On Friday, July 4th, 2008, Republican Jesse Helms passed away at the age of 86. Below is a comparison of how FOX and CNN covered his death.
FOXNews: Former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms Dies at 86
CNN: Ex-Sen. Jesse Helms dies at 86
Lede Paragraph Comparison:
FOXNews: “Former Sen. Jesse Helms, a Capitol Hill icon who devoted 30 years in the Senate to championing conservative causes, died Friday morning. He was 86.”
CNN: “Former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican who became an icon to conservatives, died Friday at age 86, the Jesse Helms Center said.”
Comment: Nothing malicious here, which is unusual.
Summary & snippets:
FOXNews: The five-term Republican senator from North Carolina formerly chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and used his clout to rail against Communism, liberalism and big government.
CNN: Helms once said his job was to derail the freight train of liberalism.
Comment: Note how CNN conveniently omits the feared “Communism” tag that fits their audience oh so well, but they all deny it claiming it is really “Progressivism”. Also notice how CNN does not want to alert their audience that big government can be avoided. Kudos to FOX for elaborating Helms’ goals; demerits to CNN for a hit-and-run statement.
FOXNews: Helms had a habit of blocking nominations and frequently clashed with former President Bill Clinton. In the ’90s he blocked all of Clinton’s judicial nominations from North Carolina for eight years.
CNN: He also helped prevent the Senate from ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty despite appeals from President Clinton.
Comment: Note how CNN does not explain what exactly the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which essentially takes nuclear weapon development off the table leaving America less able to defend herself.
FOXNews: Known by some as “Senator No” for his opposition to Democratic measures, Helms was a polarizing figure for his positions on social issues.
CNN: Helms was known as “Senator No” for his staunch opposition to an array of liberal causes, including affirmative action, arts funding and gay rights.
Comment: Note how CNN conveniently leaves out the Senator’s reasons for his opposition.
FOXNews: He was a proponent of school prayer and an opponent of abortion rights and gay rights groups. In the Senate, he forced roll-call votes that required Democrats to take sensitive positions on topics such as flag burning and school busing. His opposition to Communism defined his foreign policy views. He took a dim view of many arms control treaties, opposed Fidel Castro at every turn and supported the contras in Nicaragua as well as the right-wing government of El Salvador. He opposed the Panama Canal treaties that President Jimmy Carter pushed through a reluctant Senate in 1977.
CNN: Conservatives admired him for his opposition to abortion and what he called “indecent art,” while liberals accused him of using race as a wedge issue to defeat black opponents. Helms opposed civil rights and a holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of a small number of senators who opposed extending the Voting Rights Act in 1982, eventually giving up a filibuster when then-Majority Leader Sen. Howard Baker, a Tennessee Republican, said the Senate would not take up any other business until it acted on the extension.
Comment: Again notice how CNN leaves out the logic for the Senator’s opposition; also notice how CNN presents him in such a light that only Conservatives could admire (i.e., liberals therefore despise this monster), whereas FOX states it in a declarative manner.
FOXNews: No matter his positions, colleagues said he always was a gentleman. … But he also worked with some Democratic leaders, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Albright once said of Helms, he “was the kindest, most infuriating, politest, most aggravating and nicest politician I had to deal with in the United States Senate.”
CNN: “The business of political causes and issues is a lot like professional wrestling — there is good and there is evil. And Jesse Helms, to those of us on the left, is evil,” Roger Craver, a leading direct-mail fund-raiser for the left, told CNN in 2001 when Helms announced his retirement.
Comment: CNN makes no mention of his likability on both sides of the isle; for that matter, CNN gives the Senator no personality at all. Dehumanize the man and no one will dispute how evil he must have been!
FOX: He won the 1972 election after switching parties and defeated then-Gov. Jim Hunt in an epic battle in 1984 in what was then the costliest Senate race on record.
CNN: Helms was accused of race-baiting throughout his career. “To rob the Negro of his reputation of thinking through a problem in his own fashion is about the same as trying to pretend that he doesn’t have a natural instinct for rhythm and for singing and dancing,” he wrote in 1956, according to the AP.
Comment: Never once did CNN even hint that the Senator wisely jumped ship on the Dems. Say it ain’t so, CNN, say it ain’t so!
