A Typical Fox Tactic
Reported by Ellen - June 30, 2004 -
Major Garrett spun the poll news in typical Fox style seen over and over again on FNC: Start a story with positive-for-Bush news, bury the negative-for-Bush news in the middle and end with positive-for-Bush news. Today's piece, Battleground Poll (video streamed on Foxnews.com), was no exception. A majority of the voters say the country is on the wrong track and that they want someone new as president, a minority say Bush should be re-elected. You might think those would be the headlines but you would be wrong. In fact, you could miss those important facts altogether if you don't listen carefully to the whole piece.
Garrett is to be praised, I suppose, for including the Bush negatives at all. They are not otherwise found on the Fox news website (as reported by me on 6/29/04, Is Fox Cherry-picking Poll Reports?), even in the "polls" section. But in Garrett's report, the viewer has to wade through more than half the story before finding out there is any bad news for Bush at all.
Garrett started the piece by saying that, "Iraq is in transition, the US economy is gaining jobs and polls show President Bush is gaining on Democratic candidate John Kerry." This is followed by a statement that voters are "reassessing" Bush's record on the economy and that Kerry's lead on the economy has slipped from 17 points to 7 points. That's followed by a quote that the president's economic plan is working.
Not until more than halfway through the report does Garrett get to the "potent political advantages" for Kerry in the poll, only some of which are mentioned above.
Then, in the Fox style to which News Hounds have become accustomed, Garrett ends the report on a Bush positive, saying, "If character issues decide the election, Bush is ahead by 23 points on who says what he means and 16 points on who is the strongest leader."
Comment: If we start with good news for Bush, end with good news for Bush and bury the seriously bad-for-Bush numbers in the middle, what is the lasting impression for the viewer?
