Joining Fox Business Network host Elizabeth MacDonald on the Wednesday edition of her new show The Evening Edit, the Media Research Center’s Research Director Rich Noyes spoke about the liberal media’s blatant “double standard” when it came to Iran deal coverage, trusting Barack Obama but not Donald Trump, and his latest study about negative network Trump coverage.
Noyes first laid out the provisions of the nuclear agreement that had been lost in the liberal media noise, such as “a sunset provision where Iran could do what it wanted after I think 2025,” not addressing Iran’s ballistic missiles, and their “bad actions...throughout the Middle East.”
Concerning how the media portrayed the President’s decision vs. the reality, here’s what Noyes had to say:
The news media portrayed this America — or Trump reneging on an American promise. President Obama specifically made this a executive agreement. He did not get the Senate to ratify this as treaty, then it would have full force of an American agreement...You know, the only tack that they're using is this kind of guilt that, somehow, it’s a dangerous thing for Trump to assert his prerogatives when Obama was given the full rein of his prerogatives, you know, it's a double standard.
MacDonald followed up on this split and Noyes responded by citing a CNN poll from the summer of 2015 that found “58 percent of the public was against this deal.”
He then continued:
The public even today sees Iran as lying and cheating in this deal. The media message seems to be, well Iran is lying and cheating but this deal is better than nothing. And what the President is saying, Iran is lying and cheating, therefore this deal isn't worth anything and I think, you know, that’s a strong argument for him to have.
As for his viral study that found 90 percent of the Trump coverage on the “big three” evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC was negative, Noyes explained to viewers that it’s “the same trend we've seen from the campaign through the President's first year in office and now deep into the President's second year in office.”
He added that we use the major broadcast networks “as a proxy for the rest of the media, but I can tell you CNN and MSNBC and the big newspapers all have the same adversarial approach” and, when broken down further, coverage was “81 percent negative on coverage of his policies and 97 percent negative coverage of his controversies and scandals.”
“In the face of all of that avalanche of negative press, his approval rating is going up which tells me the public is less and less relying on media to know what’s going on and they’re more and more relying on what they see themselves....economy improving, maybe peace breaking out in North Korea. So, things are better in the public's eyes, at least some of the public’s eyes than in the media eyes,” he in part concluded.
To see the relevant transcript from FBN’s The Evening Edit with Liz MacDonald on May 9, click “expand.”
FBN’s The Evening Edit with Liz MacDonald
May 9, 2018
5:27 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Edit Alert; Media Uproar Over Deal Exit]
DAVID MUIR [on ABC’s World News Tonight, 05/08/18]: America's allies had urged the President not to do this. They are reacting to night and so is Iran, already with a new threat.
TERRY MORAN [on ABC’s World News Tonight, 05/08/18]: They are dismayed and bewildered right now [SCREEN WIPE] saying that America is arrogant, can't be trusted.
JEFF GLOR [on the CBS Evening News, 05/08/18]: Candidate Trump promised to pull out of it. Today, President Trump did, with widespread implications.
LESTER HOLT [on NBC Nightly News, 05/08/18]: The U.S. is essentially reneging on the nuclear deal with Iran.
RICHARD ENGEL [on NBC Nightly News, 05/08/18]: Across Europe, there is a chill tonight that the U.S. under President Trump may not be a reliable partner anymore.
ANDREA MITCHELL [on MSNBC Live with Katy Tur, 05/08/18]: They have basically said to the rest of the world, we are not obeying an agreement that we signed, and that the United States of America under one administration can sign deals but it will not be trusted by subsequent presidents.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Edit Alert; U.S. Flag Torched in Iran]
LIZ MACDONALD: Media outlets reporting about the unease with President Trump’s decision it withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. This as Iranian lawmakers burn a U.S. flag chanting “death to America” in response to the news that America is pulling out. Let’s bring in Media Research Center Direc — Director Rich Noyes. You know, Rich, the media coverage is pretty one-sided. For one thing, the Obama deal did not cut off Iran from getting a bomb, it delayed Iran getting it. That sort of gets, buried in the coverage. What is your reaction?
RICH NOYES: Well, you're exactly right, it did not, you know, there was a sunset provision where Iran could do what it wanted after I think 2025. It didn't touch the ballistic missile program. It didn't address the bad actions that Iran has taken throughout the Middle East. The news media portrayed this America — or Trump reneging on an American promise. President Obama specifically made this a executive agreement. He did not get the Senate to ratify this as treaty, then it would have full force of an American agreement. So, this is just one president overturning executive action of another President. It’s entirely within his constitutional powers to do it. You know, the only tack that they're using is this kind of guilt that, somehow, it’s a dangerous thing for Trump to assert his prerogatives when Obama was given the full rein of his prerogatives, you know, it's a double standard.
MACDONALD: And to your point, here’s what the media is not addressing — how — you mention the media. We've been tracking the reporting there. They're not tracking and they’re not reporting how flawed the Obama deal was, according to both Democrats and Republicans. The Senate would not have okay’d it to these Democrats or Republicans we talked to. Obama did railroad it through, just like ObamaCare. To your point, it did not allow inspections of military sites. It did not stop Iran from developing ballistic missiles and to your point, Iran can work on centrifuges in seven years time.
NOYES: Right. Polls taken back in 2015 when this was up before the Senate, CNN had a poll in the summer of that year, 58 percent of the public was against this deal. The public even today sees Iran as lying and cheating in this deal. The media message seems to be, well Iran is lying and cheating but this deal is better than nothing. And what the President is saying, Iran is lying and cheating, therefore this deal isn't worth anything and I think, you know, that’s a strong argument for him to have.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Edit Alert; Poll: Trump Job Approval Up]
MACDONALD: President Trump's job approval rating is rising. The Real Clear Politics average puts it around 43 percent. That’s the highest it’s been in the past year. It’s a — Real Clear Politics does an average of about a dozen polls, including Gallop and Quinnipiac. Trump's approval ratings are going up in face of an onslaught of negative headlines. Now, a report from your company, says 90 percent of the coverage is negative so far this year. Can you talk to us about that?
NOYES: Yeah. This is again, I think the same trend we've seen from the campaign through the President's first year in office and now deep into the President's second year in office. ABC, CBS, NBC, we use them as a proxy for the rest of the media, but I can tell you CNN and MSNBC and the big newspapers all have the same adversarial approach, 90 percent negative. That’s split between 81 percent negative on coverage of his policies and 97 percent negative coverage of his controversies and scandals. In the face of all of that avalanche of negative press, his approval rating is going up which tells me the public is less and less relying on media to know what’s going on and they’re more and more relying on what they see themselves, based on their own experience, economy improving, maybe peace breaking out in North Korea. So, things are better in the public's eyes, at least some of the public’s eyes than in the media eyes.
MACDONALD: Well, the push by Democrats is to get the approval ratings down in the 20 to impeach him. That’s the backstory there. Rich, thank you for coming on. Really appreciate it.
NOYES: Thanks.
