The Myth of Pro-Obama Media Bias (F.A. I. R. Extra).

[chill_wind]

Extra! September/October 2008

The Myth of Pro-Obama Media Bias
Little evidence for self-proclaimed ‘lovefest’

By John K. Wilson

If there has been one unquestioned assumption of the 2008 election, it is that the media love Barack Obama.

Rush Limbaugh declared that the media were following Obama with “their tongues dragging along the concrete to the floors.” “Lenin, Stalin never got this kind of coverage from their media,” Limbaugh claimed (7/22/08), which he blamed on the “chickification of our culture and the news business” (7/21/08).

Joseph McQuaid, publisher of the conservative New Hampshire Union Leader, wrote an editorial headlined “Obama Orgy” (7/21/08) that denounced “the outrageous imbalance in the major media’s coverage of the candidates.” Such proclamations bolstered a GOP offensive against what the McCain campaign (7/22/08) called media’s “bizarre fascination with Barack Obama. Some may even say it’s a love affair.” A Republican National Committee fundraising letter two days later (7/23/08) decried “the fawning, one-sided coverage Barack Obama and Democrat candidates receive from the mainstream media.”

But it’s not just conservatives complaining about Obama coverage; corporate media have likewise echoed the GOP’s talking points. Many pointed to Obama’s overseas trip in July as an example of this alleged bias. At the start of the trip, CBS Evening News (7/22/08) anchor Katie Couric spoke of the “Obamathon . . . the non-stop coverage this week has stolen most of the limelight from his opponent” and asked, “Will this summer of love last?” “Obama was a media darling,” declared CBS reporter Thalia Assuras at the end of the trip (7/27/08).

more: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3612

As usual media themselves are makers of the big lie and myth.

[Meshuga]

1. Today was a great example of anti-Obama bias

Obama passed McCain in pretty much all national polls. Granted, it is a technical tie in the polls but the McCain/Palin bump deflated pretty hard. When Obama reached 50% in the polls Politico.com had some schmuck writing that Obama did not have a bounce. Then, when McCain got his bounce, the headlines appeared everywhere celebrating the fact that Obama's support was diminishing and that McCain was taking over the race. It was a HUGE deal.

Now that Obama is ahead all we see are headlines trying to equate Obama to McCain when it comes to the economy. For example, AP has one headline out there titled "Candidates scramble to shift economic message" (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080917/ap_on_el_pr/candidates_economy) giving the impression that Obama is having the same troubles as McCain when it comes to the current state of the economy.

Cable news have been echoing the GOP talking points as if they were legit.

It is so fucking irritating!

Liberal media my ass!

[chill_wind]

2. WE thought and hoped this time would be mildly different. Not so.

It's chilling to realize that they are fine with the kind of world another 8 years of McBush/Palin would leave their sons and daughters.

[chill_wind]

3. CNN illustrates the point (yet again) by equating both sides...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x192153

[Demeter]

4. I Never Noted Any Media Love for Obama

He was too much the straight arrow--can't sell ads with that. Too boring.