MRC on Media's Treatment of Kerry

MRC on Media's Treatment of Kerry

Yep. You guessed it: Kerry is only a liberal in Rep eyes. NO one else would see him that way but his political enemies.A Liberal Candidate Gets Media Makeover

An MRC study of every weekday morning and evening broadcast news show since Iowa found ABC, CBS and NBC reporters presented the “Kerry is a liberal” concept as a GOP charge 27 times, compared with just three occasions when reporters stated Kerry’s ideology as a matter of fact. (Five other stories discussed Kerry’s liberal bent, but didn’t cite Republicans or present the idea as beyond dispute.) . . .

The networks made it seem as if calling Kerry a liberal could somehow not be true. On the February 4 NBC Nightly News, Campbell Brown argued that “Republicans...are hoping to paint Kerry as the liberal Senator from the only state in the country that allows gay couples to wed.” Over on the CBS Evening News, Jim Axelrod hit the same theme: “Remember Willie Horton, an issue that made ‘Michael Dukakis,’ ‘Massachusetts liberal’ and ‘out of touch’ synonymous? Clearly, John Kerry doesn’t want another Mr. Bush using a different issue to paint the same picture.”

During Campaign 2000, network evening news reporters put the “conservative” label on George W. Bush 19 times, but never once called Al Gore a “liberal.” This year, those same reporters seem ready to help John Kerry hide his liberal pedigree.