Economists Claim: FoxNews Tilted 2000 Election For Bush

They claim they "estimate" that FoxNews gave Bush an additional 10,000 votes in Florida, far exceeding his 530+ victory there.

First reaction: What liberal drivel.

Second reaction: Well, they do have a point. Of course, a fair and balanced network, if it is effective at all, must, to some extent, level the playing field and add voters to the column of the candidate disfavored by the MSM.

Third reaction: They do have a point, but but what liberal drivel. Their study does not even bother to estimate how many more votes Gore won in Florida (or the rest of the nation) due to the rest of the MSM's favoritism of him.

Yes, Fox News helped Bush garner some votes. (As did the WSJ's editorial page and the minority of local newspapers that were favorable towards Bush.) But certainly the liberal outlets gave Gore a hell of a lot more votes, and yet that doesn't seem worthy of examination.

Because, you know-- you can only be partisan from the right. If you seem to be in favor of Gore with your story selection, emphasis, and editorializing, that's not really a partisan media advocating for Gore; that's just common sense.

So the study is really an examination of how FoxNews' irrational partisanship trumped the MSM's plain-old horse sense.

posted by Ace at 02:07 PM

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