On Reliable Sources, Medved cited two CNN specials that attacked Dems to baselessly claim CNN has "taken a very clear side and the side has been anti-[Bush] administration"

Summary: Michael Medved claimed that two recent CNN specials, Broken Government and War on the Middle Class, are evidence that CNN "has been anti-[Bush] administration." In fact, both specials included criticism of and attacks on Democrats.

On the October 22 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, conservative radio talk show host Michael Medved baselessly asserted that CNN "has been anti-[Bush] administration" As purported evidence, Medved pointed to two recent CNN specials, an October 19 Broken Government special hosted by Jack Cafferty and an October 18 War on the Middle Class special hosted by Lou Dobbs. However, contrary to Medved's assertion that the two recent CNN's specials reveal that the network is "anti-administration," both specials included criticism of and attacks on Democrats.

On Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz asked Medved whether the strategy by conservative media figures and the Bush administration of "beating up on the media" for allegedly "giving Bush" a "hard time" could be "a winning argument in the campaign." Medved responded that it was "going to be an effective argument," and then cited the two CNN specials to assert that "many of the other outlets [besides Fox News], including yours [CNN], have taken a very clear side and the side has been anti-administration." Medved concluded "that negativity is going to help rally the conservative base come November."

But CNN's Broken Government special included a report by CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley that was devoted entirely to reinforcing negative stereotypes about the Democratic Party that have been promoted by Republicans and repeated in the media, as Media Matters for America noted when the segment aired. Moreover, while discussing his October 18 War on the Middle Class special on CNN's The Situation Room and during the special itself, Dobbs repeatedly emphasized that the purported "war on the middle class" is "nonpartisan" and that he believed Democrats and Republicans are equally to blame for the plight of middle class Americans.

During CNN's Broken Government special, as Media Matters noted, Crowley asserted that Democrats have been "on the losing side of the values debate, the defense debate and, oh yes, the guns debate"; suggested that Democrats are out of touch with mainstream Americans because "[former Democratic presidential candidates] Al Gore and John Kerry lost every Southern state and most of the mid- and interior West"; and aired only negative opinions of the Democratic Party, such as an Asheville, North Carolina, resident who called the Democrats "losers." At no point during the segment did Crowley say, air, or quote anything positive about Democrats.

Additionally, commenting on public opinion that "the government is broken" during the October 22 edition of CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, aired after Medved's remarks on Reliable Sources, CNN host Wolf Blitzer stated that "this notion of a broken government could further escalate" if Democrats regain control of one or both houses of Congress:

BLITZER: If the American public thinks the government is broken, with a Republican administration and a Republican House and a Republican Senate, wait till there's a Democratic, maybe, House of Representatives, maybe even Senate, with a Republican -- then this notion of a broken government could further escalate.

Describing his special on the October 18 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, Dobbs stated: "The war on the middle class is straightforwardly being waged by public policies passed by both Democratic and Republican administrations, by Republican and Democratic Congresses over the past 20 years. ... [W]e're going to demonstrate what is a nonpartisan, independent reality that all Americans have to live with." Indeed, introducing the special on the October 18 edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs stated:

DOBBS: We begin tonight with a complete failure of Congress to represent the interests of the largest group of constituents in the country, middle-class Americans. Republicans and Democrats alike have been putting their own partisan interests ahead of the concerns of working American families, the common good, and the national interest. But incredibly, in just these last few weeks leading into the midterm elections, both the Democrats and Republicans are claiming that they are strong defenders of the very people they've ignored for years.

From the October 22 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources:

KURTZ: Michael Medved, both [Fox News host Bill] O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh talked about what a hard time the -- what O'Reilly calls the left-wing press is giving Bush. Now, leaving aside the years that they and others spent trashing Bill Clinton, is that a winning argument in a campaign, you know, beating up on the media?

MEDVED: Oh, I think it's going to be an effective argument increasingly, 'cause we've had so many October surprises. And I just happened to notice on CNN right before our show here, we had a headline with Jack Cafferty that said Broken Government. Lou Dobbs just did a special on your network, and the special was called the War on the Middle Class.

I mean, it -- look, Fox News is partisan, there's no question about it. I don't think Fox News is fair and balanced, but increasingly, it seems to me that many of the other outlets, including yours, have taken a very clear side, and the side has been anti-administration. And I do think that that negativity is going to help rally the conservative base come November.

—J.M.