The right-leaning Media Research Center (MRC) is out with a report complaining that the morning news shows on NBC, ABC and CBS devote far more coverage to Democratic candidates for President than to the Republicans. Is it bias, a "liberal agenda" or just following the news?
After monitoring ABC’s "Good Morning America," CBS’ "The Early Show" and NBC’s "Today" show from January 1 through July 31, MRC said it found that nearly twice as many campaign news segments covered the Democrats as the Republicans and that Democrats got three times as much airtime. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) got the most exposure, followed by former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), all well ahead of the top Republican, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). "Of the interview questions that could be categorized as having a political agenda, more than two-thirds (69%) of the questions posed to Democrats reflected a liberal premise, and more than four-fifths (82%) of the questions to Republicans came from the same perspective," MRC charged. "Our results show pure partisanship on the part of ABC, CBS and NBC. Not only are the network morning shows overwhelmingly focused on Democrats, they are actively promoting the Democrats’ liberal agenda." declared MRC President L. Brent Bozell III.
The networks deny any bias, and say they are covering the campaigns based on news value. Some news executives also complain that the GOP candidates have repeatedly turned down invitations for appearances on the morning shows.
TVBR observation: This is the first time since the introduction of television that we have had a US presidential election without either a sitting President or his Vice President in the running, creating a real horse race in both major parties. Let’s face it, there is more drama in the Democratic race at this point. That will change once the nominees are selected and it becomes a two-person competition for the White House.
