Liberal Blogger Comments on Liberal Media Bias
By Rachel Paulk | July 29, 2008
Lee Stranahan, blogger carried by the Huffington Post (yes, I said that, the Huffington Post), wrote a blog about the coverage on the alleged John Edwards' affair scandal, or, to be more specific, the lack of coverage on-as he puts it- "the tsunami-sized scandal for the Democratic Party." Evidently Stranathan's observations didn't land him in the popular table at lunch today among his liberal counterparts.
He writes:
How's it going to play out? It seems to me that this is going to be a tsunami-sized scandal for the Democratic Party and right now the coming typhoon of press coverage is close to breaking. We're at the point of calm before the big waves hit but there are signs of the impending deluge. Jay Leno is making jokes about it. Perez Hilton is on the story. The mainstream media is fairly quiet but the most ominous silence right now is from the progressive blogosphere.
The progressive blogosphere is ignoring this story at its own peril because it's going to be big. At this moment, there's a weird state of denial about the entire thing. As of 4pm Saturday, nothing at all on TalkingPointMemo.com. DailyKos did a dismissive post making fun of the Enquirer. FireDogLake? Nothing. Americablog? Nada. These are some of my favorite blogs, by the way.
The Huffington Post has at least hovered about the edges of the story as it's been unfolding. There have been a couple of half-hearted, nothing-to-see-here blogs but also news reports on the latest events. A blog by John McQuaid said that there's no "physical evidence a la Bill Clinton." Well, there's a baby. Not a stained dress left to hang in the closest for a few months but a real cooing, smiling little baby who I assume looks adorable on camera and probably has nice hair. That lil' tyke is stuffed full of DNA, too. Cute little DNA.
Despite what some people are going to say, this is news. A former
Senator and Vice Presidential candidate who was running for President
less than six months ago and is now on the short list for Vice
President has an long affair during the campaign and fathers a child,
covers it up, and then is caught at a hotel with the mother of the
child. News! Oh -- and his wife made regular appearances on the
campaign trail and has been diagnosed with cancer. If it were Mitt
Romney, you'd be hearing peels of laughter and the satisfying smacking
sound of Merlot and Starbucks fueled high fives coming from the nearest
blue state. Would it have made the progressive blogs? C'mon, of course
it would...with funny pictures and as many self-satisfied comments as
you can shake a Macbook Air at.
It's a juicy story that has so many elements that are easy hooks for those short segments on cable news where two people argue while the news anchor asks softball questions. Here's a quick list of all the story angles I can think of just off the top of my head.
John Edwards Matters This isn't a Mike Gravel affair. (Sorry to put that image in your head.) John Edwards been the conscience of the Democratic Party this primary season and a compelling presence speaking out on the growing gap between rich and poor. If he wasn't going to be Vice President, most Democrats wanted him somewhere in an Obama cabinet.
Video Clips Galore! Cable news loves showing video clips, usually in looping montages. Those webisodes that Hunter made that were taken down? They look flirty and suspicious in light of the alleged affair.
It's Fresh The Edwards affair happened during the primary campaign. This isn't ancient history. What if he's WON the primary? Would he really have taken the nomination and handed the race to McCain?
Primary Revisionism Will the affair change the way we look back on the primary? Why did Edwards drop out of the race so quickly? Why did Edwards not endorse anyone until his endorsement was a moot point? Endless debates will ensue.
DNA! The press loves any story with DNA. Drama! DNA test refusals. Acceptance. Test goes out. What will happen? It's like Montel Williams but it takes weeks!
Democratic Convention in Denver happening soon. Will Edwards speak? Will he appear at all? What about Elizabeth? Oh, the drama. You'll see.
"How could he do that to his sick wife?" This whole thing doesn't play well with women voters. Or women non-voters. Or men.
"Should we care about politician's sex lives?" Whatever your answer, that's a hook for the press. As soon as the story reaches a big tipping point, the mainstream press will question the story.
"Liberal media bias" - here's the big one. Republicans have had a lot of embarrassing, juicy sex scandals of their own lately and boy, do they want some payback. It doesn't look good that the Los Angeles Times banned bloggers from discussing the story. Where's the Times investigation -- seems like the story is in their backyard. And that silence you hear from the mainstream press right now? The GOP is going to "play the refs" and jump all over the media for not reporting or investigating this story. The media will eventually break down and do what they do - saturate us with the story they missed just to prove how unbiased they really are.
To view the whole article: here.
Bush won't endorse McCain because of the negative backlash involved, so I won't endorse Stranahan (who's voting for Obama, anyways). But at any rate I thought it groundbreaking to see a liberal blogger commenting on the lack of media coverage due to its liberal bias.
Rachel Paulk is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.
7 Comments | Post a Comment
When we posted this story in Dec. 2007 (and we certainly weren’t the only blog to do so) the article was hit about 6,000 times, leading me to believe that it was absolutely newsworthy with or without Edward’s admission. After all - all the same elements are there. Not much has changed in a half a year.
The fly in the ointment here though is that is shows pretty plainly how bent the media is. Oh yeah, I know, they’ll cover liberal goofs when they absolutely have to. The cable news networks are forcing them to cover all sorts of things they didn’t want to cover before….
However the newspapers - like the NY Times will splash an unproven story about an alleged McCain affair all over the front page, while the Edwards story (which has had sources, photos and the woman’s own allegations) was flatly ignored.
Now the liberal press proports “he’s not running for anything, why does it matter?”
Well, the story happened when he was running for something - he then was a viable VP candidate and lastly, yes, he is STILL in active in the political process, stumping for Obama (until now anyway).
To say it’s not a legitimate, serious story is pure nonsense - and since I seriously doubt Edwards is coming clean about the child being his, it will continue to be a story.
The aggravating thing to me is the simple fact that if one of our soliders messes up on the battlefield, fighting for their lives… the media will run with that story for years and years.
Type GITMO into a Google search and count the major media links appear by the hundreds and probably thousands.
Let one of their own mess up, lie about it, cover it up…. and it’s page 18 news at the very most.
Danny Vice
http://www.theweeklyvice.com
Why do GOP supporters claim mainstream media covering up the Edwards affair? First of all Bill O’Reilly, Hannity & Colmes and Rush are not reporters. They are entertainers. They are totally bias and twist, spin and turn the news for ratings. Their agenda is to discredit liberals and democrats.
The mainstreams report the news good, bad or indifferent. Personally I think they have done a good job being fair and balanced. I have not seen any reports on McCain’s young adult years as they relate to womanizing, goofing off in the naval academy, poor college grades and the adulterous relationship with a young Cindy.
The mainstream media reports the positive about McCain and Obama and leave the questionable stuff with the tabloid media.
Well another night of totally liberal bias on Jay Leno’s Tonight show. All jokes on McCain/Palin and none on Barack Hussein Bin Laden. What a joke - I can’t switch the channel fast enough. I hope their advertisers get the message thay are losing their viewer audience.
Well it is because McCain/Palin are easy fodder. Palin has been lying on the campaign trail and will not take questions? She is also under investigation and will not corporate with investigators. This woman has not been fully vetted and the worst is yet to come.
Definitely some very good points. I need to pass this article on to a few colleagues….
Dennis
Internet Millionaire
August 5 at 1:02 am | #1 | Link
What affaire? These are allegations and cannot be substantiated. Except on FOX news