There were early indications that corporate media coverage of Barack Obama’s candidacy would be squirm-inducing, putting on display the elite (mainly white) press corps’ murky ideas about race much more than any straightforward reckoning of black Americans’ situation or what an Obama presidency might mean for their concerns. Journalists were sometimes embarrassingly frank about how they interpreted Obama’s blackness and what they hoped his success might mean. “No history of Jim Crow, no history of anger, no history of slavery,” declared NBC’s Chris Matthews (1/21/07). “All the bad stuff in our history ain’t there with this guy.” “For many white [...]
Feb
01
2009
Let's Talk About Race--or Maybe Not
Coverage of Obama and ethnicity says more about media
Jan
23
2009
Norman Solomon on Obama's inauguration, Ann Jones on Afghanistan
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: The inauguration of President Barack Obama was undoubtedly historic, and was covered as such by the corporate media. But what are we to make of the idea that the media have gone gaga for Obama? And what are the pundits and editorial writers pushing for from Obama in the first place? Author and columnist Norman Solomon will join us to talk it over. Also on CounterSpin today: "Major Push is Needed to Save Afghanistan, General Says" was the headline on a recent major daily story. Our guest says reporters need to be asking questions [...]
Nov
26
2008
Media Cheer for 'Non-Ideological' Centrists
Corporate media are largely cheering Barack Obama's early appointment of Clinton-era centrists. Many of these nominees have a distinct record of support for the corporate-friendly NAFTA trade pact, gutting public assistance programs under the guise of welfare "reform," and pushing various deregulatory policies in the financial sector (including the elimination of the Glass-Steagall Act). Yet, to hear the media tell it, Obama's centrist nominees inhabit an ideology-free political zone. The praise began with Obama's pick of center-right Clinton Democrat Rahm Emanuel for chief of staff. Time magazine's Karen Tumulty explained (11/13/08): Emanuel is a win-at-any-cost partisan but not an ideologue; [...]
Nov
04
2008
Pro-Obama Media?
What talk about media favoritism really means
Whether or not Barack Obama wins the election, there will be a substantial argument from conservatives--and even many centrist pundits and commentators--that the press was overwhelmingly biased in favor of the Democratic candidate and against John McCain (Extra!, 9-10/08). But the main evidence for this charge does not actually support the case. Throughout the campaign, the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) has released reports on the quantity of media coverage of the election--which candidates received more airtime, and so on. Several PEJ studies have also discussed the tone of the coverage, in an attempt to reveal which candidates are [...]
Sep
15
2008
The Myth of Pro-Obama Media Bias
Little evidence for self-proclaimed ‘lovefest’
If there has been one unquestioned assumption of the 2008 election, it is that the media love Barack Obama. Rush Limbaugh declared that the media were following Obama with “their tongues dragging along the concrete to the floors.” “Lenin, Stalin never got this kind of coverage from their media,” Limbaugh claimed (7/22/08), which he blamed on the “chickification of our culture and the news business” (7/21/08). Joseph McQuaid, publisher of the conservative New Hampshire Union Leader, wrote an editorial headlined “Obama Orgy” (7/21/08) that denounced “the outrageous imbalance in the major media’s coverage of the candidates.” Such proclamations bolstered a [...]
Sep
02
2008
ABC Errs on Obama's Iraq Votes
Echoing McCain line on 'funding for troops'
ABC's Good Morning America (8/24/08) inaccurately described Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as opposing funding for U.S. troops in Iraq--an erroneous charge being circulated by the McCain campaign. In the wake of Barack Obama's selection of fellow Democratic Sen. Joe Biden as running mate, ABC reported: "There are some policy differences between Biden and Obama. You can expect the Republicans to exploit those." One of those differences, ABC correspondent John Berman noted, was that "Biden voted for extending funding for U.S. troops in Iraq, which Obama opposed." While Biden and Obama were indeed at odds on one war funding vote [...]
Sep
01
2008
Inventing Obama's Race Problem
Media muddle needs some sort of trouble
Barack Obama has a race problem—though corporate media can’t quite decide what it’s supposed to be. Take an article by New York Times political reporter Adam Nagourney published toward the end of the primary race with Hillary Clinton (5/6/08): If Mr. Obama loses in Indiana because of white blue-collar support for Mrs. Clinton, it would be the third time in a row, after Ohio and Pennsylvania, that he has lost a big state because of an inability to win over enough of those kinds of voters. So Obama’s problem is “white blue-collar support.” The very next paragraph, though, gives him [...]
Aug
08
2008
Adam Serwer on Obama and race, Eric Boehlert on TV diversity study
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Playing the race card. John McCain expressed outrage after Barack Obama suggested his critics would use his race to dismiss his candidacy. Much of the media conversation about the back-and-forth seemed to support McCain's claim that he was the victim. What does all of this say about the kind of discussion we're having about race and the election? Adam Serwer of the American Prospect will join us to share his thoughts. Also on CounterSpin: A new study of primetime cable TV news shows finds an 'abysmal' record of gender and ethnic diversity. The narrow [...]
