On Saturday's Fox News Watch, FNC contributor and conservative talk radio host Monica Crowley cited a letter released last Monday by NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center president Brent Bozell which called on the media to give more attention to President Obama's attempt to force religious institutions to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees, even if these institutions object on religious grounds. (Video below)
Crowley cited numbers on how little attention had been given by the broadcast networks and CNN as of Monday, and credited the MRC with affecting a greater focus on the issue from the media:
Brent Bozell at the Media Research Center did extraordinary investigative research into what the broadcast networks and the cable networks were doing on this issue. And what he found was that ABC and NBC did not cover this story for a full 16 days, CBS covered it only after 10 days, and CNN mentioned it briefly when the original decision came down, and then not again for 10 days.
She continued:
Once he publicized this, then the networks were forced to cover it. Fox was covering it relentlessly, and it became a huge issue, and it actually forced the White House to change their tack on this.
Below are both video and a transcript of the relevant portion of the Saturday, February 11, Fox News Watch on FNC:
JON SCOTT: So the White House backtracked from its original position. What about the way they did so, Monica? Is that going to solve the controversy?
MONICA CROWLEY: Well, I'm not sure that it solves the controversy, but I will say this is the power of the media. Brent Bozell at the Media Research Center did extraordinary investigative research into what the broadcast networks and the cable networks were doing on this issue.
And what he found was that ABC and NBC did not cover this story for a full 16 days, CBS covered it only after 10 days, and CNN mentioned it briefly when the original decision came down, and then not again for 10 days. Once he publicized this, then the networks were forced to cover it. Fox was covering it relentlessly, and it became a huge issue, and it actually forced the White House to change their tack on this.
SCOTT: And compare that with the Susan G. Komen controversy. That was a private organization, a fundraising organization that had decided it didn't want to give some, I mean, a minuscule amount of its money to Planned Parenthood. And, according to the media, the earth was falling down.
KRISTEN POWERS: Well, that's because all their friends cared about it, you know, I mean, it gets into a situation where it's like everybody they know is talking about it, so it must be the most important thing that's happening in the world. And, yeah, the coverage of it was relentless, and then you have this issue, which is a major issue that affects so many people, and they really weren't interested in it.
But what I would say is I don't think it was just the Brent Bozell thing. I think it was that a lot of liberal Catholics came out, you know, and E.J. Dionne and Mark Shields and, you know, people who support Obama on pretty much everything saying this is not okay.
