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CNN Live At Daybreak
Campaign Coverage: Political Fix, Bias
Aired January 13, 2004 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More and more young adults are tuning in to late-night talk shows, like David Letterman, to get their political fix.
CNN's Howard Kurtz reports on a shift to alternative media for campaign news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES" (voice-over): Ever since the days when Spiro Agnew railed against journalists as nattering the bobs of negativism, many Republicans have complained that the liberal media are unfair. President Bush, according to "The New Yorker" magazine, has said reporters don't represent what the public thinks, and now he's got plenty of company.
Twenty-nine percent of Democrats, says a new Pew Research Center poll, believe campaign coverage is tilted toward the Republicans, a 10 point jump from four years ago. And 42 percent of Republicans say the media tilts the other way, 5 point jump from 2000.
The bottom line? For the first time ever, the country is evenly split -- 39 to 38 percent -- on whether campaign coverage is biased.
And they are voting with their remote controls. Forty percent of Democrats, but only 24 percent of Republicans, rely on CBS, NBC and ABC as their main source of campaign news. Nearly twice as many Republicans as Democrats turn to Fox News and to conservative dominated radio.
The Pew survey is bad news for much of the establishment press. As sources of campaign information, newspapers are down 9 percentage points from the 2000 election. Broadcast nightly news, down 10 points. Local TV news, down 6 points. News magazines, down 5 points. Only cable news is up by four points.
And where are the defectors getting their political fix? From this man.
JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": I'm Jon Stewart.
KURTZ: And this man
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my 19th time running for president.
KURTZ: For Americans under 30, 1 in 5 say they regularly learn about the campaign from comedy programs, such as "Saturday Night Live" and Jon Stewart's "Daily Show." But these younger folks aren't learning that much. Only 15 percent could say which Democratic candidate was an Army general or which one was House majority leader.
Another big winner? The Internet, with nearly 1 in 5 of those surveyed saying they regularly or sometimes get their political news online. Those figures are even higher for Howard Dean supporters.
(on camera): Reporters like to say that if everyone is mad at us, we must be doing a good job. But there is no good way to spin the vote of no confidence in this survey. Some bias is in the eye of the beholder. Many Republicans didn't like our coverage of President Bush and lots of Democrats can't stand our coverage of President Bush. But numbers don't lie, and the press now faces a serious credibility gap.
This is Howard Kurtz of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired January 13, 2004 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More and more young adults are tuning in to late-night talk shows, like David Letterman, to get their political fix.
CNN's Howard Kurtz reports on a shift to alternative media for campaign news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES" (voice-over): Ever since the days when Spiro Agnew railed against journalists as nattering the bobs of negativism, many Republicans have complained that the liberal media are unfair. President Bush, according to "The New Yorker" magazine, has said reporters don't represent what the public thinks, and now he's got plenty of company.
Twenty-nine percent of Democrats, says a new Pew Research Center poll, believe campaign coverage is tilted toward the Republicans, a 10 point jump from four years ago. And 42 percent of Republicans say the media tilts the other way, 5 point jump from 2000.
The bottom line? For the first time ever, the country is evenly split -- 39 to 38 percent -- on whether campaign coverage is biased.
And they are voting with their remote controls. Forty percent of Democrats, but only 24 percent of Republicans, rely on CBS, NBC and ABC as their main source of campaign news. Nearly twice as many Republicans as Democrats turn to Fox News and to conservative dominated radio.
The Pew survey is bad news for much of the establishment press. As sources of campaign information, newspapers are down 9 percentage points from the 2000 election. Broadcast nightly news, down 10 points. Local TV news, down 6 points. News magazines, down 5 points. Only cable news is up by four points.
And where are the defectors getting their political fix? From this man.
JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": I'm Jon Stewart.
KURTZ: And this man
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my 19th time running for president.
KURTZ: For Americans under 30, 1 in 5 say they regularly learn about the campaign from comedy programs, such as "Saturday Night Live" and Jon Stewart's "Daily Show." But these younger folks aren't learning that much. Only 15 percent could say which Democratic candidate was an Army general or which one was House majority leader.
Another big winner? The Internet, with nearly 1 in 5 of those surveyed saying they regularly or sometimes get their political news online. Those figures are even higher for Howard Dean supporters.
(on camera): Reporters like to say that if everyone is mad at us, we must be doing a good job. But there is no good way to spin the vote of no confidence in this survey. Some bias is in the eye of the beholder. Many Republicans didn't like our coverage of President Bush and lots of Democrats can't stand our coverage of President Bush. But numbers don't lie, and the press now faces a serious credibility gap.
This is Howard Kurtz of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
