syrupy sermons tell us this.

The RATS big weakness is their elitism, atheism and dislike for everyday, common cultural norms. Their identity politics advantages are easily turned into liabilities since the views of the various identity groups conflict with one another.

[jwalsh07]

Hold onto your seat! :-}

One was from NPR and the other was from NBC/WSJ. Fox and Rasmussen also have it at about the proverbial 45-45.

[TBall]

My new hobby is to once a day find a liberal fool on a Yahoo Finance message board and put him/her in his/her place. As a follower of the market and occasional visit to Yahoo Finance message boards, I have found that increasingly these boards have become political. I guess my point is that Freepers need to go out and share some knowledge.

[jackbill]

Are you aware that Dan Rather and Donald Rumsfeld jointly own a ranch in New Mexico?

Go figure.