On Monday night and Tuesday morning, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC offered multiple segments decrying presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for revoking press credentials from The Washington Post while having the exact opposite reaction to three newspapers being banned from the Obama campaign press plane in 2008.
Between the Monday evening Tuesday morning network newscasts, there have been roughly two minutes of coverage reporting on “Trump’s latest target” following a headline on Monday that the billionaire viewed as part of “incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign.”
While it’s fair to debate whether or not what Trump has done to various media organizations is fair or unjust, the networks appeared to have adopted a completely different strategy when the Obama campaign decided on October 30, 2008 that Dallas Morning News, New York Post, and The Washington Times would not be allowed to be a part of the traveling press corps. Of course, this came just days before the presidential election on November 4.
An extensive review of both Nexis and NewsBusters archives found no such mention of the Obama campaign’s ban between October 30, 2008 and November 4, 2008 but ABC relegated it to an article on its website.
At the time the booting, NewsBusters wrote the following after quoting extensively from a Times article about the decision:
That explanation rings a little hollow. Room could have been made but wasn't because the Times doesn't go gaga for Obama. The Times is one of America's most famous newspapers, excluding it is a disgrace.
Is this the kind of smiley faced censorship we have to look forward to if Barack Obama wins? Those who insist the Fairness Doctrine is in no danger of being resurrected should think again.
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The liberal elite media heavily criticized the McCain campaign for restricting Sarah Palin's interviews to conservative-friendly media outlets. Anyone who thought that was wrong needs to condemn this disgraceful behavior.
