Subject: FAIR MEDIA STUDY
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  Written  6:11 pm  Jan 20, 1991 by mideastdesk in cdp:mideast.media


 For Immediate Release -- Jan. 16, 1991   
 Contact: Jeff Cohen  (acct: fair)

  
 FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) Media Survey Results

 SURVEY SHOWS ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT MARGINALIZED BY NETWORKS    

   
 A new FAIR survey shows that nightly network news programs 
 largely ignored public efforts to oppose the Bush 
 administration's military policies in the Persian Gulf. 
 FAIR examined five months of TV coverage of the Gulf crisis, from
 the first commitment of U.S. troops on August 8, 1990, until Jan.
 3, 1991. Of a total 2855 minutes devoted to the Gulf crisis-- 
 nearly two full days of coverage--only 29 minutes, roughly one 
 percent, dealt with popular opposition to the U.S. military 
 build-up in the Gulf.    
  
 FAIR executive director Jeff Cohen commented (Jan. 16): "Now that
 a war is actually starting, the networks are finally noticing the
 anti-war movement, but the coverage is often no more than a blur
 of street action -- from mass marches to the flag-burnings of the
 fringe. Missing from the news are coherent statements from 
 national peace leaders explaining their positions."  
  
 Cohen continued: "The debate going on in the country is much 
 broader than the one in Congress. Polls show the public supports
 a Mideast peace conference or a compromise of the Iraq/Kuwait 
 border dispute as ways of resolving the crisis -- positions not 
 featured on TV networks fixated on official Washington. The full
 spectrum of thought about the war deserves coverage."  
   
 FAIR's five-month survey counted all stories about protests, 
 peace organizations, conscientious objectors, religious 
 dissenters and anti-war veterans, as well as comments by the 
 President and others about the anti-war movement. None of the 
 foreign policy experts associated with the peace movement -- such
 as Edward Said, Noam Chomsky or the scholars at the Institute for
 Policy Studies -- appeared on any nightly network news program 
 during the period scrutinized. While stories on Jesse Jackson's
 trip to Iraq were counted as anti-war coverage, none of these 
 stories included any quotes from Jackson.  
  
 The survey found that ABC devoted 7 minutes (.7 percent of its 
 total Gulf coverage) and CBS devoted 8.3 minutes (.8 percent) to
 public opposition to the Gulf policy. NBC's 13.3 minutes of 
 coverage amounted to 1.5 percent of total Gulf coverage. 
     
 FAIR has previously released in-depth studies of Nightline and 
 MacNeil/Lehrer, documenting a narrow, pro-establishment guest 
 list. FAIR's recent analysis of the experts featured by 
 Nightline and the NewsHour in the first month of the crisis 
 showed that both programs relied on current and former government
 officials and largely excluded any questioning of U.S. military 
 intervention. 
 
 
 End of text from cdp:mideast.media 
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