[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24037]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       MEDIA THREATENS DEMOCRACY

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, most Americans now realize that Big 
Media, network TV news programs and the largest newspapers and news 
magazines, tried to determine the outcome of the Presidential election.
  A study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism confirms what 
Americans already suspected: George Bush received more than twice as 
much negative coverage as John Kerry. Think what President Bush's 
margin of victory would have been without the media bias.
  But the danger is the media bias will continue. That is a real threat 
to democracy.
  When the American people do not have the facts, the unvarnished 
truth, they cannot make the best decisions and we do not have good 
government.
  Big Media needs to reassure the American people that they will strive 
for objectivity and seek to restore their reputation as the protector 
of democracy, rather than remaining a threat to it.

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