Take Me To Post Comment Form When it comes to journalism it’s time for change of the general news bias and to put our country first. Fair and balanced should not be a slogan for one network it should pertain to all media networks. It’s incredible that Fox News has differentiated themselves using a slogan which should be “a given for journalism? Go figure! They continue to dominate cable as a result. The Fairness doctrine bill that Pelosi and others champion is anything but that, we will leave that for another blog.

A new study from the Project for Excellence in Journalism was recently released in which they studied and tracked the percentages of negative stories attributed to the McCain campaign versus the Obama campaigns. Unfortunately the media in general has not lived up to the commitment to journalistic excellence as noted from this study.

When you see blatant media advocacy for one candidate over another it is cause for concern. The media outlets must be thought of as unbiased seekers of truth, holding themselves accountable and reporting the indiscretions on both sides of the political fence. If not you lose all credibility and the publics trust. The primary reason that many of the news organizations are losing readership, and subscriptions is a direct result of this type of biased reporting.

One of the alarming statistics although if you have been following this race intently not surprising is the notable percentages difference in coverage and tone between the two campaigns. The study noted that 47.9 percent of the stories attributed to McCain were negative compared to 15.8 percent for Obama. Positive stories attributed to Obama were found to be 46.7 percent compared to 12.4 percent positive for McCain.

This bias was not reserved to just this campaign. The Democrats generally got more coverage than Republicans, (49% of stories vs. 31%.) One reason was likely due to the Democratic candidates announcing their candidacies a month earlier than Republicans, but that alone was not found to fully warrant such a significant discrepancy.

Since this study was conducted it was found that overall, Democrats have received more positive coverage than Republicans (35% of stories vs. 26%), while Republicans received more negative coverage than Democrats (35% vs. 26%).

A similar study has not been made for the vice presidential nominees. Based on the findings above the likelihood is we would find very similar numbers in this race as well.
The trend in this type of reporting does not appear to be changing anytime soon.

It is my hope that reporters will report all stories from both sides of the aisle in the same manner which restores the faith and confidence and more importantly public trust. Their role is so vital for this country and our Democracy. It’s time to put partisanship aside and report the facts. Regain that commitment to journalistic excellence, our Democracy depends on it.

The opinions thoughts commentary are strictly my own and do not reflect those of the entities I represent as an independent agent.

May the source be with you

Pablo Santibanez All Rights Reserved Copyright 2008