CNN host, peers slam election coverage

The Washington Square News ^ | November 8, 2004 | Irma Akansu and Sarah Davidson

[pjsbro]

they spent the entire time bashing GWB on Iraq and running long, glowing leads of Kerry campaign speeches.

And let's not forget the time they gave to Kitty Kelly (remember her?... what was it, three days on NBC!!!), CBS' phony stories about Bush's National Guard Service...

The amazing thing about the media coverage of the campaign was that Kerry's record (and I'm not even talking about his war record) was never seriously addressed by any of the MSM.

And that is sad.

[DameAutour]

I'm feeling the same way. It's like I'm in bizarro world.

The coverage was about values? I thought it was about the Iraq War (from Abu Ghraib to "missing" explosives to no WMDs), and the "bad" economy (from outsourcing to "millions of lost jobs" to "tax cuts for the rich").

I heard very little about samesex marriage (after the SF and Massachusetts brouhaha calmed down months ago), NOTHING about abortion, NOTHING about family values, etc. The media didn't cover any of these things.

How can they say that they focused too much on values?

[tillacum]

I don't think lou dobbs is a good spokesman for independent media thinking. lou dobbs is a yellow dog democrat who spent a lot of his air time chastizing President Bush and President Bush's policies, especially his handling of Iraq.

[KateatRFM]

I quit watching Lou Dobbs last year when he started focusing on "Outsourcing American Jobs" -- I wrote him a couple of times pointing otu that they were not American Jobs, they belonged to the people who owned the companies -- but finally just gave up on him. I actually find Peter Jennings to be more objective now than Lou Dobbs or most people on CNN.

[pjsbro]

"independent media thinking"=oxymoron

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

I'm sorry. Anytime I see Alter or Alterman, I quit reading. They are of no consequence.

[Baytovin]

Aboslutely....to me your point is the gist of all this media angst...since the media was led astray as to the real issues, they were unable to formulate an effective anti-Bush attack.

[jeffc]

Most of us thought the campaign was about moral issues, [. . .]

Funny, I don't remember any coverage of the "moral" issue. I DO remember coverage on (phony) TANG documents, SwiftVet slamming, "missing" explosives, the Iraq war, etc.

[toomanygrasshoppers]

Perhaps the voters DID consider Social Security when they voted for President Bush. Maybe they were tired of hearing everyone talk about fixing SS but not actually doing anything about it. President Bush has been the only one who bravely put out some ideas to actually DO something about Social Security. THAT is why I voted for President Bush. He talks about getting things done and then he does it.

[NittanyLion]

Mainstream journalists did a poor job of addressing issues that the electorate really cared about, like Social Security, and instead allowed President Bush's focus on "values" dominate their coverage, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs said at a journalism conference at the Kimmel Center Saturday.

Translation: Values was cited as a determing factor that allowed the wrong candidate to win; we should've ensured the stupid electorate was persuaded by the important issues (i.e. those issues that support John Kerry).

[hawkaw]

Mainstream journalists did a poor job of addressing issues that the electorate really cared about, like Social Security, and instead allowed President Bush's focus on "values" dominate their coverage, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs said at a journalism conference at the Kimmel Center Saturday.

I'm sorry, but the main theme of Bush's election plan was the War of Terror and Iraq. Yes there was values talk but no where near the WOT issue.

So I think Lou should STFU.

And, I can understand why Bush43 spent a lot of time in the election talking about the WOT, not only from a political advantage but also we are in the middle of the conflict and if we lose the war on terror there will be no social security.

[PigRigger]

"Most of us thought the campaign was about moral issues, but as journalists we failed to understand that it wasn't"....Lou Dobbs

Huh?

So their assessment is that they did not critize the President enough. The MSM is clueless.

[gunnedah]

You hit the nail on the head, the MSM now are showing who they were supporting and what their real agenda is.

[kittymyrib]

What a good idea! The next time I'm trapped in an airport waiting area, I'll unplug CNN. It's time we get pro-active and show the airport propaganda centers that they need to change to a local offering, if they can't abide Fox.

[MaryJaneNC]

Indeed, it was and is...
Do not think they have changed one bit.
Except they have lost millions of viewers. (sigh)

[MinuteGal]

I remember when Lou Dobbs was considered by many to be the only conservative voice on CNN. He never was a conservative.

Then he left the network but later came back. He returned because he missed the fleas he got when he laid down with the CNN mediawhores the first time around.

Leni

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Apparently, they got hold of Dobbs and shipped him off to the liberal brainwashing Gulag Jane Fonda runs. This is truly out of character from the one sane voice at CNN.

[PogySailor]

Bizarre isn't it? All I heard from Kerry on SS was more of the same: kick the can down the road. The pro-Kerry 527 ads running in the last 2 weeks in FL were nothing more than "scare Granny" ads about Bush planning to steal their SS check. No "plan" to fix the system.

[ChicagoRighty]

Yes, this needs to be front and center, IMO. Add to this the laughable (but really shameful) comments of Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes last night. He said that people complained that the liberal media was for Kerry...

"I know many of you think that the many in major media are liberal. I’m here to tell you that I know many fine people in the media. Half of my colleagues like John Kerry. The other half hate President Bush."

He's so funny, isn't he?

In the mean time, conservatives get dumped on as a matter of course. Damn tired of it.