Presidential Nominees and the Media

Alright, can we just stop the debate over Senators McCain and Obama for a minute? Everyone needs to just agree on one simple point, and then the discussion can resume. CNN, The New York Times, MSNBC, The Washington Post, etc., are no longer worthy of the title "News Organization". Please do not stop reading. At least hear me out. I'm not going to attack anyone or use mean words, so please just give me ten minutes of your time. Most people in this nation are oblivious to the bias inherent in most, if not all, major news stations, or they willingly choose to ignore it. When that bias directly influences what is and is not reported and the manner in which it is reported, there must be an eventual day of reckoning when we, as the public, pull their credentials and call them what they are. That is, tabloids with easily discernible political agendas which are overwhelmingly liberal. Evidence of this simply can not be argued. There is no rationale debate going on regarding media bias, as those who argue against it, mainly conservatives, are fighting a one-sided battle: the other side of this argument, mainly liberals, aren't even aware it's happening. We all know liberals who refuse to challenge what they hear. Not all are like this, but many are. In turn, they argue primarily with emotion rather than the smallest shred of logic or fact, so this ignorance, while unfortunate, certainly is not surprising.

Recently, The Washington Post and The New York Times officially endorsed Senator Obama in the race for the White House (I was surprised, too, Drudge). While news organizations endorsing political candidates is certainly not new, these organizations will subsequently lose their status as objective, or independent, observers. At least they should. This in turn calls into question every article written in that paper which discusses politics in any way. There can be no debate about this point. Even liberals should understand this. These papers forfeit their right to be called a

newspaper when they explicitly endorse one candidate over the other. Now they are simply a mouthpiece of that candidate's campaign. In this case, they belong to Senator Obama. Logically, that would mean they are reporting stories to help his cause, leaving stories off their pages which would hurt his cause, and doing the exact opposite to his opponent, Senator McCain. Can anyone argue that point? Please send me an email if you can and I will give you my cell phone number so we can talk directly. No angry emotions, please. If you can speak clearly, logically, and without calling names no matter how much smarter you are, please contact me. I'd love to hear from you. Back to the point at hand. These papers have been steadily declining in every aspect of journalistic integrity for a while now, but an endorsement of Senator Obama should awaken even the dimmest liberal to the state of Big Media today.

Without getting into too much detail as I'd like to keep this short, even Dan Rather picked up on this painfully obvious bias just a few days ago on MSNBC's

Morning Joe. In referencing Senator Joe Biden's recent comments that Senator Obama would face a major international challenge if elected and the media's refusal to acknowledge this statement's importance, Dan Rather is quoted as saying, "(C)ertainly if Sarah Palin had said this it would be above the fold in most newspapers today... (I)f Sarah Palin had said this, the newspapers would have jumped all over it and so would have the major television outlets". You can watch it on YouTube or read about it from the Media Research Center:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3MNmswO7AFs

http://www.mrc.org/press/2008/press20081023.asp

Keep in mind that Dan Rather has been one of the most consistently liberal newsmen in history for over thirty years...until he, like too many other journalists today, stopped checking his facts and put his political interests ahead of his integrity.

The point is simple. This country is falling apart because too few are willing to take their responsibilities as citizens seriously. America asks so little of the average American, yet the simple task of voting

intelligently is too much for so many to handle. I'm not speaking solely to those voting for Senator Obama here either. If you're voting for Senator McCain and you don't know why, you're just as much to blame. I'm asking every voting age adult to look at the facts. If you take that first step, unfortunately, you must then look at the sources of those facts because odds are they have been printed to further someone's political agenda and are worthless. If they numbers don't add up or the source is questionable, do not call that a fact. It's as simple as that. If this sounds a lot like being a journalist, well, that's exactly what it is. We have too many politically motivated opinions floating around as fact on TV and in the newspapers. We simply can not trust these people to objectively tell us the facts and let us decide for ourselves, as journalistic integrity demands they do. It falls on each American to do some homework, get the real facts, and then

make up our own minds. For the love of all things holy, please figure this election out for yourself. I have a lot of faith in people to make the right decision when they have all the facts. All I'm asking is that you have all the facts before you pull the lever on Election Day, be it for Senator McCain or Senator Obama.