Excellent analogy Mike!
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<font size=4>Study Finds Networks Overwhelmingly Negative
Toward Bush on Iraq
In picking up on the CyberAlert item about how ABC News has avoided reporting its poll finding of a jump in Bush’s approval rating following the capture of Saddam Hussein, FNC’s Brit Hume also noted a new study from another media analysis group which found that negative evaluations of President Bush in Iraq stories on the broadcast network evening newscasts have soared since May.
Hume reported in his “Grapevine” segment on the December 17 Special Report with Brit Hume on FNC:
“A new study indicates that positive evaluations of President Bush on the network evening news have dropped from 56 percent, during the Iraq war, to 32 percent after the end to major operations was announced. The study, conducted by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, shows that CBS News was the toughest on President Bush after major operations ended, with 77 percent negative evaluations, followed by ABC with 67 percent negative evaluations.
“This, as another group, the Media Research Center, is accusing ABC of burying one of its polls -- which as we told you earlier this week -- showed President Bush’s job approval on Iraq rose ten percentage points after Saddam’s capture. ABC News, the center says, only referenced the poll for a few brief seconds with a small graphic Monday morning and that was it.”
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Indeed, the December 17 CyberAlert relayed:
ABC’s World News Tonight still hasn’t reported how, in the wake of the capture of Saddam Hussein, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that President Bush’s approval level overall rose four points with a ten point jump in approval for how he’s handling the situation in Iraq, but on Tuesday night Dan Rather found a few seconds to relay how a new CBS News/New York Times poll discovered a six point hike in Bush’s approval level....
As the December 16 CyberAlert noted, NBC showcased on Monday’s NBC Nightly News its survey finding that after Hussein’s capture Bush’s approval rating jumped by six points while his margin over Howard Dean expanded from 12 to 21 points.
But though Monday’s Washington Post featured the results of the ABC News/Washington Post survey conducted on Sunday afternoon and evening, Peter Jennings didn’t utter a word about it on Monday night and he didn’t catch up on Tuesday.
The only hint as to the good news for Bush in the ABC poll came in a small graphic on screen for a few seconds on Monday’s Good Morning America as Claire Shipman tried to diminish the impact of catching Hussein. She highlighted how “ABC News has a new poll out today that shows most Americans don't believe Saddam's capture means the job is done there” as she warned that if “if the situation isn't stabilized,” the capture of Hussein “is not going to seem decisive for this administration."
As she was saying that, GMA put up a picture of a bearded Hussein which filled three-fourths the screen with the left-hand fourth showing a graphic citing a single poll number from an “ABC News/Washington Post poll” on “President Bush's Approval Rating,” listing it at 58 percent after Saddam's capture compared with 48 percent in mid-November. In fact, the numbers were for approval of how Bush is handling the situation in Iraq.
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