Journal Entry for 09/16/08

Fox News: Hardly Fair or Balanced

While Fox News’s significant and noticeable conservative tilt is not new to me, I still found myself surprised by the level of bias in reports about the election. In Part 1 of The Obama Chronicles, a series that purports to show a fair picture of Obama to better inform people regardless of whether they will vote for him, Bill O’Reilly shows his opinion on the issue, referring to Obama’s mother as a “hippie” who frequently traveled and left Obama alone, and stated that Obama’s father was “irresponsible,” showing his willingness to share his opinion even in a news report.

In Talking Points for September 15, O’Reilly states that -“Guns, babies and bibles are the last things the New York Times wants to see endorsed in America”, in response to Maureen Dowd noting that Palin promotes the image of a woman with all three- his tone implying that he considers the New York Times’ priorities offensive. Toward the end of the segment, O’Reilly tells the viewers not to succumb to “left-wing hysteria,” but to scrutinize all the candidates. The degree of bias in his tone raises doubt on whether he will give both Republicans and Democrats adequate but not excessive scrutiny.

Huffington Post Problematic

During my investigation of the Huffington Post’s coverage of the 2008 election, I found much of the coverage to be superficial and partially biased. Several articles featured implicit favoritism of the Democratic candidates, sometimes by not giving the Republican candidates an adequate chance to respond to charges leveled against them. This is seen in this story, where Reid and Pelosi criticize McCain without any chance for McCain to defend his views, causing this story to serve no other purpose than to echo a candidate’s message.

This article is openly critical of McCain, characterizing him as out of touch with the economic situation, and openly states in the beginning that John McCain may want to refine his economic message a bit more during this potentially disastrous week for the financial sector,” openly indicating disagreement with him.” The lack of response may be a result of tight deadlines, as the story about Pelosi indicated that it had been updated. However, even if the Post struggles in the fast pace of internet news, it should not forget the principles of good journalism, as efficient reporting will offset any time spent on inevestigative reporting. The Huffington Post may fall behind the competition if it posts news after its rivals, but if it continues treating campaign pronouncements as important news and offering one-sided commentary, it fails to give its readers fair and informative coverage of the race.

The Washington Post: Good So Far, but Not Perfect

The Washington Post is best at providing in-depth investigative and analytical coverage of the race, possibly because its deadlines are daily, not hourly, but it still plays up stories that do not deserve as much attention.

This story about Sarah Palin’s husband warranted the coverage, as it is a legitimate news story even without the ties to Palin herself, due to the potentially problematic implications of Palin’s decision to dismiss her ex-brother-in-law. Even stories regarding the tactics and campaign statements sometimes analyze what the candidates are saying, as this story about Palin’s not knowing what the “Bush Doctrine” is explains that it is often difficult to define it.

However, there are some flaws with The Post’s reporting

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090801825.html This article almost completely focused on the demographics of the race and the statistics behind it, and was essentially horse race journalism. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091201259.html This article featured an attack by Obama, and while they made the sound decision of calling the McCain campaign for comment, excessive use of stories like these renders the media tools for campaigns to send out their message, rather than investigating and regulating the debate. Stories like that should be avoided unless they are especially noteworthy, prominent, or relate to issues that are prevalent in the race. While the Washington Post’s coverage is imperfect, it strives at helping voters understand the race, and goes farther than the Huffington Post or Fox News do.