THE US REPORT

Roger Simon at Politico has a tongue-in-cheek apology up about media’s treatment of Gov. Sarah Palin, saying, “On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.” And this morning on Fox News I caught a clip of an editor from US Weekly defending his magazine's cover featuring the headline “Babies, Lies and Scandal” with a photo of Palin holding her baby. The editor called it “a very measured story.” He said that with a big smile. Sometimes media personalities can be funny. Really.

The problem with media (and quite a few politicians): they think the American public is stupid. Academics often have the same problem. Those poor misguided Americans. So why do I harp on media bias?

Simon may believe the candidates have received equal treatment by media, but here’s the rub. If a "journalist " is questioning Sen. Barack Obama about an iffy matter, there’s an approach like you’d use when you’re telling your kid the booster shot will sting a little. “It’ll be over quick, honey, before you know it.” Simon himself wrote a glowing account of Obama after the Democratic convention.

Media workers (what the hell do you call media people these days—bloggers, journalists, citizen journalists, pundits?) have had ample opportunity for juicy Obama stories. They just haven’t asked the hard questions. So they’ve never had to apologize to his campaign. What about the Annenberg Papers? Some might say Obama's original response to questions about William Ayers reads like fiction. What about Obama’s actual community organizer record? Were teams of investigative journalists sent to Chicago? Where are Obama's complete medical records? Where are Sen. Joe Biden’s complete medical records? After all, Sen. John McCain coughed his up. 

What about Obama's earmarks and federal grants?

How come Obama had no idea what Jeremiah Wright was really preaching after a long, personal relationship with Wright and his church?

Simon himself tackled that one. He took the usual approach. Poor unsuspecting Obama. Bad Wright. It only stung a little.

After Palin's speech Wednesday, even the CNN news analysts admitted she was sensational. "A star is born," said one. Meanwhile, scrolling across the bottom of the screen was a reminder McCain has had skin cancer several times. Talk about subliminal.

I’ve criticized media heavily during this campaign, and it is deserved. I’m not going to look up all those studies again that prove coverage has favored Obama. Links to data are in the US Presidential Election category here.

I’m not going to apologize, though. Criticism is appropriate. I do have a message for the “elite media” that’s supposed to at least give an impression of objectivity, sort of like the compassion behind the Southern expression of "Bless your heart."

We’re not stupid. Bless your hearts.
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The video below is an example of objectivity as Chris Matthews asks hard questions about Obama's legislative accomplishments. This was before Matthews' leg went to shivering. And naturally, Keith Olbermann jumps in to deflect possible damage to Obama.