Much has been made of how "in the tank" the mainstream media is for Obama. I have followed all presidential elections since 1972 and I cannot remember anymore one-sided reporting of an election as this one. While usually they defend themselves this year they are pretty unabashed with their positive reporting of Obama and negative reporting of McCain. But the question is will the result be positive or negative?
A perfect example is how they have dealt with Obama's decision not to accept federal matching funds as defined in the campaign finance reform law. The fact that he made a pledge to then reneged on that pledge is the key point, not the money itself. In 2000 when George Bush made a similar decision he and his "fat cat" Republicans were roundly criticized in the press for trying to buy the election. No such criticism for Obama. The difference is that Bush never said he would accept matching funds and the limits imposed by them. With Obama it seems that promises are only valid when it benefits you. He obviously has raised a buttload of money and, as evidenced by the 30 minute infomercial played on the major networks last night, he is not afraid to spend it. I guess the ends justifies the means.
Another example of how the media is in the tank regards the infomercial. Being a practicing insomniac I watch news programs all hours of the night. Obama received "reporting" of his infomercial as "news" throughout the night, many programs replaying full segments of it. A paid political commerical being the lead story in the news seems a little out there to me.
If this sounds like sour grapes, I guess it is. If they were behind my candidate I would probably relish the free advertising. But it still would not be right! The media has the responsibility to report the facts and to limit bias as much as possible.
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Just yesterday CNN's Campbell Brown wrote a commentary on Obama's hypocrisy in refusing public funds:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/campbell.brown.obama/index.html#cnnSTCText
"For this last week, Sen. Obama will be rolling in dough. His commercials, his get-out-the-vote effort will, as the pundits have said, dwarf the McCain campaign's final push. But in fairness, you have to admit, he is getting there in part on a broken promise."
But you're right, this is the exception and not the rule.
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