In a just released study, "A Study in Character Assassination: How the TV Networks Have Portrayed Sarah Palin as Dunce or Demon," CMI analysts found that ABC, CBS and NBC are airing 18 negative stories for every one positive story on Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate.
Is it any wonder that polls revealed a 17 percent increase in Palin's unfavorability ratings in just one month?
After examining the TV news coverage of Palin from September 29 to October 12, CMI found that ABC, NBC and CBS news shows ran 69 stories about Palin. 2 stories were positive, 37 were negative and 30 were neutral. The 2 positive stories were a two-part interview with Palin's parents on the CBS Early Show. Not one of the major network evening news programs - ABC's World News, NBC's Nightly News, and CBS's Evening News - ran a single positive story about Palin.
ABC was hardest on Palin, as 60 percent of its stories on Palin were negative. NBC came in second, as 54 percent of its stories were negative. CBS also ran 54 percent negative stories, but also ran the only two positive stories (8 percent).
CMI found that the networks promoted three major narratives about Palin:
1. Palin is an unqualified dunce. Networks established this narrative through their decisions to re-air clips of actress Tina Fey's impersonation of Palin and the most embarrassing clips from Palin's interviews with CBS' Katie Couric. Overall, 21 network stories attempted to portray Palin as out-of-her-league in her vice-presidential bid. Eleven clips of Fey's impersonation were replayed over the course of two weeks, and 14 clips of the Couric interviews were re-aired.
2. Conservatives are rejecting Palin. Nine stories emphasized attacks levied at Palin by conservative columnists. However, the networks failed to mention the support Palin has by popular conservative pundits Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin.
3. Palin is McCain's attack dog. Fourteen network segments demonized Palin for criticizing Barack Obama. No story analyzed in the study featured parts of her speeches that did not focus on the Obama-Biden campaign.
Sarah Palin's nomination changed the presidential race, creating a real threat to the media's preferred candidate, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. ABC, NBC and CBS have rallied to Obama's defense by working hard to bring Palin down.
—Colleen Raezler is a research assistant at the Culture and Media Institute
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Comments Policy
»→ Palin Bashing
October 29, 2008 - 08:07 ET by Cool ArrowThe MSM feels threatened that a woman can achieve great heights without inheriting her power from a man.
What a story it would be if Sarah Palin became VP as a result of lifting the top of the ticket.
BTW, does anybody remember how Hillary Clinton snagged that Senator slot in NY? Why do coattails come to mind?
LYDSEXICS UNTIE!
Coattails...
October 29, 2008 - 08:56 ET by SickofLibsPLUS a carpetbag.
I despise her as one of the
October 29, 2008 - 09:13 ET by Scuba DudeI despise her as one of the Senators of my State. I would have truly loved to have seen Rudy battle her back in 2000. I can only hope when she is up for re-election that whoever challenges her brings up her promise in 2006 not to run for President (which she lied about) and maybe hammer home how in one answer to a question she was able to be both for and against illegal immigrants getting a drivers license. Oh and lets not forget about that "Sniper" fire. <smirk>
I, too, have the displeasure
October 29, 2008 - 11:00 ET by Tim the EnchanterI, too, have the displeasure of having her as one of my Senators. Occasionally I'll run into someone singing her praises to High Heaven. I've found, through experience, that the quickest way to nip this in the bud is to ask one simple question: "What has she done for this state?" What follows is a series of "hems" and "haws" and "Umns" worthy of The One. She came in promising something like 200,000 new jobs in New York. During her tenure, the state LOST over 100,000 jobs. In my book, she's short about 300,000 jobs, and she's also a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.
Biased hacks
October 29, 2008 - 08:08 ET by needleHave the major liberally biased networks explained how it is possible that the most popular governor in the United States could possibly be a dunce or a demon?
Oh yeah, 86% of Alaskans are stupid. OR 99% of CBS, NBC, MSNBC(1000%), PBS, and CNN are completely biased hacks.
Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.
Palin
October 29, 2008 - 09:12 ET by soosanThe more I see of her the better I like her. She has survived where many others would have failed.
I wonder if they put
October 29, 2008 - 09:12 ET by Hunter12I wonder if they put together a montage of Obama without his teleprompter, how he would fare in the perception of his intelligence. "Uhh....umm...amm...ahhh...".
"I'm happy to be here today in Butt, ... Butte, Montana at this rodayo, rodeo...".
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
Narratives
October 29, 2008 - 09:27 ET by KC MulvilleI've become fascinated with the whole notion of narratives. It's the political and contemporary version of myth, which I've studied for some time. Myths are not mere fiction. Instead, myths are the backbone of a culture. They give everyone a (mostly) coherent way of understanding everything. They become the yardstick that reveals how each thing is to be seen. Something is meaningful if it relates to the myth, and is meaningless otherwise.
A media narrative, on the other hand, is a scaled-down and hasty version of a cultural myth. It's a microwaveable myth, something packaged that you can cook up and deliver quickly.
This is how the media works. It isn't only that they outright lie about specific things, although we know they do that often enough. Instead, the damage is done when they create these narratives. They create these instant myths, but the moment they create them, they pledge allegiance to them. They instantly forget that they themselves created the narrative, and they switch into believing that the narrative they just created is The Truth. It's the most willing of self-deceptions.
Everyone does this, to some degree. Human beings can't comprehend things in isolation. Philosophically, we only comprehend specific things against some sort of background. But the difference is that wise people reflect on their own myths and narratives, and test them to make sure they're reasonable or even sane.
No Lemonade Here
October 29, 2008 - 14:10 ET by stratmanExcellent post.
There is no doubt that Obama and his campaign is an allegory.
Now our MSM is an allegory as well.
Narratives
October 30, 2008 - 09:31 ET by bailmeoutThank ou for making this comment. It reflects everything I have been trying to articulate for some time now. I hope more people read it and if it's alright with you I would love to share this with my friends.
How hard would they have to work?
October 29, 2008 - 11:38 ET by Agrarian-DecentralistMs Raezler claims that "ABC, NBC and CBS have rallied to Obama's defense by working hard to bring Palin down."
Even granting, for the purposes of argument, that the three networks are totally "in the tank" for Obama, how hard would they have to work to "bring Palin down"? Even in a mythical bias-free news environment, straight reporting of her comments and behavior would do a great deal to achieve that outcome. That fact that websites such as NewsBusters are still defending Palin so ardently says a great deal about the power of ideology over objectivity.
Deranging affects of the media’s mythical narratives
October 29, 2008 - 15:58 ET by needleHave the major liberally biased networks explained how it is possible that the most popular governor in the United States could possibly be a dunce or a demon?
Until you can lucidly answer the above question (please spare us silly nonsense), your post, Agrarian-Decentralist, serves as a Class A example of the corrosive and deranging affects of the media’s mythical narratives in action.
Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.
McCain Campaign Braintrust
October 29, 2008 - 17:39 ET by BW222ABC was the roughest on Palin and who gets the first interview - Charles Gibson.
I'm no fan of Couric, but I will admit she was less unfair than Gibson. From Gibson's tone and body language, it was apparent an ambush was all he had in mind.
If McCain and Palin pull this out, it will be because of their hard work, not the idiots who ran the campaign.
BW222