In a recent interview with Bill O'Reilly, ABC's Political Director, Mark Halperin, commented that he thinks the media is "too liberal." (Think Progress has the video.) Halperin stated:
"If I were a conservative, I understand why I would feel suspicious that I was not going to get a fair break at the end of an election. We’ve got to make sure we do better, so conservatives don’t have to be concerned about that."
Think Progress connected these comments with an October 23 issue of ABC's The Note, where Halperin laid out "How the (liberal) Old Media plans to cover the last two weeks of the election."
He proceeds to expand on twelve different ways that the Republicans are receiving biased coverage in these weeks leading up to the midterm elections. Many of his points are questionable at best (#4: Imbue every Democratic candidate for whom Bill Clinton campaigns with a golden halo) but when taken in their entirety seem absolutely ludicrous.
Countless non-partisan polling groups have found that the public favor does not, as a whole, lie with Republicans for this election. The political climate trends Democrat. Period. There are enumerable reasons that have led up to this, some debatable, some not, but it would be difficult to argue that Republicans are the "popular" party.
Given this information (not to mention the latest wave of scandals that have emerged from the Republican camp), do journalists have a responsibilty to spin things differently? To alter reality so that both sides come out looking equal, even if it's clear to most people that they are not?
The majority of the news articles that I've read don't waste their time attacking individual Republicans. They simply highlight the inconsistencies and problems within the party and question those in power pulling the strings. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the whole point of journalism? To challenge the status quo and make sure that the people in power don't abuse it? It appears as though Halperin would prefer to see coverage that paints Repulicans, as a whole, in an unrealistically favorable light.
One could argue that the news critiques are too little, too late, but at least they exist. At least for the 2006 elections, the general public has no reason not to be informed on the Republicans (and Democrats) running for office and the issues that their party has chosen to take a stand on. For this, I think the news media ought to be applauded, not criticized for failing to portray a sentiment that just doesn't exist.
Michael Luke @ October 26, 2006 - 7:41am
Ironically, Halperin got hammered by conservatives for a memo that was leaked in the 2004 Presidential Election.
Whether or not this was liberal bias is up to the reader but conservatives saw this once more as a smoking gun. Perphaps, Halperin's interview is a mea culpa for the 2004 election.
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