Bill Keller: McCain's Bias Claims Make Me Want To "Find The Toughest McCain Story We've Got And Put It On The Front Page"

At this weekend's New Yorker Festival, Ken Auletta moderated a panel called "Covering the Campaign" with Bill Keller, Jack Shafer, Peggy Noonan and Ta-Nehisi Coates. It was terrific and I live-Twittered it, and my highlights are below. For me, there were two standouts: Coates and Keller, the former because he's such a dynamic new voice, and the latter because he's such a dynamic new voice. What I mean by that is, I have never seen him speak before — he's not one for these panels that often — and I was struck by how forthright and engaged he was. For instance, his blunt response to Auletta's question about the attacks by the McCain campaign: "My first tendency when they do that is to find the toughest McCain story we've got and put it on the front page." Also, it was a treat to see him smile and laugh, which he did often. Which was a surprise actually, but nice to see. Anyhow, the fruits of my Twitters are below - enjoy!

• Covering the Campaign panel: Peggy Noonan, Bill Keller, Jack Shafer, Ken Auletta, Ta-Nehisi Coates.

• Peggy had the floor for a while, with sympathy for Palin's tough campaign experience. She said that intvus are about thrust and parry.... 09:24

• ...and debates are about thought and reflection. She said debate showed that Palin knew how to think. 09:25 AM

• Ta-Nehisi Coates: "I never thought that she didn't know how to think, just that she doesn't know how to answer." 09:27 AM

• Keller: We fact-check campaign ads more than we did 4 years ago, and that's a real service. Took a lesson from online. 09:29 AM

• Coates: As a blogger, I appreciate the MSM - Jeff Goldberg in the Atlantic, Couric, Lizza in NYer on O in Chicago. 09:31 AM

• But - we have missed a real opportunity to talk about race here. What does it mean? His votes in SC, how he's diff than Sharpton - the why. 09:34 AM

• Ta-Nehisi Coates is a STAR. Writer, thinker, and clearly such a mensch. STAR. 09:36 AM
  Story continues below
  advertisement

• Keller: We did! I can't tell you how many hours we spent! 09:37 AM

• Also, to Coates: We've got a series coming up you're gonna like. 09:37 AM

• Peggy: The passing of Tim Russert at NBC has had an effect on the whole. 09:38 AM

• Big broadcast networks are not covering like they did. Peggy noticed the diff at the conventions. 09:39 AM

• Bias! Auletta asks about sexism (Hil and Pal), black bias (Wright), Mormons (Romney) 09:40 AM

• Keller: Hoyt's column will address the McCain camp claims of bias. His conclusion: We've written more tough pieces on Obama than McCain. 09:42 AM

• Keller on McCain camp criticism: "My first tendency when they do that is to find the toughest McCain story we've got and put it on the front page."

• (But he doesn't.) 09:43 AM

• "My first tendency when they do that is to find the toughest McCain story we've got and put it on the front page."
  
  
• Oh come on Peggy, don't blame Hillary for acknowledging actual sexism. It WAS there, incidentally at least if not systemically. 09:45 AM

• Shafer: calls back to Dan Okrent on examining bias. Yeah it's there but at the end are they fair? 09:47 AM

• Shafer: I don't feel so bad asking a politician the hard questions. 09:48 AM

• Shafer ran local papers and said that it was really hard to find a conservative who wants to be a reporter. (They all wanted to be commentators in a bow tie like George Will.) 09:50 AM

• Auletta: Media has a bias for conflict. 09:53 AM

• Keller: it's true, we don't report on all the people who didn't get murdered yesterday. 09:54 AM

• Coates: Sometimes I wish I had an editor...you don't always filter yourself, esp when you're angry. 09:56 AM

• Auletta to Peggy: What are we missing? She can't believe the segregation of candidates from the press. 10:06 AM

• She thinks they miss moments of observation, getting a sense of who they are by the moments of how they act. 10:07 AM

• Coates: Okay fine, but isn't that how the press got so surprised by McCain and his conduct now? 10:08 AM

• Shafer: Beware of access, too much of it is corrupting. 10:09 AM

• Shafer shouts-out Jake Tapper and John Dickerson, the Twitter king 10:10 AM

• Keller: NYT site had 40 million pageviews on Sept 15th when Wall St went to hell. 10:32 AM

• Questions! This is where I got up and filmed a few, so I didn't Twitter. Great questions from an informed audience. A woman named Maggie had a pointed question on sexism in the campaign coverage; Jack Shafer said he didn't feel qualified to address that. Afterwards I raised an eyebrow at Shafer in disbelief - if anyone is qualified to call bullshit on the press, it's him. Just one lipsticked gal's opinion. Speaking of lipstick, Noonan made a great point: However grueling a candidate's schedule in, add one one more hour in the morning for a woman, who has to do makeup, hair and pick an outfit that won't send the press into a tizzy. "I don't want to see them without makeup, either!" she said. Eh, I have no problem with it. Also, Peggy was wearing very cool tinted shades. Maybe she didn't have that hour, but I think she holds up just fine either way.
  
  
• Great panel. Ta-Nehisi Coates is my new fave. Shafer is a loveable curmudgeon, as always. 10:50 AM

Update: Here is a video from question period, with the great question on sexism in the campaign from Maggie Haskell, I think her name was.

Comments

[harleyboy]

Here's another story no one seems to be picking up, the National Rifle Association is spending 20-40 million in ads is some swing states, saying that Obama will ban all guns. They are the new Swift Boaters, and when factcheck.org said the ads were not true, they went on the attack against them. All this is verifiable on the web, but no one dares to write a story against the NRA?

[Msohio]

Add McCain's relationship with the Chiquita Banana man Lindner and his payoffs in the millions to Colombian terrorists, who then funnel the money to Al Qaeda. What is the fascination with Colombia. McCain was down there earlier this year.

[pappyiii]

Let me suggest a couple of stories for you. In 2003 in the midst of the anthrax scare before we attacked Iraq, McCain came on Dave Letterman and told us that the anthrax came from Sadam. Thus we needed to anilate him.

Decades ago, McCain came on world wide TV and declared that he now realized that he was a war criminal for bombing a civilian city without a declaration of war. Afterwards, he attempted suicide. Turns out, when he was shot down and captured, in order to get hospital attention, he gave military information to the enemy. He told them how many aircraft cariers were out there, how many and what type aircraft were on board, and when they will attack.

[sarale23]

You know, the only thing I really hate about NY Times is the ink they use; it's toxic and causes severe skin rush when you try to use it in the only way it should be used for - toilet paper.

[RonCram]

Keller's claim they have written more tough pieces on Obama than they have on McCain is proof positive of his seemingly subconscious bias. The piece on the connection between Obama and Ayers was written as if by the Obama campaign. They downplayed the years of working together and the evidence that Ayers was Obama's oldest political supporter and biggest benefactor. If Ayer's CAC had not hired Obama to give out the money, he never would have had the stature to run for political office.

[kiran888]

how do you know are you Ayers?? You should not make up such lies without proof. It is wrong. And you forgot AP and NYT both said there were no links. Just because you are desperately trying to find some link to them as best friends doesn't mean they are.

[Eoin45]

Your head is Crammed with lies, Ron.

[CNBCSucks]

I should add that thankfully, the blogosphere tends to be liberal, because when you are engaged, informed, and reasonably intelligent, you should be liberal at this point in this nation's history. I think we have gone far, far too right as a country:

http://cnbcsucks.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/an-eisenhower-republican-would-be-considered-a-communist-today/

[CNBCSucks]

The so-called left-wing media is the most tiresome myth promulgated by the Republican Party. Having switched political parties to become a Democrat, I consider the idea ludicrous. The only major media outlets I consider safely liberal are Olbermann, Maddow, and HuffPo. Even Fareed Zakaria tries to be neutral.

[plooger]

Who's the graphics guy/gal at HuffPost carrying the grudge against Keller? (referring to the slideshow pic of only the top of Keller's head)

[lizr]

SO the only WOMAN was that old hack Peggy Noonan?

why no FEMALE rising stars besides Rachel Maddows???

[skyloaf]

Excuse me, but is this what had become of journalism?

I appreciate Twitter, but these are simply notes. A journalist actually takes their notes and writes a coherent story from them. Now you offer them for us to sift through? That's just lazy.

[Rachel Sklar - Huffpost Blogger]

Sarah Palin convinced me that you don't need the media filter clouding things. Joe Sixpack wants his information straight, raw.

[Marshall Lucky]

Skyloaf, you have been...

...SCHOOLE­D!

[Moxo]

Please print it!!

[renatam]

It would be about time the NYT focus on McCain's very long history of associations -- and not put another Ayers hit piece on the front page, left hand side -- that Sarah Palin can MANIPULATE/LEVERAGE to incite crowds to shout "kill him" -- dangerously.

Sarah Palin's association with the secessionist Alaska Independence Party has no coverage, investigation, etc.

Sarah Palin's church affiliations are not used against her -- despite their being strange.

McCain's history and ASSOCIATIONS are largely untapped.

[kiran888]

Palin is in church while these crazy rantings by her preacher are going on. Why cant the news cover this story?? How unfair. McCain and Palin are being babied.

[Melissa]

Everyone knows how biased the New York Times is. Why do you think their circulation is in the tank?

[Buckywunder]

Rachel, Rachel, Rachel.

Of COURSE you thought Maggie Haskell's seething question on sexism was great since you are still hanging your hat on that completely manufactured issue. I noticed you were on over at Fox once (didn't stay to watch, sorry!), I am surprised you haven't followed in Howard Wolfson's footsteps.

I don't know if the women I know are just tougher, but I can tell you that no one -- NOT ONE -- of the women I knew who are smart, intelligent, professional, educated and involved fell for that "sexism" charge. It's such a shame that that charge and whiney, poor loser behavior came to be associated with "sexism."

Hillary went to the well with that political calculation thing on Iraq just one too many times. If she had voted on principle and against the war, she'd be looking at Obama-like numbers. But instead she had to play the Maggie Thatcher/Golda Meir/Indira Gandhi card. The rest is history...

[RobertHewson]

Really rather brilliant, satire on tonight's debate:
Fear and Loathing in The Town Hall: A Predictive Fantasy
http://tinyurl.com/3u6ss6

[mccainstinky]

Massive tard.

Obama for president.

http://tinyurl.com/4na3vz

[98rsd]

Hmmm...Per­haps Gov Palin as the mother (or grandmother?) of a "tard" might object to her supporter's language?

But we'll never know, because she isn't allowed to speak in public. Unless mccainstinky IS Palin?