How Would a Consistent News Media Cover a Supreme Court Ruling Against ObamaCare?Published: 6/20/2012
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule any day now on the constitutionality of ObamaCare, the centerpiece of Barack Obama’s presidency thus far. How the media cover such a decision remains to be seen, but between 2004 and 2008 the Court issued multiple rulings tossing out key elements of George W. Bush’s war on terrorism, the policy centerpiece of that administration.
The MRC studied how the broadcast networks covered those decisions overruling Bush’s policy on detaining terror suspects, looking at the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news coverage from the day each ruling was handed down — June 28, 2004, June 29, 2006 and June 12, 2008. On those nights, the networks aired a total of 15 stories about the Supreme Court rulings, totaling nearly 35 minutes of airtime.
The results provide a template for how the networks might cover a decision voiding some or all of President Obama’s health care law — assuming network journalists approach their job without regard to partisanship, that is.
? When quoting the Justices’ opinions, the networks should tilt two-to-one in favor of the anti-administration side. Both the majority and minority in a Supreme Court case issue written opinions, but in covering the Bush-era terror cases, more than two-thirds of the quotes (68%) came from Justices in the majority that ruled against the Bush administration.
In the 2004 decision in the case of Yasser Hamdi, a U.S. citizen picked up on the battlefield as an enemy combatant, all three networks quoted Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s opinion: “A state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens.”
The Big Three also highlighted Justice John Paul Stevens’ 2006 decision invalidating military trials for Guantanamo detainees: “Its structure and procedures violate military law and four Geneva conventions.” And every network quoted the June 12, 2008 decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, concluding that enemy combatants have a right to have their cases reviewed in civilian court: “Liberty and security can be reconciled.”
That 2008 case also drew a dissent from Justice Antonin Scalia that was quoted across the board: “It [the decision] will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.... The nation will live to regret what the Court has done today.” But overall, the Justices siding with the Bush administration were given far less attention than those ruling against the President.
If there is an anti-Obama ruling in coming days, and the networks follow the same template as they employed in the Bush-era terror cases, any similarly indignant response from the Court’s liberals would be given minor coverage, with about two-thirds the time spent quoting and explaining the anti-Obama majority.
Don't bet on it though. Expect a perseverative template on just how RightWing & politically motivated the court has become
