Considering the mainstream media’s consistently harsh coverage of Republicans and light touch on Democrats, I think it’s time to propose some journalistic standards of fairness. Otherwise, we might have to endure another New York Times-style hit piece, like the one the paper printed four years ago alleging an adulterous relationship between John McCain and a lobbyist. There were zero facts to support the claim.
But reading The Times’s Sunday Review recently I realized how open The Times is to printing hostility toward Republicans. Not only does Frank Bruni hammer Romney for his wealth without ever mentioning he earned all of it, but a cartoon strip on the same page exhorts “don’t be a Romney” and suggests “things to talk about instead of being wealthy.”
And it’s not just The Times, nor other left-leaning media like Comedy Central’s influential, albeit funny, Jon Stewart. Candidate and President Obama has had a free ride for several years from a mainstream media that is either too afraid or too enamored to note or reveal Obama’s flaws, inconsistencies or deceptions.
So here are proposed rules for reporters committed to fair and balanced coverage of the 2012 presidential campaign:
1. TV shots of President Obama and the Republican contenders should show the candidate’s teleprompter in the shot. President Obama is a brilliant orator, but the American public should know that the flawless speeches he gives are scripted and read from a teleprompter. If this practice was adopted, then Mitt Romney’s typical, less-scripted remarks may no longer be characterized by media as “stiff.” In any case, there is no justification to show the TV shot without the teleprompter.
But reading The Times’s Sunday Review recently I realized how open The Times is to printing hostility toward Republicans. Not only does Frank Bruni hammer Romney for his wealth without ever mentioning he earned all of it, but a cartoon strip on the same page exhorts “don’t be a Romney” and suggests “things to talk about instead of being wealthy.”
And it’s not just The Times, nor other left-leaning media like Comedy Central’s influential, albeit funny, Jon Stewart. Candidate and President Obama has had a free ride for several years from a mainstream media that is either too afraid or too enamored to note or reveal Obama’s flaws, inconsistencies or deceptions.
So here are proposed rules for reporters committed to fair and balanced coverage of the 2012 presidential campaign:
1. TV shots of President Obama and the Republican contenders should show the candidate’s teleprompter in the shot. President Obama is a brilliant orator, but the American public should know that the flawless speeches he gives are scripted and read from a teleprompter. If this practice was adopted, then Mitt Romney’s typical, less-scripted remarks may no longer be characterized by media as “stiff.” In any case, there is no justification to show the TV shot without the teleprompter.
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