Linda Vester, host of FOX News Channel's DaySide with Linda Vester, claimed that her audiences represent a “mix” of Democrats and Republicans “from day to day.” But a Media Matters for America review of recent DaySide episodes showed that Vester's audiences consistently favor Republican views and oppose the views of Democrats and progressives. MMFA's review found no examples of Vester's audiences demonstrating favor toward progressive or Democratic points of view.
On October 25, Vester played a video clip of a MoveOn.org ad directed by her guest, documentary filmmaker Errol Morris. After the audience booed the ad, Morris said, “Well, I'm glad you don't have a biased audience there.” Vester defended her audience: "[Y]ou just happen to hit it on a day when they're, you know, a little more one way than the other." Then she suggested: “Maybe some of the Democrats in the audience aren't as loud.”
From the October 25 FOX News Channel's DaySide with Linda Vester:
[start video clip of MoveOn.org ad featuring consultant and former U.S. Marine sergeant Kim Mecklenburg]
“I don't know a single soldier that has served in combat that would recklessly create another war, especially a war that may not be necessary. If we're being attacked here, bet your bottom dollar I'd pull out my boots again, I'd be right there. No war should ever be taken lightly. I'm a Republican, I'm a former U.S. Marine, and I'm voting for John Kerry.”
[end video clip]
VESTER: So that is one of a series of ads --
AUDIENCE: Boo!
VESTER: -- that you have made. Hang on, hang on. We want to be fair and balanced here. We want to talk to Errol about this.
MORRIS: Well, I'm glad you don't have a biased audience there.
AUDIENCE: [laughter]
VESTER: You know, to be perfectly honest, they, it's a different mix from day to day. Today, you just happen to hit it on a day when they're, you know, a little more one way than the other. Anyway --
MORRIS: What a surprise.
VESTER: Errol, you gotta come in to the studio more often. You'll see for yourself that it is more mixed than you might think. Maybe some of the Democrats in the audience aren't as loud.
Here some other recent examples of Vester's politically “mixed” audiences' reactions to various topics:
From the October 28 edition of DaySide with Linda Vester:
MONICA CROWLEY (conservative radio host and FOX News Channel political analyst): I think it's very disingenuous for Senator Kerry to turn this [missing explosives in Iraq] around on the president [George W. Bush] to make the president look bad when nobody knows the answer.
AUDIENCE: [applause]
BOB BECKEL (FOX News Channel political analyst): Monica, let's just step back here for a second. George Bush himself has been guilty of using stories and facts loosely in this campaign, not the least of which is he refused to disavow the Swift Boat ad, which was a lie and O'Reilly [sic: John O'Neill, co-founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (now Swift Vets and POWs for Truth) and co-author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry] is a liar.
AUDIENCE: No.
[...]
CROWLEY: John Kerry has been in the Senate for 20 years and has nothing to show for it.
AUDIENCE: [applause]
[...]
VESTER: I'm gonna do this final, final check with the audience. I'm just curious, just with the audience. Bob, can you see this? Does this story [380 tons of missing explosives in Iraq] pass the smell test for you?
AUDIENCE: No.
[...]
RON SILVER (actor and vocal Bush supporter): Since 9-11, I think the president has responded in exactly the right way. I really do believe that, and I think his foreign policy --
AUDIENCE: [applause]
[...]
SILVER: Bush is keeping this nation safe, and he's gonna continue to keep this nation safe.
AUDIENCE: [applause]
From the October 27 edition of DaySide with Linda Vester:
VESTER: Here's what I'm wondering, is this issue, this whole 380 ton[s of explosives missing in Iraq] thing. I kinda suspect that the only reason it's a story cause those of us in the media love to talk about it. I'm not sure it is something that resonates with voters. Does it resonate with you?
AUDIENCE: No.
VESTER: Really. You make your decision for president on other things, on bigger things.
AUDIENCE: [nods in agreement]
From the October 22 edition of DaySide with Linda Vester:
CHAD CLANTON (Kerry-Edwards '04 campaign senior adviser): Well, our problem is with Sinclair Broadcast [Group]. They have a history of partisan politics. ... It's really not American for your local television news station to be pushing their own political news interests, particularly a couple weeks before the election. So that's been the beef that we've been making and it is something that has produced its own outrage because the American people have a fundamental sense of fairness and they just don't expect their local television news cast to have such a bias. You on FOX [News Channel] are focused on fair and balanced news and this certainly isn't fair or balanced and I think that's why people are upset.
VESTER: Well, let me just give you just a sampling just so you can get a kind of get a sense, and if we can get a wide shot of the audience so you see how people here feel. Do you think it is fair or unfair [for Sinclair Broadcast Group] to show this [the anti-Kerry documentary film Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal]?
AUDIENCE: Fair.
From the October 21 edition of DaySide with Linda Vester:
CHRIS LEHANE (Democratic strategist): This president constantly looks, time and time again, to pass the buck. He's the president of the United States. He has a responsibility to put in place policies that will help our country. When you're alerted that there's going to be a problem with flu shots years before and you do nothing to address them and then suddenly what you're warned about comes true, absolutely you should be help responsible for that.
VESTER: Shouldn't Congress as well?
AUDIENCE: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.