What Did the Media Say About Free Trade

This item landed in my In Box today. It's worth a read considering the world economic downturn.

Leading Opinion Pages Provide Scant Space to Critics

Washington, D.C. -- In stark contrast to the roiling debate over U.S. trade policy among academics and business and labor groups, the country's leading newspaper opinion pages expressed nearly unanimous support for unfettered free trade, according to a study released today by Media Matters Action Network.

During the past three years -- the period surveyed by Media Matters' researchers -- readers of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post were offered a steady stream of editorials and opinion pieces touting the virtues of trade liberalization and lambasting critics as head-in-the-sand whiners. Of the 302 editorials, columns, and op-eds that focused on trade during this period:

- 82 percent supported the current global trade model without qualifications or proposed non-trade-related strategies to mitigate any negative consequences resulting from free-trade policies.

- Only 7 percent criticized the current global trade model, argued against the ratification of pending trade deals, or suggested a "time-out" in trade negotiations.

- 4 percent supported the current global trade model but expressed reservations about radically opening markets or proposed modifications to existing free-trade agreements such as enforceable environmental or labor standards.

- 8 percent were neutral -- that is, they did not take an identifiable position.

- While all three papers tilted overwhelmingly to the pro-trade position, the most one-sided paper was The Wall Street Journal, which devoted 85 percent of its editorials, columns, and op-eds to promoting the current global trade model, with only 1 percent to criticism.

"With the domestic and global economy in turmoil, few issues are likely to spark a more vibrant and contentious debate than a discussion of trade's impact on U.S. workers and corporations," said Amos Tevelow, a spokesman for Media Matters Action Network. "That the leading newspapers are overwhelmingly lopsided in any direction grossly underserves the public at this time of economic uncertainty."