John Heilemann of New York Magazine wrote a great article entitled “The Meme Prisoner” which explores the media bias that slants favorably towards Barack Obama. I will say that I have noticed this myself on the Feb 12th primaries, where every speech was clipped except Se. Obama’s. On MSNBC, coverage for Senator Clintons speech ended early for results stats, coverage of McCain’s didn’t begin until well into the second half of his speech, but only a brief 10 seconds was clipped out of the thanks portion of Senator Obama’s speech..
Now, I support Obama and will vote for him when he wins the nomination. On the other hand, media bias is what has me reading news almost constantly, trying to find a kernel of truth in a mountain of excrement. Media bias is unfair and manipulative and their favor of Barack Obama will have no bearing whatsoever on my support of his candidacy. It is merely a mundane roadblock that makes me work a little harder to educate myself.
My guess is that the MSM favors Obama because he is new and inspirational. He is piles of unwritten pages of something positive that they can write about, even if they have to filigree it a little bit. On the other hand, you have the Clintons, who have been in the news for almost two decades, with little of that being positive or motivational towards respect for politics.
The MSM has heard the call for inspiration, and have followed their wallets to Barack Obama and high paper and magazine sales. It’s telling that in all the media’s coverage of Sen. Obama, little attention has been given to his stands on important issues. Anyone who is serious about investigating a candidate will have to find his voting records and stances on Obama’s website. This also allows the slacker voters imply that he’s all talk, no substance. This is a double-edged sword.
The important thing is that the media’s treatment of Barack has no bearing on where the man stands on the issues or his ability to get the job done right. Sen. Clinton was able to overcome her unethical, hardass, etc. reputation to win a Senate seat. She’s just having more difficulty in this election because of the comparison to Barack Obama, whose reputation as “untouched by the Washington grime” has held remarkably well.
Tags: Barack Obama, Elections 2008, Hillary Clinton, Media Bias
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February 19th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Where does one find a kernel of truth in a mountain of excrement? Two places in todays world. C span which acts like an eagles eye, recording everything as it happens, and the foreign press which seems to have better sources than our own mass media…..forget anything domestic except to peruse the headlines…….
February 19th, 2008 at 6:43 am
[...] Merit Bound Alley has a piece on the MSM’s infatuation with Obama. I have reported on the MSM’s “dis” of Biden. Joe M writes that the MSM favors Obama in their coverage. I believe I now know why. If one was a reporter confined to hotel rooms and a bus, going through the usual campaign assignments by rote, one would sense that this Obama campaign was fundamentally different. [...]
February 19th, 2008 at 9:23 am
That’s good info, kavips. I really have to start remembering to go offshore for better news.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
[...] Post where he details the relatively unbalanced political coverage in the campaign correspondents. I’ve talked about this before. He then, however, waxes righteous about the power of the press: Sooner or later we realize that [...]
March 26th, 2008 at 10:51 am
[...] is the fact that more and more…because of the alternative media, or (in Hillary’s case) MSM bias in favor of one candidate over another, they get caught in their lies, and deceits. Which is making [...]