There was a sudden, but temporary, shift in news coverage when Roe V. Wade was overturned. Journalists interviewed anti-abortion activists in order to learn their reactions to the historic victory.
It was different when some scabrous leaker gave Politico a copy of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion. Abortion advocates dominated ABC, CBS, NBC and a 153 to 57 margin in the week following the leak.
On July 8, when President Joe Biden prepared to issue an executive order on “abortion access,” the anti-abortion view was almost nonexistent. None of the morning network shows aired soundbites from the opposing camp, but the main focus was on the abortion lobby, spreading the euphemisms.
NBC’s Peter Alexander previewed that Biden would attempt to “protect access to abortion” and expand access to “abortion medication” that’s “safe and effective,” as Biden seeks to “ensure the safety of patients and providers.”
In this euphemistic “news” vocabulary, you can sense the callous disregard that liberals have for the unborn babies, who are never the ones who deserve “access” to life. They are undeserving of “safety.” The humanity of the unborn isn’t even considered in most TV “news” stories.
On Friday evening, nine soundbites were presented by network newscasts. All nine were from abortion supporters. ABC at least threw in a sentence at the end from Rachel Scott: “Tonight, anti-abortion rights groups say that the president’s executive actions today are a tragic overreach.”
We can’t just be “anti-abortion.” It has to be “anti-abortion rights.”
The only soundbite on NBC was President Joe Biden denouncing “extremists” in the Republican Party. The networks can never locate an “extremist” in favor of abortion. In fact, they didn’t use words like “liberal” or “leftist” to describe abortion advocates.
An aside: With all the usual comedy, NPR’s “All Things Considered” on Friday night only had one viewpoint: Rutgers law professor Kim Mutcherson, who was outraged at Biden. His order was “as milquetoast as you can be;” it changes “absolutely nothing;” and the president must declare a “public health emergency” that babies can’t be killed.
ABC and NBC gave brief updates Saturday morning. CBS provided no soundbites. All six soundbites were either Biden or Jen Klein, who heads his “Gender Policy Council.” So that’s 15 to zero in that news cycle.
Some might expect a more fair and balanced treatment when the national newspapers reported on this executive order…and they would be wrong.
Take the front-page article in Saturday’s Washington Post, under the headline “With limited tools, Biden acts on abortion access.” The quote count was 15 to 2—and both anti-abortion quotes were one person: Denise Harle of the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Saturday’s New York Times placed its story inside on A17. The Times put a dangerous “far-right” Christian fringe on the front page, then spilled that story onto A16, or across from the Biden abortion order story. The number of quotes was 7:1.
USA Today doesn’t publish on Saturdays, but it made Monday’s front page, under the headline “Abortion-access advocates urge action.” The quote count favored the abortion superfans 6 to 1. Take all three stories and you get a quote count of 28 to 4.
These stories are more dramatic and focus heavily on left-wing complaints against Biden. We could joke that this episode shows “fair and balanced” reporting—if the two sides are the Biden White House and the outraged abortion-advocate extremists.
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