Bias in the media over McCain and Obama? Surely, there's no such thing!

OK, we've been talking here all week. It's Saturday. Your turn.

So watch this video for a couple of minutes. It's from MSNBC. It's about media bias and how come Barack Obama runs hundreds of negative ads, according to one study, and the media ends up talking about John McCain's eight?

It's not so much that the media tells you what to think. It's that the media tells you what to think about.

What's your take? Tell us down below.

--Andrew Malcolm

For instant alerts of every new Ticket item flashed secretly to your cell, go here and register.

Comments

[all-mi-t]

I guess it is politics as usual for the GOP

[coolrepublica]

I don't care for the media. They have decided that Obama must be president and there is nothing anyone can say to stop them.

The Washington Post endorsement of Obama is the poster child for affirmative action presidency. As they said Obama has a thin resume, and his record of doing things instead of talking about them is non-existent, but he speaks so well and he doesn't seem to get angry therefore he is perfect to be president.

Mccain has a long history of actually doing things, he has served his country and has done so honorably. He has been on the side of the tax payer all his career, but we can't support him because, wel,l he's white and he has a temper that we keep hearing about but have actually never witnessed, therefore the not so angry black guy has to be president instead.

So the media can try all they want to make me think what they want me to think. But Obama could be blacker than I, he wouldn't get my vote. I feel no guilt for voting for McCain. People who are easily guilt into voting for Obama by the media for fear of been labeled racist need to get help ASAP. This elections is not "I want to be Obama's New BFF." For once I want Americans to vote for the guy they don't care to have a beer with, but know will do a good job at what you hired him for.

[WW Terry]

Barack's IQ is only 130? I have been led by the media to believe he was brilliant. With all his screw ups and changing of positions I believe they lied about his IQ and would put his IQ at about 107. Barely above average. Maybe he has been eating those lobsters with the intent of improving his limited IQ.

[Carla]

Hmmm, this IS stupid. Obama may run more ads and certainly he's not going to be running ads that portray McCain as the best choice for president BUT the big difference is what the ads say. Obama's ads attack policy. McCain's ads are PERSONAL and they seek to portray Obama as some kind of evil terrorist. They seek to create FEAR about electing the first black president.

This whole conversation about SEXISM toward Sarah Palin is ridiculous. What male candidate in this country could get away with not facing the press or answering questions? Yet, the McCain campaign has been able to hide Sarah.

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!

Obama is not God. Obama is a calm, rational, intelligent person who represents what America looks like in 2008. That's the bottom line. Republicans need to learn some sportsmanship.

[Alden Smith]

Since when in America has it been seen as a bad thing because someone has more money to spend in an election than the other party candidate? The real thing here is the fact that Obama has had much more money to advertise than McCain. Do you not think that, if the situation were reversed, it wouldn't be the same way it is now, only with McCain spending the money on advertisement?

Sarah Palin - I do not see her as being abused by the media or by any campaign effort. Her rhetoric and knowledge of the world view IS laughable, and if that cannot be seen, there is something wrong in this country - VERY wrong. Take a look at what happens in Alaska. It is not all sweetness and light like you would like us to believe. That woman scares me to death. To know she would be one heartbeat away from leading this country in these troubling times is even scarier. I think any thinking person would agree.

Alden Smith

[Tek Jansen]

This is a case of "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice..."

The McCain campaign has been one of distortion and the media is seeking redemption for towing the line for W's Iraq War justification. They're not about to let that happen again.

The pursuit of truth is the main responsibility, is it not? Obama may be negative, but McCain has simply been untruthful.

The Front for the Eradication of Libelous Conservative Hyperbole has no problem with this.

[theotherone]

Attacking McCain's proposed policies are NOT "attack ads." Attack ads are the ones that call Obama 'dishonorable' and 'dangerous.' Sure, Obama has had a few of those about McCain, too... but do you really expect me to equate an attack on policy with an attack on character?

The victim card played by the McCain campaign here is one of the most laughable things I can imagine. Note how the McCain strategist didn't--and can't-- address Palin's 'terrorist' statement. Truly distasteful, all around.

[Tom J]

Unless and until the media point out a few basics, the public will continue to turn them off.

There's a difference between an ad that's negative on an opponent's policies and viewpoints, and an ad that's negative on an opponent's background.

There's a difference between an ad that's true, and an ad that's based on nothing but lies, smears and innuendo.

Finally, the supposed 'ad count' comparison is absurd if you count the robo-calls going out in swing states, paid for by McCain and the RNC, re-spreading lies, smears and innuendo.

I'm not sorry these 'Republicans' will lose. I an sorry McCain has chosen to drag his own reputation through the mud while doing so.

But, perhaps that's what it takes to get the real Republicans to reclaim their Lincoln and Eisenhower heritage. At one time, they really were a 'Frand Old Party', and worthy opponents. Our two party system was something to be justly proud of. Now it's a joke. So let's get past the punchline and move on.

[$.o2]

The gist of this tripe is that the media should strive for a balance in their reporting much as Andrew Malcolm has.
Sarah Platitude is a halfwit. the Republicans would never elect a half wit to office. Oh wait, they just did, for two consecutive terms.
John McCain is the Alfred E. Newman of politics. His intelligence and his abilities are only surpassed by any living being.
Andrew Malcolm is a non-relevent Lady Lyn Rothschild. His inuendo is masking something dark, but what could it be? It's impossible to tell because Andrew is just too clever.

[JKIR]

I'm shocked that this sort of thing was being discussed on MSNBC!! I though they were so in the tank for Obama that journalistic integrity had gone completely out the window!! I was a Hillary Clinton supporter and if any of the media were trying to treat her with kids gloves, LOL, it sure wasn't apparent. We heard so many terrible things said about her and unless I heard her say something myself in a video I learned that NOTHING by the media could be trusted. I used to think AP was at least factual--NOT! Sarah Palin has been flat-out smeared by the media. This woman is beloved by both Dems and Repubs in her own state with an 80% approval rating. She's actually pretty moderate in her politics. You all have painted her as a total bimbo. With Hillary it was Bitch and with Palin it's Bimbo--the opposite ends of the spectrum of sexism. You are ruining our country by not reporting in an unbiased manner. You are destroying America by not giving the people ALL the truth so they can vote in an informed manner. Journalism used to be the most noble of endeavors. I am crying for what used to be one of the greatest things about America--the freedom of the press that was used to tell the people reality. I now feel like I'm living out a Shakespearean tragedy. What point is there in having freedom of the press if it isn't used to bring justice through truth?

[Ginger Snap]

What does this video tells us? 1. Obama has more money to run ads in this specific target area. 2. Some Obama supporters are nasty, and I agree they should be ashamed. 3. As one reporter finally mentions, the 13,000 Obama ads are negative about failed Republican policies, but the 8 McCain ads are negative about Obama's character. In short, the Republicans are complaining because Obama has more money and he's calling them Republicans -- yikes, I'd be insulted, too! In the meantime, no one talks about the fact that McCain's ads leading up to the third debate were 100% negative and overall are 70+ percent negative -- and negative in the nastiest, divisive way possible. Geez, guys, get a grip.

[Tracey]

I've heard about people living in the former Soviet Union or Eastern bloc countries. In time, they came to understand that anything in the newspaper should not be believed, or at best, they attempted to read between the lines.

I simply don't believe the news anymore. I had always considered myself a Democrat, but the single biggest thing that changed my political point of view during this election season was the over-the-top bias of the media. It made me uncomfortable at first, and in time, I simply... turned away. I won't support Obama, though I don't know what I will do with my vote for head of the executive branch yet.

I'd say the media should be ashamed, but honestly, I simply don't care enough about the media anymore to admonish them. It's just pro-Obama propaganda. It will be amusing to see all the studies that prove it, once Obama has been installed in the White House.

[Eric]

In all honesty, the only reason Obama is garnering all the positive attention is because he is ahead in the polls. I honestly believe if McCain were winning, he would be the media darling and in the same scenario, had Obama employed the personal attack ads, he would be foundering just as hard.
I still believe journalistic integrity is practiced amongst newscasters and writers who report for reputable institutions. In the end it's incumbent on the viewer to ferret out which of these are actually trustworthy.

[Carol]

I believe it has long term repercussions. I have no trust whatsoever in the media. I stopped buying newspapers. Stopped reading blogs and newspaper sites. Stopped watching MSNBC and even ended up watching Fox which seemed less biased than most TV news. Ugh. It is a sad state when you end up getting your news from international sources because you can't trust your own national sources. That is what this election has done - because if the media is manipulative, biased and untrustworthy in this issue it will be so in others as well.

[Melinda]

Media bias? In the old days, I would have cried foul. As a journalist, I know how often people like to cry "bias" just to cover up their own dirty deeds. Over the last 2 years of this election cycle, however, I have become increasingly enraged at the complete destruction of journalistic ethics in the name of Barack Obama. I'm a liberal and have always voted Democrat (not this time) but that bias should never matter to a journalist. Each candidate, each party, each politician should be treated as if he or she is an opponent.

Obama and Biden, however, have been coddled. If any Republican had Obama's record of dirty political tricks (ask Jack Ryan or anyone in Chicago politics), questionable fundraising, radical connections and a wafer-thin resume, the media would have been all over it. If any Republican had the same history of making boneheaded and downright politically suicidal comments as Biden, we'd be all over it. If any Republican had lied as often or as blatantly as the Obama/Biden campaign,... well you know where that's going.

Just so you know, that "95%" who'll get a tax break, the $2500 insurance savings, the increased spending that's "all paid for"... are all a figment of Obama's fevered imagination. All have been repeatedly revealed as lies by nonpartisan fact-checking and analysis organizations. Yet Obama/Biden repeat these lies ad nauseum without being called on it by the mainstream press.

As far as the negative ads, I'd like to correct the commenters above. Obama has run dozens of personal attack ads calling McCain out of touch, erratic, racist/anti-immigrant (in Spanish), etc. They have used fear tactics by claiming his policies would cut Social Security benefits in half for current retirees. In August, 90% of Obama's ads were negatives. Through most of September, Obama's percentage of negative ads was HIGHER than McCains. Note, that's percentage not number so it's not affected by mere funding differences. None of this has gotten the kind of mainstream wall-to-wall coverage as McCain's attacks.

[Travis]

This is a common complaint from the right. What they always fail to acknowledge is that the media usually reports their behavior, which is usually negative. In other words, if you're going to behave like a jerk, don't blame the media for showing you for what you really are. McCain's behavior at the dawn of the economic collapse (like a chicken with its head cut off), Palin's refusal to be interviewed, McCain's negative attitude towards the press, McCain's persistent use of smear tactics that no one really cares about, all of these behaviors (and many more) are not the kind of actions that illicit positive responses. If you want positive coverage, BE POSITIVE. Don't blame the media for showing you for what you are.