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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 22 -- Reagan's Media Coverage.

Reagan: Media Punching Bag-

In a previous trivia tidbit, we noted robust evidence of liberal media bias during presidential campaigns over the years.

The elite media were especially hard on Ronald Reagan, before, during, and even after his presidency:

Reagan’s Rocky Road: Sources on the network evening news were heavily critical of Ronald Reagan throughout his presidency. 85% of assessments of Reagan during Campaign 1980 were negative; 64% of evaluations during his administration’s first year were negative; in Campaign 1984, 91% of his coverage was negative. Even after Election Day 1988—as a “lame duck” president—65% of all evaluations were critical of Reagan.

Worst Among Equals: No incoming administration since Reagan’s has been criticized so heavily as much on the network newscasts. 64% of the evaluations in 1981 were negative, compared to 45% for George H. W. Bush, 62% for Bill Clinton and 61% for George W. Bush.

Taking Issue: During Reagan’s first year, his policies were panned by both the network news and prestige press (New York Times, Washington Post):

* ECONOMY: 65% of network news evaluations of the economy were negative, as were 66% in the Times and Post.
* ARMS CONTROL: Reagan’s policies were criticized 69% of the time on-air and 73% of the time in print.
* SOVIET RELATIONS: 67% of network news evaluations were negative, as were 89% in the two newspapers studied.

Rooting For Rivals: In 1984, 56% of evaluations of Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale were positive, while 91% of Reagan’s coverage was negative. During their summits in 1987 and 1988, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev received far more positive coverage than Reagan. (1987: Reagan 47% positive evaluations, Gorbachev 79% positive; 1988: Reagan 46% positive, Gorbachev 76% positive)

Source: The non-partisan Center for Media and Public Affairs.

Just astounding figures. But ever-so intuitive.

Previous trivia tidbits:

Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10; Part 11; Part 12; Part 13; Part 14; Part 15; Part 16; Part 17; Part 18; Part 19; Part 20; Part 21.

Daily Trivia Tidbits cover a wide range of topics; you never know what you might find. Stay tuned to WILLisms.com for more.

Posted by Will Franklin · 20 April 2005 09:44 AM

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