MRC REPORT DOCUMENTS BIAS IN ABC’s WAR COVERAGE - Press Release - November 07, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 07, 2001

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Katie Wright (703) 683-5004, ext. 132

MRC REPORT DOCUMENTS BIAS IN ABC’s WAR COVERAGE

In Today’s New York Times, Jennings Denies Bias But Refuses To Even Consider Examining Coverage

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Despite overwhelming evidence in a just-released Media Research Center report cited in today’s New York Times that ABC’s World News Tonight’s war coverage has become increasingly biased, anchor Peter Jennings refuses to investigate. The Times reported today that “Mr. Jennings disputed accusations of bias but said he did not have time to investigate the critics’ claims.” The report is titled ABC’s War: U.S. Military vs. Afghan Civilians, and is available now at www.mediaresearch.org.

The report found that of the three commercial network evening broadcasts from October 8 – the first day that damage assessments were available – through October 31 ABC’s World News Tonight devoted nearly four times as much of its newscast to unconfirmed Taliban claims of civilian casualties as the CBS Evening News, and almost twice as much as NBC Nightly News.

“This is plain arrogance. How can Jennings deny bias while simultaneously refusing to look at the evidence of bias? Then again, maybe that’s how he denies bias,” Bozell said.

CBS and NBC have actually reported on how the U.S. military has taken great measures to avoid hitting civilian targets and how many pilots have returned to aircraft carriers with many of their bombs because they were told to abort certain missions that might result in civilian casualties. CBS has also quoted Afghans who have contradicted Taliban claims of civilians being targeted. On October 12, CBS’s Jim Axelrod found refugees who said the charges of high civilian losses in Kabul were a Taliban-created fiction, but no such claims were found on World News Tonight.

“CBS and NBC have been showing much more balance than ABC,” Rich Noyes, the MRC’s Director of Media Analysis, told the New York Times.

For more information on the Media Research Center or to schedule an interview with a spokesperson please contact Katie Wright at (703)-683-5004, ext. 132.