[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 620]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    DISPROPORTIONATE MEDIA COVERAGE

  (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. Madam Speaker, the national media continue to 
devote a disproportionate amount of news coverage to the Democratic 
Presidential campaign.
  For example, on the day before the Republican primary in Michigan, 
NBC's Today Show gave almost 7 minutes to the race between Democrat 
Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton, compared to about 30 
seconds to the close Republican race.
  NBC isn't the only network giving more coverage to the Democratic 
campaign. The January 7 edition of ABC's Good Morning America devoted 
almost 15 minutes of coverage to analyzing the race between Barack 
Obama and Hillary Clinton. Just 30 seconds were given to the Republican 
side.
  We must continue to encourage the media to report with fairness 
rather than partiality. Only then can the American people get the 
balanced coverage of this important Presidential campaign that they 
need and deserve.

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