Are the two major political parties hosting primaries this winter? Or is it just the Democrats? Viewers who saw Monday's edition of "Good Morning America" might assume the latter. The ABC program devoted a lopsided 14 minutes and 56 seconds to breaking down the race between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. A scant 31 seconds were given to the competitive Republican race.
Over the course of the two hour program, GMA featured four segments on the Democrats and only a solitary (and brief) piece on the GOP contest. This included co-host Diane Sawyer interviewing Barack Obama twice. ABC anchor and former Bill Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos talked to Senator Hillary Clinton. Kate Snow discussed the state of the New York senator's White House bid. Aside from mentioning the latest GOP polls in the show's intro, the only analysis of the Republicans resulted from Sawyer asking Stephanopoulos this banal question: "And what about the Republicans?" The conversation that followed lasted 31 seconds.
Now, this might have been understandable in 2004 when President George W. Bush ran unopposed for his party's nomination. But in 2008, with a wide open race, it's rather amazing that ABC would focus on the Democrats by a margin of 28 to one.
There was one additional segment on the presidential campaign. But since it related to the general subject of the human brain and how people make political decisions, I did not include it in the time count. However, the tone of the piece did follow GMA's template of emphasizing Democrats over Republcians. In the segment, correspondent Claire Shipman looked at a new company that claims to be able to be able to discern what Americans really think about a politician, based on chemical reactions in the brain.
As ABC has repeatedly done in the past, Shipman speculated over whether this would show whether voters will "really pull the lever for a woman, an African-American." At the close of the piece, the network journalist admitted, "Now, we didn't have any indication from our group that they would hesitate to support a woman or an African-American. Of course, we only spent an afternoon with them."
A transcript of segment on voting and the brain, which aired at 7:44am on January 7, follows:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Probably the trickiest job of a presidential campaign is to get in touch with what people really think. And we all know that campaigns spend millions on polls and focus groups. But, Diane, now there's a new tool, neuroscience.
DIANE SAWYER: And it turns out that we all lie not only to campaign polls but to ourselves.
STEPHANOPOULOS: To ourselves. Right. Absolutely.
SAWYER: Because we say we're thinking about politics, but we're actually thinking about somebody's hair. And now, to tell us a little bit about the new neuroscience of all of this, let's go back to the Manchester Red Arrow diner because Claire Shipman has the story.
CLAIRE SHIPMAN: Good morning, guys. This new technology is incredible. And it might really be able to answer that burning question, do people tell pollsters the truth, or do they say one thing on the phone and then go to the voting booth and do something totally different? Would they really pull the lever for a woman, an African-American, well. Now, you can go straight to the source to find out. This is your brain on politics. Red at the back of the head, you like what you're hearing. It's pure unadulterated feeling. Information that makes advertisers and political consultants drool. Welcome to the next frontier in political polling. We teamed up with up with Lucid Systems, a cutting edge marketing research company to try out their brain measuring techniques. Our guinea pigs, a group of undecided New Hampshire voters watches the ABC debate. Here where Hillary Clinton got worked up.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON: I want to make change, but I've already made change!
SHIPMAN: How did people respond to that? But we didn't have to ask, we'd read their minds. The brain information here in graph style. And waves in the green line below the red one means they liked it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a president, you want someone who is tough.
SHIPMAN: And the humor worked.
CLINTON: Well, that hurts my feelings.
SHIPMAN: A green spike. But this --
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: You're likable enough, Hillary.
SHIPMAN: It had a huge negative response. The twin red and green peeks. Our group wasn't aware how much they didn't like him ruining her fun.
JEAN TAYLOR (Undecided New Hampshire voter): It just says Barack doesn't really like her very much.
SHIPMAN: Another surprising result, when asked they praised this --
JOHN EDWARDS: We need a president who believes deeply in here. [Pounds chest]
EFFI SORRENTINO (Undecided New Hampshire voter): You could really see that he felt very, very strongly.
SHIPMAN: But in fact, it flat lined. They weren't emotionally moved. And once told the results, they dug deeper.
CARLA TOLOMEO (Unidentified New Hampshire voter): And for me, the fact that they was using emotional words was very nice, but, again, how did that translate into an action.
SHIPMAN: Lucid liked to call it the unspoken truth.
DR. FERNANDO MIRANDA (Founder & Chief Science Officer, Lucid Systems): As we grow up and we learn to be politically correct and we learn to use judgment, we learn to say the appropriate things, then all these other layers are uncovering the unspoken truth.
SHIPMAN: For example, some say they were okay with the candidates mixing it up.
BOB TRABUCHI (Undecided New Hampshire voter): Kind of like around a lunch table or something. Where people are going to interrupt each other and they're having a spirited discussion.
MITT ROMNEY: Don't try and characterize my position. Of course this war --
MIKE HUCKABEE: Which one?
SHIPMAN: But, again, this double red and green peak shows their brains don't like barbs. Lucid used different equipment, a cap with electrodes, to monitor brain activity as our as group looked at pictures of candidates. One undecided voter insisted that he likes John McCain and Barack Obama equally. Check out his brain as he looked at a picture of Obama. More red means a more positive feeling.
STEPHEN GENCO (Founder/CEO, Lucid Systems): Come election day that kind of emotional feel when he has to make a decision will probably weigh fairly heavily in the decision.
SHIPMAN: Now, we didn't have any indication from our group that they would hesitate to support a woman or an African-American. Of course, we only spent an afternoon with them. But one other thing we learned and listen up political operatives, all of those ads, especially the ones that invoked fear, talked about terror, where opponents were attacking opponent, candidates were put, portrayed in negative terms, they flat lined or got a negative impression. So, spend your money differently, Diane and George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: There's something so interesting about this. This does confirm other political research. The problem was, people say they don't like these ads and they don't. They believe it. They mean it.
SAWYER: Right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet, the information sticks.
SAWYER: It imbeds.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.
















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I saw this disparity last week on MSNBC
January 7, 2008 - 17:44 ET by JayTeeThis is pretty obvious, 15 minutes vs. 1 minute. The Disparity I saw last week after Tues., was MSNBC doing a ratio of about 30 minutes to 15 minutes. Less obvious, but they were bubbling over on Obama, and Questioning Huckabee.
What's a person supposed to do, if the Networks can't even recognize a 15 to 1 disparity ? ? Talk about Obvious and above board Slant......DemDemDemDemDemDem----repub
I don't know if Thompson will ever get press time unless he Divorces his Wife, beats his Kid, or sucker punches Ron Paul...in other words, do something un-related to his Politics and he'll get some Face Time.
Well, at least they covered
January 7, 2008 - 17:46 ET by mattmWell, at least they covered it. That's balance, isn't it?
No surprise here. The MSM
January 7, 2008 - 17:49 ET by rbosqueNo surprise here. The MSM should stop calling themselves the "press" and just be honest and stick a democratic donkey with a hammer & sickle on their foreheads.
Face Time on ABC
January 7, 2008 - 17:53 ET by GoodieWell..nobody watches that show, waste of time. So no harm done to the GOP. But continue to keep score, as ABC will declare it balanced.
That's right, the Fairness
January 7, 2008 - 17:57 ET by kgThat's right, the Fairness Doctrine only covers talk radio.
Bias is the new balance.
January 7, 2008 - 18:27 ET by Army BratIt's quite clear that they just don' give a damn what we think about them anymore. They're just gonna do what they want and the hell with us. Then again...can you really call GMA a news program? I hardly think so.
Happy Trails...
Just another in-kind
January 7, 2008 - 22:25 ET by motherbeltWell today it wasn't a news program. It was just another in-kind contribution to the Democrat Party. I wonder how much a 14 minute campaign ad would go for?
After all that, if Rush Limbaugh were to comment on it, they would probably demand equal time to respond, for "balance."
Oh, jeepers ... Republicans
January 7, 2008 - 18:54 ET by drillanwrOh, jeepers ... Republicans just ain't sexy enough for coverage ... shee-oot!
BIAS...
January 8, 2008 - 03:37 ET by danybhoyBias is clearly in play, but just the fact the only really sexy thing out there is Kucinich's wife. The Breck Girl's hair maybe, but Mrs. Kucinich is the only sexy thing to cover. Otherwise it's all old white guys & a mean, unlikable, & shrill woman who does'nt play well with too many people.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
Since they already know
January 7, 2008 - 19:34 ET by BuffNBoneSince they already know which party they are backing, why spend much time with brand "X"?
Beside don't you know which party has the more interesting and dynamic candidates!
"Fighters are fun but bombers make policy"
Town Hall Meetings on GMA
January 7, 2008 - 21:24 ET by nkviking75Wasn't GMA the program that was going to have town hall meetings with the candidates? If my memory is accurate, so far there have been two, with Edwards and Clinton. If they keep up this pace and work their way through the Dems first, they'll get to a Republican in 2011 and Ron Paul in 2027.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
I've Said It Before
January 7, 2008 - 22:17 ET by deerjerkydaveI'll say it again, big media is treating the Republicans like 3rd party candidates. The Republican party gets in the way of big media plans for a one party state (I only jest slightly). It may be a good thing that they don't talk so much about the Republicans since they only would endorse the RINOs of the race like Huckabee and McCain.
The Republican party is in a fight right now over who gets control of the party, traditional conservatives vs. compassionate conservatives. So far Republicans have had 2 primaries and a different candidate has won each. If McCain wins New Hampshire tomorrow it will mean three primaries and three different winners. The party is in a state of confusion.
Full disclosure, Romney and Thompson are my favorite candidates.
NkViking75, you are indeed
January 7, 2008 - 23:19 ET by Scott WhitlockNkViking75, you are indeed correct. GMA has done town hall meetings with Edwards and Clinton. They have yet to do one with a Republican. I predict the next such town hall meeting will be with Obama.
So, what's new.
January 7, 2008 - 22:42 ET by pbthinkerIf the GOP expects the media to fair with them, forget it. The MSM want, sincerely wants, a Democrat in the White House in 2009. They will do everything they can to accomplish this so, as usual, the GOP is on their own. As they sit there and watch Hillary tank, they're only serious decision is whether they want to jump on the Obama Band Wagon now or later.
Meanwhile GOP, you're on you own kids, find a way that's different than the MSM to get your message out.
Democrats: Specializing in "high tech lynching" since 1987.
Don't watch it
January 7, 2008 - 23:35 ET by planetrepublicanDon't watch ABC, NBC, CBS, any of them. They are the old dogs, dead men (and women) walking, not aware how dead they are.
}}---> Planetman
January 7, 2008 - 23:38 ET by Cool ArrowBut you gotta admit.
Dead or alive, they still get to vote.
I ♣ My Seal