McCain/Palin and the media

I will attempt to be brief, because I want you to read this. In an election that continues to focus on personality and gossip rather than issues, the Republican Party has poisoned the well and in doing so, has harmed every voter in this country.

Senator John McCain’s subtle jabs at the media have been gaining steam over the summer. At the Republican National Convention last week, they were no longer subtle, rather, an entire party lashing out against what they believe is a biased news media.

This was compounded upon the introduction of Governor Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate. Palin has the country in a tizzy, but she is not being made available to the press, we are told because of their favoring of Barack Obama. All the media would do is trick her and make her look bad, because they are “in the tank” for Obama, they tell us.

They criticize the media for traveling to Alaska to try to find out more about one of America’s biggest newsmakers, saying that they are trying to dig up dirt on a poor innocent woman. What exactly should journalists do? They are denied access to a woman running for vice president of our nation; they have to be able to find some information about her to inform the public other than controlled speeches and campaign events.

Thursday is the seventh anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, something the Republicans have oft been accused of using to scare people into voting for them, suggesting that only the GOP can keep America safe. Over the past few months, the Republicans have found their new campaign of fear… fear of the media.

They have created an atmosphere of distrust toward the media, to the extent where the Republicans can shout down any claim made against them on the grounds that the media is being unfair. This has been done a million times, but the difference here is that they have people believing them. It is a dangerous thing. Allow either party to completely control the flow of information, and then you will see the true definition of bias.

The Republicans do, however, have a point… at least to a certain extent. There is one network that has become so evidently liberally biased that it has ruined their reputation as a news source. That network is MSNBC. I completely agree with their decision to remove Keith Olbermann as an election anchor after the lack of restraint he displayed covering the RNC. An agenda has become clear at that network, and their blatant taking of sides even puts Fox News to shame.

But onto Fox, a network generally accepted as being right-leaning, though certainly not to the extent MSNBC has become left-leaning. Still, Fox features hosts from the rightest of the right: Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin, E.D. Hill… Their commentary is conservative, at times downright untruthful and utilizes “shouting down” to prove their points.

Most educated viewers of news media would quickly ascertain that each party has one network leaning in their favor. After watching those, they would also quickly notice the unbiased nature of the remaining major news media outlets: CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC News. I loved watching CNN’s coverage of the RNC because of the vast differing of opinion among their panel and the way it was presented fairly and civilly, with Anderson Cooper moderating.

So, essentially, the Republicans legitimate beef with MSNBC has been extended illegitimately to the entire news media. If the American voters allow it to stand, we will be vastly less informed about our Republican nominee for president. That is a disservice to everyone involved in our political process.

Obama recently went into hostile territory to do an interview with Bill O’Reilly. It proved to be an excellent interview. O’Reilly was aggressive, as usual, but at only one point did I find him to be unfair (in his questioning about Obama’s ties to Bill Ayers). In that interview, I learned a lot about Obama’s plans for the economy and the war against terror, and most of that was because of O’Reilly’s follow-up questioning. McCain and the Republicans have set up a system where they choose not to face the public unless it is on their terms, and even if they do sit down for an interview, they can immediately pull the “media bias” card to gloss over anything negative that may come of it. Even die-hard conservatives should not stand for it.

The media is designed to give everyday people access to the people running our nation. It is their job to dig deep and find out who these people are and what they stand for. John McCain deserves to be asked the tough questions by the media. So does Sarah Palin. Despite what you hear from the right, the media is not the American public’s enemy, it is its servant.

Senator McCain, Governor Palin: enough with the politics of fear. Tell me why you should face the world as the leaders of our country when you can’t even face Wolf Blitzer without crying foul?