A new report by the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog group, argues that since Democrats outnumbered Republicans in campaign segments on the morning shows of ABC, CBS, and NBC, the three major networks are “actively promoting the Democrats’ liberal agenda.”

While conservatives may tout the report as evidence of the media’s liberal bias, its conclusion falls apart under scrutiny.

- Democrats provided networks with more events to cover: During the six month study period, the Democratic candidates appeared in nine televised debates, while the Republicans only appeared in four.

- Republicans are reluctant to go on the air: According to ‘Today’ executive producer Jim Bell, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson “both have standing invitations to appear on ‘Today’… Giuliani has been on once and Thompson has repeatedly refused the network he recently worked for.” Moreover, while Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) have both agreed to appear in a Good Morning America town meeting, “none of the Republicans have committed.”

- Misclassifies personal-story segments as campaign segments: The center’s report includes segments on Elizabeth Edwards’ battle with cancer and the historic nature of Hillary Clinton’s and Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) candidacies.

- Cherry-picks campaign segments: Studies which have analyzed complete program guest lists have found that conservative sources far outweigh their liberal counterparts.

While the report calls on the major news networks to provide viewers with “fair and even-handed” coverage, the Media Research Center loudly applauds the conservative bias of political talk radio. Thus, it seems that the center is more interested in advocating a conservative political ideology than instituting meaningful media reform.

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