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Media Bias and Political Scandal

Posted by GayPatriotWest at 12:42 pm - February 5, 2009.
Filed under: Blogging,Democratic Scandals,Media Bias

If you have any doubts that the mainstream media favors the Democrats, just take a gander at the way most major news outlets cover political scandal. If a Republican is involved, they identify his political affiliation early in the report. If a Democrat, they bury that affiliation, if they list it at all.

Google “Name that Party” to find a long list of links to conservative bloggers exposing this MSM double standard.  There, you can learn about a whole host of Democratic scandals, described just as political scandals with the politician’s party affiliation buried absent.  Guess these reporters don’t want people to know that Democrats are corrupt too.  Or to assume that Republicans have a monopoly on corruption.

Reader Peter Hughes alerted me to a short piece by Michael Medved summing up this phenomenon:

When Republicans get into trouble the media make a big point of their party affiliation — as in the cases of Mark Foley, Ted Stevens, Larry Craig and more. We heard all about a “Republican culture of corruption” and it became a major campaign issue. But with a flurry of jaw-dropping scandals involving Democrats, their party identification becomes suddenly irrelevant.

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9 Comments

  1. Of course you’re right Dan… how many times have we witnessed MSM identify disgraced, ex-Governor Blagojevich with a (D) after his name?

    Yeah, very very few.

    Comment by Michigan-Matt — February 5, 2009 @ 1:17 pm - February 5, 2009

  2. Here is what Obama said:

    “I screwed up. It’s important for this administration to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules you know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.”

    Here is how the Washington Post reported it on their front page:

    Obama told the network anchors that are “not two sets of rules” for people, and said that average taxpayers deserve to have public officials who pay their taxes on time.

    In this day of instant video of the event access to fact checking, this rewriting on the part of the WaPo makes one wonder why writers Anne Kornblut and Michael Shear modified Obama’s rhetoric.

    Apparently “prominent people” vs. “ordinary folks” didn’t convey the message the writers thought was appropriate. So, they canned “ordinary folks” in favor of “average taxpayer” and they erased the “prominent people” altogether. What is still curious to me is why they said “average” taxpayer at all. They might just as well have said “that taxpayers deserve….”

    It may seem like slight manipulation, but what Kornblum and Shear did was to quote Obama saying “not two sets of rules” and then sugar coat the rest. Heck, they didn’t even get their “quote” correct. Obama said: “there aren’t two sets of rules you know…” and Kornblum and Shear come up with Obama saying: “not two sets of rules.”

    For me, reference to prominent people and ordinary folks is evidence of how Obama views “the struggle.” When Kornblum and Shear clean up his language, they are doing the standard work of the State Press. Pravda on the Potomac is keeping a vigilant watch on the words of their Dear Leader.

    Comment by heliotrope — February 5, 2009 @ 1:30 pm - February 5, 2009

  3. And while thousands freeze and Kentucky and hundreds of thousands file for unemployment, Democrats and President Odrama head for a luxurious spa and resort.

    Mr. Obama will head to Kingsmill Resort and Spa in the historical Virginia city to start a three-day planning session. The resort boasts multiple championship golf courses, a full-service spa and six restaurants, noted the Hill newspaper, which broke the story about the Democratic retreats.

    Democrats will ride together to the resort on a chartered Amtrak train at a cost to taxpayers of about $70,000, the Hill reported. Taxpayers will also foot the bill for security helicopters to fly above the train.

    Comment by V the K — February 5, 2009 @ 2:00 pm - February 5, 2009

  4. I was listening when Fox News first showed the Wallace interview where Obama first called me an “ordinary folk.” I felt my face turn red at the time. The Democrat party of the elite. An Obama is suppose to be so in touch with the common man. It’s all BS and mirrors.

    Comment by Gene in Pennsylvania — February 5, 2009 @ 2:11 pm - February 5, 2009

  5. I first noticed this during the Gary Condit kerfuffle. NOBODY ever mentioned his afiliation.

    Comment by ThatGayConservative — February 5, 2009 @ 2:16 pm - February 5, 2009

  6. More bad news for the Democrat Obama administration:
    Military suicides for Jan 2009, the first month of the Obama (D)administration set a record. 24 soldiers committed suicide in the first month of Democrat Obamas administration. That was an astounding 600% rise over the last full January of Republican GW Bush administration. Astonishing. Can we get a MSM expose please. How is it that these 24 souls didn’t feel any hope n’change? Our prayers should go out to their families.

    Comment by Gene in Pennsylvania — February 5, 2009 @ 2:19 pm - February 5, 2009

  7. Here’s a good example of bias, this one referring to the Mark Foley sex scandal in which no sex took place. I wrote a letter to the editors of Time asking them to do a cover story on the Harry Reid real estate scandal and featuring a photo of the backside of an ass. It wasn’t printed.

    Comment by Ignatius — February 5, 2009 @ 2:32 pm - February 5, 2009

  8. In addition, if a Democrat is identified as such it is often toward the end of the article or story. Reporters and editors know that widely circulated stories are often truncated to fit a column-line of space ( I have actually seen stories cut in mid-sentence). Thus, the later an ID is made, the more likely the ID will never even appear in another newspaper that picks up the story. Talk about self-censoring!!!

    Comment by T — February 5, 2009 @ 3:23 pm - February 5, 2009

  9. here is another hairraising scandal.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOeaZNBBIjs

    Comment by Dennis Flock — August 15, 2009 @ 6:14 pm - August 15, 2009

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