Cable news coverage of Alito nomination skewed right
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News provided imbalanced coverage of the October 31 nomination of federal appeals court judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court -- Republicans, conservatives, and pro-Alito guests dominated the networks' coverage; far outnumbering Democrats, progressives, and Alito critics. Media Matters for America analyzed the cable news networks' October 31 coverage of the nomination from 7 a.m. to noon ET.
Cable news channel |
Republican /conservative /pro-Alito guests |
Democratic /progressive /anti-Alito guests |
CNN (American Morning, and a special edition of The Situation Room) |
Gary Bauer, former Republican presidential candidate and president of American Values Lawrence Lustberg, “liberal” lawyer who endorsed Alito nomination Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) Pat Robertson, right-wing televangelist Bay Buchanan, president of The American Cause Richard Thornburgh, former attorney general under presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush Helgi Walker, former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas |
James Carville, Democratic political strategist Lanny Davis, former White House special counsel under Clinton Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) |
MSNBC (Imus in the Morning, MSNBC News Live) |
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) Pat Buchanan, MSNBC analyst and former Republican presidential candidate Gary Rubman, former law clerk for Alito Terence Jeffrey, editor of Human Events Sen. Jeff Sessions Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) |
Sen. Edward Kennedy |
Fox News (Fox & Friends First, Fox & Friends, Fox News Live) |
John Nagle, associate dean for faculty research at Notre Dame Law School Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) Richard Thornburgh Michael Carvin, former colleague of Alito Nick Calio, former legislative specialist for President Bush Pat Robertson Douglas Kmiec, former head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Jay Jorgenson, former law clerk for Alito Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) C. Frederick Beckner, former law clerk for Alito |
Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-ME) Bob Beckel, Democratic strategist Tammy Bruce*, Fox News political analyst |
*Bruce criticized Alito's dissent in the case Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1991), in which he argued that a provision of Pennsylvania abortion law requiring spousal notification should be upheld.