The media coverage and analysis of President Bush's February 2 State of the Union address and the Democratic response indicated that the Bush administration's pressure on reporters -- to use the term “personal accounts” rather than “private accounts” in discussing Bush's social security privatization plan -- is working. As Media Matters for America has noted, polling shows that the public responds less favorably to the term “private accounts,” a term that Bush himself has used in the past.

A Media Matters analysis found that 18 media hosts, correspondents, and commentators used the White House-approved term “personal accounts,” while 13 referred to “private accounts.”

On the network news broadcasts, only one correspondent used the term “private accounts,” while 8 hosts, correspondents, and commentators adopted Bush's preferred term, “personal accounts.” On the cables, 10 used the term “personal accounts,” while 12 used the term “private accounts.”

Media Matters monitored all discussion of Bush's address and the Democrats' response on FOX News, CNN, and MSNBC from 5 p.m. February 2 until 12 a.m. February 3, as well as ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News on February 2, and ABC's Good Morning America, CBS' Early Show, and NBC's Today on February 3. Post-speech and Democratic response coverage on the networks, which ran from 10:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., was also included.