Thursday, July 9, 2009

Journalist takes his profession to task over election coverage: "We simply didn't hold Joe Biden to the same standard as Sarah Palin"

Writing in Politics Daily, Washington correspondent Carl Cannon has harsh words for the way his profession covered Sarah Palin during the election.
In the 2008 election, we took sides, straight and simple, particularly with regard to the vice presidential race. I don't know that we played a decisive role in that campaign, and I'm not saying the better side lost. What I am saying is that we simply didn't hold Joe Biden to the same standard as Sarah Palin, and for me, the real loser in this sordid tale is my chosen profession.

It's a blistering, devastating broadside against the elite media's election coverage -- all the more effective since it comes from a journalist. Read the whole thing here.

I'll never forget McClatchy's approach to the VP debate in October -- one of the lowest points of McClatchy's election coverage. Here is what I wrote last November about John Walcott and McClatchy's coverage of the VP debate:

Before the VP debate, he assembled a team to analyze the face-off between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. Here is the team he assembled to cover the VP debate:

"William Douglas, Hannah Allam, Jonathan S. Landay, Renee Schoof, Warren P. Strobel, John Walcott, Nancy A. Youssef and the staff of the Anchorage Daily News"
This amazing "team of investigators" for the VP debate found nine Palin misstatements -- but only one Biden misstatement. One.

The media's coverage of the VP debate was shameful. Cannon goes into detail about the media's failure to call Biden to account for his multiple gaffes and bumbles in that debate. I wonder how many journalists are willing, like Cannon, to do some reflection on their profession's performance during the last election.

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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

All true, but way, way too late.

Simply put, I will never buy their Marxist papers, magazines, books or watch their filth on television, until they go belly up and start to have balance in their reporting.

I'll take my news here before I buy any of their crap.

Dave D. said...

..Corrupt; utterly, irredeemably, unworthy of any trust whatsoever.

Anonymous said...

Good God. Are you little fellas ever going to stop crying over this or is this a distraction to keep us all away from watching your "Boys Gone Wild on Viagra"comedy. The govs of SC and Nevada and the Senator from Nevada are really following you Republicans "family" values. What a joke.

Anonymous said...

All in all, I am glad they did it. In the process they trashed any possible claim to an independent and objective media. Even though it had been literally AWOL for several years they persisted in pretending their bias didn't exist. They can't do that anymore because even mush minds like our troll at 1:34 can comprehend an admission of guilt.

I am also glad that they now admit it because it will make identifying the individuals responsible so much easier. There will be a price to pay after the next elections. I wouldn't want to still be in the game when that time comes.

Anonymous said...

Wow. It's been a long time since I read an honest article from a Journalist. Of course Mr Cannon will probably be unemployed very shortly, but he certainly has my respect.

TruthHurts001 said...

"The govs of SC and Nevada and the Senator from Nevada are really following you Republicans "family" values."

LOL Funny that you neglected to mention any libs.

Rod Blagojevich
Elliot Spitzer
William Jefferson
Kwame Brown
Charles Rangel

AND...a cabinet full of tax cheats!

Democrat Values!!!

And you have the nerve to speak of "Republican values"??

Pathetic.

TruthHurts001 said...

Correction:

Kwame Kilpatrick.

Anonymous said...

Democrats have no values. They can't be held to any standard because, for them, there are no standards.

Anonymous said...

Exactly why I will never vote for a democrat again. They used to be for the middle class but the Clintons decided on a different direction. Mouthpiece for every disgruntled bunch of lunatics that gather in a group of three.

They promise them all whatever they want then deliver nothing but a line of crap about how they're on your side.

Anonymous said...

1:34 thinks we should stop being concerned about little things like the national media openly taking sides and boosting one side of the debate and should instead focus on the zippers of wayward politicians. What a tool!
Of course he does not mention the senator from LA. A federal jury just saw video of him taking a $100k basket of money. Once again, we don't discuss such things in the national media when its a democrat.

Anonymous said...

Many centrist Democrats are starting to realize their party has left them for abortionists aka full term baby killers, environmental whackjobs, old hag feminists, corrupt unions, tax cheaters, tax and spend politicians, black griefers, illegal aliens, Socialists, Marxists, on and on. Who would want to belong to this group of misfits and malcontents? Now we can add the corrupt media to the list of people that will ruin the USA as we have known it. The Obama people will stop at nothing, even illegal activities to have people under their thumb. We can only hope that more and more people see the evil that is trying to bring our country down. Everyone will be equally poor, water, lights, heat and A/C, even our air will be fully rationed if we don’t act soon, IMO.

Anonymous said...

I think the top infidelity prizes go to Bill Clinton for fornicating in the White House with a young intern, and John Edwards for having an affair while his wife fought cancer. You just can’t top these two high level Democrats for immorality, and deceit.

Anonymous said...

It seems like everyday, another journalist comes clean about their biased election coverage, and how they [may] have altered the election outcome. May have, my ass, they did. Journalists will continue to be sorry as no one will ever trust them again. That is a high price to pay, but the regime they have brought us is bent on bringing Socialism to the USA. European countries are trying to get away from Socialism because it doesn’t work long term, and our once free country is being led down the path of disaster by an inexperienced ACORN worker. One set of decent questions by a responsible media and obama would not be President or even a Senator from Illinois.

Anonymous said...

Democrats have so many skeletons in their closet, it looks like a graveyard. The media just selects the scandals to hype and the scandals to overlook.
---
“Of course, impropriety is not confined to pure criminality. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is not only under investigation for pay to play schemes, but he is also accused of inappropriate business dealings in awarding state contracts to businesses he used to chair.

John Conyers of Michigan in 2006 accepted responsibility for misusing his House staff for campaign and personal purposes.

Republicans with similar clouds of impropriety were dogged with controversy for months. Nary a peep has been made, except in passing by the media, about the above abuses, and certainly Democratic leadership has been mum on the matter.

There’s always the sex scandals. We heard for months about Larry Craig, Mark Foley, and David Vitter’s improprieties. In contrast, very little was made of Tim Mahoney’s infidelity, even though he had replaced Foley in 2006 over the very same issue.”
http://bamapachyderm.com/

Anonymous said...

In case some people don’t realize how long the liberal media has protected Democrats, consider John Kennedy. All that Camelot bullshit for a man that laid a movie star every time he could. What a creep he was, and yet the media acts like he is someone to lionize. That is the history of a sick party. At least history has laid open the truth about FDR. He was an adulterer, and a fraud. All the recent data concludes his programs lengthened the depression. I can see Obama’s plans doing the same thing.

T. D. said...

When one of their own spells is out, I guess this means that future histories of this period will include specifics on the ethical and professional bankruptcy of the press.

Anonymous said...

All that Camelot bullshit for a man that laid a movie star every time he could.

===================

Oh the adultery was nothing at all.

Kennedy was literally recommend for court martial for dereliction of duty in the loss of his PT boat. You see Mr Kennedy violated direct orders in the operation of his boat and as a direct result was unable to maneuver in order to avoid being rammed.

Instead, after some tremendous palm greasing they ended up giving him a medal for lifesaving. His father paid for the propaganda film PT 109 that portrayed the incompetent Lt as a hero when the truth was just the opposite.

Anonymous said...

HAHHHHAHAAHAHAHA. got you weineees!!!! I love making you guys twist inn the wind. L-O-S-E-R-S...get the tattoo or buy the t-shirt one size fits all of you wankers

John Altevogt said...

An excellent review of JFK is Reeves A Question of Character. Reeves is perhaps the most balanced history of JFK and he does an excellent job covering the PT109 fiasco.

H. Michael Sarkisian said...

I notice the naysayers don't attack Mr. Cannon's analysis or his statements of fact!

The reasons are obvious! Facts are facts and Cannon lays out his indictment with precision.

The problem is that folks such as Melanie Sill will dismiss Cannon's criticism just because it may mirror complaints of conservative critics.

Were I an editor or publisher, I would make this piece mandatory reading for all reporters and require them to write a rebuttal!

I wonder what excuses they could come up after mustering all they learned in creative writing classes!

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, and Cannon is unbiased. What a joke you people just pick and choose who to elevate to "God" status. The guy is one of your own. Of COURSE, you're going to agree with his right wing views. What a bunch of sad, pathetic cheerleaders you are.