Let’s just say, hypothetically, that South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford had not gone missing to hike the Appalachian Trail in Argentina. Let’s say that he had gone missing after murdering his family. Just hypothetically. Do you think the media solicitations would have been all that different? Do you think Joseph Deoudes of Moonie Times Radio wouldn’t have sent this email to Sanford’s staff?
“If you all want to speak on this publicly, you’re welcome to Washington Times Radio. You know that you will be on friendly ground here!”
What about WACH morning radio anchor Tim Miller? Would he have sent this email?
“The Governor can have the floor for 10 minutes and reach over a million people on the show tomorrow!! I’ve already have calls from others who want to bash. … I’m not doing that!”
What about Griff Jenkins of Fox News? Would he have sent this email?
“Having known the Governor for years and even worked with him when he would host radio shows for me, I find the story and the media frenzy surrounding it to be absolutely ridiculous!”
What about Erick Erickson of Red State? Would he have sent this email?
“If he wants something more personal for the blog to push back, I’m happy to help.”
Now, with the possible exception of the WACH radio station, all these media outfits are completely in the bag for the Republican Party. They hear that the Republican governor of South Carolina has disappeared to go hiking on the Appalachian Trail and their first instinct is to try to be of some assistance. Maybe they’re even more concerned about helping the GOP than they are with getting the big interview. Who knows with these people? But what about an outfit like ABC News that has to compete with these slimeballs who are offering to give Sanford the kid gloves treatment? How are they supposed to convince the governor’s staff to give them an interview over Fox News? Here’s how:
ABC News White House reporter Jake Tapper e-mailed Sawyer twice on June 23, both to note coverage of competitor NBC.
With a subject line of “NBC spot was slimy,” Tapper e-mailed Sawyer a “Today” show transcript of Sanford coverage, calling it “insulting.” Later, Tapper forwarded Sawyer a Twitter post by “Meet The Press” host David Gregory.
Jeff Schneider, a vice president at ABC News, said Tapper was “carrying some water for producers who knew he had a relationship with the governor’s office.”
Jake Tapper went after NBC for giving Sanford some skeptical coverage. There is a clear implication that Sanford might expect more sympathetic coverage from ABC. Tapper didn’t say so explicitly, and so he didn’t make an ethical gaffe on the level of the Moonie Times and Fox News. But he has to compete with those operations.
Here’s the point I want to make to Jake Tapper and David Gregory and Wolf Blitzer and Chris Matthews, and anyone else in the traditional media who strives for a level of objectivity. One of the reasons you suck is because you have to bend your standards to compete with faux news organizations that are nothing more than fronts for the Republican Party. A Republican governor could literally murder his family and he’d be getting promises of favorable treatment from those folks. Think about it.
When you have to compete against them, you either stoop to their level and compromise your integrity, or you lose. There are no newspapers or cable news outfits of comparable audience and influence on the left. If someone on the left murders his family, he has to come to ABC or NBC or CNN. That’s the best they can do. But on the right, they have their own major media outlets. They can go on Rush Limbaugh or Greta Van Sustern or whatever, and they can get their side of the story out there.
This is why the liberal-bias of the media is a myth. It’s also why the traditional media sucks. The answer is to expose Fox News and the Moonie Times for the front organizations that they are.
