Thursday, October 09, 2008
The Obama campaign and disrespecting the press
A CBS reporter describes the differences between how the McCain and Obama campaigns treat the press. The short version is that the McCain campaign is much more considerate and organized. Indeed, this description of the lack of discipline in the Obama organization reminds me of the last Democratic administration.
Obama's campaign schedule is fuller, more hectic and seemingly improvisational. The Obama aides who deal with the national reporters on the campaign plane are often overwhelmed, overworked and un-informed about where, when, why or how the candidate is moving about. Baggage calls are preposterously early with the explanation that it's all for security reasons.
If so, I would love to have someone from Obama's campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case.
Thing is, treating the press disrespectfully seems to be working for Barack Obama. The question is, what is the cause and what is the effect? Does his campaign give the press short shrift because it takes favorable press coverage for granted, or does it get favorable press coverage because the press actually responds well to abuse? Either way, one wonders why the McCain campaign bends over backward for the mainstream media. It would seem like a waste of money, time, and emotional energy.
So why does treatment of reporters fail to translate into press coverage? Perhaps the answer lies in the structure of media organizations. As nearly as I can tell, reporters on the campaign plane are not actually doing the digging that can influence the election; if you are spending all day covering rallies, you certainly are not combing through old board minutes looking for ties between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers. Perhaps, therefore, a presidential campaign most needs to spin the reporters who are not on the plane. And, in any case, it is the editors and producers who decide whether to kill your story or run it up front, and they are not on the plane and really could not care less whether it smells.
CWCID: Glenn Reynolds.
7 Comments:
By 
Georg Felis, at
Thu Oct 09, 05:53:00 PM:
Because McCain is treating the Press like Guests, while Obama is treating the Press like Staff.
By 
, at
Thu Oct 09, 10:05:00 PM:
How nice does the parent corporation have to be to the wholly owned subsidiary?
By , at
Thu Oct 09, 10:52:00 PM:
Brings to mind a tee shirt I've seen advertised on some of the conservative blogs: Hippies Smell.
By Gordon Smith, at
Thu Oct 09, 11:02:00 PM:
Obama does press conferences.
They won't even let the press into the crowd at Palin events much less turn her loose at a presser. She'd be eaten alive.
McCain's campaign has gone into lockdown since before the conventions.
Quoting one whiny tire-swinger doesn't lead to the conclusions you've drawn.
"Combing through old board minutes" is not pursuing news, it's kowtowing to a right-wing agenda.
There are real issues, but conservatives will prefer to attack the media rather than accept that the majority of the American people are prepared to reject Bush/McCain/Palin conservatism in favor of the hope offered by Barack Obama.
By Dawnfire82, at
Fri Oct 10, 09:28:00 AM:
Trig Thrutherism and false claims of Palin being a religious fanatic = real issues.
Checking into Obama's deliberately obfuscated background = kowtowing to the right wing agenda.
You just implicitly admitted that journalists are liberal apparatchiks without even realizing it.
Are you a journalist?
"rather than accept that the majority of the American people are prepared to reject Bush/McCain/Palin conservatism in favor of the hope offered by Barack Obama"
Ah, the old 'you can't face reality' line. Burn that straw!
The issue is that most people (who aren't political junkies) have no idea what kind of 'change' Obama will bring because no one talks about it, least of all him. Whenever he tries to bring up specifics, he falls over himself with mathematical impossibilities and myths. (like lowering taxes for 95% of people; which is outright impossible) So to get an idea of what kind of 'change' this would be, one is forced to examine his past.
What's in his past? Confessed terrorists, radical organizations, (Acorn, Joyce Foundation) international arms dealers, convicted criminals, and racist/subversive preachers. That's a pretty fucking impressive line-up for someone who's only been in politics (and mostly low level) for about 12 years.
Any of this, were it true about McCain, would be front page news. Or worse, Palin.
"Palin worked with known terrorist for 8 years? How can she be trusted to face down terrorists in Iraq?"
"Palin attended racist sermons for 20 years! Only recants when preacher disrespects her!"
"Palin rose to prominence through corrupt city's party apparatus, partnering with criminals along the way!"
I suspect that if most people knew about these things, their judgments about 'hope! change!' would be different.
But they don't, and so they don't. And they don't because of media complicity.
'There's no such thing as media complicity, we're professionals.'
Bull. Shit. They covered up Kennedy's numerous affairs, on purpose, in concert with one another, through his entire career. Forty five+ years ago. They did the same with Franklin Roosevelt's polio, thirty years before that. And I'm expected to believe that today's more centralized and culturally homogeneous media is incapable? I say again, bullshit.
And then, of course, there are the academic studies into media bias in recent years that have proven that, yes indeed, the media is heavily biased. Guess which direction.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx
By Dawnfire82, at
Fri Oct 10, 09:31:00 AM:
What a timely article.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/weeks-before-the-election-obama-remains-an-enigma/
By Dawnfire82, at
Fri Oct 10, 09:45:00 AM:
And yet another.
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Obama%27s+associates%3A+Imagine+if+they+were+McCain%27s&articleId=d087ad9f-68ff-4b86-94ad-c45e77936007
