NETWORK NEWS BLATANTLY SPINS

For those who are willing to accept the pap fed to us through the media and believe the talking heads, this article is confirmation of blatant spin regarding TPTB's favorite issue, gun control.

Maybe it's not a conspiracy; maybe culling favor is more important to journalists than the truth.

While it's off topic (gun control, not Y2K) if it walks like a duck, etc...

January 5, 2000

WASHINGTON, D.C. --- A new two-year Media Research Center study released today documents that network television evening news broadcasts and morning shows are so badly spinning the gun control debate in favor of gun control they have become the "communications division of the anti-gun lobby," according to MRC Chairman Brent Bozell. The findings of the study were released at a Washington news conference today conducted by Bozell and Oliver North, a national board member of the National Rifle Association and co-host of MSNBCs nightly political talk show Equal Time.

"There is no way to look at these numbers and not conclude that network news broadcasts have become the communications division of the anti-gun lobby. The networks have clearly chosen sides in this debate which only serves to mislead and misinform the public theyre supposed to serve," Bozell said.

MRC analysts examined 653 morning and evening news stories on ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC from July 1, 1997 through June 30, 1999. The findings include:

*TV News Has Chosen Sides. Stories advocating more gun control outnumbered stories opposing gun control by 357 to 36, or a ratio of almost10-1. (Another 260 were neutral.)

*Evening News Shows Favored the Anti-Gun Position by 8-1. While 89 percent of those (164) pushed the liberal, anti-gun position, only 11 percent(20) promoted the pro-gun position.

*Morning Shows Favored the Anti-Gun Position by 13-1. More than half the morning news gun policy segments (208) tilted away from balance. Of those segments, 93 percent (193) pushed the liberal anti-gun position, while only six percent (15) promoted the pro-gun-position.

*News Programs Are Twice as Likely to Use Anti-Gun Soundbites. Anti-gun soundbites were twice as frequent as pro-gun soundbites  412 to 209. (Another 471 were neutral.)

*News Programs Are Twice as Likely to Feature Anti-Gun Guests. In morning show interview segments, gun control advocates appeared as guests on 82 occasions, compared to just 37 for gun-rights activists and 58 neutral spokesmen.

*Pro-Gun Themes Were Barely Covered. Themes such as the decline in federal gun prosecutions under the Clinton Administration, the positive use of guns in self-defense, and successful pilot prosecution programs like Project Exile in Virginia, drew tiny story counts in the single digits in the 653 story sample.

*ABC Earns Title of The Most Biased ABCs World News Tonight (43 anti-gun stories to only 3 pro-gun stories) and CNNs The World Today (50-7) were the most slanted evening news shows.

*ABCs Good Morning America was the most biased morning show, running 92 gun policy segments that promoted the anti-gun position, while running only one single gun policy segment promoted the pro-gun position.

"The networks arent trying to show even the most remote sense of balance when it comes to gun control. This is not journalism in any sense of the word. It is advocacy. Virtually all of these biased stories might as well be paid political advertisements for gun control organizations. Its an embarrassment and a disgrace for news organizations who claim to be balanced and present both sides of crucial issues before a public that needs facts, not spin, in order to make informed decisions," Bozell said. --------------- As for me, I find my Fear of being lied to confirmed, any Uncertainty regarding the need for my preps being resolved, and more than ever Doubt the standard party line of TPTB spewed forth in the media, thankyouverymuch...

Flame away!

-- Evaign (formerly known as Evie) (offbrand@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000

Answers

Thanks Evaign (formerly known as Evie) for the post. My gut feel is the polly left will provide the most flames.

-- PA Engineer (PA Engineer@longtimelurker.com), January 07, 2000.

Thanks for posting this Evaign. It's nice to see someone finally took the time to document media corruption on this issue, which has been glaringly apparent to gun owners for years.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), January 07, 2000.

The coverage reflects the problem. More and more Americans are advocating some type of gun control. And people who grabbed their camo and assault weapons to dive into a bunker over Y2k certainly haven't helped promote the cause of responsible gun ownership.

-- H.H. (dontscrewme_2000@yahoo.com), January 07, 2000.

"And people who grabbed their camo and assault weapons to dive into a bunker over Y2k certainly haven't helped promote the cause of responsible gun ownership. "

As if this is not another media creation. Give us a break.

PA Engineer (Charter Member JPFO)

-- PA Engineer (PA Engineer@longtimelurker.com), January 07, 2000.

HH, I don't think so; I think you're putting the horse before the cart, here. This type of social persuasion is creating the "guns/bad gun control/good mentality. How about if we promote the Democrats in the media and not the Republicans? How about if we publicize only the reasons for abortion, and never speak of the issues favored by the right-to-life crowd? What do you think the majority would favor in those cases?

Asch's psychological studies show that it's human nature to go with the crowd. In order to maintain one's convictions under such circumstances, wherein one side is voiceferously and predominately favored, it is necessary to be an intelligent, reasonable, and aware person who is willing to devote the time to personally research the issues and question the popular voice. Unfortunately, for the most part, this is not done by the general populace who will, knowing no better and caring even less, alter their attitudes in order to conform without even being aware of what they are doing.

I rather enjoy being out of Plato's "Cave"...

-- Evaign (offbrand@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000.

The Media Research Center is not an unbiased group. It exists to promote the conservative cause.

Liberals do studies that show the media has a conservative bias.

What does this prove?

But speaking of the NRA - they were having serious computer problems accepting new members, since they replaced their old system with a new one to avoid having to remediate. Are they up and running again?

-- kermit (colourmegreen@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000.

Well, hell... OK... the camo/bunker thing. That's another tool of social persuasion. You draw up an image, then you discredit it. It's called labeling. This use of stereotypes has been used against minorities to also sway opinion by TPTB for a long time.

When society finally gains consciousness about the issues in which labeling is used, those labels become epithets. If 'survival' means staying alive, why does 'survivalist' mean tinfoil wearing, antigovernment paranoids? No one will believe a social paraiah, and the one labeled as the social pariah will be disempowered, either in respect to his own convictions (to conform) or in his ability to spread his contentious beliefs. This 'social infection' would make him a dangerous man to the group doing the labeling.

The name of the game is POWER and CONTROL, HH. It's about information as the coinage of the new millennium...

And who has it and who doesn't.

I rest my case... I think.

-- Evaign (offbrand@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000.

Evaign

I don't think I could have said it better. These things need to be said over and over and over again. "Perception management" is one of the latest and most insidious of trends. Thanks for posting and standing firm.

PA Engineer (Charter Member JPFO)

-- PA Engineer (PA Engineer@longtimelurker.com), January 07, 2000.

Thanks Evaign, for a VERY informed post. Keep it up..and I don't think it IS off topic.

-- Ynott (Ynott@incorruptible.com), January 07, 2000.

Another example of bias was the treatment of Alan Keyes and Gary Bauer during the "debates." Questions were asked, then the moderator deliberately passed over Keyes and Bauer and prompted Bush to answer. Am I the only one who sees manipulation of perception here?

-- Liz (lizpavek@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000.