Big Media Highly Biased Against Gop

There are two Republican national conventions in San Diego.

One is the convention covered by the broadcast networks and big print media. The other is the one carried by C-SPAN and the Family Channel, which are televising the entire proceedings without commentary.

At a private party given by Dan and Marilyn Quayle at the Del Coronado Hotel on Monday night, ABC’s Cokie Roberts spoke of the decline in network ratings. She concluded that viewership is down from previous years because of lack of interest in the nominating conventions.

But a look at the content of most of the reporting, as chronicled by the Media Research Center, suggests another reason: Fewer people are watching because of the one-dimensional and highly partisan coverage presented by the big media.

Each network and newspaper seems to be operating from a political stylebook written by the Democratic National Committee. Words such as “extreme” or “extremist,” “hard-line,” “intolerant,” “hard right,” “extreme right,” “rigid” and “hate” regularly are used to modify everything Republican. Moderates are portrayed by the media as the saviors of their party, if only the “extremists” would listen to them.

On Cable News Network, Bill Schneider charged that Republicans “are supposed to be haters” and that House Speaker Newt Gingrich “comes across as mean.” Schneider’s colleague Judy Woodruff said that at least vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp does not like the idea of “yanking money away from welfare mothers with small children.”

All of the networks suggested that “intolerant people” had barred Gov. Pete Wilson of California and Gov. William Weld of Massachusetts from speaking because of their pro-abortion-rights positions, comparing the decision with the 1992 Democratic convention when then-Gov. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania was not allowed to speak because of his anti-abortion position. But the networks virtually ignored that controversy then and bring it up now only to make Republicans look “intolerant.”

Roberts called Republicans “dour and somewhat mean.” The Wall Street Journal’s Al Hunt said the GOP platform is “mean-spirited.” Schneider praised Kemp, but only as a contrast to “most conservatives,” who he described as “haters.”

On substantive issues, the big media also are one-sided.

They indicate that divisions in the Democatic Party over abortion are not as important as the Republican ones. In the words of ABC’s Jackie Judd: “The issue of abortion has not splintered the Democratic Party because those who couldn’t live with the party’s position bolted years ago. … So, given their reluctance to publicly fight with the party’s mainstream, abortion opponents probably will be seen but not heard at their party’s convention this summer.” But that’s because the networks won’t be talking to them as they do pro-abortion-rights Republicans who oppose what has become the GOP’s “intolerant” mainstream.

The GOP convention’s opening night was particularly instructive.

Star Parker, a beautiful African-American woman, told her personal story of moving from welfare to starting her own business. It was an inspirational speech - but one that put the lie to the image of intolerance that the big networks wanted to portray, so they didn’t cover it. Former President Gerald Ford was ignored by the big three, and when former President George Bush started to speak, CBS went to a commercial, while ABC’s Peter Jennings chatted up a floor reporter.

Does this really make a difference? Yes, because people form many of their opinions from the images they see on television.

When a substantial amount of the reporting is full of disgust for Republicans, no wonder the audience turns in droves to C-SPAN and the Family Channel for unadulterated coverage.

The big media have become the modern version of Radio Moscow and Pravda, incapable of fair reporting on Republican conservatives.

C-SPAN and the Family Channel are the equivalent of the Voice of America.

This is why the big media are losing viewers and subscribers.

It’s not that they don’t get it. They don’t want to get it, and that’s too bad because the audience now has somewhere else to go.

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