'Fox & Friends' Highlights MRC Labeling Study

August 20th, 2011 9:42 AM

On the August 19 "Fox & Friends" panel segment, co-host Gretchen Carlson highlighted the Media Research Center's (MRC) "revealing" labeling study comparing broadcast network coverage of the 2007 Democratic primary to the 2011 Republican primary.

Published by MRC Research Director Rich Noyes on Tuesday, the study reviewed the ABC, CBS, and NBC morning and evening news programs from January 1 through July 31, 2011 and found 62 "conservative" tags for Republican candidates, compared to only three "liberal" labels for Democratic candidates running during the same time period in 2007.

"That's a 20-to-1 margin, if you're doing the math with us this morning," remarked Carlson.

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Reacting to the findings, panelist Dylan Glenn observed that the mainstream media's liberal tendencies are a "proven mantra" and hoped the public would "see through" the labels.

"Don't labels matter?" wondered Carlson. "Because through osmosis, if you continually hear something over and over again, you tend to believe it."

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Jonathan Miller, co-founder of No Labels, insisted that media bias is geared "more toward controversy than it is toward a particular party."

--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.