First the McCain camp tried to shame Obama for having a tour overseas.

Jill Hazelbaker, communications director for McCain, challenged the motive of Obama's trip and derided it as more campaigning than fact-finding. "Let's drop the pretense and call it what it is: the first-ever campaign rally overseas," she said.

But, after McCain decided to back away from this position, the McCain camp decided to attack the media for giving Obama unequal time.

Black said wryly, noting that ABC, CBS and NBC are sending their television anchors overseas to trail Obama. Black said the McCain campaign will ask for equal time if the networks run interviews with Obama.

So now the McCain camp wants to cry about not receiving equal coverage. And, some in the media, who are giving Obama media coverage, are now complaining that it is unfair to give Obama too much media coverage. Say what?

CNN's Jack Cafferty noticed the disproportionate coverage. In his blog yesterday he pointed out that 200 journalists have asked to travel with Obama overseas and that all three broadcast networks will send their main anchors to cover the story. Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric did not join McCain on any of his three foreign trips in the last four months. Cafferty also points out that since June, the networks have devoted almost three times as much coverage to Obama as McCain. I agree with Cafferty's assessments, including historical significance, about why Obama garners more coverage, but it doesn't make it OK.

http://www.wwaytv3.com/...

A network executive said that no one's enjoying the position that the Obama campaign is putting them in, not to mention concerns about fairness.

Obama is putting them in?

"We have already reached out to them (the McCain campaign) to provide an equal opportunity to them," said ABC "World News" executive producer Jonathan Banner.

http://www.reuters.com/...

Say what? So, the very same media who, as far as I know, will profit from covering the Obama trip are now complaining about covering the Obama trip.

Here is a little history on the subject of the media's responsibility to give McCain equal media coverage.

You may ask if there is a law or regulation that requires news agencies to use balance in their coverage. Yes and no. It all has to do with the so-called Equal Time Rule, which dates back to the Radio Act of 1927. Congress was concerned, perhaps rightfully so, that broadcasters may use the airwaves to skew an election through unbalanced coverage. Over time, though, the rule has evolved/devolved. Eventually Congress, likely trying to protect the ability of incumbents to get better coverage than their opponents, established certain exemptions from the Equal Time Rule, which mainly applied to news coverage. In other words, a news program could show a candidate without being worried about having to give opponents equal time, but other formats outside of news would trigger the rule.

http://www.wwaytv3.com/...

But, tell me, when has the media been concerned about equal coverage?