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Media Views

Slate: McCain Bites the Press (9/23/08) by Jack Shafer

In a piece mostly about the the John McCain campaign's new war on media, press critic Shafer writes that,

while I don't believe that the [New York] Times is pulling for Barack Obama, and I'd never judge an entire publication by one story, [McCain adviser] Steve Schmidt is right about the more general point he raises: The press corps does adore Barack Obama. They like his story. They like writing about him. They like the way he gives speeches. They like the way he makes them feel. And they don't mind cutting him slack whenever he acts like a regular politician—which he is.

As far as journalists' personal feelings are concerned, this may be true enough, what with MSNBC's Chris Matthews confessing to a "thrill going up my leg" during Obama's speeches. But what is the evidence for this translating into journalists "cutting him slack" in their reporting and commentary? This is a campaign, after all, where the views of Obama's former preacher became a major issue, unlike the odd opinions of McCain's religious backers; where Obama declining to accept a public financing system that would have put given him a severe financial disadvantage was decried, while McCain's reneging on a signed promise to rely on public financing in the primaries was given a pass; where the candidate who did not have trouble remembering how many houses he owns was the one who is accused of elitism. If this is love, Obama might be better off if he and the media were just friends.

See FAIR's magazine Extra!: The Myth of Pro-Obama Media Bias: Little Evidence for Self-Proclaimed 'Lovefest' (9–10/08) by John K. Wilson

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