In an interview with Politico, Senator Harry Reid argued that the media is being unfair to Democrats in its coverage of the shutdown. Reid said he believes that there is no way someone viewing the situation objectively could conclude that Democrats are at fault for the shutdown.
“You and other journalists have a real shortcoming in that you are trying so hard to be fair that you are unfair,” Reid said. “Democrats have had almost nothing to do with the problems here. It’s all Republicans.”
The shutdown of about 15 percent of government activity began last Tuesday. Since then, Reid has led a unified Democratic caucus in the Senate against any compromise bills passed by the House, much to the frustration of House Republicans. Reid has even turned down meeting with Republicans to discuss a compromise.
Media Research Center, a conservative media-watchdog group, found that in 39 stories in the two weeks leading to the shutdown, CBS, ABC, and NBC blamed Republicans 21 times for failing to reach a budget agreement, both parties four times, and didn’t once blame the Democrats. In the 14 other instances, the reports blamed nobody.