Over the last year as the presidential primaries and campaigns have heated up, there has been an increasing scrutiny of the media. Each major candidate at one time or another has posited that "the media"--whether they characterize the media as "liberal" or "mainstream" or what have you--is out to get them in some way. They don't like me, they're misrepresenting my position, they aren't digging up enough dirt about my opponent, they are being sexist, they are being racist, and on and on and on.
I think this whining at the fourth estate has been taken to a new level of shrillness with the McCain campaign at the moment, which is struggling to formulate a coherent message to the public, even five weeks out of the general election. Especially with the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket, they have blasted the media for being "in the tank" for Obama, have questioned the credibility of news sources (namely, the NYT), and have refused to allow the media to talk to Palin unless they showed "some level of respect and deference."
Just today in a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt, Palin says she receives poor media treatment because she represents Average Joe Sixpack. Now, since when does the media not like, as she says, Joe Sixpack? Aren't these the same people that watch their shows, that give them ratings, that attract advertisers, that pay its salary? And how all of the sudden does being a part of the media exclude you from being an average joe? Do reporters, journalists, cameramen, photographers not have mortgages and bills? Do they not have families and churches? Are they not also a part of this country?
Of course, the media operates on a sometimes different set of standards and priorities. They have a ethics code they are held to (and sometimes fail to hold) and are at the mercy of a good story, yes. But when a reporter puts down his or her microphone and heads back home for the night to his or her family, how does it benefit them to "be in the tank" for one candidate or another? Everyone has their biases, but to accuse the media for your own shortcomings is to underestimate your own power to control the conversation, to overestimate the power of the media as one huge conglomeration, and to underestimate the sophistication of the American voter.
Oh I almost forgot. Sarah Palin, a journalism major, is especially qualified to speak about the media since she reads "all of 'em."
I think this whining at the fourth estate has been taken to a new level of shrillness with the McCain campaign at the moment, which is struggling to formulate a coherent message to the public, even five weeks out of the general election. Especially with the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket, they have blasted the media for being "in the tank" for Obama, have questioned the credibility of news sources (namely, the NYT), and have refused to allow the media to talk to Palin unless they showed "some level of respect and deference."
Just today in a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt, Palin says she receives poor media treatment because she represents Average Joe Sixpack. Now, since when does the media not like, as she says, Joe Sixpack? Aren't these the same people that watch their shows, that give them ratings, that attract advertisers, that pay its salary? And how all of the sudden does being a part of the media exclude you from being an average joe? Do reporters, journalists, cameramen, photographers not have mortgages and bills? Do they not have families and churches? Are they not also a part of this country?
Of course, the media operates on a sometimes different set of standards and priorities. They have a ethics code they are held to (and sometimes fail to hold) and are at the mercy of a good story, yes. But when a reporter puts down his or her microphone and heads back home for the night to his or her family, how does it benefit them to "be in the tank" for one candidate or another? Everyone has their biases, but to accuse the media for your own shortcomings is to underestimate your own power to control the conversation, to overestimate the power of the media as one huge conglomeration, and to underestimate the sophistication of the American voter.
Oh I almost forgot. Sarah Palin, a journalism major, is especially qualified to speak about the media since she reads "all of 'em."
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