Media Treatment of Obama vs. McCain

Image from source, ABC News

Are there two sides to every story? Yes, though they are not always equally weighted. For instance, Person A might say, "The sun always rises in the east." Person B might say, "So far, the sun has always risen in the east, but who knows, it might rise in the west some day." You'd think Person B was kinda nutty, and that his argument isn't as important as Person A, right?

Of course, if you're like me, you don't neatly fit into a box, and you might be Person C: "The sun doesn't actually rise, it is the Earth's rotation that makes it appear that way. And it will continue to appear that way until the Earth stops spinning, or the sun burns out." I'm weird that way.

But the news these days--unless it is a commentary show like Countdown with Keith Olbermann or the entirety of FOX "News"--people expect two equal sides on everything. And when the news doesn't seem to deliver? Media bias!!! John McCain has been covered in X number of negative stories, and Barack Obama in considerably less? Liberal media bias!!!

No one ever seems to stop and consider that maybe Obama didn't have as many things currently going on that were negative to warrant equal negative coverage. This happened back in the Democratic Primaries too, when the math for victory became virtually impossible for Hillary Clinton. Though this ended up being borne out by history, at the time the news media was declared to be "in the tank" for Obama. This despite the fact that there was simply more negative news to be reported for Clinton.

In the following article, the author goes on at considerable length about the media being "in the tank" for Obama, versus against John McCain. I don't buy it. At this moment--though I hasten to add that it could change--Obama is in the lead. There is simply more negative news to report about McCain right now. His running mate, Sarah Palin, has provided new nuggets every day.

But where is the converse argument? How many times have you seen a positive news story about Joe Biden? How often have you heard anything about Biden lately? When he makes one of his infamous gaffes, that's when. And practically, only then. What does that say about the media? That they're reporting what is newsworthy. Or at worst, they are reporting what is scintillating. That's it.

[Excerpt]

Media's Presidential Bias and Decline

The traditional media are playing a very, very dangerous game -- with their readers, with the Constitution and with their own fates.

The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is not just bewildering, but appalling. And over the last few months I've found myself slowly moving from shaking my head at the obvious one-sided reporting, to actually shouting at the screen of my television and my laptop computer. . .

Read more (it's a doozy) at: ABC News