Greg Mitchell Takes On Mark Halperin's Claim Of "Pro-Obama" Press Bias

Time magazine's Mark Halperin made news over the weekend, charging at an election forum that the media bias in favor of Barack Obama was "the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war. It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage."

Editor & Publisher's Greg Mitchell is now challenging Halperin's claims:

Halperin himself couldn't be biased, could he? One recalls his remarkable letter to far right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt last year when he declared, "I really enjoyed our radio talk and I appreciated the opportunity to appear with someone I respect so much....As I said on the show, you and I agree on almost everything we discussed." [...]

It's the old false equivalency problem. In his "disgusting" remarks at the forum, Halperin cited as the most obvious flaw the NYT's late profiles of Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama. Why, the McCain profile was more negative! Well, come of think of it, Michelle did not have an affair with Barack during a previous marriage, did not steal money from her own charity and barely avoid jail, did not become a drug addict, did not lie about the the circumstances of adopting a baby abroad, and so on!

Read more from Mitchell here.

Comments

[motherfather]

thank you Greg Mitchell. There were too many issues about the MCCains that were not divulged to the public by the press( MSM). I had the thought that if any of the things that went on with the Mccains had gone on with the Obamas, we would have heard about it for weeks. I spent many a frustrated evenings yelling at the TV to ask the pertinent questions of the MCCain camp to no avail. Imagine my surprise when I read Halperin's piece. I had two words for it....B S!

[lotuslike]

Halperin was consistently deluded throughout the primaries and general...and STILL got tons of air time to spout his crap. I must say though that I really enjoyed his appearances toward the end of the general when other journalists and pundits would challenge his assertions and he'd choke and sheepishly try to explain and re-explain his lies. What a jerk!

[realtalking]

John McCain was given a smooth ride, by the press. This is a man who claims to have integrity, yet he had an affair with the woman who is his current wife (None of this was examined at length in any press coverage), nor did any press coverage examine that John McCain applied for a marriage license for himself, and Cindy BEFORE he was even divorced from his first wife (where was the press coverage about this?)
John McCain's as well as his wife's ties to the the Keating Five Scandal was NOT examined at length in any press coverage. Cindy McCain still continued a business relationship with Charles Keating even after he had been convicted of fraud. John McCain claims he did not know about the business dealings of his wife, WHICH IS A LIE, and the proof is in the testimony John McCain himself gave during the Keating Five investigations, where he specifically said he knew that his wife had business dealings with Charles Keatings.
The press sure tried to boost John McCain's vice-president pick, rather than report the fact that John McCain could not have known very much about Palin, since he only met Palin ONCE, before he picked her to be his Vice-President.

[peacegurl48]

False Equivalency is right! The Bush/Cheney Regime got passes on so much that they did...please!

[december30]

Thank you Greg Mitchell. Mark Halperin is a joke and the biggest racist of all times. His book will get buried in the basement. How dare him.

[ImpalaSuperSport]

Why is this a surprise to anyone?

[Telemachus]

Charles Manson got lots of negative press, too. That doesn't make it false.

[113]

halperin is a joke, i wish cnn and abc would stop putting him on tv

[HeevenSteven]

It's amazing isn't it? How many times do you have to be spectacularly wrong, all while showing obvious bias yourself, before you get demoted to obits or police blotter.

[11907281]

He provides them the fake "balance" they think they need to draw people from both side.

[mlrlmsw]

I completely agree. The McCain/Palin campaign was more negative, period. And, they developed a standoffish and accusatory relationship with the MSM, which was so different from the McCain 2000 Straight Talk Express. It has always been said by McCain himself, that the MSM was his "base." In the early part of the primary and general election campaign, he was treated quite positively (or, at least, not negatively), but as his campaign got more negative, there was more negative to report. And, the Palins and the McCains' families make the Obamas look like Ozzie and Harriet. Sometimes negative facts are just facts, not an attempt to smear anyone.

[realtalking]

Exactly -- maybe the press should have delved into the McCain's marriage more, into the fact that both John , and Cindy were adulterers, who took out marriage licenses before John McCian has even divorced his first wife.
Or maybe the press should have delved into the fact that Cindy McCain calls herself an only child, yet she has 2 sisters, BOTH of whom she cut out of her father's multimillion dollar will, and estate deciding instead to keep all the money for herself.
Or Maybe the press should have done their jobs and delved into the business relationship that BOTH, John McCain and Cindy McCain continued to have with Charles Keating, even AFTER the man was convicted of fraud, and corruption, and sentenced to prison.
Or Maybe we should have seen front page stories about how John McCain used his political office to help his wife avoid the felony charges she deserved for stealing drugs from the charity she running.

[SillyGit]

I concluded long ago that, in my opinion, Mr. Halperin is a self-deluded twit with an extremely casual relationship with reality.

Thank you Greg for making this better known.

[majorteddy]

What about the week that McCain had the meltdown and said"The fundamentals of the economy are good " and then reversed himself three hours later, suspended his campaign (not really) , said he wouldn't debate until there was a financial solution to the bailout and then did, and many more dumb mistakes by him and Palin , and then Halperin said McCain won the week? wasn't that biased ? or was it just plain stupid? Mark Halperin is a biased idiot and he thinks everyone else is biased because he was heads over heals in love with McCain-Palin and could never say anything good about Obama-Biden.TIME should demote him to mail-boy and duct tape his mouth shut. He is very ignorant for a man in his position.

[Countdown09]

Pro Obama media what a joke - I'm sick of this "false claim". The fact is the media vetted Obama just like the others. Mr. Halperin seems to forget all the petty crap the media harped on like Rev. Wright, bitter gate, Ayers etc. It's not O's fault he didn't have some juicy scandal that could ruin his chances to be President. The media may serve it self well to know that frankly the America people are FEED UP with petty attacks and investigations. We are in a serious crisis, so unless Obama does something wrong please spare us the trumped up news drama's, (for your ratings) we're not in the mood.

[btanner]

The bankrupt right's idea of fairness is to find something equally disgusting, if not more, about their left counterpart even if they have to make it up. And when they have decided to make these false accusations, they will talk about it ad nauseam because they know low information people will just accept these accusations without challenging them.

[cinemabon]

I read Greg Mitchell's article (see the link to full article above). I remember seeing Halperin often critical of Obama on more than one occasion throughout the campaign, often reflecting the conservative 'bias' at Time magazine (although this year, the publishers attempted a more balanced approach than in the past). I agree with Mitchell's assessment.

[GemState]

I'm glad Greg spoke up. Halperin is just wrong. What about that report that showed that 70% of the stories on Obama were negative. The only break we got was when Palin was announced.