AP Headline: 'Is Media Playing Fair In Campaign Coverage?'

Photo of Noel Sheppard.

Have the broadcast networks gone too far with their obvious infatuation with presumptive Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama?

If the Associated Press is starting to think so, maybe the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz was right on Sunday when he warned "Reliable Sources" viewers that "there could be a big backlash against news organizations if this trend continues."

On the other hand, wouldn't it be nice if the repercussions Kurtz presaged came from other media members similarly disgusted by what is passing for journalism this election cycle?

Consider what the AP's David Bauder had to say about this issue in an article published moments ago with the headline, "Is Media Playing Fair In Campaign Coverage?" (emphasis added throughout, h/t NBer nkviking75):

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Television news' royalty will fly in to meet Barack Obama during this week's overseas trip: CBS chief anchor Katie Couric in Jordan on Tuesday, ABC's Charles Gibson in Israel on Wednesday and NBC's Brian Williams in Germany on Thursday.

The anchor blessing defines the trip as a Major Event and — much like a ``Saturday Night Live'' skit in February that depicted a press corps fawning over Obama — raises anew the issue of fairness in campaign coverage.

The news media have devoted significantly more attention to the Democrat since Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her campaign and left a two-person contest for the presidency between Obama and Republican John McCain, according to research conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. [...]

Network anchors stayed home during McCain's recent foreign excursions.

"The question really needs to be posed: Is this type of coverage fair?" said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. "This is nothing but a political stunt."

Maybe even more surprising, Bauder got Rush Limbaugh's opinion on the matter:

``My prediction is that the coverage of Obama on this trip will be oriented toward countering the notion he has no idea what he is talking about on foreign policy and defense issues and instead will prop him up as a qualified statesman,'' Limbaugh told The Associated Press. ``McCain, on the other hand, is a known quantity on these issues and his position does not excite nor fit the mainstream media's narrative on Iraq and Afghanistan, so they simply ignore it and him.''

Bauder, sounding almost like a member of the MRC, even quoted some statistics:

For each of the weeks between June 9 and July 13, Obama had a much more significant media presence. The Project for Excellence in Journalism evaluates more than 300 political stories each week in newspapers, magazines and television to measure whether each candidate is talked about in more than 25 percent of the stories.

Every week, Obama played an important role in more than two-thirds of the stories. For July 7-13, for example, Obama was a significant presence in 77 percent of the stories, while McCain was in 48 percent, the PEJ said.

Sure, there are some weeks Obama's going to make more news, said Tom Rosenstiel, the project's director.

But every week?

``No matter how understandable it is given the newness of the candidate and the historical nature of Obama's candidacy, in the end it's probably not fair to McCain,'' he said.

Why are media suddenly recognizing that which we at NewsBusters have been saying for more than a year? Well, put on your cynical hat, and read the following:

If the attention gap continues, the campaign will essentially become a referendum on Obama, Rosenstiel said. While that may serve McCain's purpose — it beats a referendum on President Bush — it could leave the nation electing a president while the media are paying attention to someone else. Past press infatuations, like Howard Dean in 2004 and McCain in 2000, didn't turn into long-term affairs.

Hmmm. Is it possible all this media introspection is actual a function of their Obama adoration, and these folks are suddenly becoming concerned that past precedent suggests it could backfire on them?

Stay tuned.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.


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Backlash? Let the games begin!

Maybe the backlash has already begun. The MSM's sickening infatuation with Osama Bama has just about gone over the edge if it hasn't already done so.

They're following him all over the middle east like a bunch of disciples and their lord master, Obamessiah, is playing the stage like he already has the presidency in his hip pocket - and he is being treated as such!  

I think the American people are already getting tired of this media circus. It's already showing up in what used to be Osama's substantial lead over McCain. That has all but evaporated.

Hmmm - give someone enough rope and they'll hang themselves.

So let the games begin! Yee-hah!

"How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?" - Firesign Theatre

This isn't a new thing

the MSM has tilted far to the left for decades.  Only in this election cycle has there been tingling of legs and blatant adoration for the Dim candidate.

I haven't watched or read the MSM for years.  I already know what they're going to say.

Jeff Lebowski

www.angrywhitedude.c...

For the msm it's too late

For the msm it's too late to turn back now...

They aren't about to.

You may have some that are finally seeing the light and what may happen with all this bias/hypocrisy in the end...but not the msm in general...they are no way going to stop...they are going to go whole hog all the way....

In their eyes and rose-colored elitist world...they have nothing to lose.

...except their sanity...which will be fun to watch the break-downs if Obama gets creamed...that will be the only fun for me in this Prez race.

Btw...if he did get creamed the msm will never look in the mirror and ask if they were part of the problem...nope....it will be everyone else's fault...you know, racism, polling machines, ballots, discrimination at the polls and all that jazz...

Not because he is huge empty leftist sock-puppet..that only a handful of the population wanted and of course the majority of the msm. 

"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

BT - have had th esame thoughts

AND I was thinking that the fabled October surprise will be that the losers in the media will come to the conclusion Barry has no plan, no experience, no resume, and no agenda other than trying to become prez, as the socialist he is - I'm thinking that will be the surprise, and the media, trying to be "honest reporters", will show (and tell us) that they were "fooled" by th new guy, the guy with hope on his lips, and nothing in his head.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

The MSM has a PLAN...What's OBama's ? ?

Bush supposedly doesn't have an Exit Strategy.....but NOW it looks like WINNING was an Excellant Exit Strategy.

What is Obama's "Entrance" Strategy if he Enters the Whitehous ?  Inquiring minds want to know, and want the MSM to ASK a Question about the "Strategy" of Obama's.....now that we KNOW McCain's Strategy worked.

I don't Buy Dead fish that have been DEAD for months.

The Republican Revolution will not be Televised

You have to admit though...

It's pretty painful watching Sen. McCain sometimes. I've always really liked him and it seems like I have fonder memories than he's been showing us lately..

I don't think most of us would have bet on McCain a year ago - or wanted to - but is he giving us what we asked for?

mike

most here asked for a conservative so the answer to your question would be no.

"You can not support the Troops if you do not support their Mission" 

It's even WORSE than you can Imagine...I did a random sample

I Turned on CNN, for the duration of a Microwave Dinner...Sort of a Random Sampling...this is what I heard in 4 Minutes.

Obama is staying Overnight in eastern Afghanistan, and this shows that this is just NOT a Photo Opportunity...etc..

Even Bush and Maliki are coming around to Obama's Timed Withdrawal Plan...etc...

------------------

WTF ?  The MSM is out of Control...they are pursuing the FIX for the Damage of Obama's previous non-working Plan for PULL OUT NOW.....

Maybe if the Terroriest KIDNAP Obama and Hold him for 5 Years he will come out of it as a Better person, equivalent to McCain.....failing in that...he ain't coming close IMHO>

The Republican Revolution will not be Televised

"Maybe if the Terroriest

"Maybe if the Terroriest KIDNAP Obama and Hold him for 5 Years he will come out of it as a Better person, equivalent to McCain"

My goodness.  Are you for real? 

I guess this means that McCain truly is the best candidate for the presidency. 

Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, and all the conservatives being considered for VP really shouldn't even be given a second look right?  I mean, afterall, none of them spent 5 years in captivity.

 

This quote from the AP

This quote from the AP article is great:

according to research conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism

The bias is blatantly obvious by anyone with half sense, as I pointed out here. I wonder, though... is it possible that really smart people somewhere are allowing all the fawning press coverage, for the exact purpose the mainstreams are starting to think about putting the brakes on now?

The MSM and the presidential campaign.

In every past election year the MSM reported on the presidential campaign one way or the other, typically with greater and greater liberal bias.

This year has been different; this year the MSM has conducted the presidential campaign.

Those who do not realize this are media pawns.

Those who do realize this are and rather like it, tacitly subscribe to the Joseph Goebbels School of journalism. Democracy in this country is now posed on a slippery slope.

Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.

This whole media dilema

This whole media dilema puts me in a kind of weird place. 

On one hand, I agree totally that BHO is getting more/positive coverage than McCain, but there's a part of me that wants McCain to come to the realization that these are the people he sucked up to for several years, while giving his own party the proverbial middle finger. I hope he has quiet times where he sits back and says: "I traded the loyalty of my party and base, for the likes of the media who are now crapping all over me...what was I thinking?"

I'm afraid I'll have to hold my nose and vote for McCain though.  Good grief, can somebody tell me where the Republican party went, and how this guy became our nominee?

Sigh....

The MSM Is The Answer

Two things happened that allowed McCain to become the nominee.

1. The MSM selected him as the nominee and made everyone but him sound like a right-wing monster, turning off everyone to the left of G. Gordon Libby to all other candidates.

2. The Republican Party leaders allowed the nomination process to be hijacked by two-bit states with open primaries at the beginning of the process. This silliness eliminated the good candidates early on, giving the rest of us no one to vote for. The party needs to stop this insanity, or we will get a bad candidate every time.

I feel like my vote was overridden by the MSM and by poorly-run primaries. I believe the liberals had an "Operation Chaos" themselves early on, voting in our open primaries. By the time I got a chance to vote, it was down to McCain, Mitt, and the Reverend, none of which I had any interest in at all, and none of which I felt had a prayer in the general election.

The Republican Party simply must change their primaries going forward. If you have an "open" primary, or worse yet, an anti-American caucus, you will be the LAST, not the first, states to vote. I am sorry if you are in a caucus state and do not like what I say. This country was founded on the secret vote; being able to go behind a curtain or put a folded-up slip of paper in a ballot box. To have groups of people standing around (sometimes being directed where to stand by their union representatives) and calling that an American voting process, is wrong.

There, I got it off my chest.

The Left's Operation Chaos

You're right - the open primaries showed a HUGE number of Democrats and unaffiliated to vote (I believe the numbers were as high as one-third of all votes). But this was OK, it was "Democracy In Action". But when the conservatives did likewise to the Democrats' open primaries, it was a travesty of justice and vote fraud.

I respect McCain the person - what he endured for his country is beyond words. I just don't like a lot of his policies. I'm torn between voting for him to prevent Obama from winning, or voting Constitution Party because they more closely represent my views. Since NJ is going to go Obama, probably the latter.

I don't know, a lot of these

I don't know, a lot of these criticisms/questions/observations from the not-so-usual suspects seem maybe of the "You fools! Don't be so blatant in your bias - you're blowing it for all of us! Go back to the old more subtle and harder to detect variety of bias" position.

McNotObama '08

If the attention gap

If the attention gap continues, the campaign will essentially become a
referendum on Obama, Rosenstiel said. While that may serve McCain's
purpose. . . .

Now, how does having the MSM fawning all over Obama serve McCain's purpose?? That makes no sense to me.

D

Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.

From the article: "They even

From the article:

"They even partly blame McCain. By criticizing Obama for a lack of foreign policy experience, McCain raised the stakes for Obama's trip, ``especially if he winds up going into two war zones,'' said Paul Friedman, senior vice president of CBS News."

I just heard this snippet on the radio this morning. Unbelievable. The MSM is actually trying to blame their bias on a McCain political miscalculation.

Another selection:

"Friedman cautioned against reading too much into things like PEJ's coverage index, noting that it's a long campaign. Yet it's an open question about whether Obama is simply a more interesting candidate at this point, partly because McCain has been on the scene longer.

While fairness is the goal, ``what are we supposed to do, go gin up some story about McCain to get some rough equality of airtime?'' he said. ``I don't think so.''"

Oh. I get it. The media is ignoring McCain because he isn't as "sexy" as Obama. Again, this is McCain's fault.

And a side note: would the "Fairness Doctrine" apply here? This guy just flat-out admitted coverage bias towards Obama.

One last snippet:

"NBC News President Steve Capus said he finds it funny this is an issue, considering how much people have accused the press corps — and still do — of being too cozy with McCain. The Arizona senator had been a frequent guest of ``Meet the Press.''

``We're just trying to do our jobs,'' Capus said. ``There's no question that there's great news value in Sen. Obama's trip overseas. That's why we are doing this."

We got a great example here of selective memory. The MSM was in the tank for McCain DURING the primary. But after he clinched it... they, of course, turned on him like rabid dogs (a blind man could've seen that coming). But the MSM isn't ever going to admit this.

And the last piece of spin is priceless. "great news value". Great. That is why they're doing this. "great news value". No need to explain exactly what that means.

And nowhere in this article do they address any POLITICAL bias. As I've pointed out, they blame "any" bias is due to McCain carping about Obama not visiting Iraq/Afghanistan (thus setting up this scenario), and McCain failing to have any "sex appeal". Nowhere in the article do they acknowledge any leftist cheerleading (at the least) and blatant electioneering (at the worse) for a politically favored candidate.

We've come to an interesting point, in that when the MSM attempts to have an "honest" self-examination, they fail miserably (hint: you can't improve yourself by blaming others).

" it's probably not fair to

" it's probably not fair to McCain.."

Ya think?

 

When asked if he went to war with Iraq to derail the impeachment vote: “I don’t think any serious person would believe that anyPresident would do such a thing." - President Clinton (Dec 1998).