AIM Editor Says Times Damages McCain; Urges Probe of Obama’s Far-left Ties
Press Release | February 21, 2008
WASHINGTON,
February 21, 2008 -- While the New York Times' page one story
about Senator John McCain offers no hard evidence that he was involved
romantically with a female lobbyist, Accuracy in Media (AIM) editor
Cliff Kincaid said today that McCain's relationships with lobbyists,
including the one who runs his campaign, should be subjected to scrutiny.
"Special interests which try to influence members of the Senate should
be exposed," Kincaid said. "That is a job for the media to do."
By the same token, he quickly added,
Senator Barack Obama's involvement with a socialist group in Chicago,
which has backed his political career, should also be investigated by
the media. Kincaid has published several articles on the AIM website www.aim.org about Obama's ties to the Democratic Socialists
of America, his mentoring by a known member of the Communist Party,
and sponsorship of a pro-U.N. massive foreign aid bill. "But these
are not issues for the Times," Kincaid said. "It is obvious that
the paper has a double-standard."
Kincaid questioned why McCain drew more
attention to the story by holding a news conference and hiring an expensive
lawyer, Bob Bennett, to deal with the controversy. "The conclusion
has to be that the story, written by four Times reporters with material
from two other contributors, is seriously damaging to his campaign and
could eventually force him out of the presidential race," the AIM
editor said. "It's fine for the media to have this kind of power
but they should use it to investigate all of the candidates. Singling
out McCain for this kind of treatment is unfair."
Accuracy in Media is a citizens' media
watchdog organization whose mission is to promote fairness, balance,
and accuracy in news reporting. Founded in 1969, AIM is the oldest
non-profit press watchdog group in America.
For more information, please visit www.aim.org.
To
arrange an interview with AIM editor Cliff Kincaid, contact Sarah
Schaerr Norton at (202) 364-4401 ext. 107 or
.
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