ABC Shows President Bush Hitting CEO Pay, But Not Defending Tax Cuts

Yesterday, President Bush became the second sitting president to ever take a stroll on the New York Stock Exchange floor (Ronald Reagan was the first to do so). Bush also gave a speech at Federal Hall in which he defended his tax cuts, as well as No Child Left Behind, and his policy initiatives in general. But his policy remarks got no attention last night on the evening newscasts, which instead hyped his talking points on CEO pay and income inequality, two liberal themes.

I wrote more about that here. Here's an excerpt:

...network reporters downplayed the good economic news – particularly ABC’s Betsy Stark, who highlighted liberal-sounding applause lines in the president’s Wall Street speech on the “state of the economy” while leaving out the president’s defense of his tax cuts.

CBS’s Katie Couric and NBC’s Brian Williams both briefly addressed the economy’s strong growth rate and the president’s speech, but ABC’s "World News" was the only program among the three New York-based newscasts to offer viewers a fully packaged story on Bush’s "state of the economy report."

"It’s hard to imagine a warmer reception" than how stock exchange traders greeted Bush on the floor of the NYSE, ABC’s Stark conceded. But, she added, "his message to the nation’s leading capitalists was laced with tough love" as he warned corporations to pay executives based on merit and performance.

Following Bush’s remarks on CEO pay, which sounded similar to the media’s usual shock and awe at corporate salaries, Stark said, "For the first time in a high profile way," Bush "acknowledged that not everyone has shared equally in the recent economic prosperity."


But while the clip Stark aired featured the president saying "income inequality is real," Bush immediately added that "the question is whether we respond to the income equality we see with policies that help lift people up or tear others down."

Yet rather than informing her audience of the policies the president favors related to income, Stark turned her attention to casting doubt on the economy’s overall health.

The new GDP number “bolstered the perception of economic success,” she said, but “for now, though, a majority of Americans have another view” as “most say they disapprove of his management of the economy, despite these good numbers.”