If you're as pathetic as I am, you keep cable news on all day while you work. Watching the coverage from cable news, especially CNN and MSNBC, I've found it curious that there has seemed to be a shift in coverage over the last month or so.
As Senator Obama racked up a dozen straight wins, I remember both John King and Chuck Todd standing in front of maps, playing with vote numbers in future states, concluding that the race was pretty much lost for Hillary Clinton, at least as far as the math was concerned. As far as I can tell, nothing in the math has changed. If anything, Obama has shown the ability to wipe out Clinton gains, both by winning votes after Ohio and Texas, and by far out-pacing her in the current race for superdelegates.
Yet, rather than report that things are looking more bleak, CNN and MSNBC seem to be pushing the new meme, that this race is essentially a tie.
Why? Why the sudden change in tone that the race is mathematically out of reach, to it being an essential tie? Why the harsher focus on stories that might drive down Obama's numbers and less on those that might drive down Hillary's?
New ratings from the First Quarter of 2008 might give us an idea. From MediaBistro:
CNN did in fact win the ad-friendly A25-54 demo in prime time for the first quarter. It's the first time that's happened in six years. Year-over-year, CNN grew 27% in Total Viewers and 23% in the A25-54 demo (total day).
Anderson Cooper 360 at 10pmET posted its first ever quarterly win in the A25-54 demo. AC360 increased 60% in the demo compared to last year.CNN also won the 9pmET and 10pmET in the A25-54 demo in the first quarter 2008.
And from MediaWeek:
Among the top-30 ad-supported nets, nearly half saw their ratings jump by double-digit percentages. The biggest gainer was the aforementioned CNN, followed by MSNBC (up 57 percent to 780,000 total viewers),
TV Week asks the all-important question:
This presidential campaign has provided such a sustained high for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC that cable news followers are asking whether the cable news channels risk a crash when the political drama subsides, or whether they can hold on to any of their expanded audiences after the election....
[Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of TNS Media Intelligence Campaign Media Analysis Group] said flatly that viewer interest is "not sustainable" once the contest narrows down to two candidates.
Not being in the newsrooms, I can't tell you what their motivations are. Maybe they all sat down and concluded that their coverage was slanted and that a 140 delegate lead is now a tie, not close to insurmountable, like it was when it was a 100 delegate lead. Maybe the SNL skits hit them with an epiphany -- that it was time to give Hillary Clinton a break and go harder after Obama (as they've all certainly done, giving far more intense coverage to Reverend Wright than to the Bosnia-flap or Jake Tapper's reporting on NAFTA).
Or, maybe, they just don't want the primary to end. Maybe they don't want to try to cope with the ratings drop, and the subsequent loss of advertising dollars. Maybe like the Wu-Tang Clan says, C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me). Why should the news be different than anyone else?
More Americans than EVER before are involved in these primaries/caucuses and more are opening their eyes to the people involved than ever before. So this is something that is truly good for the country and the world to see what our innermost feelings are as inhabitants of America. I hope the world is seeing what we are finally seeing and that is, Bush should be tried for treason and Hitlary should be tried for lying on everything.
Glad I woke up!
But you're right. They don't want the Hillary vs. Obama catfight to go away because it boosts their ratings.
I believe there is bias against Senator Clinton at the very core of the Democratic organization beginning with Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi. The Clinton supporters should flood the DNC with emails calling for the Florida delegation to be seated as voted. The disenfranchised voters of Florida should also flood the DNC with emails. Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi have shown that they don't want the people to elect a nominee...they want to select the nominee and hope the voters won't notice. Well this voter and many others have noticed and the Democratic Party will have difficulty with unity if the Florida and Michigan delegations are not seated, given the right to speak for these states and their votes counted.
It is time for the rules to apply to everyone including Senator Obama. Why is he being given a pass?
For sure, WHY do SOME rules matter and others do not ? Easy to agree then change to disagree ..is that FLIP FLOPPING or what for CONVENIENCE SAKE ?
Part of it all, budget contraints and if perhaps some have indeed noticed, read the various print papers or peruse the various channels, is QUITE REPETITIVE, sometime word for word, sometime same pictures/video clip footage, occasionally small rewrite / paragrahph / headline justapositoning...Their RESOURCES are drawn from the SAME POOL and they all use them--is a repeated repeating , just a change of "on camera" talking heads moderating/presenting as IF someting of they now all describe as cutting edge , breaking news or somehow "insightful" info/blah, blah, blah...The media itself is conglomerated into the hands of perhaps FIVE major corporations and THEY RULE be on air or in print consequently, independent reporting is rather scarce to say the least and much gets ignorred for a VARIETY of reasons !!!
so cool to mislead the public for ratings, because, lets face it, Hillary is Presidential Brittney with an umbrella, doing and saying more bizarre things every day.
The responsible media, contributing the masses misinformation - like that popular vote is bogus b/c 4 states don't even have numbers for it and we'd have to "guess". Of course those 4 states went for Obama, so of course they don't matter to Clinton - but when Obama finally gets his nomination, her gullible and misinformed legions will actually beleive he "stole" it - why? Because Hillary, with an assist from the media, aren't telling them the truth, that "popular vote" is a bogus number and can't be considered.
So the MSM will print articles calling Obama a liar for not telling his staff he snuck a ciggie, while giving her 400 lies a day a total pass. They contribute to smearing Obama which will cost votes - in Nov.
I am appalled. And I am really sad for the nation.
When the media is selling out like politicians you know the only solution is getting someone in office who is only taking money from the people. Everyone is a sellout these days, McCain and Hillary from corporate lobbyists...and the media is now owned by the same corporations.
http://infogiant.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/comparison-hillary-vs-bush
As for the media, it bears responsibility for their egregious performance and failure to allow the citizenry to properly informed but they too are weaseling out of that accountability.