From latzko@ns1.rutgers.edu Wed Dec 22 16:50:50 1993 Received: from demon.corp.portal.com (demon.corp.portal.com [156.151.1.10]) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.4/8.6.4) with ESMTP id QAA18499 for ; Wed, 22 Dec 1993 16:50:49 -0800 Received: from nova.unix.portal.com (nova.unix.portal.com [156.151.1.101]) by demon.corp.portal.com (8.6.4/8.6.4) with SMTP id QAA20035 for ; Wed, 22 Dec 1993 16:50:23 -0800 Received: by nova.unix.portal.com (5.65b/4.1 1.592) id AA06936; Wed, 22 Dec 93 16:50:46 -0800 Received: by ns1.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA09053; Wed, 22 Dec 93 19:46:39 EST Received: from inet-gw-2.pa.dec.com by ns1.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA09043; Wed, 22 Dec 93 19:46:35 EST Received: by inet-gw-2.pa.dec.com; id AA19443; Wed, 22 Dec 93 15:23:37 -0800 Received: by us1rmc.bb.dec.com; id AA09950; Wed, 22 Dec 93 18:21:18 -0500 From: williams@mighty.enet.dec.com Message-Id: <9312222321.AA09950@us1rmc.bb.dec.com> Received: from mighty.enet; by us1rmc.enet; Wed, 22 Dec 93 18:23:10 EST Date: Wed, 22 Dec 93 18:23:10 EST To: firearms-politics@ns1.rutgers.edu Cc: craig@mighty.enet.dec.com, williams@mighty.enet.dec.com Apparently-To: craig@osf.org, firearms-politics@ns1.rutgers.edu Subject: Study: Networks push Brady Bill and Gun Control Status: RO Study: Networks Push Brady Bill, Gun Control Reprinted with permission from MEDIAWATCH, Volume 7, number 12, December, 1993. MEDIAWATCH (ISSN 1053-8321) is published 12 times a year ($36.00) by the Media Research Center 113 South West St. Alexandria, Virginia 22314 (703) 683-9733 Copyright ) 1993 by the Media Research Center. Reproduction without written permission prohibited. However, excerpts may be quoted provided full credit is given to MediaWatch. Subscriptions: Call 1-800-243-BIAS Note: they are very "liberal" with reprint permissions. Please call them if you redistribute this, publish it, or otherwise use it (except as noted above). Ask for Tim Graham. I have asked them for the raw data, and they are getting back to me on it. ----------------------------------- Shoot First, Ask Questions Later TV Gun Control Coverage Tilts Its Tone, Talking Heads and Labels to Liberal Side The networks hailed passage of the Brady Bill by Congress on November 24 as a triumph in the national battle against crime. Three days later, NBC Nightly News honored the Gun Control measure, mandating a five-day waiting period and background check for handgun purchasers, as the "Moment of the Week." To examine if NBC's tone accurately reflected how the networks covered the gun control debate, MediaWatch analysts reviewed every gun control policy story on ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and CNN's World News for a two-year period from December 1, 1991 to November 30, 1993. (Stories exclusively on assault weapons were excluded.) In the 107 stories analyzed, a clear pattern emerged, emphasizing the agendas, spokesmen, labels and academic research of gun control supporters. Overall, 62 percent of the stories devoted substantially more time to pro- than anti-gun control arguements; talking heads who endorsed gun control outnumbered opponents by nearly 2 to 1; and in stories concerning the Brady Bill, the bias against gun control opponents was even greater, a ratio of 3 to 1. Story Angle. Analysts timed the length of pro- and anti-gun control statements in each story. Pieces with a disparity of greater than 1.5 to 1 were categorized as either for or against gun control. Stories closer than the ration were considered neutral. Among statements recorded as pro-gun control: claims that gun control would reduce crime; that violent crime occurs because of guns, not criminals; and claims that gun control opponents are partisan or obstructionist. Categorized as arguements against gun control: gun control would not reduce crime; that criminals, not guns are the problem; and tha Americans have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms. In the 78 non-Brady Bill gun control policy stories, 46 (or 59 percent) contained an agressively pro-gun control agenda, 29 (37 percent) remained neutral, while only 3 stories (4 percent) in two years were devoted to gun rights. Talking Heads. The networks provided far more opportunities for gun control supporters than opponents to present their case. Of 272 talking heads in the non-Brady Bill pieces, 146 were pro-gun control (54 percent), 26 were neutral (10 percent) and 100 sources argued against gun control (36 percent). Brady Bill. Of the 29 storied covering the Brady Bill, 20 were dominated by the pro-gun control agenda (69 percent) while the remaining 9 were neutral. Non leaned to the anti-gun control point of view. Soundbites were just as uneven, for those favoring gun control during the Brady debate outnumbered anti-gun control soundbites by 75 to 24, a vast 3-to-1 disparity. Brady Bill supporters amounted to 69 percent of all the sources quoted, compared to 22 percent opposed and 8 percent who were neutral. Among the networks, NBC gave only six opportunities for gun rights supporters to state their case, while those who supported the Brady Bill were given 34, a 5-to-1 advantage. Similarly, CNN aired 16 talking heads advocating gun control, while only 4 disagreed. CBS granted the Bradys and their supporters twice as much coverage, 13 soundbites to 6, as they did to the National Rifle Association and their supporters. On story angles, ABC remained closest to neutral during the Brady Bill debate. All five ABC stories gave both sides about equal time, although talking heads favoring gun control held a margin of 12 to 8. CNN ran 6 neutral stories, and just one heavily pro-gun control story. Both CBS and NBC skewed their coverage and sources in favor of gun control. Five of six CBS stories favored the Brady Bill. But NBC was the most egregious offender: Pro-gun control themes dominated in 10 or 11 stories (91 percent). None of the Brady Bill stories mentioned that the homicide rate in California, with a strict 15 day waiting period for all guns since 1975, surpassed the national average by 37 percent, according to the FBI. In two stories, NBC White House correspondent Andrea Mitchell posited that if the bill had been in effect, "John Hinckley might have flunked that test." But attorney and author David B. Kopel wrote in the Winter 1993 Policy Review: "Hinckley...had no felony record, and no record of mental illness. The simple police and mental health records check proposed by the Brady Bill would not have turned anything up on him." Labels. As with abortion, where "anti-abortion" versus "abortion rights advocates" define the debate in the media, the networks' labels on gun policy lean to the liberal side. Of 16 labels for gun control supporters, "gun control advocates" appeared 14 times while reporters used "gun advocate" and "gun rights advocate" once each. Apparently only the NRA engages in lobbying for its position, to judge from network reporters who mentioned the "gun lobby" 17 times, but only cited the "gun control lobby" twice. (The networks are not known to have used the term "the abortion lobby.") On April 3, 1992, CBS reporter James Hattori called doctors seeking to ban guns as having a "clinical, apolitical view." Two other lables which often appeared together were "fear" and "NRA." NBC anchor Tom Brokaw hit a double when he alluded to the "feared NRA gun lobby" on the June 5, 1992 Nightly News. ABC's Bill Greenwood declared on the May 8, 1992 World News Tonight: "There is evidence that fear does sell. Since the National Rifle Association began its recent campaign promoting self-defense against criminals, a thousand new members have been signing up every day." Candy Crowley of CNN exemplified network attitudes when she declared on the November 20 World News: "Nobody really knows how much impact a waiting period will have on crime, but the Brady Bill has become so symbolic that its actual impact is no longer the point. It is at once a reminder of how dangerous a place the world is, but how, with enough work and enough dedication, the human spirit can triumph." In other words, don't let the facts interfere with the emotion for gun control. Chart: More for Gun Control Overall |**************************** For 221 | |**************** Against 124 | Brady Bill |********** For 75 | |**** Against 24 | ------------------------------------- 0 50 100 150 200 250 Number of Talking Heads on National Evening Shows