Sarah and Barack...Lessons in Media Bias

The free press in America over the last decade has obviously slid left, but the last several years the slide has become the extreme descent at your favorite water park ride. The coverage of two politicians over the last two years has revealed a bias that is making the main stream media obsolete and irrelevant in the minds of many Americans. Let's look at the coverage of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin over the 2008 campaign and beyond. If you remember Hillary Clinton was already compiling her transition team at the start of the democrat primaries. It was a  forgone conclusion that she was going to be the nominee and, with the toxic atmosphere for Republicans, the next president. Along comes Barack Obama.

It's not so much that Obama got glowing coverage when the primaries started, but the vetting was non-existent because every one assumed Hillary was going to be the nominee. Then came Iowa, and the dynamic changed, and suddenly the press jumped on the Obama bandwagon. Hillary came back swinging in Hew Hampshire, but the media by this time had found their man. The Clinton campaign desperately desired the media to vet Obama on his drug admissions, and his radical associations, both of which the press refused to do. His most liberal senate voting record for 2007 wasn't emphasized in either the primaries or the general election. The "Center for Media and Public Affairs," Analyzed every soundbite  from every reporter, and found 0bama received the most positive coverage of any presidential candidate ever. The general election was extremely slanted, with Obama getting 68% positive and 32% negative coverage, compared to 36% positive and 64% negative for McCain. Then along came Sarah Palin.

Other then the first few days after McCain announced her as running mate, and she made a triumphant speech at the convention, the coverage of her was brutal, deceptive, and downright libelous. Remember the swarm of reporters that descended on little Wisilla Alaska during the final stretch of the 2008 campaign. The mainstream media even reported some blogger's assertion that her baby Trig was actually her daughters. There was the endless reports of infighting in the McCain campaign, and of course the wardrobe controversy. The Gotcha interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric. No such vetting or scrutiny for the, "newly media crowned messiah." No talk of his campaign buying his $1,700.00 suites, or his wife's designer wardrobe, and the closest thing Obama got to a gotcha interview was Bill O'Reilly's very well balanced questioning. One interesting aside was the two photos of Obama and Palin on Newsweek covers, and their Titles, just before the election. Check them out here.

Of course after the campaign, the Palin Derangement Syndrome continued, a virus that mutated from the Bush Derangement syndrome, and which is epidemic among the mainstream media. Meanwhile the newly crowned president was receiving constant gushing coverage. Was that just, "to the victor belongs the spoils," or was it more. At the same time Sarah, who had become a flash point for all things political, was under a barrage of scurrilous ethics complaints that ultimately led her to resign as governor, because of $500,000.00 in legal defense fees, and countless hours of time to fight them. The mainstream media kept reporting the complaints, but never went into the unfounded nature of them. By the way, all but one have been dismissed. Meanwhile Nancy Pelosi has yet to have an ethics complaint filed against her, that I'm aware of,  for all the travel abuses and taxpayer money that has gone to her traveling band of merry democrats that includes private trips for her children and grand children. The media has been silent, and those stories only appear on Drudge, Fox news, and similar venues.

Now we see Sarah making a comeback with a successful book and book tour, and a media job with Fox News. AP actual put 11 reporters in charge of fact checking her book. Did Obama's books get that kind of scrutiny? Her poll numbers have risen, mainly because she has bi-past the mainstream media and taken her case directly to the people. At the same time the messiah's polls numbers have slid precipitously, even though the media is still is carrying his water. Could it be that policy matters, and no amount of propaganda can change the fact that America is still a center right country, and the majority of Americans have a value system closer to Sarah Palin's than Barack Obama's? A Dec 9, 2009 article talks about their two poll numbers, and the difference between them melting to one point.

Many mainstream media outlets find themselves in a desperate situation. The New York Times and other major print organizations are losing readership. The three broadcast networks have lost viewership, while one, Fox News,  has increased. Could it be that propaganda doesn't sell like it once did? What is happening with the ascension of the new media? The Mainstream media biases are being called out, and the American people don't like being manipulated and treated as dolts. A recent poll shows Fox News is now the most trusted media outlet. They were also the most critical of Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign. Are those two facts a coincidence? I think not. The American people are waking up and realizing that the mainstream media did not truthfully report and vet the qualifications and policy positions of Barack Obama? Even now trying to get stories about broken campaign promises, and  questionable policies are slow in coming, although their survival may depend on a renewed responsibility to become, once again, democracy's watchdog. 

No politician has ever received more negative coverage than Sarah Palin, but her tenacity and character has eventually gotten through the media filter, and the people are seeing her for who she is. They are increasingly sympathetic to her conservative common sense solutions.  Barack Obama on the other hand has received the most positive media coverage of any candidate and president to this point. His true character, ie.. "broken campaign promises and true intentions," has come through, despite unprecedented favorable coverage. The mainstream media accomplished what they intended, and that was to put Barack Obama in the White House, but in so doing they have fatally damaged the progressive agenda, for years to come. All democrats in congress are now vulnerable, and a new conservative movement is amassing.  

Once again the people are making their own decision on what they like and dis-like about Obama and his agenda. You would think the media would understand that when you lift a flawed human to godlike and unrealistic expectations, the only direction  is down. And, when you unfairly scrutinize and malign another to a ridiculous point, rising  status will inevitably come their way, if they have character and integrity. The unprecedented fairness of the American people has made Fox News, Sarah Palin and all they represent winners, and the mainstream media, the Obama Administration and all they represent  losers in the battle for the hearts and minds of the electorate. What a ride the American people are in store for in the coming years, as ideologies, character and policy are debated and fleshed out with a less powerful mainstream media and a growing and more influential new media.
Read: Sarah Sensational.....at my other blog...Con Men 4 Palin

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