I am really getting sick of conservatives who whine that the media is liberal. I am also starting to get annoyed at assertions that the media is conservative. I don't believe our media is either liberal or conservative. I believe the media in this country is grossly incompetent. Want some proof?
As of this posting, CNN has yet to run the story that Ralph Nader failed to qualify for the Oregon ballot. It has yet to report on any Presidential polls other than a slight lead in FL for Bush. And this is all just in the "Politics section." What do they run? In the same section, politics, CNN's story on its website is that Ken Starr is taking a position at Pepperdine University. I kid you not. Jesus Mary and Joseph! How is that news?
CNN is not alone in this. Fox News is biased, the commentators have said it before. On their "news" programs, they bash Democrats, not talk shows, but news programs. They are biased, but they are not all of the media, hence my earlier statement.
To counter this, Democrats have got to pick their game up. We're the challengers in this election, we have to take the lead. Who ever goes on the talkshows this week, such as Meet the Press, Crossfire, Capital Gang, Inside Politics, Scarborough, Hardball, etc...has got to point out what the media is missing. Things such as a list of Bush flip flops to counter the argument against Kerry, this ridiculous bit about the speech draft "being classified" which was in the news a matter of hours. Martha Stewarts appeal and Janet Jackson's boob are getting more attention than Lea Fastow pulling back on her plea agreement, or Bush's latest stonewalling to the 9/11 commission.
Will the media, for the love of all that is holy, PLEASE DO THE NEWS. I've read 14 media reports on Condi Rice in the past 5 days. I learned something new in exactly 2 of them. CNN is still wasting much of it's website space on "Rice prepares for testimony." That story contains nothing new. At all.
There is a reason that many Americans are uninformed of what goes on in this country. Yes, part of it is their own lack of interest, lack of curiosity, and for some, outright stupidity. Another part is a "free" media that acts like a hostage being pulled by the genitals, by the Bush administration.
I'm sure personal bias exists in the media. These people vote just like everyone else. But the more and more I see, it's not media bias that I am looking at, it is gross incompetence to tell what is news, and what isn't. Am I alone on this?