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Media
Review
October
29, 2002
Publisher:
Anchorage
Daily News
Reporters:
Liz Ruskin & Don Hunter
Titles
:
Murkowski
has fought long, hard
battle
for Alaska
Ulmer's
career covers gamut of
state
government
Ulmer’s
“accomplishment piece,” side-by-side with Murkowski’s “accomplishment
piece,” on Sunday, October 27th, in the Anchorage Daily News,
represents a bias toward Ulmer against Murkowski when comparing and
contrasting source comments and rebuttals by the candidates.
This analysis doesn’t even include counting the negative comments
inserted by the reporter, which are weighted against Murkowski.
It
appears that the assignment to the two reporters was to each do a story on
the lifetime accomplishments of the democratic and republican candidates
for Governor, Murkowski and Ulmer. Don
Hunter’s article on Ulmer was a positive, upbeat, and complimentary
article and if it stood alone would be celebrated as a job well done.
However, the article by Ruskin at its side pushed the Ulmer article
into being labeled as biased.
An
attempt was made by the Media Research Center of Alaska to include the
Anchorage Daily News’ comments about why they published these articles
as they did, hoping that it was an oversight or their part.
This was considered relevant to check out due to their fair and
balanced coverage last week on Ulmer’s and Murkowski’s views regarding
subsistence. However, Pat
Dougherty, Senior VP & Editor, insisted that the MRCA’s and this
author’s opinion were just that, “our opinion,” filtered through our
own agendas and therefore dismissed any validity to our claim.
Below
is a link to the technical analysis of the article, measuring how many
column inches are devoted to a source’s comment and rated either
positive or negative with a rating for the rebuttal by the candidate that
would balance out the negative comment.
As you can see, Ulmer had far more positive source comments and
positive rebuttals than Murkowski. To
compare and contrast the article yourself, you are advised to have the
articles in front of you.
Content
analysis of 10/27/02 Anchorage Daily News articles on Fran Ulmer and Frank
Murkowski: Go
to Chart and other comments.
_______________
The
Media Research Center of Alaska is neither opposed or supportive of ANY
candidate for political office. It is the mission of the MRCA to
review, analyze and report on any bias in news media, regardless of the
individuals, events, or topics.
WHAT
YOU CAN DO:
Here
is YOUR chance to become involved - Contact your local paper and
let them know that you want fair and in depth coverage of all
political candidates and all the issues so that you can make an
informed decision come November. Copy this article and use
it for reference. SEND this article to ALL of your friends
and associates!!! Together we can truly make a difference!
Click
here to print or cut and paste this article:
It
is important that each of us collectively raise our voices when we
see media bias.
See
the ACTION
GUIDE for more information. |
Why
do we encourage fair and balanced reporting by the news media? The Gallup
Poll numbers show that journalists are trusted less than Catholic
Priests and accountants and are trusted only marginally more than
government officials and lawyers.
As
a result, not enough people respond to the news; are uninvolved, don't vote, and don't
care. We at the Media Research Center of Alaska want a hand in
changing this.
View
other article reviews: ARCHIVES
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CHOOSE ACTION:
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READ
ABOUT ANCHORAGE'S NEWSPAPER HISTORY

For
Land’s
Sake!
By
Bernie Day, Ombudsman, Media Research Center of Alaska
The
long-running drama over subsistence in Alaska seems doomed to continue due
mainly to governance disputes that date back to 1959, the year of
statehood. Having continued
this long, still having a lack of "clarity" in terminology that
could improve communication, disputes in law interpretation, and a Federal
bias toward a specific segment of the population, namely indigenous
peoples, (which happens to violate state law) keeps both sides from
finding common ground on which to build a working accord.
Truly,
the agendas behind both sides must be clarified. Why is it that the
liberals want to base preference on location? Is it to create
opportunities for sharing in the wealth of natural resources by urban
folks who go rural? Is it truly to unite Alaska's peoples or is it
to divide? Is it for votes? And to be fair, what is the
conservative's agenda? Is it truly to preserve the cultural meaning
of native peoples? Is it to preserve natural resources?
Serious, impartial, and honest inquiry must take place so that Alaskans
can decide a fair and long-term livable outcome for all of its citizens.
This
lack of congruity has a major impact for Alaska and Alaskans.
Effective land and resource management that considers Alaska’s
future development, financial success and preservation of its cultural
origins is impeded by having its focus on the present problem – who is
in charge of the land called Alaska?
If effective resource management measures are not put into place,
Alaska will face greater demand and decreased supply of its resources.
At the present, with Alaska’s seemingly rich natural fabric and
massive landmass, it causes one to be caught up in the erroneous belief
that there will “always be enough.”
However, we can learn from history in areas around the world, that
resources can be depleted, stripped land and sea can become wasted, and
pollution can embed itself for centuries to come.
Become
a contributing
member to the Media Research
Center of Alaska.
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