Now that the election is over, there are several articles like this one coming out, where reporters and ombudsmen are acknowledging the massive assist media gave to Obama. On the surface, it’s an “oops – my bad!” article; perhaps intended to mitigate the damage to their reputations, because it also tries to excuse what they did.
But I can’t help but receive it as a bit gloating. The Anchoress noted several times that she wanted McCain to win not just for the sake of a McCain win, but because it would represent a media loss. Obama’s win can be attributed in no small part to the propaganda the media delivered on his behalf. Every flaw was ignored or glossed over. Every gaffe was quickly sent down the memory hole. And the reverse treatment was administered to the GOP. Obama’s true views and plans were delivered with a big spoonful of sugar to an electorate prepped by eight years of Bush-bashing to believe it was exactly the medicine they needed.
In my post acknowledging Obama’s win and his status as my next President (none of that “Not MY President” leftist temper tantrum for me, thanks) I avoided giving the media the credit it is due. But in these articles acknowledging their propaganda efforts for Obama, they’re taking credit. And it’s not going unnoticed. Even my mother – who watches a few minutes of Katie Couric several times a week and scans the front page of the newspaper before flipping over to the Living section – is aware of how slanted the coverage was and trusts the media a whole lot less than she used to.
The mask is off.
IMO, the media’s reputation was damaged beyond repair long ago. The fact that their coverage was skewed this time was no great surprise to those who paid attention to past elections and saw them taking leaps and bounds in that direction. Unfortunately, so many people out there would rather be spoon fed the words they want to hear than find out the truth for themselves. That goes for swallowing what the media serves and those annoying e-mail forwards with every kind of falsity known to man!