Study Shows TV News Reporting Stacked Against Bush Plan

A new study indicates that by a margin of two to one, network television news reports about Social Security reform are biased against President Bush's proposal. The president elaborated on his reform plans in a nationally televised news conference Thursday night. The Media Research Center's Free Market Project looked at 125 different Social Security stories reported by CNN's "Inside Politics," "CBS Evening News," "NBC Nightly News," ABC's "World News Tonight" and Fox News' "Special Report with Brit Hume" between Nov. 15, 2004 and March 15, 2005. Among the excerpts pointed out in the Free Market Project study was this one from ABC newsman Terry Moran on March 3: "Democrats argue that the time is running out for the president to make [the] case. They have started a countdown to what they call the death of a sales pitch. But this president is nothing if not stubborn." Forty-four percent of the 125 stories studied were liberally slanted, according to the study, authored by Free Market Project Assistant Editor/Senior Analyst Amy Menefee, compared with only 22 percent that were stacked toward the conservative or Bush administration viewpoint. In addition, Menefee wrote, "Four of the five (news reports) gave more air time to the liberal position than to explaining economic realities." The Media Research Center is also the parent organization of Cybercast News Service