From Worldmag blog:
A reporter’s shame
Written by Emily Belz, October 27
Michael Malone, an ABC.com columnist who has been a reporter for 30 years with newspapers like the San Jose Mercury News, as well as an editor, says he is embarrassed to tell people now that he is a journalist.
You need to understand how painful this is for me. I am one of those people who truly bleeds ink when I’m cut. I am a fourth generation newspaperman.
He writes that journalism has never attained a gold standard of objectivity, but the media in this election have ceased to strive for fair, hard-hitting coverage.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those people who think the media has been too hard on, say, Gov. Palin, by rushing reportorial SWAT teams to Alaska to rifle through her garbage. This is the Big Leagues, and if she wants to suit up and take the field, then Gov. Palin better be ready to play….
No, what I object to (and I think most other Americans do as well) is the lack of equivalent hardball coverage of the other side - or worse, actively serving as attack dogs for Senators Obama and Biden.
And he goes for the throat of the people he finds ultimately responsible for journalistic irresponsibility.
I also happen to believe that most reporters, whatever their political bias, are human torpedoes . . .and, had they been unleashed, would have raced in and roughed up the Obama campaign as much as they did McCain’s. That’s what reporters do, I was proud to have been one, and I’m still drawn to a good story, any good story, like a shark to blood in the water.
So why weren’t those legions of hungry reporters set loose on the Obama campaign? Who are the real villains in this story of mainstream media betrayal?
The editors. The men and women you don’t see; the people who not only decide what goes in the paper, but what doesn’t; the managers who give the reporters their assignments and lay-out the editorial pages. They are the real culprits.
Which brings me to this Associated Press headline from Saturday:
“Biden a reliable running mate amid the stumbles.”
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1 comment:
When I heard about the "liberal media" from the McCain campaign I really just passed it off as typical media coverage (which is more liberal in my observations), and typical Republican banter to energize a base. But I keep hearing this over and over again and its very strange. In some ways its really easy to distinguish the bias towards Obama, but then you think well Obama is in reality a better news story than McCain. Also you have the story of the economy taking coverage, so I dunno. I mean I certainly think there's truth to this that the reporting during this election is disgraceful, but at the same time I think its just worse because Republicans are in bad shape this election, and McCain is not nearly as captivating as Obama.
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