If anyone still had doubts about the existence of a political bias in the major media, the recent Democratic primaries should have changed all that. Howard Dean, the former doctor and Vermont governor, has not performed as well as expected in the Democratic primary elections and caucuses. In fact, Dr. Dean has not won a single state. So why was Dean expected to perform so much better than he has?
Months ago, the major news media picked Howard Dean as its candidate. Analyst after analyst was marched out on the evening news to tell America how great Howard Dean is for the Democratic Party. According to the major media outlets, he is a true Democrat and on top of that he is a fundraising phenomenon. If one were to only watch ABC, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and CBS, the only conclusion that could be drawn is that Howard Dean had the Democratic Nomination wrapped up months ago. By December, the news networks had all decided that the rest of the nominating process would be a mere formality, because Dean was too perfect of a candidate. And then the gaffes came.
Dean said things like “the world is not safer since Saddam Hussein was captured." At a time when Dean was trying to appeal to the Christian population and was asked if he thought he should stop being so negative towards his neighbors, Dean replied “George Bush is not my neighbor.” Now if you are a fervent Dean supporter, those two statements might seem just fine; however the rest of America is going to go ahead and disagree. And after saying things that must have had his campaign managers cringing, the major media didn’t just let Dean off the hook, they practically campaigned for him.
If you watched a news network like CNN, first you saw news anchors and analysts saying that Dean was absolutely right about everything that he said. If the “news” programs did concede that Dean may not have been correct, an analyst would be brought on the show to tell America that these gaffes would not hurt Dean in the campaign at all. The major news media was able to keep a straight face while essentially claiming that Howard Dean was immune to slipping in the polls after making one of his wild statements.
But January 19 rolled around and the votes were cast in the Iowa Caucuses. Dr. Dean received only 18 percent of the vote, and was crushed by Senator John Kerry, who won 38 percent of the vote. And then came the gaffe that would completely end Dr. Dean’s hope for the Democratic nomination. After the Iowa Caucus, Howard Dean basically went crazy. His “I have a Scream” speech has acted as an anchor on his presidential aspirations, but it did not have to be that way.
After seeing the results of the Iowa Caucus, the major media switched allegiances. John Kerry is now its man and MSNBC, CNN, CBS and ABC will see to it that he receives as much favorable coverage as possible and that his rivals are crushed. This began in the four days after the Iowa Caucus. CNN’s top brass now admits that they overplayed Dean’s post-Iowa explosion, playing the clip a total of 633 times in the four days after the Iowa Caucus. According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs, only 39 percent of Dean’s news coverage could be classified as positive in the week following the Iowa Caucus. Senator Kerry however, enjoyed 71 percent positive media coverage that same week. A campaign advertisement can barely achieve a number like that. And so nearly as quickly as Dean became the sweetheart of the major media, John Kerry has replaced him. And itwill cover up all of his gaffes and mistakes just as they did for Dean. Count on it.
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