1. CNN/USA Today/Gallup Delivers Another Distorted Filibuster Poll
Another distorted poll on the use of the filibuster by Senate Democrats to block judicial nominees. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday afternoon described how the filibuster tactic can be "used to prevent the Senate from passing controversial legislation or confirming controversial appointments by the President, even if a majority of Senators support that action." But then instead of posing the question at hand, whether the public agrees with the unprecedented Democratic use of the filibuster to deny votes to appeals court nominees, the poll posed a broader question not at hand: "Do you favor or oppose the use of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate?" Most, naturally, favored it as CNN's Bruce Morton relayed in a Monday Inside Politics story, as if eliminating the filibuster was an issue in play.

2. Reporter Getting in Bed With a Republican, But a "Maverick" One
A reporter getting in bed with a Republican, but a "maverick," not so conservative one. As a discussion with Los Angeles Times Washington bureau reporter Ron Brownstein ended on Monday's Inside Politics, CNN's Judy Woodruff informed viewers that Brownstein will be getting "married this weekend to Eileen McMenamin, a former CNN producer who now works on the Hill for Senator John McCain."

3. Another Poll Finds Many More See Liberal Than Conservative Bias
Another national survey has determined that more see a media tilt to the left than the right. A poll conducted last year by the Missouri School of Journalism's Center for Advanced Social Research, but released last week, found that "by 74 percent to 18 percent," those polled "said journalists tend to favor one side over the other in political and social issues. Of the 85 percent who said they see bias in the news, 48 percent identified that bias as liberal; 30 percent identified it as conservative." That matches how last year more perceived coverage of Bush than of Kerry to be unfair and a 2003 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that "when it comes to describing the press, twice as many say news organizations are 'liberal' (51%) than 'conservative,' (26 percent)."

CNN/USA Today/Gallup Delivers Another
Distorted Filibuster Poll

     Another distorted poll on the use of the filibuster by Senate Democrats to block judicial nominees. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday afternoon described how the filibuster tactic can be "used to prevent the Senate from passing controversial legislation or confirming controversial appointments by the President, even if a majority of Senators support that action." But then instead of posing the question at hand, whether the public agrees with the unprecedented Democratic use of the filibuster to deny votes to appeals court nominees, the poll posed a broader question not at hand: "Do you favor or oppose the use of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate?" Most, naturally, favored it as CNN's Bruce Morton relayed in a Monday Inside Politics story, as if eliminating the filibuster was an issue in play.

     Reviewing the survey results which included a fairly low approval rating for President Bush and opposition to his Social Security plans, Morton concluded: "Finally, the filibuster. We explained that it's a Senate procedure to prevent the Senate from confirming nominees or approving bills with a simple majority, that you need 60 votes to break a filibuster. Our sample favored its use, 52 to 40."

     (With its entire prime time dedicated to the "runaway bride" story, from what I could tell in a quick review, CNN didn't touch on the poll all night Monday evening.)

     Indeed, the question posed didn't ask about the matter in contention, filibusters of judicial nominees and efforts to block just those: "As you may know, the filibuster is a Senate procedure which has been used to prevent the Senate from passing controversial legislation or confirming controversial appointments by the President, even if a majority of senators support that action. A vote of at least 60 senators out of 100 is needed to end a filibuster. Do you favor or oppose the use of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate?"

     Favor: 52 percent; oppose: 40 percent.

     Next question: "In the current controversy over the filibuster, whose side do you generally favor: the Republicans in the Senate or the Democrats in the Senate?"

     Republicans: 36 percent; Democrats: 45 percent.

     The pollster then asked the same question two different ways:

     -- "Just your best guess, do you think the Republicans are -- or are not -- trying to abuse their majority power?"

     Yes: 53 percent; no: 42 percent.

     -- "Just your best guess, do you think the Democrats are -- or are not -- trying to abuse the filibuster procedure?"

     Yes: 47 percent; no: 42 percent.

    
    
Tuesday's USA Today didn't cite the filibuster numbers in its poll story, but the Web site did provide, unlike CNN.com, a complete rundown of the questions. The ones on the filibuster, as quoted above, are numbers 32 to 36 at: www.usatoday.com

     Previous CyberAlert items on an ABC News/Washington Post poll from last week with a question formulated to show public opposition to Republican plans to block Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees:

     # April 26 CyberAlert: ABC and the Washington Post touted how a new poll found two-thirds opposed to a rul change to end Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees, but the language of the question led to the media's desired answer. "An ABC News poll has found little support for changing the Senate's rules to help the President's judicial nominees win confirmation," World News Tonight anchor Charles Gibson trumpeted Monday night. The Washington Post's lead front page headline, over a Tuesday story on the poll, declared: "Filibuster Rule Change Opposed." But the questions in the poll failed to point out the unprecedented use of a filibuster to block nominees who have majority support while they forwarded the Democratic talking point that "the Senate has confirmed 35 federal appeals court judges nominated by Bush" and painted rules changes as an effort "to make it easier for the Republicans to confirm Bush's judicial nominees," not as a way to overcome Democratic obstructionism. www.mediaresearch.org

     # April 27 CyberAlert: FNC's Brit Hume on Tuesday night pointed out how the wording of a Washington Post/ABC News poll led to its finding of overwhelming opposition to blocking Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees, an observation made in Tuesday's CyberAlert, and Hume noted how differently-worded polls led to opposite results. "If you doubt whether the framing of a poll question can influence the outcome," Hume asked, "consider this. When a Republican poll said quote, 'Even if they disagree with a judge, Senate Democrats should at least allow he President's nominations to be voted on,' 81 percent said they agreed." In addition, a Rasmussen survey found that when asked "should the Senate rules should be changed so that a vote must be taken on every person that the President nominates to become a judge?", 56 percent responded affirmatively. www.mediaresearch.org

     # April 28 CyberAlert: In a Wednesday online chat session, Washington Post National Editor Michael Abramowitz defended Washington Post/ABC News poll questions which CyberAlert and others argued had wording which inevitably led to the finding that an overwhelming majority oppose blocking Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees when other polls have found the opposite. "Filibuster Rule Change Opposed," declared the April 26 Washington Post lead front page headline even though the questions did not mention filibusters. Abramowitz maintained that the Post's polling chief, Rich Morin, "is scrupulously fair." Abramowitz asserted: "I thought the questions in this case were fine." Morin defended himself: "I believe the question does not plant biases that would unfairly favor Democrats or disadvantage Bush or the Republicans." www.mediaresearch.org

     # May 2 CyberAlert: In defending the wording of a Washington Post poll, which the paper plastered at the top of Tuesday's front page under the headline, "Filibuster Rule Change Opposed," Washington Post Ombudsman Micheal Getler cited a March Newsweek poll which also found majority opposition to ending Senate filibusters of judicial nominees. But that poll's formulation was just as slanted as the Post poll's wording, in contrast to a Rasmussen poll, that Getler didn't acknowledge, which used wording that led to a finding of opposition to the Democratic tactic. The Newsweek poll inaccurately told those surveyed that the filibuster "tactic has been used by both Democrats and Republicans to prevent certain judicial nominees from being confirmed." Like the Post poll, Newsweek treated Republicans as the ones wanting to use a political maneuver to their benefit: "Senate Republican leaders, whose party is now in the majority, want to take away this tactic by changing the rules to require only 51 votes..." www.mediaresearch.org

Reporter Getting in Bed With a Republican,
But a "Maverick" One

     A reporter getting in bed with a Republican, but a "maverick," not so conservative one. As a discussion with Los Angeles Times Washington bureau reporter Ron Brownstein ended on Monday's Inside Politics, CNN's Judy Woodruff informed viewers that Brownstein will be getting "married this weekend to Eileen McMenamin, a former CNN producer who now works on the Hill for Senator John McCain."

     The exchange, as the two sat in CNN's DC studio, at the end of a discussion about the findings in a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll:
     Judy Woodruff: "Ron Brownstein, and, before we let you go, we want to say congratulations. You are being married this weekend to Eileen McMenamin, a former CNN producer who now works on the Hill for Senator John McCain. And we are thrilled for both of you."
     Ron Brownstein: "I am thrilled that you're thrilled. Thank you very much."
     Woodruff: "Congratulations. We'll see you very soon."

     Indeed, McMenamin, now Communications Director for Senator John McCain, was a Senior Election Express Producer (aka their bus) for CNN during the campaign last year. For a Web posting from her last July, which features a picture of her on the bus: www.cnn.com

     For Brownstein's Los Angeles Times columns and articles, along with a picture of him: www.latimes.com

Another Poll Finds Many More See Liberal
Than Conservative Bias

     Another national survey has determined that more see a media tilt to the left than the right. A poll conducted last year by the Missouri School of Journalism's Center for Advanced Social Research, but released last week, found that "by 74 percent to 18 percent," those polled "said journalists tend to favor one side over the other in political and social issues. Of the 85 percent who said they see bias in the news, 48 percent identified that bias as liberal; 30 percent identified it as conservative." That matches how last year more perceived coverage of Bush than of Kerry to be unfair and a 2003 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that "when it comes to describing the press, twice as many say news organizations are 'liberal' (51%) than 'conservative,' (26 percent)."

     For an April 27 AP article about the survey of 495 adults during June-July, 2004, "Survey: U.S. Trusts the News but Sees Bias," go to: news.yahoo.com

     For the University of Missouri's rundown of the survey results: www.journalism.missouri.edu

     That poll matches public opinion tracked in some earlier surveys summarized in past CyberAlerts:

     # November 15, 2004 CyberAlert: In the fourth survey in the past few weeks to have found more of the public perceived the media as biased in John Kerry's favor over President George W. Bush, a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll, released on Thursday, pegged the percent of voters who believed Bush's press coverage was "unfair" at nine points higher than for John Kerry while the percent who thought Bush's coverage was "fair" was lower by the same gap -- 9 points. See: www.mediaresearch.org

     The three earlier polls:

     -- By 46 percent to 42 percent, those who voted on election day in 12 "battleground" states, believed "that the media's coverage of this year's presidential election was biased towards one candidate or party," a survey conducted by Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates determined. Within the 46 percent, more than twice as many, 32 percent of the total number of those polled, saw a tilt in favor of Kerry and Democrats than in favor of Bush and Republicans, 14 percent. By 30 percent to 12 percent, independents saw the bias going in Kerry's direction. Of those who saw bias, 68 percent perceived more than in past election years. See the November 9 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org

     -- Two polls released the week before the election found that more people perceive the media tilting coverage in favor of Democrat John Kerry than in favor of Republican President George W. Bush. Gallup determined that 35 percent think coverage has tilted toward Kerry compared to just 16 percent who said it favored Bush. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press discovered that "half of voters (50 percent) say most newspaper and TV reporters would prefer to see John Kerry win the election, compared with just 22 percent who think that most journalists are pulling for George Bush." While 27 percent described Kerry coverage as "unfair," 37 percent labeled Bush coverage as "unfair." Pew also learned that "voters who get most of their election news from CNN favor Kerry over Bush, by 67 percent-26 percent." For details, see the November 1 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org

     # September 27, 2004 CyberAlert: New surveys have found that public perception of media credibility has fallen and that by two or three-to-one, more see major networks and newspapers as "biased to help Kerry" over Bush. A Gallup poll "conducted after the CBS News report was questioned but before the network issued a formal apology," determined that "just 44 percent of Americans express confidence in the media's ability to report news stories accurately and fairly," a "significant drop" from 54 percent a year ago. In addition, "the poll found that 48 percent of Americans view the news media as 'too liberal,' while 15 percent viewed it as 'too conservative.'" Meanwhile, a Rasmussen poll found that many more see ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC as biased in favor of Kerry over Rather with CBS "seen as the most biased -- 37 percent believe that network news team is trying to help the Kerry campaign" compared to just 10 percent who believe CBS is trying to help Bush. On the print side, Rasmussen discovered a public perception of a similar slant in the New York Times, USA Today and Washington Post with the New York Times "seen as the most biased." www.mediaresearch.org

     # July 14, 2003 CyberAlert: By 2-to-1, Public Sees Liberal Over Conservative Bias. "Most Americans (53%) believe that news organizations are politically biased, while just 29% say they are careful to remove bias from their reports. When it comes to describing the press, twice as many say news organizations are 'liberal' (51%) than 'conservative,' (26 percent)" a just-released Pew Research Center for the People and the Press survey discovered. Even a plurality of Democrats see a liberal slant over a conservative one. For details: www.mediaresearch.org

     # October 17, 2000 CyberAlert: By two-to-one, registered voters say "most journalists" are "pulling for" Gore over Bush. Even a plurality of Democrats see a pro-Gore slant, a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll determined. And the closer people follow news coverage the more they see a pro-Gore tilt. See: www.mediaresearch.org

-- Brent Baker

---

Sign up for CyberAlerts:      Keep track of the latest instances of media bias and alerts to stories the major media are ignoring. Sign up to receive CyberAlerts via e-mail. Subscribe! Enter your email to join MRC CyberAlert today!   questions and comments about CyberAlert subscription      You can also learn what has been posted each day on the MRC’s Web site by subscribing to the “MRC Web Site News” distributed every weekday afternoon. To subscribe, go to: http://www.mrc.org/cybersub.asp#webnews

 

---

Home | News Division | Bozell Columns | CyberAlerts 
Media Reality Check | Notable Quotables | Contact the MRC | Subscribe