On Thursday night, the Fox News Channel’s (FNC) Special Report with Bret Baier spotlighted the latest study from the Media Research Center (MRC) and Newsbusters, which exposed the almost no coverage of ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber telling an audience in a 2013 video that “lack of transparency” and “the stupidity of the American voter” were critical in the law’s passage.
During the show’s “Grapevine” segment, host Bret Baier noted that, while FNC and his program “feel this is something our viewers deserve to know,” the networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC “apparently, disagree.”
Baier then cited the findings of Newsbusters:
Despite this story growing throughout the week, as more and more clips of Gruber surfaced, showing him essentially bragging about fooling Americans, CBS did not cover the story until this morning. Neither ABC nor NBC have mentioned it, at all. The conservative website NewsBusters notes The New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press have also avoided the story.
He concluded by reading a portion of a statement from Newsbusters Executive Editor Tim Graham: “The national media...have largely reacted to the Gruber story like it is a virus that should be carefully quarantined.”
Since the study was initially published by the MRC’s Geoffrey Dickens, it was updated to include the fact that The New York Times did publish a single story on Gruber on Wednesday, but was instead published on one of its blog sites (known as The Upshot).
Following Baier’s on-air mention of the study, the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley aired a report on Gruber’s comments that lasted for one minute and 49 seconds which, in addition to a 6-second tease earlier in the program, increased CBS’s total airtime on Gruber to four minutes and 45 seconds.
The relevant portion of the transcript from FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on November 13 can be found below.
FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
November 13, 2014
6:29 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Stupidity Reigns]
BRET BAIER: As we first reported in the Grapevine Monday and have covered extensively ever since, ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber does not think too highly of American voters, saying, repeatedly your stupidity is the only reason the law he helped craft was able to pass.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Newsworthy]
We feel this is something our viewers deserve to know. The three broadcast networks, apparently, disagree.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Slow on the Uptake]
Despite this story growing throughout the week, as more and more clips of Gruber surfaced, showing him essentially bragging about fooling Americans, CBS did not cover the story until this morning. Neither ABC nor NBC have mentioned it, at all.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Blackout]
The conservative website NewsBusters notes The New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press have also avoided the story. Quote – “The national media...have largely reacted to the Gruber story like it is a virus that should be carefully quarantined.”
