Check out this article.
http://www.conservativenews.org/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\CUL19990825d.html
Gun Owners Motivated by Negative News Media
By Ben Anderson
CNS Staff Writer
25 August, 1999
(CNSNews.com) - Negative media coverage about the
National Rifle Association may actually serve to
motivate Second Amendment rights defenders to support
the organization, according to a study conducted by a
University of Michigan researcher.
Dr. Brian Patrick studied 1,500 news reports about the
NRA and other advocacy groups and found that negative
depictions of the NRA tend to motivate the
organization's core constituency to join the cause for
defending the right to "keep and bear arms."
Patrick attributes the trend to the nature of the
individuals served by the NRA's goals and objectives,
suggesting that gun owners are provoked by messages
which present a threat to their right to own firearms.
The NRA does get "some good press," Patrick told
CNSNews.com, but "very little compared to the other
groups," a reference to other advocacy groups he studied
including the American Civil Liberties Union, Handgun
Control Incorporated, American Association of Retired
Persons and the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People. But he added there was no
identifiable correlation between positive news coverage
and an increase in membership.
Patrick said the NRA has resorted to accepting as "fact"
a built-in bias among most news media, and its public
relations officials have come to expect negative news
coverage.
Some news stories were composed of anti-democratic
themes which suggested the NRA is opposed to democracy,
Patrick said. He added that NRA membership was almost
always reported as "declining" throughout ten years of
coverage.
"This is exactly the opposite of what's been going on in
real life," he said. "But that's the kind of
relationship that's depicted in these news stories."
Another type of news story often used to depict the NRA
in a negative light is what Patrick called
"personalization" stories, in which the organization's
members or professional staff would be characterized in
negative terms.
The NRA, Patrick said, is "very much portrayed in
negative ways" as opposed to the manner in which the
press often portrays the ACLU, HCI, AARP and the NAACP.
According to Patrick, the typical NRA story contained
sound-bites from what he called "nuts" at an NRA
convention, in contrast to stories which featured
comments and quotes from, for instance, HCI chairwoman
Sarah Brady.
As an example, Patrick pointed to a New York Times
Magazine article, which quoted an NRA spokeswoman but
then resorted to making a reference to her breast size.
"Of course, then you read a story on the ACLU or the
NAACP and they have 15 paragraphs in there from the
executive director and no one else," Patrick said. HCI's
Sarah Brady, he said, might often be interviewed for a
human-interest story and depicted as a heroic figure,
outlining her motives and values. The NRA's former
director of legislative action Tonya Metaksa, however,
has been called a "bully" in at least one published
story.
"I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that there's a
bias on the part of the national media against the
National Rifle Association and against the Second
Amendment," said NRA spokesman Jim Manown. "I think Dr.
Patrick has simply quantified something that most NRA
members and gun owners have realized for a long time."
While many news stories about the Second Amendment focus
on criminal use of guns and other gun-related tragedies,
less attention is paid to the NRA's work on firearm
issues, training, safety and education.
One sixth of the NRA's $120 million annual budget is
allocated to lobbying for pro-firearm legislation,
according to Manown. The remaining 83 percent allows the
organization to conduct educational programs.
The organization has more than 10,000 "law enforcement
instructors" nationwide and 40,000 instructors who teach
firearm safety to nearly 750,000 individuals every year.
The NRA also sanctions 10,000 competitive
target-shooting events each year.
"Our members pay close attention to the debate over the
Second Amendment and guns in America, and they are
rightly outraged when a national news outlet passes off
bias editorializing as news," said Manown.
An example of a more recent report which generated phone
calls to the NRA is a CBS News "Reality Check" segment
in which the reporter sought to address the founding
fathers' intent of the Second Amendment, claiming it was
not meant to include individual gun ownership. The NRA
statement issued the next day called the report
"blatantly biased."
"Clearly, the reality of CBS is not in step with the
reality of the view of the vast majority of law-abiding
Americans, nor in line with the view of most
constitutional scholars. The national media elite at CBS
wouldn't know reality if it stepped in front of Dan
Rather's limousine," said James J. Baker, executive
director of NRA's Institute for Legislative Action.
The NRA received numerous phone calls from angry
gun-owners about the report. CBS was soon the target of
their frustrations and endured a deluge of phone calls
as well.
http://www.conservativenews.org/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\CUL19990825d.html
Gun Owners Motivated by Negative News Media
By Ben Anderson
CNS Staff Writer
25 August, 1999
(CNSNews.com) - Negative media coverage about the
National Rifle Association may actually serve to
motivate Second Amendment rights defenders to support
the organization, according to a study conducted by a
University of Michigan researcher.
Dr. Brian Patrick studied 1,500 news reports about the
NRA and other advocacy groups and found that negative
depictions of the NRA tend to motivate the
organization's core constituency to join the cause for
defending the right to "keep and bear arms."
Patrick attributes the trend to the nature of the
individuals served by the NRA's goals and objectives,
suggesting that gun owners are provoked by messages
which present a threat to their right to own firearms.
The NRA does get "some good press," Patrick told
CNSNews.com, but "very little compared to the other
groups," a reference to other advocacy groups he studied
including the American Civil Liberties Union, Handgun
Control Incorporated, American Association of Retired
Persons and the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People. But he added there was no
identifiable correlation between positive news coverage
and an increase in membership.
Patrick said the NRA has resorted to accepting as "fact"
a built-in bias among most news media, and its public
relations officials have come to expect negative news
coverage.
Some news stories were composed of anti-democratic
themes which suggested the NRA is opposed to democracy,
Patrick said. He added that NRA membership was almost
always reported as "declining" throughout ten years of
coverage.
"This is exactly the opposite of what's been going on in
real life," he said. "But that's the kind of
relationship that's depicted in these news stories."
Another type of news story often used to depict the NRA
in a negative light is what Patrick called
"personalization" stories, in which the organization's
members or professional staff would be characterized in
negative terms.
The NRA, Patrick said, is "very much portrayed in
negative ways" as opposed to the manner in which the
press often portrays the ACLU, HCI, AARP and the NAACP.
According to Patrick, the typical NRA story contained
sound-bites from what he called "nuts" at an NRA
convention, in contrast to stories which featured
comments and quotes from, for instance, HCI chairwoman
Sarah Brady.
As an example, Patrick pointed to a New York Times
Magazine article, which quoted an NRA spokeswoman but
then resorted to making a reference to her breast size.
"Of course, then you read a story on the ACLU or the
NAACP and they have 15 paragraphs in there from the
executive director and no one else," Patrick said. HCI's
Sarah Brady, he said, might often be interviewed for a
human-interest story and depicted as a heroic figure,
outlining her motives and values. The NRA's former
director of legislative action Tonya Metaksa, however,
has been called a "bully" in at least one published
story.
"I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that there's a
bias on the part of the national media against the
National Rifle Association and against the Second
Amendment," said NRA spokesman Jim Manown. "I think Dr.
Patrick has simply quantified something that most NRA
members and gun owners have realized for a long time."
While many news stories about the Second Amendment focus
on criminal use of guns and other gun-related tragedies,
less attention is paid to the NRA's work on firearm
issues, training, safety and education.
One sixth of the NRA's $120 million annual budget is
allocated to lobbying for pro-firearm legislation,
according to Manown. The remaining 83 percent allows the
organization to conduct educational programs.
The organization has more than 10,000 "law enforcement
instructors" nationwide and 40,000 instructors who teach
firearm safety to nearly 750,000 individuals every year.
The NRA also sanctions 10,000 competitive
target-shooting events each year.
"Our members pay close attention to the debate over the
Second Amendment and guns in America, and they are
rightly outraged when a national news outlet passes off
bias editorializing as news," said Manown.
An example of a more recent report which generated phone
calls to the NRA is a CBS News "Reality Check" segment
in which the reporter sought to address the founding
fathers' intent of the Second Amendment, claiming it was
not meant to include individual gun ownership. The NRA
statement issued the next day called the report
"blatantly biased."
"Clearly, the reality of CBS is not in step with the
reality of the view of the vast majority of law-abiding
Americans, nor in line with the view of most
constitutional scholars. The national media elite at CBS
wouldn't know reality if it stepped in front of Dan
Rather's limousine," said James J. Baker, executive
director of NRA's Institute for Legislative Action.
The NRA received numerous phone calls from angry
gun-owners about the report. CBS was soon the target of
their frustrations and endured a deluge of phone calls
as well.
