I'm in Journ 405 this semester, and one of the things we recently talked about was how during the Revolutionary War and for several years afterwards, newspapers were guided by political news. Meaning one newspaper would support one ideology and that particular party would help support and fund the entire newspaper. It became so heavily biased that newspapers no longer needed advertisements because the political party they supported was paying for everything. We then talked about how this was a weaker time in our history of journalism, but it seems to me that history is repeating itself.
Nowadays you can't turn on the TV, go on the internet, or read a newspaper without realizing that the article you are reading or the story you are hearing is a little bit more than somewhat biased. It could be that medium chooses to only report on one candidate, or it could be that they report on both candidates but it's blatantly clear who they support.
The Election coverage is possibly one of the most important things a medium can report on. The information the media chooses to present to us, helps us make "informed" decisions about the candidate we will vote for. So, if I'm only hearing one side how can I make an informed decision.
It's as if our media coverage has returned to that politically dominated time in our past. Election coverage gets so out of hand sometimes that I almost expect to turn on the TV and hear them telling me Obama shops at Walmart over Target, oh, the horror. While I am well aware that I can pick and choose which stations, internet sites, or papers I want to be exposed to, it just seems wrong that an issue that is so important in our country is falling prey to the bias preditor.
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Being in 405 with you, I definitely know what you are talking about--and I agree. Anytime I turn on the television and flip through the channels, I am bombarded with "Obama said this," or "Palin wore that." Often times the sound bites I catch do not even have to do with the policies at stake or how one candidate will solve the economic crisis we are currently in.
Maybe in five weeks, all of the election coverage will decrease; but who am I kidding? I'm sure it will stay the same with the actual result to add fuel to the fire.
On a similar note, my hometown paper is still apart of the "party press." It is called the Clay County Republican and definitely has a conservative flair.
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