(Cross-posted at MyDD)
Anyone who follows politics knows that there are many polls in the world. Sometimes, polls all say the same thing, so one can make a blanket statement like “Bush’s approval ratings fell in 2005”, which, according to every poll I’ve seen, is true. Even when reviewing each poll’s margin of error, one can still conclude the statement that “Bush’s approval ratings fell in 2005” is accurate. What was the cause of his fall in approval ratings? That’s open for debate (and plenty of folks here and everyone else in the world have weighed in with their two cents)
The latest spin from the right-wing is that Bush has “turned a corner”, “hitting back successfully”, or whatever else sounds nice and butch. Last week, we caught CNN’s Bill Schneider claiming that all recent national polls show President Bush’s approval ratings increasing. Not true. A Zogby poll showed Bush’s approval ratings going down. Now, if Schneider said (for example) “some polls show BUsh’s approval rising slightly, while others don’t show a change or show his approval rating dropping further” that would have been accurate. Maybe not music to those who wish Bush’s approval ratings would maintain their complete free-fall towards zero, but accurate. However, when Schneider says “all polls”, and “all polls” aren’t saying it, Schneider is wrong (and CNN cites Zogby polls all the time along with tons of other media outlets, so saying “we didn’t see Zogby” doesn’t pass anyone’s laugh test).
Today, we noted that Fox News AND CNN both highlighted the results of a recent ABC/Washington Post poll showing an improvement in the president’s approval rating (from 39% to 47%, which of course still means a minority of the country don’t approve of President Bush). Here’s the kicker — both CNN and Fox News failed to tell their viewers that THEIR OWN polls show ZERO increase (or a slight within-the-margin-of-error decrease) in Bush’a approval ratings.
The news isn’t made by a machine — it’s made by small groups of people (usually producers) who work with their on-air talent to create presentations to their audiences. Do Fox News producers work in tandem with the Republican National Committee to coordinate their reporting with the latest RNC talking points memo to further a political agenda? Maybe, maybe not. Does CNN? Maybe, maybe not.
So my question — why are both CNN and Fox News ignoring their own polls and focusing on another poll to further the right-wing spin that Bush has “turned a corner”, yadda yadda yadda? I report, you discuss and make snarky comments.
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