Well, I'm posting yet another commentary written by Glenn Beck, partly because I like his over-the-top way of covering this next issue, and partly because Kiel kind of doesn't :)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/23/beck.obama.media/index.html
The editorial facetiously describes the unequal amount of media coverage Obama has been receiving recently, compared to McCain. This has been a topic of interest in the last couple months, not just to my friend Mr. Beck and me, but also to some other bloggers I've read.
An interesting point that this and other commenataries have made is that coverage of Obama sells. In the linked article, Beck talks about magazines with Obama on the cover selling. In another source I read, Access Hollywood showed enormous ratings hikes (20-30% increases in some demographics) for the week it aired it's Obama interviews.
I think Barak Obama is easily the most exciting presidential candidate that we have experienced. Although I don't necessarily agree with parts of his platform, he could probably win my vote by flashing me that pretty smile and saying something charismatic in his smooth baritone voice.
Glenn Beck's rediculous editorial aside, it does seem like the media is showing Obama's face (and maybe not his political face...) more often than McCain's. Is this to sell more media and rake in the profit, or has the media already declared Obama the next President? [I know, a bold statement, but maybe it'll stir up some ideas... :) ]
5 comments:
Eric Alterman and George Zornick complained about the opposite in the article "Loving John McCain" published in The Nation on July 7, claiming that the media continues to give McCain nothing but unadulterated love.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080707/alterman
I've read similar things, Eric. People used to say that the media was John McCain's base. He used to get so much media love but then people started to think he was a weirdo for supporting Bush after he was attacked by him endlessly in the 2000 Republican primaries. That sort of undermined his maverick status, but now he's trying to win it back by distancing himself from his unpopular party.
Obama does get softsoaped by the media, but they are in business and Obama is like 30 years younger than John McCain and pretty darn sexy (not quite Che in Motorcyle Diaries sexy--no, Glenn Beck will still be rocking his McCain 08 BBQ apron). The media is sort of acting like Barack (like the media, I too am on a firstname basis with him) is already president, but John McCain has a pretty shitty chance of winning. He's super old and he will have to deal with less than a majority in congress if all the projections are accurate. Besides that, his own party doesn't much like him. I blame the republican primary system for this. The early primary states have a major say in determining the winner and they certainly aren't the most conservative states.
I don't care for Eric Alterman. I saw him in Morris and he was kind of ridiculous. It was a crossfire type set up and he just won the crowd not the debate.
A couple years ago, I read what GW was listening to on his ipod so that's nothing new. I think it was CCR. Yeah, definetly "Bad Moon Rising".
Upcoming birthdays:
John McCain: August 29th, 1936 (72)
Barack Obama: August 4th, 1961 (47)
That'll be a good media story.
The Alterman article showed pretty clearly McCain's favorable press coverage for the last 8 or more years. What I have seen happen is the volume of recent (less than 1 year ago) media coverage to overwhelmingly go to Obama. Note that this coverage has included both the good and the bad (none of the ugly, though, with Barack and his sexy wife). Following the Alterman article's sentiment, McCain's coverage has continued to show him in a positive light; it may be that the volume of his coverage is lower than that of his opponent.
I think your assessment is probably correct, CHiSL.
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