Thread: Network Bias

Networks that Excused Nazi Signs for Scott Walker's Collective Bargaining Law Now Skim Over Its Vindication

By: Scott Whitlock
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 12:44 PM EDT


The network morning shows on Wednesday offered a scant 41 seconds to a major Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling permitting the state's collective bargaining law to go into effect. These are the same shows that, just four months ago, praised the "people power" of the liberal protesters and ignored signs comparing conservatives to Nazis.

On February 20, This Week host Christiane Amanpour compared events in the Middle East to protests in the U.S.: "This week: people power making history...Populist frustration is boiling over this week, as we’ve said not just in the Middle East but in the middle of this country as well." On Wednesday, ABC's Good Morning America skipped the latest ruling entirely.



Also on February 20, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams sounded a similar theme, linking riots in Egypt against a dictatorial government to "the uprising at home." He gushed, "From the Mideast to the American Midwest tonight, people are rising up. Citizens uprisings are changing the world."

In addition to fawning over union protesters, the networks in February avoided discussing the hateful signs that some of the marchers carried. From February 17 to the 21, there were 53 stories on the topic. None of them elicited a single comment from the network correspondents. A February 22 MRC Media Reality Check explained:



Over the past several days, the liberal demonstrations in Wisconsin (bolstered by the national Democratic Party and President Obama’s Organizing for America group) have included signs just as inflammatory as the ones that bothered the networks during the health care debate, including several showing Governor Scott Walker as Adolph Hitler. Others have likened Walker to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (“Scott Stalinâ€

[quote]Over the past several days, the liberal demonstrations in Wisconsin (bolstered by the national Democratic Party and President Obama’s Organizing for America group) have included signs just as inflammatory as the ones that bothered the networks during the health care debate, including several showing Governor Scott Walker as Adolph Hitler. Others have likened Walker to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (“Scott Stalinâ€