Appearing on Fox Business Network’s Varney & Co. Thursday morning, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell unveiled a new MRC study exposing the leftist media effort to protect President Biden from blame for high gas prices. Bozell also highlighted MRC polling of battleground state voters showing that poor reporting on energy policy may have affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
“Alright, who does the media blame for high gas prices?,” host Stuart Varney asked. Bozell broke down the new numbers in the study of morning and evening network newscasts over the past month:
We’ve looked at every story on the networks covering the surging, out-of-control gas prices that are killing the average Joe out there since the war began in January – on February 24th. Of all the stories they’ve done, in 33 cases they blamed Russia. In 3 instances they blamed the Biden administration. So by a disparity of 11 to 1, they are saying it’s somehow Russia that’s doing it, not the policies of this administration.
Bozell then emphasized the impact such slanted coverage can have, even to the point of swinging elections:
Now, what have they done – why is this so important? We took a survey, Stuart, before – right after the 2020 elections. We went into the battleground states, to the seven battleground states, and we asked them a series of questions – of Biden voters – did they know about something, and if they knew, would it have affected their vote? We asked them about – we asked them, did you know that under the Trump administration America had become energy independent? 50.5% of Biden voters had never heard this.
He pointed out that the poll found “5.8% of Biden’s voters in those battleground states said they would not have voted for him had they known this,” which very well could have changed the outcome of the contest.
Varney followed up: “The Democrats blame gas stations for price gouging, they blame oil companies for profiteering. I bet that’s played heavily in the media, has it?” Bozell asked a question of his own: “We looked at that one as well. Do you know how much time has been spent by ABC, NBC and CBS combined since January 21st, 2021, on the cancellation of the Keystone pipeline, which would have given us the energy to stop all this?”
After Varney correctly surmised it was “not much,” Bozell revealed the paltry amount of air time Biden’s disastrous decision received: “29 seconds...That’s it.”
Here is a full transcript of the March 24 segment:
10:42 AM ET
STUART VARNEY: Look who’s here now, Brent Bozell, the man who follows the media and all that the media is up to. Alright, who does the media blame for high gas prices?
BRENT BOZELL: We’ve looked at that. Let me tell you first what media are doing and secondly why this is so important. We’ve looked at every story on the networks covering the surging, out-of-control gas prices that are killing the average Joe out there since the war began in January – on February 24th. Of all the stories they’ve done, in 33 cases they blamed Russia. In 3 instances they blamed the Biden administration. So by a disparity of 11 to 1, they are saying it’s somehow Russia that’s doing it, not the policies of this administration.
Now, what have they done – why is this so important? We took a survey, Stuart, before – right after the 2020 elections. We went into the battleground states, to the seven battleground states, and we asked them a series of questions – of Biden voters – did they know about something, and if they knew, would it have affected their vote? We asked them about – we asked them, did you know that under the Trump administration America had become energy independent? 50.5% of Biden voters had never heard this.
This is because the media do not cover this story correctly. Then we asked them, had you known, would you have voted for Joe Biden? 5.8% of Biden’s voters in those battleground states said they would not have voted for him had they known this. Now, you take that 5.8 and you put it across the battleground states – Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Trump would have won 295 electoral votes, he would have been reelected president. That’s how important this is.
VARNEY: That’s a very good thing, it’s good. One last one. The Democrats blame gas stations for price gouging, they blame oil companies for profiteering. I bet that’s played heavily in the media, has it?
BOZELL: Sure it has. And what hasn’t? What hasn’t played? How about the Keystone pipeline? How about the cancellation of that? We looked at that one as well. Do you know how much time has been spent by ABC, NBC and CBS combined since January 21st, 2021, on the cancellation of the Keystone pipeline, which would have given us the energy to stop all this?
VARNEY: Not much.
BOZELL: 29 seconds.
VARNEY: That’s it?
BOZELL: That’s it.
VARNEY: I wish I had more time left, Brent, because that’s very good stuff, we appreciate you coming on with it.
BOZELL: For you.
VARNEY: Thank you very much, sir, we’ll see you again soon.
BOZELL: Thank you, Stuart.
