Politicized News

[2:30]

We've now been through a full election cycle in which outlets with a point of view have openly rooted for their candidate. They maintain a fig leaf of distance between their news and prime time news/talk operations - but is that enough?

My thought: I don't see how the genie gets stuffed back in the bottle, but neither FNC nor MSNBC seem worthy of anything less than our disgust - and CNN isn't much better. If the bosses want to put that kind of stuff on the air, can't they do it somewhere other than on a channel supposedly devoted to news?

[wx or not]

I hate to say this, 2:30, but as long as people complain about it, then the networks have done their job.

[kmfdmatt]

on the subject of politicizing the news, let's take a look at an "urgent" from the AP this morning and examine the last sentence...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that
as an African-American she is "especially proud" that Democrat
Barack Obama has been elected the first black U.S. president.
Rice told reporters Wednesday that Obama was "inspirational"
and Republican John McCain was "gracious" in defeat.
Rice says the State Department will do everything it can to make
the transition to a new president smooth.
Obama easily defeated McCain in a triumph that reflected
Americans' weariness with eight years of President Bush's
administration.

[Kace]

Last sentence? I'm still stuck on the first one.

[News Is Broken]

on the subject of politicizing the news, let's take a look at an "urgent" from the AP this morning and examine the last sentence...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that
as an African-American she is "especially proud" that Democrat
Barack Obama has been elected the first black U.S. president.
Rice told reporters Wednesday that Obama was "inspirational"
and Republican John McCain was "gracious" in defeat.
Rice says the State Department will do everything it can to make
the transition to a new president smooth.
Obama easily defeated McCain in a triumph that reflected
Americans' weariness with eight years of President Bush's
administration.

Wow. Might as well have said: "HA! IN YOUR FACE BEEEYOTCHES!"

[wxgeek]

on the subject of politicizing the news, let's take a look at an "urgent" from the AP this morning and examine the last sentence...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that
as an African-American she is "especially proud" that Democrat
Barack Obama has been elected the first black U.S. president.
Rice told reporters Wednesday that Obama was "inspirational"
and Republican John McCain was "gracious" in defeat.
Rice says the State Department will do everything it can to make
the transition to a new president smooth.
Obama easily defeated McCain in a triumph that reflected
Americans' weariness with eight years of President Bush's
administration.

While the AP doesn't cite it, a lot of the exit polling data seems to bear that out.

[2:30]

WxGeek is correct. And if the AP piece had been printed in full, it would have contained the backup from the exit polling - but, instead, someone more interested in politics than journalism quoted selectively, in order to try to create support for a political position.

WX, though - I don't agree with your suggestion that if everyone complains the nets are doing their jobs. That may have been true back in the day when they were complaining about specific stories or overall coverage - but my point is that shows like O'Reilly and Olbermann, Hannity and Maddow, appearing on "news" networks, create a problem for those of us who do NEWS as opposed to those of us who do political talk radio with pictures.

How can MSNBC be treated as a serious news source when it has a primetime lineup that looks like news but is not much closer to it than The Daily Show? FNC is a bit different, because despite its pretense, no one with a brain takes it seriously as objective -- but the point, ultimately, is the same.

[wx or not]

I see your point, matt. Except for the last sentence, it was a factual account of a reporter's notes. Why the small diatribe at the end mystifies me. Everything that went wrong cannot be shouldered completely by Bush; there were players involved before him that led to our current mess.

[2:30]

Here's the backup from the exit polls.

** More exit numbers: Obama claimed the center, winning independents, 52%-44% and moderates, 60%-39%. McCain slightly underperformed among evangelicals, winning them 74%-24%; Bush won them in 2004, 78%-21%. In addition, 60% viewed Palin as unqualified to be president, compared with 66% who saw Biden as qualified. What’s more, 42% said that their economic situation was worse off than it was four years ago. Obama won those people, 71%-28%. And Bush was a big drag on McCain: 71% said they disapproved of Bush’s job, and those people broke for Obama by a 67%-31% margin.

[kmfdmatt]

The final sentence was extraneous and uncited. It is the perfect example of the shoddy journalism which permeated this campaign. I work with some people with whom though I differ politically, I had great respect for always getting both sides and not editorializing or being shoddy. I watched those journalistic standards unravel before my eyes in this campaign.

[Desert Rat]

I agree with you 2:30, but the only way to make these networks change the way they do business is hit them where they hurt.....in the pocketbook.

If you look at the top rated shows on Cable News channels, they are all "opinion" based shows. You really can't blame Fox News, MSNBC and the like for putting them on the air....they make money for the company.

What I hope would happen is that people would look for many sources of news to form their opinion.....and there has never been an age in American history where that could be done than this age.

Many people are generally lazy when it comes to this, and that really hasn't changed has it?

Until that does, we are stuck with what we have.

[wx or not]

WX, though - I don't agree with your suggestion that if everyone complains the nets are doing their jobs.

I agree with you 2:30, but the only way to make these networks change the way they do business is hit them where they hurt.....in the pocketbook.
My point is that, as long as people continue to complain, that means that those stations are being viewed. If viewers go somewhere else, they'll ignore the partisan presentations and gently force those networks to either revamp or get out.

[Fnj]

I believe the last line is based on actual facts that have been gathered. like it or not you can do research and see that statement is true. Is it over the edge?? Some may say so.

[Head Janitor]

WxGeek is correct. And if the AP piece had been printed in full, it would have contained the backup from the exit polling - but, instead, someone more interested in politics than journalism quoted selectively, in order to try to create support for a political position.


Sorry 2:30, but I just looked up the 'passage' and that is the entire thing. It was also used in a larger article:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on
Wednesday hailed Barack Obama's election as the first black U.S.
president as an "extraordinary step forward" in efforts to
overcome racism.
"As an African-American, I'm especially proud," Rice, her eyes
glistening with emotion, told reporters at the State Department.
Hours after Obama easily defeated Republican John McCain in a
triumph that reflected Americans' weariness with eight years of
President Bush's administration, Bush's chief diplomat said that
America has "been through a long journey, in terms of overcoming
wounds and making race not the factor in our lives.
"That work is not done, but yesterday was obviously an
extraordinary step forward," Rice said.


Neither one passes the bias test.

[2:30]

You never worked for or with a wire service, did you?

An Urgent is the start of a newspaper article. There's a jump. On the AP, after the urgent series, you get the writethru.

If you just look at the Urgent, you're getting the headline, not the rest of the story.

[Head Janitor]

Nope, never worked for AP, but I've corrected thousands of stories written by AP.

This is just part of the actual article:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on
Wednesday hailed Barack Obama's election as the first black U.S.
president as an "extraordinary step forward" in efforts to
overcome racism.
"As an African-American, I'm especially proud," Rice, her eyes
glistening with emotion, told reporters at the State Department.
Hours after Obama easily defeated Republican John McCain in a
triumph that reflected Americans' weariness with eight years of
President Bush's administration, Bush's chief diplomat said that
America has "been through a long journey, in terms of overcoming
wounds and making race not the factor in our lives.
"That work is not done, but yesterday was obviously an
extraordinary step forward," Rice said.

The portions that I have turned red are examples of bias. There is no attribution, and the language is opinion based. "Triumph" "American's weariness" could have come straight from an Obama press release.

[kmfdmatt]

HJ, thank you!

[2:30]

Your inability to distinguish between analysis and bias seems to be the product of your inability to accept the exit polling and the results of the Obama landslide.

By the way, here's the full AP story:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama, fresh from celebrations
of his historic election as the first black U.S. president, turned
Wednesday to the sobering challenges of leading a country grappling
with two wars abroad and fears of a recession at home.
Obama easily defeated Republican John McCain in a triumph that
reflected Americans' weariness with eight years of Bush
administration rule, and a marked distancing from the country's
history of racial discord.
Obama's first task will be to begin building - over the next 2
1/2 months - a Democratic administration that will help him make
good on the promises of reform and renewal that carried him to the
White House.
Retired Gen. Colin Powell, a black Republican, called the
senator's victory "a very very historic occasion," and predicted
that Obama would be "a president for all America."
On Wednesday, the president-elect took a break to escort his two
daughters to school and visit a gym. But his new responsibilities
are approaching fast.
Obama offered Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel the job of White
House chief of staff Wednesday, aides told the Associated Press on
condition of anonymity. Top intelligence officials are scheduled to
begin meeting with Obama for classified daily briefings Thursday.
In a speech to 240,000 supporters on election night, Obama
acknowledged the enormous difficulties - domestic and international
- he faces.
"We know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the
greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst
financial crisis in a century," Obama said.
"We may not get there in one year or even in one term," he
said. "But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am
tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will
get there."
In electing Obama, the son of black man from Kenya and a white
woman from Kansas, American voters broke with the country's sad
history of racial divisions.
Obama made little of his race throughout the election season.
But his victory was clearly a milestone moment, testified to by the
tears on the faces of black and white supporters, alike. Even
opponents noted the significance.
President George W. Bush, speaking in the White House, pledged
"complete cooperation" in the transition and called Obama's
victory a "triumph of the American story." Condoleezza Rice, the
U.S.'s black secretary of state, said she was "especially proud"
that Obama was elected.
Obama tore up the U.S. political map in beating McCain, a
veteran Republican senator who campaigned on his record as a
maverick and former Vietnam prisoner of war.
Working against the Republican, in what proved to be the
longest, most expensive and most riveting presidential contest in
memory, was Bush's legacy. Bush, toward the end of his term, was
almost as unpopular at home as he is abroad.
His win was predicated on a broad cross-section of Americans.
While winning among independents, exit poll results showed his core
supporters also included moderates, liberals, people with
postgraduate degrees and those who seldom attend religious
services. In addition unmarried women, nearly all blacks and two
thirds of Hispanics. Young whites also factored in.
It was a grouping that resonated around the world - reflecting
America's promise of mulitculturalism- and key American allies
welcomed Obama's election.
"At a time when we have to confront immense challenges
together, your election raises great hopes in France, in Europe and
in the rest of the world," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said
in a letter to Obama.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Obama's election a
historic opportunity for a new era of American cooperation in
solving the world's problems.
The Republican administration had often criticized the U.N., and
world leaders have blasted what they called Bush's determination to
act unilaterally.
Obama's choice as vice president, Sen. Joseph Biden, predicted
during the campaign that as president, Obama would be tested by a
foreign power.
Russia on Wednesday signaled that it may do so. President Dmitry
Medvedev said his country would deploy short-range missiles close
to its borders with NATO countries Poland and Lithuania, in
response to U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Europe.
Medvedev, in a speech, blamed the U.S. for the global financial
crisis and for raising global tensions.
Later, he sent a formally-worded telegram saying there is
"solid positive potential" for the election to improve strained
relations between Washington, but only if Obama engages in
constructive dialogue.
In Afghanistan, where villagers said the U.S. bombed a wedding
party and killed 37 people, President Hamid Karzai said: "This is
my first demand of the new president of the United States - to put
an end to civilian casualties."
When Obama takes office Jan. 20 as the 44th U.S. president, he
may face more difficult challenges than any new U.S. president
since Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.
But he will do so with many allies in Congress, as the Democrats
expanded their majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate. And
for now he has broad popular support.
Under the American system, voters cast ballots for small slates
of electors from each state, who in turn vote for the president.
Obama carried 359 electoral votes - well above the 270 needed to
claim victory. McCain, meanwhile, won 162. Two states were still
too close to call.
With most U.S. precincts tallied, Obama led McCain with 52.3
percent of the popular vote compared to 46.4 percent. He was the
first Democrat to receive more than half of the popular vote since
Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Voter turnout, still being counted, was expected to shatter
records.
Supporters welcomed Obama's victory with delirious celebrations
on public squares and in living rooms across the U.S. and abroad.
In Washington, hundreds took to the streets near the White
House, carrying balloons, banging drums and chanting "Bush is
gone!"
McCain called to concede defeat on election night. "The
American people have spoken, and spoken clearly," McCain told
disappointed supporters in Arizona. With grace and poise, he
pledged to do "all in my power" to help the new president.
Obama's victory marked the rise of a new generation of American
leadership, after 16 years of presidents who came of age during the
Vietnam War era. Obama. 47, was still a child when most U.S. troops
withdrew.
Obama is expected to bring a new style and tone in American
foreign policy.
The 47-year-old Illinois senator has said he will try to
withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq in 16 months and has called for
reaching out to adversaries, such as Iran and Cuba. He wants to
close the Guantanamo Bay prison and favors steps to reduce global
warming.
He is hugely popular abroad. Part of his appeal is his
multicultural heritage: Besides his Kenyan father, he has a
half-sister who is the daughter of an Indonesian.
In his campaign, Obama mined a deep vein of discontent with the
status quo. He promised to heal divisions and end the partisan
rancor that marks American politics, while building a phenomenal
political organization and waging a nearly flawless 21-month
campaign for the White House.
His national political debut was an electrifying speech at the
2004 Democratic National Convention, when he made his first run for
the Senate. He offered a message of unity to a country mired in
partisan anger.
Throughout his campaign, Obama was the target of false rumors
questioning his religious views, his ethnicity and his patriotism.
McCain, 72, was a tough rival for Obama. He is widely admired
for his enduring 5½ years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam
War. His reputation as a maverick gave Republicans hopes of winning
over independents and moderate Democrats.
He tried without success to portray Obama as too radical and
inexperienced, casting him as an advocate of high taxes and
socialism.
McCain's choice for running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin,
energized much of the Republican base. But her lack of experience
and poor performance in interviews worried many voters.

[Head Janitor]

2:30, no matter who won the election, this phrase,
Obama easily defeated Republican John McCain in a triumph that
reflected Americans' weariness with eight years of Bush
administration rule,
is biased. It doesn't matter if it is an article, alert or novel. If you can't see it, then you are blinded by your own bias.

And not that it is any of your business, but I voted for Obama.

[2:30]

2:30, no matter who won the election, this phrase,

is biased. It doesn't matter if it is an article, alert or novel. If you can't see it, then you are blinded by your own bias.

And not that it is any of your business, but I voted for Obama.

Sorry, Janitor - I understand your point, but I respectfully disagree (though i'm glad you voted the way I did.)

The phrase isn't biased, it's accurate - a reflection of the polling both pre and during the election. It doesn't mean that everyone was tired of Bush-II, it just means that the majority clearly expressed that viewpoint.

Given the president's approval ratings - about 30% - that seems indisputable.

[Clever Login Name]

Sorry, Janitor - I understand your point, but I respectfully disagree (though i'm glad you voted the way I did.)

The phrase isn't biased, it's accurate - a reflection of the polling both pre and during the election. It doesn't mean that everyone was tired of Bush-II, it just means that the majority clearly expressed that viewpoint.

Given the president's approval ratings - about 30% - that seems indisputable.

Let me suggest then, that the article SHOULD HAVE BEEN WORDED THAT WAY ... to say that polls suggest weariness ... otherwise, people who might not be aware of those polls or who, God forbid, might disagree with them, can justifiably consider that line to be biased.

This is where the news media get into trouble ... living in their bubble worlds, they too often assume that everyone knows everything they do (or at least think they do) and everyone feels the same way they do. It lets their biases creep in (or sometimes march in unimpeded) and they fail to see the problems.

[Desert Rat]

2:30,

I disagree with you and here's why, in my opinion.

What did in McCain was the economy, plain and simple.

Had the economy not crashed, then its a dog race, in my opinion.

That's why to draw the conclusion alone, that George Bush was the reason, is wrong.

It was close up until the economy collapsed, then it was all Obama.

[Head Janitor]

Sorry, Janitor - I understand your point, but I respectfully disagree (though i'm glad you voted the way I did.)

The phrase isn't biased, it's accurate - a reflection of the polling both pre and during the election. It doesn't mean that everyone was tired of Bush-II, it just means that the majority clearly expressed that viewpoint.

Given the president's approval ratings - about 30% - that seems indisputable.

Disagree all you like, but if one of my writers or producers wrote like that, we'd have more than a little talk.

Words like triumph and weariness are loaded and unless there is attribution, they have no place in news copy.

And by the way, 30% of 300 Million people is 91 million. Plenty of people who aren't 'weary' of President Bush.

[2:30]

Desert Rat,

Without a doubt the economy certainly put the final spike in McCain. But the exit polling clearly showed that the real fuel that produced the Obama surge was the vast majority of the public's distaste for all things Republican - based on their antipathy for Bush-II.

I think Clever is right that it would have been better if the attribution/support were closer to the statement.

And by the way, Janitor, 30% is still less than a majority. A lot less.