After the polls closed in Iraq on January 30, coverage of the Iraqi elections on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News all featured military, intelligence, and foreign affairs analysts as well as correspondents in Iraq and Washington and at polling sites in the United States. But FOX News allotted disproportionate time for Republican politicians and conservative pundits to declare that the elections were a “vindication” for President Bush's Iraq policy. While CNN featured six current Republican officials and conservative pundits and five Democrats and progressives and MSNBC featured seven Republicans and conservatives and six Democrats and progressives, FOX News featured 17 Republicans and conservatives and seven Democrats and progressives.
Media Matters for America monitored coverage of the Iraqi elections on FOX News, CNN, and MSNBC from when the polls closed in Iraq at 9 a.m. ET to 4 p.m. ET on January 30. The survey found that in addition to each channel's fleet of regular correspondents and analysts, FOX News' coverage included appearances by five current Republican officials and 12 conservative political pundits, but just one current Democrat official and six progressive pundits. By contrast, CNN featured three current Republican officials and two current Democratic officials; and three conservative pundits and three progressive pundits. MSNBC featured one current Republican official and one Democratic elected official; and six conservative pundits and five progressives.
Republican elected officials Conservative and Republican pundits Democratic elected officials Progressive and Democratic pundits FOX NewsSen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)Alexander M. Haig Jr., secretary of state under ReaganSen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) (opposite Coleman)Marc Ginsberg, former ambassador to Morocco under Clinton
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)Richard N. Perle, former assistant defense secretary under Reagan; Defense Policy Board member and former chairman under President Bush
Richard N. Gardner, former ambassador to Spain under Clinton
Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)William Kristol, Weekly Standard editor and FOX News political contributor
Bob Beckel, Democratic strategist (opposite Manafort)
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) (opposite Nelson)Robert C. McFarlane, national security adviser under Reagan
Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker staff writer and author of The Fall Of Baghdad (Penguin Press, 2004)
Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ)Walter Russell Mead, Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow
James P. Rubin, assistant secretary of state under Clinton, former adviser to Senator John Kerry
Dan Senor, former Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman
P.J. Crowley, Center for American Progress senior fellow
Brett H. McGurk, former Coalition Provisional Authority general counsel
Newt Gingrich, author and former House speaker
James Carafano, Heritage Foundation research fellow
Bill Sammon, Washington Times columnist and White House correspondent (opposite Crowley)
Karl Zinsmeister, American Enterprise Institute fellow
Paul Manafort, Republican strategist (opposite Beckel)
CNNSen. John E. Sununu (R-NH)Stephen Hayes, Weekly Standard staff writerSen. Mark Dayton (D-MN)Peter Hart, Democratic pollster
Secretary of State Condoleezza RiceMichael Rubin, former staff assistant to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; former political adviser to Coalition Provisional AuthoritySen. Carl Levin (D-MI) (opposite Warner)Ryan Lizza, New Republic White House correspondent
Sen. John Warner (R-VA) (opposite Levin)Brett H. McGurk, former Coalition Provisional Authority general counsel
Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker staff writer and author of The Fall Of Baghdad MSNBCSen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) (opposite Nelson)Dana Robert Dillon, Heritage Foundation senior policy analystSen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) (opposite Shelby)P.J. Crowley, Center for American Progress senior fellow
Michael Rubin, former staff assistant to Rumsfeld; former political adviser to Coalition Provisional Authority
Joe Trippi, former presidential campaign manager for Howard Dean
Nimrod Raphaeli, Middle East Media Research Institute senior analyst, FrontPageMag.com contributor
Juliette Kayyem, acting executive for research at Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government
Walid Phares, Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow (opposite Kayyem, but later with fellow conservative Raphaeli)
Thomas A. Melia, director of research at Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University
Jeff Jarvis, conservative blogger
Osama Siblani, publisher of Arab-American News
Guity Nashat, Hoover Institute research fellow