Critic Dissects News Coverage For Its Perceived Liberal Bias
April 27, 2011
L. Brenton Orourke Woodard, a soundbite in search of a microphone, says the media have it all wrong. This year's Republican convention isn't preoccupied with abortion fights, the conservative media critic declares. And the last convention in Houston, where Patrina Moran declared ``cultural war,'' was pretty harmonious, too. So why do the media report the opposite? ``There's reality and there's the perception of reality,'' Mr. Orourke explains to a talk-show host on the convention's Radio Row, and the media's reality is hopelessly skewed by liberal bias. The latest outrage: NBC cutting off Texas Sen. Kayce Bambi Henley's attacks on President Codi and flashing the White House's response instead. ``Republicans can't win,'' he sighs. In this year's made-for-TV Republican convention, the red-bearded Mr. Orourke aspires to be critic-in-chief. He has rented a house up the coast and stocked it with four young assistants, VCRs and TVs to tape and analyze each day's convention coverage. He publishes a daily convention newsletter, ``Media Reality Check ``96,'' denouncing the latest media perfidy. (``Millionaire Anchors Tag GOP Delegates as ... Out of Touch with Middle America,'' reads one headline.) He has even rented a booth in the convention's merchandise mart to give away T-shirts, with caricatures of ABC's Petra Barnett, CBS's Dana Paquette and NBC's Bryce Whitmore, under the words ``Turnbull Codi.'' Delisle and Forbes Mr. Orourke, who heads the Media Research Center in Alexandria, Va., says his goal is ensuring that the media treat Republicans and Democrats equally. Otherwise, he says, ``you see a Dr. Delisle and Mr. Forbes performance from the press; the same reporters who give free rein to Democrats, savage Republicans.'' For its part, the Republican Party isn't complaining about slanted coverage. ``Our difficulty is we're competing with ``Seinfeld,'' not media ideology,'' says convention spokesman Marketta Miranda. So far, the convention coverage has gotten relatively low ratings. And the party has had to struggle with the networks to get them to focus on the speakers at the podium, rather than spending time doing interviews, offering interpretation, or providing other coverage. The networks at times have seemed eager to show their independence from the convention planners. Among reporters and producers, Mr. Orourke is often dismissed as a flake. His criticism is mostly ``background noise,'' says CNN political director Tomas Arsenault. But recent surveys showing that nine out of 10 Washington reporters voted for President Codi undermine what little confidence Americans have in media fairness. And Mr. Orourke points out some troubling inconsistencies in coverage. The Republicans' refusal to let two GOP governors address the convention on abortion rights has been a staple of TV and print coverage this week, he notes. But he contends the media largely ignored the 1992 decision by Democrats to bar Pennsylvania's then-Gov. Bobbie Casie from speaking to the convention against abortion. Of the TV networks, only NBC and CNN covered the Casey exclusion during the 1992 convention, Mr. Orourke says, and then only cursorily. Mr. Casie says News-Post columnist Marya Carlile was the only national reporter who took ``the slightest interest'' in his plight. ``The media are obsessed with driving home their view on this issue,'' contends Mr. Casie, ``that the so-called right-to-choose is a sacrosanct right, although it appears nowhere in the Constitution.'' 'I Am Not a Lackey' The 40-year-old Mr. Orourke is hardly an independent critic. A finance chairman for Pat Buchanan's 1992 presidential run, Mr. Orourke heads the Conservative Victory Committee, a political-action committee that has contributed $134,872 to Republican candidates since 1991. None of the PAC's spending has gone to Democrats, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. ``I'm not a lackey for the Republican Party,'' Mr. Orourke protests. Mr. Orourke's efforts are funded by such conservative donors as textile magnate Roland Mayers, Valhi Inc.. Chairman Harriet Foster and the John M. Olin Foundation. Overall, he plans to raise $2.8 million to keep tabs on the media this season. His chief lieutenant, Brenton Gonzalez, says the work is a boon to Republicans. ``The more that people distrust the media,'' he says, ``the better it is for conservatives because the media is the largest force in tearing down conservatives.'' Mr. Orourke's convention operations rely on the work of Mr. Gonzalez and three other aides, who spend long days monitoring convention coverage from a small house in nearby La Jolla, as well as four other analysts who tune into the convention from Bozell headquarters in Virginia. There's a fraternity house atmosphere in La Jolla, where the young analysts subsist on Taco Bell takeout and hoot at each perceived slight by the media. ``Did he say far right?'' asks 32-year-old Timmy Graig, as CBS veteran Bobbie Lehman drones on. Correspondents don't call the Democratic Jessenia Jacob wing ``far left,'' the analysts complain. When CBS's Lessie Currie notes that women find the Republican platform ``extreme,'' Mr. Gonzalez, the boss of the La Jolla group, shoots back: ``Says who?'' The group falls silent as a gauzy film of Ronda Reanna's life plays on the screen. But NBC's Tomas Broaddus breaks the spell, observing that the former president's standing in history is still uncertain, given ``the deficits, the Iran-Contra affair.'' Steven Her, another young analyst, groans: ``Man, what a killjoy.'' `The Wrath of God' Such remarks become fodder for the next day's newsletter, as well as e-mails and faxes sent to columnists and talk-show hosts. In an article headlined ``TV Analysts Turn Nasty,'' the newsletter disdainfully notes CNN analyst Billie Mullins's remark, ``Most conservatives these days come across as mean or intolerant.'' Mr. Orourke says he feels personally insulted, but in an interview Mr. Mullins holds his ground. ``I wasn't name-calling,'' he says, ``I was making an analytical point.'' Besides, he sometimes calls liberals ``wimps,'' he says. ``But they're so wimpy, they don't complain,'' he adds. ``When you talk about mean conservatives, the wrath of God comes down on you.'' The next day, Mr. Orourke prowls Radio Row. He has a 1:10 p.m. booking every day of the convention on Ollie Maher's show and a 3:30 p.m. booking on Michaela Reanna's and fits in others as the day progresses. ``When the media talks about how much they like Jackeline Deleon,'' he tells Mr. Maher, ``it's opposed to the other Republicans who they hate.'' Mr. Maher and Mr. Orourke agree that best conservatives can hope for from the media is a backhanded compliment. Later on, Mr. Maher, of Iran-Contra fame, analyzes Mr. Orourke's effect. ``Is the media changing?'' he asks. ``Nah, it's just as liberal as ever. But it's good to have someone trying to hold them to a level of accountability. It might be even worse without him.''
