CNN's Costello Plays Up GOP's 'Campaign of Fear' in Midterms

Matthew Balan | November 4, 2014
Font Size

[More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.]

CNN's Carol Costello hyped how "Republicans have managed to use fear so successfully in these midterm elections" during interviews of two former governors on the 4 November 2014 edition of CNN Newsroom. During a segment with Democrat Bill Richardson, Costello lamented that Democrats are "not talking about President Obama's more positive accomplishments in office," and asserted that "those things are certainly overshadowed by the anxiety that voters feel about ISIS and Ebola."

The anchor also underlined that "fear is a powerful motivator, and it is the President's job to calm those anxieties." Minutes later, during an interview of Haley Barbour, Costello contended that "Republicans may be on the verge of winning Senate control – thanks, in large part, to a campaign of fear. If you examine the political ads that many Republican candidates have put out, they don't extol ideas – but Democrats say they do exploit fear."

donate