THE US REPORT

Pundits will be wagging those tongues tonight, after the New York Times rejected Sen. John McCain's essay about Sen. Barack Obama's essay 'My plan for Iraq' run recently. Drudge not only scooped the story, he ran McCain's entire essay. You wonder why I admire The Drudge--this is a perfect example. And you can't ask for more, because Drudge has the long reach, way beyond the NYT readership. You really just can't ask for more than a whole essay run at the most highly trafficked website in the universe, a website that has garnered so much influence and attention there's even a copycat site done by a liberal, and no, I am not listing the link to that one.

I read McCain's essay, and just like the Arizona senator, it's straight, unfettered and to the point. I am at the moment reading both of Obama's books. I started with 'The Audacity of Hope,' and I experienced a revelation. Obama is an excellent writer, philosopher and even maybe a poet. His prose reads gracefully, like poetry. I don't know a single brilliant writer or poet I'd turn the country over to, especially with the Democratic Party in control of Congress.

The Associated Press, a brand long regarded as an impartial provider of news, has moved to a more opinionated approach, according to an article at Politico. The AP sells what has traditionally been billed as straight news to a majority of the nation’s newspapers. AP content is also carried by other media such as websites and radio.

Commenting on the Politico article, Warner Todd Huston at Red State wrote about new Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier, who “…decided that a more hard-charging, opinion oriented style of writing is the new direction the AP should take in this new Internet age and it's a direction that makes the AP's past bias even more pronounced.” Fournier began acting as chief in May.

I noted in my own column at Red State the differences in two AP stories dealing with the age of public figures. A story about Supreme Court Justices carried the headline, “No rush to retire black robes on Supreme Court.” The opening sentence pointed out that Justices John Paul Stevens (88) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (75) stay physically active. No concerns were expressed about those justices coping with demands and rigors of their positions. Both justices are considered liberal. A headline for the other story dealing with Sen. John McCain’s age (71) blurted, “For some, Republican John McCain is ‘too old.’”

A backdrop for the AP’s new slant is a decline in revenue for newspapers. Digital Media Wire says 2008 may end up as the “worst on record for the newspaper advertising industry.”

Significant reliance on wire service stories results in homogenized content in newspapers across the nation, creating a challenge for a newspaper to distinguish its own brand from another’s. Newspapers do often try to edit so that the story carries regional significance, something that may be harder to do now that AP will focus on what I perceive as advocacy journalism.

The presidential election continues to percolate, with a black comedian at a fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama referencing ‘hos’ and The L.A. Times declaring, “McCain hoped for a better week.” The paper manages to recap unscripted commentary such as former senator Phil Gramm’s statement about “whining” in the country. Gramm is an economic advisor to Sen. John McCain. The paper further notes the latest Pew poll has Obama ahead, even going so far as to compare the effects of Gramm’s comments as being comparable to the effects of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Obama. Pick yourself up off the floor and remember I’m citing a story in a California newspaper.  California spin is among the most fanciful on the planet.

I have a confession. When McCain became the GOP presumed nominee, no one was more surprised than I was. The impact was a little like the morning I was taking my walk, tripped over a pine cone and tumbled downhill, breaking my shoulder. What to do? I could not bring myself to consider supporting Obama. He has minimal experience at the federal level and even worse, comes from the same political machine that seized the presidency for John F. Kennedy. Sen. Hillary Clinton was an option. I would really like to see a female become president, because after all, the longest arm of discrimination in history is against females. That sort of thing is rampant in a number of other countries, many of them in the Middle East. The conundrum for me was Clinton’s liberal record. In the end, I opted for McCain.

Funny thing is he grew on me. What the Times notes as a lack of scripting actually works for the senator, at least in my opinion. That tells me there’s no Machiavellian strategist controlling everything the candidate tells us. The paper makes a huge deal out of McCain’s non-response to the prospect of insurance companies covering oral contraceptives. Sink me. The country’s going to hell in a handbasket tomorrow.

Omitted from the paper’s article is some interesting information from the Pew Poll, embedded in customary enthusiasm for the Democratic Party, reflecting McCain actually had a pretty good week. The headline in the paper might have read, 'McCain wins over base,' had another hand scripted it and had the writers actually read the entire abstract accompanying the poll:

• A positive note for the Republicans is that McCain is now winning the support of 79% of those who supported his former Republican rivals.
• Nearly half of independents (46%) are undecided or may change their minds, up from 28% in June 2004.
• Yet Obama trails McCain by seven points (44% to 37%) among voters ages 65 and older; four years ago, Kerry led Bush by 12 points among these voters. Obama also is trailing McCain slightly among white Catholics, a key swing group that was evenly divided at this stage four years ago but that ultimately voted Republican.

It’s actually refreshing to me to see a candidate who doesn’t spin every word that comes out of his mouth and has strong-willed advisors who speak their minds even if media does take what’s said out of context. McCain's not a hand-wringer, another trait that I find refreshing.

And as far as those “hos” go, Obama might want to put his comedian in touch with Don Imus for a strategy on that so they can keep the senator's comedians on script.

Employees and independents in media, including leading Internet companies, have donated generously to Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The US Report conducted searches of donations by individuals in specific positions as well as individuals at specific media and Internet corporations,  using an interactive tool at The Orlando Sentinel. The results of our search parallel results of a study noted by The Committee of Concerned Journalists in October, 2007.  The Project for Excellence in Journalism conducted the study. The study compared coverage of each candidate. At that time, results indicated of all stories run on Obama, 46.7 percent were positive and 15.8 percent were negative. Of all stories run on Sen. John McCain, 12.4 percent were positive and 47.9 percent were negative.

Our search for figures on individual campaign donations used identical terms for each candidate. The figures we found cover the first three quarters of 2007. Note on the term ‘reporter’ there were several entries by court reporters, but the majority are from media. The entry for Time, Inc., is for Time Magazine. Utilizing a different search tool may produce different results; this is by no means an official study. These cursory results, however, indicate overwhelming bias for Obama, in print and on the Web and suggest his narrative and possibly his presence on the Web are being shaped for the public by media who actively support his campaign.

Despite frequent calls from media for open government, little about media is open to the public. Should Obama win the election, we must ask ourselves will bias continue? Obama is often compared to John F. Kennedy. Writing about that president in his book 'The Dark Side of Camelot,' author Seymour M. Hersh noted, "The mythmaking and media wooing began soon after Kennedy took office. Newspapers and magazines were filled with articles and photographs, usually touted as exclusive, of family life in the White House...Even the most earnest publications fell prey." (pg.223)

The chart below lists total dollar donations from each type of employee or independent, with donations also listed for select, influential media and Web corporation employees or independents.

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*Text and chart by Kay B. Day. Disclosure: I am a supporter of and a donor to Sen. John McCain's campaign. I am not officially connected to his campaign in any manner.

**For additional reading and to access the interactive tool at The Orlando Sentinel, follow links in 'References' below.

Leftistas have traditionally blasted Matt Drudge for favoring conservative politicians with benevolent links on his news plaza website, but there’s a new question simmering in the pundit and strategist stew. Is Matt Drudge, icon of Web media, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama for president? Politico did a story in June, quoting none other than Arianna Huffington who predictably believes the entire country including Drudge can now be safely categorized and filed under the label (I know this term is quirky but I’m tired of the phrase ‘left-wing’) Leftista.

Huffington, who has her own leftista website, spoke to Politico about Drudge:  “He does have a great grasp of the zeitgeist, and the zeitgeist has shifted. What used to be left-wing positions are now solidly mainstream and supported by the majority of the American people.”

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