Media Overdoing Coverage of Obama Trip
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, MediaI’m not a believer in the “liberal media” myth. Sure, liberalism influences the reporting of some journalists in some situations but political attitudes are far less important than modern journalism’s predilection to sensationalize the commonplace and create conflict in the mundane.
So, if blatant liberal bias is not as pervasive in the media as some critics believe, why are all three major network anchors following Barack Obama on his foreign tour? I’m hardly the first to comment on this overeager media love, but I think the question is worth addressing.
Make no mistake, Obama’s trip is newsworthy. But sending the lead anchor is a move the networks usually reserve for the most important world events – say, a sitting president’s first overseas excursion. Having the anchors trail a mere candidate on what is primarily a photo-op trip is just bizarre. John McCain couldn’t get the network anchors to follow him if he journeyed to the moon.
And, yes, this is pretty much a photo-op trip, although Obama is meeting with foreign leaders. Noam Scheiber of The New Republic has it right when he points out Obama’s trip is being stage-managed to the extreme. As Scheiber says, the most honest description of how these trips work actually came from Obama himself while dismissing Hillary Clinton’s globetrotting. Obama said:
“You get picked up at the airport by a state convoy and a security detail. They drive you over to the ambassador’s house and you get lunch. Then you go take a tour of some factory or some school. Children do a native dance.”
Obama will surely get something out of this trip, but it hardly qualifies as a national event worthy of network anchors trailing breathlessly behind. I always thought the media was McCain’s base. I guess not.
This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 21st, 2008 at 9:46 am
[...] Bias on Obama Coverage Submitted by David Ortez on July 21, 2008 - 10:42am. Alan Stewart Carl of Donklephant claims not believe in the “liberal media” myth but cries “liberal bias” when all three [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 12:17 pm
It’s a great opportunity to pack photo ops with black soldiers, even though the military as a whole is 60% white, and combat units (not to mention fatalities and injuries) are over 70% white.
Considering that non-stop worship of “minorities” is the order of the day in 2008 America, I’d say the media are just being consistent. They’re just practicing what they preach.
July 21st, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Dude, ratings. Folks are interested in this trip. McCain is boring. Obama rumbling around the world on this wave of foreign policy momentum from the Maliki comments is interesting stuff. Is it fair? Hell no. This trip is interesting but they’re overdoing it a little. McCain is getting a lot of love from the media (I do recall his last trip getting a decent amount of coverage while the Dem primary was in full swing).
Republicans are also feeling the same thing Hill’s supporters felt. If Obama is involved, he’s going to get the coverage because folks are following him in a much more intense manner and a lot more people are viewing him as the guy who is most likely going to be our next president, thus the interest.
McCain is running as a defacto-incumbent. Obama is getting the press coverage that George Bush got in 2000. Remember how lopsided that was? Bush’s every move was followed because he was fresher than Gore, the bigger name, and people were more interested in him.
July 21st, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I don’t remember national anchors traveling with Bush across the globe. Although I don’t remember Bush taking such a trip.
And while McCain’s trip received acceptable coverage, it was not given the kind of momentous coverage Obama’s trip is being given. I don’t think the networks should be playing favorites just because one guy is more favored to win.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:46 am
It’s true. They’re overdoing it. But it’s a matter of interest, not necessarily ideological favoritism. They want ratings, and the Dems are the folks that people want to hear about in newscasts, just like the country was interested in the son of an ex-president, a republican in 2000, not the internet-creating VP who sounds like a high-school science teacher.
You probably don’t recall Bush making that trip because foreign policy didn’t have a 1/10 of the importance in 2000 that it does now. The entire media culture has changed since then too.
The media gets behind the ratings, and Obama is where the ratings are. Plain and simple.