🚀 go-pugleaf

/* Written 11:09 am  Oct 28, 1992 by fair in cdp:media.issues */
/* ---------- "COUNTERSPIN #17" ---------- */
From: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting <fair>
Subject: COUNTERSPIN #17

                       ATTENTION:  <<name>>   
                       ATTENTION:  <<name>>   
                       ATTENTION:  <<name>>   
   
-------------------------- COUNTERSPIN ------------------------

-------------A Memo on Campaign Coverage From FAIR-------------
  
--------------130 W. 25th St., New York, NY 10001-------------- 

-Phone: 212-633-6700 | Fax: 212-727-7668 | Email: fair@igc.org- 

No. 17: October 28, 1992

POLLS, PERSONALITIES, AND PRIORITIES: The Sunday, Oct. 25 issue of
the Washington Post is a good example of what's been wrong with
mainstream election coverage this year.  The lead story is a
typical horserace article: "Presidential Race Looks Narrower." 
Next to that was an examination of Clinton's personality: "What
Kind of President? On Clinton's Inner Steel, Candor and
Conciliation, the Evidence is Conflicting."  And below that, a
story about Ross Perot's campaign strategy: "Perot Card's Wild in
Game With New Rules."

But a report of newly released documents showing that James Baker
had pushed for loans to Iraq, despite warnings from the Justice
Department that Iraq had used earlier loans for military purposes? 
No room for that on the front page -- try page A4. This reflects
the continuing emphasis on  polls, tactics and "character" over
real news.

WAFFLE JOURNALISM: Another piece of campaign news from the
Washington Post (10/23) -- buried in a chronology of a day on the
campaign trail -- shows that the bad old days of reliance on photo
ops and soundbites are still here.  Indeed, in this case, according
to the Post, ABC News was prompting the Bush campaign to come up
with a line-of-the-day to match the nifty visual.  The Bush
campaign, it seemed, staged an event at a restaurant called the
Waffle House (get it?), but there was no mention in Bush's speech
about Clinton waffling.  "Ann Compton of ABC News moves urgently
from one staffer to another," the Post reported.  "She buttonholes
Marlin Fitzwater, corners Torie Clarke, sidles up to Mary Matalin. 
She tells each one: If you want Waffle House, we need Bush to say
something about waffling!"

Was Compton satisfied when this coaching produced a waffling
allusion from Bush?  "It's still not quite right," she complained
to Clarke. 

FOLLOW THE MONEY: PBS's Frontline documentary (co-produced by the
Center for Investigative Reporting) last night did something that
few reports have done this year -- connecting the enormous campaign
contributions flowing to candidates to the policies the candidates
want enacted.  Thus, Cuban exiles gave $125,000 to Clinton when he
promised to support tightening the Cuban embargo; Dwight Andreas of
the Archer Daniels Midland grain company got a Clean Air Act waiver
for ethanol after giving $400,000 to the Republicans; ARCO, which
hopes to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
has given about $1 million in total to the two major parties. 

Also useful was USA Today's full-page spread (10/23) on where the
campaigns get their money.

NETWORKING HARDER? There's been talk about how the networks have
improved their election coverage since 1988.  FAIR decided to take
a look at just how "issue-oriented" TV news coverage is this year.

FAIR's analysis found that from August 21 -- the day after the
Republican convention -- until October 1, ABC, CBS and NBC did 275
reports on the presidential election. Only 49, or 17 percent,
mainly addressed policy issues.  A further 31 (11 percent)
addressed "character"  issues.  

ENDANGERED ISSUES: An analysis of the topics covered in this six-
week period suggests how difficult it is to cover issues thoroughly
when analysis of issues takes up such a small percentage of total
stories.  The federal deficit was the topic of only three reports;
tax policy was featured in four.  All stories on economic topics
(including taxes, the deficit, jobs and general economic policy)
accounted for 19 stories -- 7 percent of total election coverage.

Foreign policy issues were covered in only seven stories -- less
than 3 percent of all reports.  And these foreign policy stories
had strikingly little to do with foreign countries: The rare
reports dealt with whether overseas arms sales were being made for
domestic political purposes (2 reports), or examined the Iran-
contra (4 reports) or Iraqgate (1 story) stories.   

Other stories were covered with similar infrequence.  The health
care crisis was covered in four segments, and family leave was the
main topic in another three. "Family values," promoted as an issue
at the Republican convention, were explored in four reports.

No other policy issue was dealt with as often as three times in the
six-week period -- including such major topics as the environment
(2 segments), abortion (1 segment), AIDS (1 segment) and welfare (1
segment).  Several important topics, such as education, crime, the
military budget, racism and the banking crisis were not the subject
of any campaign reports during the period studied. 
  
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The lack of treatment of many serious subjects is
striking in comparison to the coverage of the so-called character
issue.  The single topic covered most frequently was Clinton's
draft record -- the focus of 18 segments, 7 percent of all campaign
coverage.  The networks devoted nearly as many reports to the draft
controversy as to all economic-related topics put together. 

Although the credibility issue raised by Clinton's account of his
draft record are often compared to the questions about Bush's
truthfulness about Iran-contra, there was markedly more coverage --
by greater than 4 to 1 -- of the draft than Iran-contra.

Quayle's draft record was examined in four segments.  In the six
weeks studied, as many reports dealt with the candidates' alleged
resemblances to Harry Truman (4 segments) as with AIDS, welfare and
the environment combined.   

Counterspin is written by Jim Naureckas and edited by Jeff Cohen. 
FAIR's network survey was conducted by research associate Kimberly
Phillips.