ALEXANDRIA, VA – Monday afternoon, the
story broke that Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) was a serial client
of a top-dollar prostitution ring. On Monday night, again on Tuesday
morning and yet again on Tuesday night, NBC, ABC and CBS all went
out of their way to avoid saying that Spitzer is a Democrat.
NBC ran twelve segments on the Spitzer story – one on Monday’s
Nightly News and eleven on Tuesday’s Today -- and not once did
they in any way label Spitzer a Democrat. Tuesday night? Again, no
label.
No one on ABC said the word “Democrat” in reference to Spitzer on
either Monday’s World News Tonight or Tuesday’s Good
Morning America. Ditto Tuesday night. Their labeling of Spitzer
was limited to a grand total of six seconds – split up into two
clips – of a “D” after his name in a chyron at the bottom of the
screen.
CBS’s Katie Couric did say once that Spitzer is a Democrat on
Monday’s Evening News, but no one on Tuesday’s Early Show
did. Their labeling was also only visual -- “D”s in two chyrons for
a combined fourteen seconds.
The Associated Press broke the story Monday in a three paragraph
report – NO label. They then came out with a full report, with all
of the details – save one. Again, no mention that Spitzer is a
Democrat.
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell was hardly surprised:
“Another major scandal involving a liberal
Democrat, another attempt by the media to hide the fact that the
scandal involves a liberal Democrat.
“ONE spoken reference to Spitzer as a Democrat by the big three
networks over nine and a half hours of news programming.
Pathetic.
“This is not the first time the media have played dodge the “D”.
They repeatedly deleted it from Democratic Congressman Gary
Condit during the prolonged investigation into the death of his
intern and paramour Chandra Levy, and they are continuously
leaving Detroit Democratic Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick politically
unaffiliated in their reporting of his affair with his
chief-of-staff.
“But anyone familiar with the Sen. Larry Craig scandal knows he
is a Republican. Why is that?
To schedule an interview with MRC President Brent Bozell or another
MRC spokesperson,
please contact Tim Scheiderer (x. 126) or Colleen O’Boyle (x. 122)
at (703) 683-5004.
