A weblog for Pete Ellertsen's mass communications students at Benedictine University Springfield.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

COMM 386: Media bias? Yep. But not what you think it is ...

Howard Kurtz' analysis of media bias in today's "Media Notes" column hits a nail on the head. Rather, one of the stories that Kurtz quotes hits the nail on the head.


It's an article by John Harris and Jim VandeHei of Politico.com, who acknowledge McCain and Palin are "getting hosed i the press, and at Politico":
"Responsible editors would be foolish not to ask themselves the bias question, especially in the closing days of an election. But, having asked it, our sincere answer is that of the factors driving coverage of this election -- and making it less enjoyable for McCain to read his daily clip file than for Obama -- ideological favoritism ranks virtually nil ...

"Reporters obsess about personalities and process, about whose staff are jerks or whether they seem like decent folks, about who has a great stump speech or is funnier in person than they come off in public, about whether Michigan is in play or off the table. This is the flip side of the fact of how much we care about the horse race -- we don't care that much about our own opinions of which candidate would do more for world peace or tax cuts."
Harris' and VandeHei's column is worth reading, too. It's the only time I've seen a lede quoting the journalists' mothers in an article on bias. I'm not sure they pull it off, but the idea of quoting someone who's supposed to be biased in that context is kind of cute.

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About Me

Springfield (Ill.), United States
I'm a retired English, journalism and cultural studies teacher at Springfield College in Illinois (acquired by Benedictine University and subsequently closed). I coordinate jam sessions for the "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" at Clayville Historic Site and the Prairieland Strings dulcimer club, and I sing in the choir and the contemporary praise team at Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield. On Hogfiddle I post links and video clips for our sessions and workshops on the mountain dulcimer (a.k.a. "hog fiddle"), as well as research notes on folklore and cultural studies, hymnody and traditional Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian music. I also posted assignments and readings in my interdisciplinary humanities classes. The Mackerel Wrapper (now on hiatus), carried assignments and readings for my mass comm. students. I started teaching b/log when I chaired SCI-Benedictine's assessment committee, and reopened it as the privatization of public schools grew increasingly troubling and closer to home.