MEDIA
The Media's Pro-Business Bias

Today, the Center for American Progress hosted a panel discussion to mark the release of a new report analyzing how the media covers the economy. The report, "Journalists Give Workers Business," finds that "the media ignores ordinary workers and instead covers economic issues from the perspective of business." The analysis by David Madland, Director of CAP's American Worker Project, looked at newspaper and television coverage of unemployment, minimum wage, trade, and credit card debt issues in 2007 and concluded that "the perspective of workers is largely missing from media coverage, while the views of business are frequently presented." A front page story in Wednesday's Washington Post, for instance, asked why Americans are "gloomier than the economy" but avoided talking to a single worker. The article failed to mention that incomes for most workers have declined since 2001, that health care and retirement benefits have become scarcer and more expensive, and that inequality has risen to unprecedented levels.

As the report argues, this type of the coverage is the norm, not the exception. All too often the traditional media prefers "elite sources, such as government or business representatives, over ordinary citizens."

WORKERS SHUT OUT OF THE DEBATE: While conservative media critics often claim that the mainstream media has a strong liberal bias, the report suggests that the bias of elite business sources overwhelms any partisan divide. After studying economy-related articles from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, and monitoring the economic news reports on ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, FOX News, and CNBC throughout 2007, the study concludes that "representatives of business were quoted or cited nearly two-and-a-half times as frequently as were workers or their union representatives." Specifically, "in coverage of both the minimum wage and trade, the views of businesses were sourced more than one-and-a-half times as frequently as those of workers." In stories about employment, "businesses were quoted or cited over six times as frequently as were workers," according to the report. In fact, only in coverage of credit card debt "was coverage more balanced, presenting the perspectives of ordinary citizens in the proportion as those of business," suggesting that the media "can find out how complex economic issues will impact ordinary people and present the news from their perspective."  

WHY BIAS MATTERS: The report notes, "our belief in democratic debate demands informed citizens and requires that different points of view are allowed to be heard." An April 7, 2007 article in the New York Times, however, undermined this ideal. In fact, the story, which discussed "whether the job market is strong," sourced economists representing business and advocacy groups, but did not offer the worker's perspective. This type of coverage "is repeated again and again," artificially narrowing the spectrum of debate and misinforming policy makers and the general public of alternate viewpoints. Moreover, the media "has the ability to help determine which issues people think are important" and "can even influence how people vote." Madland notes, for example, that "studies have found that as Fox News expanded into new towns, these areas were increasingly likely to vote for Republican candidates," while viewers of ABC News were "influenced to vote for Ronald Reagan over Walter Mondale because Peter Jennings used more positive facial cues when talking about the president than he did about the challenger."

WHY BIAS OCCURS: Madland argues that "the most common explanation for the kind of bias is that journalists have a preference for elite sources" because it is "easier  for a reporter to talk to a professional, such as a business spokesperson, than to find a good quote from a worker or ordinary citizen." To that end, a June 26, 2007 article in the Wall Street Journal about the need for the nation's largest financial service companies to "defuse protectionist sentiment in the United States and promote free-trade agreements" mentions that such agreements would meet "stiff resistance from organized labor," but it does not ask labor to explain its opposition. In addition, the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) notes that "mergers in the news industry have accelerated" the growth of large news conglomerates, further limiting the spectrum of viewpoints that have access to mass media and undermining journalistic standards. Whatever the source of the bias, Madland's study suggests that the media are capable of providing much more balanced coverage of economic issues.

Under the Radar

ETHICS -- GONZALES OUSTED JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAWYER FOR OPPOSING TORTURE: While serving as acting assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in 2004, Daniel Levin criticized a March 2003 OLC memo written by then-DOJ official John Yoo that authorized torture. Levin replaced it with a December 2004 memo that declared torture and other harsh interrogation techniques "abhorrent." But when Gonzales became Attorney General in February 2005, he asked Levin to leave the Department. Levin -- who had determined that waterboarding was torture after going to a military base to undergo it himself -- was viewed as "too independent." At the time of his ouster, Levin was writing a second memo detailing the legal status of specific techniques, including waterboarding. ABC News reports that Gonzales offered him a job at the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney's office in order to avoid scrutiny for firing Levin immediately after the memo was written, though that offer never materialized.

ENVIRONMENT -- ADMINISTRATION REPORT LINKS EXTREME WEATHER TO POLLUTION, CLIMATE CHANGE: Yesterday, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program released a 162-page report revealing that "changes in weather and climate change" have been and will continue to be "the biggest impact of global warming." The report, which synthesizes the findings of more than 100 academic papers, also warns that increases in extreme weather are "among the most serious challenges to society." The assessment finds that manmade global warming has caused an increased frequency of heat waves, droughts, severe rainfall, and fierce hurricanes, and that there is a 90 percent likelihood that the frequency and intensity of such harsh weather conditions will rise. Thomas Karl, co-chairman of the report, said the recurrence of the type of flooding witnessed in Iowa will continue as "time goes on and global temperatures increase." In definitive terms, carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning coal, oil, and natural gas, contributed most to global warming in the last century, the report concludes. NASA climatologist James Hansen cites the report in stating that "the next President and Congress" must exert leadership in order to take "responsibility for the present dangerous situation."

ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH AWARDS PETER PACE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM, MAKES MENTION OF IRAQ WAR: Yesterday, President Bush held a White House ceremony for the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The honor is the nation's highest civil award. One of the recipients was former Rumsfeld yes-man ret. Gen. Peter Pace, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff between 2005 and 2007. Bush paid tribute to Pace, saying that "he helped transform our military into a more efficient and effective force in America's defense." Curiously, not once during his statement did Bush mention the Iraq war. Pace, in fact, left his position under controversy and disgrace. Defense Secretary Robert Gates effectively forced Pace into retirement last year because the administration wanted to avoid "contentious" Senate hearings over the Iraq war. He was the shortest-serving Joint Chiefs chairman since Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor in 1964, who stepped down during the early years of the Vietnam War. While serving as Joint Chiefs chairman, Pace consistently defended the Bush administration's failed policies, claiming that Rumsfeld "leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country."

Think Fast

"Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Several American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military's capacity to carry out long-range strikes."

 While House Democrats are "eagerly preparing" for testimony from former White House spokesman Scott McClellan today, "Republicans seem unsure of how to handle the president's unlikely critic." Members of both parties "fully expect the hearing to extend far beyond the leak of a CIA agent's name and delve fully into McClellan’s charges" about the Iraq war.

Yesterday, the House passed, "by a wide margin," a "bill to enhance parental leave benefits for federal employees." "Under the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act, federal and congressional employees would receive four weeks of paid parental leave after birth or adoption, or taking in a foster a child." The White House has threatened to veto the bill.

Responding to an ABC News/Washington Times investigation, "the Veterans Administration plans to inform 32,000 veterans that they are using a drug linked to suicide or violent behavior." The ABC/Times investigation revealed that the VA waited three months to notify Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans in a VA experiment of the possible side effects from the anti-smoking drug Chantix.

As the Bush administration approaches its end, "Vice President Dick Cheney has won his battle to withhold records from the public." "He has managed to stonewall everyone," said House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA). "I'm not sure there's anything we can do."

The "dirty truth about clean coal" is that it is "more a catchphrase than a reality," writes BusinessWeek. "Despite the eagerness of the coal and power industries to sanitize their image and the desire of U.S. politicians to push a healthy-sounding alternative to expensive foreign oil and natural gas, clean coal is still a misnomer."

In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) sought assurance that the Pentagon "is taking action to prevent accidental electrocutions among U.S. troops in Iraq." In January, one of Casey's constituents, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, died of cardiac arrest "after being electrocuted while showering at his barracks in Baghdad." At least 11 other troops have also been electrocuted.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that "more than 27,000 nursing homes, hospitals, physicians" and other Medicare providers "flouted the tax system while collecting Medicare fees in 2006." One nursing home operator "filed $15 million in Medicare claims while owing $7 million in unpaid taxes" and using a charity to buy luxury cars for the owner's personal use.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State "filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking that South Carolina not be allowed to produce license plates that feature a Christian cross with the phrase 'I Believe.'" Approval of the plate "was a clear signal that Christianity is the preferred religion of South Carolina," said the group's director.

And finally: Last week, "baby-faced lawmaker" Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL) "was seen with a brand-new, well-groomed mustache and goatee." He explained to The Hill that over the recess, he "went fishing a couple of days and decided to let the facial hair that would grow, grow." He added that his daughter has taken to calling him "Captain Jack" from "Pirates of the Caribbean," and with the goatee, he no longer gets carded.

Good News

"DOJ Pride, the association for gay employees at the Justice Department, held its first Pride event in five years at the department's Great Hall Wednesday." The event was made possible because Attorney General Michael Mukasey in January revised the equal employment policy barring discrimination in the department.

State Watch

VERMONT: "The state auditor of Vermont said Thursday he is being called to active duty in Afghanistan and plans to run for re-election while serving."

ARIZONA: Authorities begin the first coordinated push to measure and fix the environmental damage from uranium contamination in Navajo lands.

IOWA: "The sprawling network of levees...was never designed to withstand the magnitude of a 500-year flood," Christian Science Monitor notes.

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) "A team" of lobbyists: "These people can talk to whomever they want."

WONK ROOM: Better late than never: Addressing sexual violence as a security threat.

ATTACKERMAN: Those who want to keep a limited presence in Iraq have to answer: How do you keep the commitment limited?

GLENN GREENWALD: Warrantless spying "compromise" is worse than expected.

Daily Grill

"[T]here is no reason to fear any [global warming] in the future."
 -- Global warming denier and Weather Channel founder John Coleman, 6/13/08

VERSUS

"In the future, with continued global warming, heat waves and heavy downpours are very likely to further increase in frequency and intensity. ... The strongest cold season storms are likely to become more frequent, with stronger winds and more extreme wave heights."
-- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 6/19/08