Watchdog: News Slanted Against Schiavo

Broadcast news has been slanted against the campaign to reconnect Terri Schiavo�s feeding tube, the conservative Media Research Center has concluded.



Dissecting 31 reports from ABC, NBC and CBS, which aired March 17 to 21, the Alexandria, Virginia company determined:


Sixty percent of the aired reports focused on Michael Schiavo�s argument that his wife be allowed to die.


Forty percent featured the plea of parents Robert and Mary Schindler to continue care for their daughter.

All of the networks aired multiple medical opinions that Schiavo would never recover.


None of the canvassed networks aired "even one dissenting expert.�

Fifty-nine percent of the aired pieces "repudiated Congress for acting to permit Mrs. Schiavo�s parents to bring their case to a federal court before their daughter starves to death.�
Meanwhile, according to a report in the Washington Times, various polls taken by the media have also gleaned results more favorable to Schiavo�s husband:



CBS and the Associated Press reported that "six out of 10 Americans� agreed with the decision to withhold food and water from Schiavo � referring to a recent ABC News poll of 501 adults. (The ABC poll found that although 42 percent "strongly� supported the decision, 21 percent "somewhat� supported it.)

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of 620 adults out yesterday concluded that the majority agrees with judge�s decision in the Schiavo case � with 37 percent strongly agreeing and 15 percent agreeing only moderately. On the other side, 30 percent strongly disagreed and 9 percent disagreed only moderately. Nine percent had no opinion.