On Friday’s “Special Report,” Fox News Media Analyst and host of “MediaBuzz” Howard Kurtz said that President Obama’s unilateral actions have received “sympathetic” media coverage.
He began by stating “the president’s approval rose only four points, within the margin or error, to 48%, but the tone of his coverage has turned positive and here’s why. As Mr. Obama has acted unilaterally on protecting millions of illegal immigrants, on climate change, and in recognizing Cuba, many news organizations have been sympathetic, describing these as bold and historic steps, rather than spotlighting the political fallout over bypassing Congress.”
Kurtz then discussed the coverage of the economy, pointing out that “Democrats acknowledge that recovery still hasn’t reached many Americans,” but added “this much is clear, if the Dow was sinking and unemployment and gas prices rising, Mr. Obama would certainly be getting the blame. Still, there’s always a debate when the economy bounces back, how much credit does a president deserve.” And “those lower gas prices feel nice, Ed but the VA scandal, which you touched on earlier, the Secret Service scandal, the crisis at the border, these are all stories that didn’t help the president. Now, it’s important that we do give credit to a president when things are improving, especially on something like the economy. But we can’t suffer from ADD, and this was a year where the Democrats ran away from their and they got clobbered at the polls.”
He concluded by arguing that reporting the positive news about President Obama while ignoring negative news was “a trend that’s brewing.”
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