According to a new report from the Media Research Center, 66 percent of mainstream media news stories about sequestration mirrored the Obama administration’s chief talking point that cutting 2.4% from future spending would destroy humanity. “Deadline day,” said Josh Elliot of ABC News on March 1. “Hours, now, until massive government cuts go into effect that could impact every American. Jobs vaporizing. Flights delayed. Even criminals walking free.”
MRC’s analysis looked at 88 sequestration stories from ABC, CBS, and NBC. 58 of them contained the “sky is falling” alarmism pushed by the Obama White House. Another 10 of them contained such rhetoric, palliated by the perspective from the other side that perhaps this wouldn’t be all that bad. CBS led the way, followed by NBC and ABC. But all three networks parroted the administration line.
Brent Bozell, President of MRC, observed, “There is a reason that public confidence in the news media is down to 6% …. Like squawking parrots, ABC, CBS, and NBC mindlessly repeated the administration’s phony, over-hyped doomsday talking points during the two weeks leading up to sequestration.”
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