Media Research Center: CNN Biased on Supreme Court Decisions

In the last week of June, the Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) handed down two important decisions, one striking down part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and one striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), leading to a renewed national dialog on the issues.

According to a review of CNN’s coverage of the June 25 and 26 Supreme Court decisions conducted by the Media Research Center, the cable network’s coverage of the rulings showed a decided leftward tilt.

In the case of the June 25 Voting Act decision, CNN featured four times as many critics of the decision as supporters.

The SCOTUS decision struck down the part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that mandated that southern states must apply to federal courts to get approval for re-districting because in the past those states had suppressed the minority vote. The court maintained that such discrimination was a thing of the past and that voters in these states need no longer fear re-districting used as a weapon of voter suppression.

During its coverage, CNN featured eight analysts who opposed the ruling but only two who supported it.

After the June 26 release of the twin SCOTUS decisions striking down DOMA and the decision to leave California’s gay marriage decision to the state, CNN loaded its programs with liberals that supported the two rulings.

The cable news network featured roughly three times as many liberal supporters of the gay marriage decisions as detractors, with 20 supporters and only seven who opposed or viewed the rulings negatively.

“The common denominator,” the MRC says, is that “in both instances, CNN permitted the liberal viewpoint to overwhelm its coverage.”

“Yet, CNN continues to act as if it’s somehow a middle-of-the-road network between the hard-left MSNBC and more conservative Fox News.”