I.                   The media is often criticized for being biased for liberals; however the articles below establish that the media is in fact a reliable source of current events.

A.    CNN often thought as being biased showed a conservative point of view by defending the McCain campaign while a small group of supporters tried slander an entire faith.

1.      CNN brought in a conservative talk show host to give different opinion; this could even be judged as being a bias of commission in favor of conservatives.

B.     The New York Times wrote an article on Joe the plumber and displayed both a liberal and a conservative point of view.

1.      There is definitely a bias of omission where the journalist left out details to support the claims made.

C.     New York Times columnist Larry Rochter wrote  a fair article talking about McCain losing the Hispanic vote and displays both what he is doing positively and negatively.

1.      However, Rochter leaves out statistical facts and may be trying to place a spin on the story by putting a negative title.

D.    Bloomberg did a good job of staying neutral in this article they did about John McCain.

1.      It used several sources with different party affiliations that portrayed a fair and similar point of view about John McCain’s standings in the 2008 presidential election.

E.     Jeff Zeleny’s article for the Times certainly displays some bias of omission.

1.      There is most certainly some information he is leaving out of the article such as what the specific ties McCain has to Bush, so he is either leaving them out, is just plain wrong, or he did not do the proper research.

F.      The Los Angeles Times does a good job of staying away from any partisan.

1.      They criticize both candidates for pointing out each other’s faults instead of declaring what they will do to help the country.

G.    The N.Y Times places a bias liberal spin on the article.

1.      It displays a bias of commission by supporting only Obama’s arguments with outside sources and not McCain’s.

 

 

 

 

 

For each entry, include the following as the TITLE

1) the title of the news article (in quotation marks);

2) the author of the article if one is listed (Associated Press & Reuters count as authors);

3) where you read the story (eg: New York Times online), in italics;

4) The URL of the story if you read it online; the page number(s) if you read it in print;

5) the date the story was published (and if you read it on line, the time you consulted it).

At the end of the summary, write your name!

 

"CNN News" Rick Sanchez 10/20/08 3:00-4:00

 

     A group of McCain supporters were at a rally when a small group of radical people started slandering Muslim. The radicals were trying to bring down Obama because of his ties to the Muslim faith. Fellow McCain supporters, including the man running the rally, Daniel Zubairi, told them that the McCain campaign does not support nor tolerate that type of behavior. More people stood up to the radicals including some of the Muslim faith that were standing up for their religion and their country. CNN which is traditionally a liberal station did a fair job portraying the good of this situation. Host Rick Sanchez pointed out the heroicness of what these people did, and that the small group of radicals does not speak for the entire McCain campaign.

 

-Ted Randazzo

 

"CNN News" Rick Sanchez 10/20/08 3:00-4:00

 

     CNN does another great job of staying fair while showing clips of the Powell speech in his endorsment of Obama. They brough in Conservative radio talk show host Reese Hopkins for his analysis. Reese critizes Powell on several of his comments. The first being that Powell questions Palin's readiness in line for the President as Vice President while Reese points out Obama's readiness considering he was only a U.S Senator for about 6 months. Hopkins also points out that Powell argues with Obama's socialist connections even with his ties to socialist fundamentalist Bill Aires. Powell stands up for Obama's decision in redistrubution of wealth saying it is neccesary, where as Hopkins makes the point that dependance on redistribution of wealth is in fact a socialist belief. Again CNN does a great job showing both points of view.

 

-Ted Randazzo

 

"McCain Ralies the Joes of the Trades"

Elisabeth Bumiller

New York Times

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/mccain-rallies-the-joes-of-the-trades/

10/23/2008

 

     Senator McCain was campaigning in Florida today looking for people with similar economic backgrounds as a man that made an appearance in Toledo, Ohio who goes by the name Joe the Plumber. McCain was trying to make the point that Obama's economic plan would actually hurt many hard working Americans. Joe the Plumber brought to Obama's attention that he didn't think it was fair to tax some people more than others. Obama replied by stating that he doesn't feel it is fair for people who arguably work just as hard but make less should suffer more than others in times of trouble and that a redistribution of wealth would make things "good" for everyone. This has lead to the argument of Obama being "socialist" in his economic belief of spreading the wealth around.

 

-Ted Randazzo

 

"McCain is Faltering Among Hispanic Voters"

Larry Rohter

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/us/politics/23latino.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

10/23/2008

 

McCain started off his campaign strong amongst hispanic voters due to his stand on immigration policies in his home state of Arizona. It didn't take long for Senator McCain to lose his footing amongst hispanic voters. Hispanics have put the economic issue above immigration policies, putting Obama in the lead. The racial problems between blacks and hispanics do not seem to be playing a very large role. McCain was critisized by the Bush administration by trying to appeal to the hispanic population too late. The senator is now trying to appeal to hispanic veterans, small business owners, and religious citizens. McCain was again critisized by not trying to appeal to hispanic economically, which is clearly what they are looking for in this election.

 

-Ted Randazzo

 

"Obama Widens Lead Over McCain in Nation, Key States"

Christopher Stern

Bloomberg.com

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aCc_gJ9GWBk8&refer=home

10/25/08

 

     Recent polls are not looking good for Senator McCain. Most of the polls including Newsweek and RealClearPolitics.com show Obama in the lead nationwide for the Presidential election. States like Virginia and North Carolina that traditionally would overall vote Republican candidates are starting to drift towards Obama. Obama also seems to be leading the polls in swing states that George W. Bush took in the 2004 election like Ohio and Florida. According to some people there is not enough time to for McCain to close the gap and gain enough traction to win this election. Losing the states or simply being behind in the polls for the states that Bush won puts McCain at a huge disadvantage and shows he has a lot of work to do in a small amount of time.

 

This article did not show any bias. It was based off of a variety of polls and facts. Even though it clearly states that Obama is in a clear lead doesn't mean that it is biased and is just displaying the standings in this election.

 

-Ted Randazzo

 

"Obama Ties McCain to Republican Philosophy"

Jeff Zeleny

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/us/politics/26cnd-campaign.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

10/26/08

 

     Senator John McCain has often times been accused of being to similar to President George W. Bush, and now Obama is making that a key point in his argument why he should be president and not McCain. People want a change in their government and Obama clearly points out that McCain will not bring that change because he is too closely tied with Bush in his policies, especially being that they are both Republicans. McCain also strongly defending his vice president choice Governor Sarah Palin because she was being accused of spending $150,000 on her wardrobe, but McCain said it was property of the Republican National Committee and is not hers to keep.

 

     I feel this article shows a bias towards McCain and does not show the evidence for Obama's accusations. Other than the fact that they are both Republicans, what is Obama's premise on saying he will bring more change and if he mentioned it why was it not written in this article.

 

-Ted Randazzo

 

 

"Obama and McCain Make Their Pitches in Ohio"

Maeve Reston and Seema Mehta

L.A Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-campaign28-2008oct28,0,6472075.story

10/27/08

 

     Obama and McCain continue to nag each other on why the other candidate is bad for the country as oppose to why they will be good for the country. Obama's main argument against the McCain campaign that it so going to be too similar to that of the Bush Administration. He feels that McCain's decisions as Senator have been very similar to those of George Bush's as president and that McCain will bring no change that the country needs. Senator McCain attacks Obama saying that Barrak's change will be a "redistributive change," one that McCain feels is tied to socialism. McCain feels it is a court matter and that higher taxes on people who make over $250,000 and cutting taxes for people who make under that is not fair while Obama believes in the opposite. Obama is trying to distance himself from any type of socialism while McCain tries to stay away from any similarites with Bush. Another key point in the McCain-Palin campaign now is convincing voters of the unified Democratic government that will control both Congress and the Executive Branch.

 

This article does a much strong job in bring both views of the argument into play. It does not take either side but critizes both candidates for blaming each other instead of stating what they will do to bring change.

 

-Ted Randazzo

 

McCain’s Warning About Voter Fraud Stokes a Fiery Campaign Even Further

 KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

N.Y Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/us/politics/27vote.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

10/26/08

 

Senator John McCain made it clear that he was not going to tolerate the voter fraud being conducted and that it will obscure the true outcome of the presidential election. He accused Acorn of beoing the main group behind this illegal registration of voters, about 1/3 of the people they regiestered were fraudulent. The Obama campaign denied all accusations made by McCain at them about trying to alter the results of the election. On the defense Democrats are accusing the McCain campaign of trying to alter the results of the election by trying to confuse voters with these accusations of voter fraud. There has already been talk of a repeat in the 2000 election in which the court will have to intervene. Both parties and candidates are trying to prove the legitamacy of their claims as well as disproving their opponents.

 

     This article seemed to be fair for the most part. It did tend to try and bring outside sources in that only supported Obama's claim as well as referring to the 2004 election in a completely irrelevant manner.

 

- Ted Randazzo