REPORT: ACORN OBSESSION: Beck, Hannity obsess over ACORN while virtually ignoring major corruption

[democracy1st]

REPORT: ACORN OBSESSION: Beck, Hannity obsess over ACORN while virtually ignoring major corruption scandals


In light of the recent attention Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity have devoted to a supposed corruption scandal involving ACORN, Media Matters for America reviewed the coverage each host has provided on his respective television programs to a selection of well-documented political scandals and instances of corruption by companies that have received thousands of times more money from the government than ACORN has in the past 15 years. Our findings show that both hosts have been obsessed with ACORN, devoting a massively disproportionate amount of attention to the story in comparison to their coverage of controversies involving military contractors that have received billions of dollars in federal contracts and instances of Republican corruption at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Furthermore, since Beck joined Fox News, the amount of attention he has devoted to ACORN has skyrocketed, while his interest in other corruption scandals has remained limited.




Conclusions:

Beck's and Hannity's programs were approximately 35 times more likely to reference ACORN than any of the military contractors.
Beck's and Hannity's programs were approximately 24 times more likely to reference ACORN than either Abramoff or Ney.




The numbers are equally shocking for each show individually:

Beck's programs were approximately 50 times more likely to reference ACORN than any of the military contractors and approximately 149 times more likely to discuss ACORN than either Abramoff or Ney.





Hannity's programs were approximately 18 times more likely to reference ACORN than any of the military contractors and approximately eight times more likely to discuss ACORN than either Abramoff or Ney.





What a difference Fox News makes -- after leaving CNN's Headline News and joining Fox in January, Beck's focus on ACORN skyrocketed, while his disinterest in major corruption scandals continued:


References to ACORN on Beck's Headline News program:

ACORN 43
Abramoff/Ney 7
Blackwater/Xe 2
Halliburton/KBR 11


References to ACORN on Beck's Fox News program:

ACORN 1002
Abramoff/Ney 0
Blackwater/Xe 0
Halliburton/KBR 8

http://mediamatters.org/research/200909230032

[brettdale]

1. Thank you for posting

Wonderful stats.

[drm604]

2. K&R

Thank you. :applause:

[LiberalAndProud]

3. I can't believe I have to explain this to you.

ACORN champions the poor and the disenfranchised. When the poor and disenfranchised vote, they generally vote Democratic. That is bad for Republicans.

Of a couple of dozen soldiers gets electrocuted because of negligence and graft, well, that's what they get for taking a shower. Cheney and pals still get their money. That is not bad for Republicans.

See it's really quite simple.

And you are welcome. Glad to be of assistance.

[democracy1st]

6. oh man thank you I never thought of it that way !

[malaise]

7. +1

Have M$Greedia even mentioned Gale Norton yet?

[G_j]

4. Beck: ACORN, 1045, ...XE, 2

Unbelievable that he could mention ACORN more than a thousand times!
It's either an extremely unhealthy obsession, calculated propaganda, or both.

[Therellas]

5. sounds about right

fox news and the "moral majority" use base emotions to manipulate the weak minded.
Mark Sanford would have been one of their biggest customers.

[democracy1st]

8. welcome to DU