If The Media Gets It, Why Is It Not Reported?

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Media
Posted on Sun Aug 05, 2007 at 02:53:52 PM EST
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TPM does a very good interview with Ron Fournier of the AP on the "lobbyist" issue that became the headline of yesterday's YKos Presidential Forum:

As Fournier suggests, the way the issue was portrayed in the forum was, to say the least artificial. Blasting lobbyists while taking money from state lobbyists and the spouses of lobbyists, as Obama does, or from certain principals like hedge fund managers, as Edwards does, is certainly disingenuous. The question is how come that does not make most stories? To Fournier's great credit, it did make his:

Despite their own infatuations with special interest money, former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama put Clinton on the spot during a debate that featured seven of the eight major Democratic presidential candidates. . . . While they don’t accept money directly from federal lobbyists, Edwards and Obama are not above benefiting from the broader lobbying community. Both accept money from firms that have lobbying operations, and Obama in particular has tapped the networks of lobbyists’ friends and co-workers. Obama, a former state senator from Illinois, has long accepted money from state lobbyists.

Credit to Fournier.

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If The Media Gets It, Why Is It Not Reported? | 4 comments (4 topical)

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Lobbyists (none / 0) (#1)
by Dulcinea on Sun Aug 05, 2007 at 03:44:31 PM EST

We will not hear much of Fournier's take on this on the "progressive" blogs where denigrating half-truths become gospel when they relate to Senator Clinton. Not much fact-checking there so kudos to Josh for going the extra length to get the facts.

I know!! Smacks Buzzer (none / 0) (#2)
by RedHead on Sun Aug 05, 2007 at 05:55:21 PM EST

Q: The question is how come that does not make most stories?

"I know, I know, Alex!!"

A: What is "Liberal Media Bias?"

Obama used corporate jets during his first three years in the Senate. Corporations almost always have a lobbyist ride along - that's part of the exchange: we get access while you're on our jet.

but you know how I found out about it?

a) blogs

b) the alternative media

c) winger noise streams

d) the lazy MSM

e) Ross Perot's crazy aunt, when I visted her attic

Correct answer: D

And what do we have for our contestants, Johnny!!

Why it's a combination washer - dryer!!

: You also could have read about it in E): (none / 0) (#3)
by Geekesque on Sun Aug 05, 2007 at 07:56:01 PM EST

His own book.

Editors control the final draft (none / 0) (#4)
by Rick B on Sun Aug 05, 2007 at 08:30:34 PM EST

The reporters may get the facts on the ground, but the editors understand the facts as the Managing Editor and the owners want them published. Editors also determine which reporters get assigned to which stories, and where the story is published in the paper or the TV sequence.

When the facts don't match the reality on the ground, always look to the editors first. When large parts of the story is written accurately, but the conclusions and the slant doesn't match, look at the editors.

Used to be competition in newspapers kept this stuff under control. The decline in advertising revenues and the mergers of news outlets mean that there is no longer effective competition to expose the reporting biases. But for the day-to-day bias, look to the editors.