by Tina Grazier
So whats up with the media; why are they so quiet about some stories? Stories about politicians caught in compromising positions have always provided that POP the media loves and craves. Pro-lifers lined up in front of abortion clinics were sensationalized as religious protesters were labeled as crazies and then when a real crazy took it upon himself to bomb an abortion clinic all pro-lifers were implicated in the act by association. We have watched as the media covered the Iraq war as a total failure and the surge as wrongheaded and a waste of time and resources, until we started winningthen we heard nothing. In the primary season the attention paid to Barack Obama was considerably more enthusiastic and charitable than coverage of Senator Clinton causing her to complain of media bias.
So what is up with the media? How do they decide what to report (or not) and how to report it? What do they use as their guiding principle? Two recent events are reason enough to ask these questions. One features typical bad boy behavior and the second violent behavior:
RALEIGH — Former Sen. John Edwards has a deadline to save his spot on the national stage. With just two weeks before their national convention, a number of Democrats are saying Edwards needs to publicly address anonymously sourced National Enquirer stories that have claimed he had an affair with a campaign worker and fathered her baby. – Charlotte News & Observer (NC]
Having lost the debate in the marketplace of ideas, they choose instead to terrorize. As Jerry Vlasak, a spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front, told the AP, “If you had to hurt somebody or intimidate them or kill them, it would be morally justifiable.” *** This threat couldn’t be clearer. These homegrown militants deserve to be treated by the law as more than misguided activists. This was driven home again last weekend when animal rights activists firebombed two scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz. *** The bombs which investigators called “Molotov cocktails on steroids” went off within minutes of each other, and were capable of killing their targets. These weren’t innocent pranks. – IBD
Why isnt John Edwards being harassed by camera crews and microphone wielding reporters? Why arent ALF and ELF receiving negative, disapproving, relentless news coverage? We may have heard about these events (maybe not) but coverage has been incredibly weak compared to similar events of the past. Is this political bias, as Hillary Clinton called it in her case, or is it something else? The silence speaks volumes but its up to us to notice and determine for ourselves the cause.