The News and Your Views: Spin, Hype and Bias in Reporting

Talking Points

All the News That Fits: Public Perception

Media Watch Survey 1997 “What Do People Want from the Press?”

· One third of the public consider their local newscast as their most important source of news, twice the number of people that get their news from network newscasts.

· Just over 40% claim a liberal bias in media, while nearly 20% claim conservative media bias and over 30% see media coverage as “middle of the road.”

· Men are more likely to rate the media as liberal than women.

· African Americans are more likely to see the media as conservative than Whites.

Excellence in Journalism and Committee of Concerned Journalists Survey 2004 “State of the News Media”

· In June 1985, over 80% of people rated their chosen broadcast or printed source of news as believable, in May 2002, that number dropped to just over 65%.

· Currently, over 80% of online users think news sites they regularly visit are “entirely” or “mostly” reliable.

On the Airwaves: Broadcast Media Sources and Content

· Five corporations (Disney, Viacom, GE/Vivendi, Newscorp/Liberty and AOL-Time Warner) own the seven major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, UPN, NBC, FOX, WB and Telemundo) in addition to two major cable news services (CNN and MSNBC).

· The top 5 producers of prime time programming accounted for 42% of the total in 1989. In 2002, the top 5 producers of prime time programming accounted for over 80% of the total.

· Historically, nightly network newscasts are descried as having 22 minutes of news in a 30-minute program. A recent survey observed a closer average of just over 18 minutes of news in a 30-minute program. The balance is made up by teases, promotional announcements and advertising.

· Since a peak in 1985, the number of on air correspondents featured dropped 35% while the average number of stories covered by each reporters rose from 31 to 40 stories per year.

· Although other radio formats may have news content included in their programming, stations that identify as news/talk formats are the primary news source for 15% of radio listeners.

· Radio Newsroom staffing has dropped 57% from 1994 to 2001.

Diversifying the News: Ethnic Media Preferences and Growth

· Consolidation of Spanish language television and radio stations over the past decade has left two major players in the market: Univision (also owns the 63 radio station Hispanic Broadcast Company) and Telemundo

New California Media Survey, 2002

· Ethnic media (television, radio stations and newspaper) reaches 84% of Californians who self identify as Hispanic, African American or Asian American.

Excellence in Journalism and Committee of Concerned Journalists Survey 2004 “State of the News Media”

· Nationwide, circulation of Spanish language daily newspapers has tripled since 1990.

· In New York, circulation of African American newspapers doubled from 1990 to 2000 at 494,000.

Other News Sources

· The most popular online sources for news also have television outlets – CNN and MSNBC attracted over 20 million a month. Yahoo attracted 17 million and AOL ranks fourth, with 16 million.

· The number of black newspapers with online presence more than doubled from 2001 to 2003.

· Circulation of alternative weeklies (weekly newspapers, often free of charge and local with an emphasis on entertainment and advertising with in depth coverage of fewer stories) more than doubled from 3 million in 1990 to 7.5 million in 2002.

· The alternative press is no longer a haven for the young – the average reader is between 30 and 40 years old, has a high income and high education level.

Dying For Democracy

March 15, 2004
Dying for Democracy

Talking Points

US Foreign Policy
· The US is experiencing “profound” militarization of the intelligence community – of the $40 billion budget for intelligence, 90% is allocated and monitored by the Pentagon and 90% of intelligence personnel report to the Pentagon.
· According to Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, the US is “fighting three wars: Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terror. It has to deal with everything from Colombia to Haiti, the Palestinians to North Korea, the WTO. If someone is arguing the administration has a lot on its plate and it is stretched, they’ve got a point.”
· In October, the Department of Defense eliminated its only institute devoted to peacekeeping and peace enforcement: the Peacekeeping Institute at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania. The Peacekeeping Institute was created in July 1993 to guide the Army's strategic thinking on how to conduct peacekeeping and to document lessons-learned. It has operated with a staff of ten and a yearly budget of about $200,000 (out of an $81 billion annual Army budget). Canada has the sole remaining center in North America
· Former U.S. Chief Inspector David Kay is calling on the Administration to, “come clean with the American people,” admitting that intelligence was wrong about the existence of WMD in Iraq.

Iraq and Afghanistan
· About 15,000 American forces occupy Iraq and Afghanistan, causing growing tension in both regions.
Currently, the cost of occupying and rebuilding Iraq runs about $4bn a month and rising. More importantly for US military planners, is the cost – on average – of one US soldier’s life a day.
Pentagon figures for those officially wounded in combat, number around 3,000. According to the Disabled American Veterans, an additional 6,891 troops were medically evacuated between March 19, 2003 and Oct. 30, 2003, for everything from vehicle accidents to attempted suicides. And, 550 troops have returned from Iraq in caskets.
· According to new evidence, there was no alliance between Hussein and bin Laden and no meeting between an Iraqi intelligence officer and one of the leaders of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
· The British lead peacekeeping force in Afghanistan numbered 5,000 – NATO deployed 60,000 peacekeeping troops (20,000 Americans) in Bosnia, a nation one-tenth the size of Afghanistan. (“Training Peacekeepers: Only non-Americans need apply,” Kelley and Davis, 4/27/03)
By February 2004, neither war (Afghanistan and Iraq) had produced a stable peace in the subject countries, but they had imposed more than 18,000 fatalities including perhaps 6,000 non-combatant deaths.
More than 300 coalition troops were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq during the period between the end of major combat in those countries and February 1, 2004. Regarding Iraq, the US Central Command has cited a frequency of anti-coalition activity since May 1, 1003 that indicates a total of more than 4,700 attacks -- an average of approximately 17 per day
Haiti
· Haiti gained independence in 1804 – the first black independent nation in the world and the second sovereign nation in the western hemisphere after the US.
· In the 1994 Haiti invasion, the US ordered 90% of air strikes and left allies out of the operational aspects of war.
· Six weeks post 1994 invasion, Congress dismantled aid to Haiti – already only one-fifth of support given to Bosnia and one-tenth of funds aimed at Kosovo.
· After Congress dismantled new aid to Haiti in 1994, the impoverished country received the same amount of aid it did under dictatorship – and that was funneled to Aristide’s opposition by U.S. organizations like the National Endowment for Democracy.
· The first to call for Aristide’s resignation, some believe France grew irritated with the Haitian president after he demanded that France pay back the money Haiti had to pay in 1863 for recognition of the republic – about $22 billion (adjusting for inflation and interest)
· The Haitian police force – less than 5,000 for a population of 8 million – was outnumbered and outgunned in the face of the 2004 coup. Of the 70 people killed in three weeks in Feburary, 40 were police officers.
· In an interview with CNN after leaving Haiti, President Aristide says, “From Saturday night, the 28th…I was told that…I better leave…. And when I asked how many people may get killed, and they said thousands may get killed. So using that kind of force to lead a coup d’ etat, it was clear…That’s why I call it again and again a coup d’etat, a modern way to have a modern kidnapping.”

The Pentagon’s Climate Change

Talking Points

The Pentagon Report

· The Pentagon acknowledges the effects of climate change being uncertain and “quite possibly small” but says, “Given the dire consequences, it should be elevated beyond scientific debate. Action now matters.”

· Other affects of dramatic climate change: harsh winter weather conditions – especially in Europe and North America, a reduction in soil moisture and intense winds in important food producing regions.

· Resources will be a major cause of war between the “haves” and the “have nots,” with potential for escalating violence leading to nuclear war.

Effects of Climate Change?

· 19 of the 20 warmest years on record have occurred since 1980.

· 20% of the North Pole ice has melted away since 1979 – endangering the lifestyles of native polar tribes and threatening many artic species. Polar bears that rely on dense ice shelves to hunt seals and traverse the artic seas find their hunting grounds reduced by melting ice and some penguin populations have dropped by half due to disappearing ice and snow.

· In the western states, the snow line rises 500 feet higher for every 1.8 degree increase in temperature – by 2050 the water content in critical snow pack will be less than half of today’s total

· The heat wave that hit central and southern Europe last year killed 20,000 people – anticipated temperature increase due to global warming will cause more heat waves and floods.

· The Irish Potato famine killed one million people and was caused, in part, by climate change.

Current Administration Programs

· According to the Congressional General Accounting Office, President Bush’s 2002 goal to reduce emissions by 18% over the next ten years, would reduce overall emissions by only 2% of what would be achieved with no federal program at all.

· A quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the U.S.

· Currently $1.7 billion dollars a year is spent on climate research – while the administration continues to ignore existing research examining climate change, including a 2001 report done at the request of Congress which was highly lauded by scientists for its independent peer review.

Urban Areas and Pollution

· More than 15% of U.S. children are at risk for brain damage and learning disabilities due to mercury exposure in the womb – coal burning power plants are the biggest man made source or mercury.

· Found most commonly in paint, lead is most dangerous to young children whose growing bodies absorb more lead than adults – causing brain damage, learning disabilities, joint pain and concentration problems.

· Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease – affecting an estimated 5 million children, with the highest death rates among African Americans aged 15-24.