Pro-Republican media on the stimulus bill

By Michael J.W. Stickings

On Wednesday, I noted that Republicans are dominating the narrative and dictating the terms of the debate over the stimulus bill in large part because of "a gullible media establishment playing right along, dutifully reporting on how bad things are out there even as it wallows in and magnifies the manufactured sensationalism of political conflict in Washington."

Actually, it's worse than that.

The media establishment -- as it has been for years, largely in response to conservative pressure and accusations of liberal bias, compelling it to cave in and shift right -- has been decidedly pro-Republican in its coverage of the debate, at least when measured by how many Democrats and Republicans it puts on the air. Continuing the trend, as Think Progress reports, "Republican lawmakers outnumbered Democratic lawmakers 75 to 41 on cable news interviews by members of Congress (from 6am on Monday 2/2 through 11pm on Thursday 2/5)." Here, in chart-form, are the results:

(Thank goodness for MSNBC, I suppose.)

And it's actually even worse: "Though the imbalance is already stark, the tilt of the coverage would have been even more lopsided if the analysis had been broken down into whether a lawmaker who appeared on TV was a supporter or a critic of the economic recovery plan. Some of the most frequent Democratic guests this week were outspoken critics of the proposed stimulus plans, such as Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Kent Conrad (D-ND)."

This is what Obama and (most of) the Democrats are up against.

It's not just the insurgent GOP and its ideological extremism, it's the (cable news) media establishment and its over-compensation for "fairness" and "balance" and general right-wing inclinations.