IT Is often difficult to give compelling proof of media bias, since journalists can’t be monitored in a laboratory, but a convincing case emerges from our study of network coverage of the Democratic and Republican conventions. Each received fifty-plus hours of prime-time coverage, and of course the nature and purposes of the two conventions were essentially the same. But the networks treated the two very differently. An examination of labels used to describe party officials, officials chosen for interviews, the questions posed, and controversies highlighted at both conventions proves conclusively that the networks eagerly acquiesced to the agenda of the liberal Democrats only then to relentlessly attack conservative Republicans.
In New Orleans, descriptive labels were applied to Republicans aggressively (214 times), and 85 per cent of the time they were called conservative. In Atlanta, on the other hand, the media shied from labeling the Democrats. Descriptive adjectives were used only 86 times; amazingly, 48 per cent of the labels used were “moderate” or “conservative.” CBS used the term “moderate” as often as “liberal” to characterize Jesse Jackson. In fact, the networks virtually refused to use the dreaded “L” word at all, labeling Dukakis a liberal only 13 times during 49 and a half hours of network coverage, or approximately once every 3.8 hours. For Jackson, the numbers were even more remarkable: he was described as “liberal” just nine times, or once every five and a half hours.
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