GMA Gives 15 Minutes to Al Gore; Helps Him Compare Americans to Chickens

For the second time in two days, "Good Morning America" co-anchor Diane Sawyer interviewed Al Gore about his thesis that the media are obsessed with celebrity, while "politicians are heard in sound bites." That point may be undercut by the fact that, by Tuesday, the ex Vice President has received 15 and a half minutes of air time to complain about the subject.

After prompting Gore to compare Americans to chickens on a farm, the co-host allowed herself to be interrogated and challenged over how the media operates. But first, Sawyer and GMA helped Gore along with his analogy that Americans are like frightened chickens in the way they allow themselves to be manipulated:

Sawyer: "You even talk about chickens when, when you were young and on the farm, that you could hypnotize chickens this way."

Clip of 50s instructional video: "It's no trick to keep a chicken from straying through the fence if you know how."

Gore: "Anybody who’s spent time growing up on a farm has probably had that experience. But the point is larger than that."

The ABC graphic set the tone for the masochistic way that GMA accepted the former Vice President’s criticism. It read, "Is the news media hypnotizing you?" Ms. Sawyer introduced the segment, which aired at 7:41am on May 22, by dutifully repeating the complaints Gore makes in his new book, "The Assault on Reason":

Sawyer: "He says it's a cycle. TV news more and more obsessed with things like Paris Hilton while politicians are heard in sound bites and their words are shaped by media manipulators. He says democracy has been losing its muscle as we all become virtually hypnotized by four and a half hours of passive TV viewing every day."

First off, if Gore thinks that television anchors are hypnotizing Americans, they are doing it in a way that should please the global warming activist. As an April 2007 MRC study indicated, 97 percent of all climate change stories aired on the network morning shows featured the alarmist position expressed by Gore.

Sawyer then allowed Gore to expand on his "Americans-as-farm-animals" theme. GMA helped punctuate his point by providing a clip from a 1950s instructional video:

Sawyer: "He even evokes how chickens are paralyzed by repetitive motion and says TV makes us passive."

Gore: "Being in the television business, that one of the most valuable things you can have is a time slot following a hit show. Because even with a remote, there are millions of us who will sit and watch a show and be sufficiently immobilized by it that people can't move a thumb muscle."

Sawyer: "You even talk about chickens, when, when you were young and on the farm, that you could hypnotize chickens this way."

Clip of 50s instructional video: "It's no trick to keep a chicken from straying through the fence if you know how."

Gore: "Anybody who’s spent time growing up on a farm has probably had that experience. But the point is larger than that. The point is that, instead of engaging in a free and vigorous discussion, that anybody can take part in, instead, now, candidates for office and those who want to influence public opinion, use these sophisticated propagandistic techniques to try to give emotional impressions and sort of, you know, herd people this way or that.

Finally, the ABC news anchor permitted Gore to play media analyst and interrogate her in a manner that likely would not be afforded to a conservative critic, such as, say, MRC President Brent Bozell:

Gore: "What's the difference between news and entertainment in your view?"

Sawyer: "You're going to ask me the questions now?"

Gore: "No. I'll interested. You’ve– You're, you’re at the very pinnacle of this profession. So, what’s the–"

Sawyer: "News educates– Educates, illuminates."

Gore: "But wait a minute, the headline here is that you agree with what I'm saying."

Sawyer: " I agree that there is a serious issue that many journalists wrestle hard with and worry about. I do agree with that."

News educates? Does Ms. Sawyer remember her early May interview with an environmentalist who doesn’t use toilet paper?

No one would seriously argue that journalists don’t sensationalize issues. But Al Gore has written a book that indicted television for trivializing politicians and reducing them to sound bites. To repeat, GMA’s response to that criticism is give the former Vice President over 15 minutes to complain.

What Mr. Gore really wants could be summed up in his concluding statement on GMA. Because television hasn’t been doing its job, the result has been Iraq and "this climate crisis that is so threatening to, to the future of the civilization."

In other words, TV news works best when it touts liberal causes in totality. And if promoting issues such as global warming 97 percent of the time isn’t enough, well, the media can always strive to do better.