Hello Everyone:

Howard Kurtz in my opinion did a great job of bringing up the point and asking the tough questions about pro-Obama and anti-Hillary media bias with his panel on his show CNN Reliable Sources last Sunday, March 2:

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST (voice over): "Crying foul. Hillary Clinton goes public with her complaints about media mistreatment, even as the pundits declare her the loser of this week's debate..."

Here are some of the key points that Howard Kurtz and his panel made in this transcript which I was really glad to see openly discussed:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0803/02/rs.01.html

CNN RELIABLE SOURCES

Hillary Clinton Complains About Media Treatment; McCain Apologizes for Radio Host's Remarks

Aired March 2, 2008 - 10:00 ET

1) Howard Kurtz asked the right question about the media when it comes to anti-Hillary and pro-Obama media bias when he asked "has our business been unfair?"

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: "Now it's out in the open and the pundits have been debating. Well, has our business been unfair?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she's been treated unfairly for the whole campaign, for the most part, and I think you should feel bad about it.

GLENN BECK, CNN HEADLINE NEWS: You know what, Hillary? I am sorry, but there is no time ever on planet Earth that I'm going to feel bad for you being a victim of media bias.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Clintons have had contempt for the media for 16 years. It has been reciprocated.

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: I have the greatest respect for Brian Williams and Tim Russert, but that was -- there was nothing fair about the way that was constructed.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: Barack Obama has not had scrutiny. He has not had any scrutiny in terms of where he plans to take the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)"

2) Howard Kurtz asked Mark Halperin the right question when he asked "have the media tilted toward Obama's side, or, if so, is that starting to change?" I completely agree with Mark Halperin's response of "It's great that this analysis is taking place now; it's a little too late."

KURTZ: "Mark Halperin, when you look at the whole landscape of Hillary coverage and Obama coverage, whether it's, you know, swooning over the Oprah endorsement, the Ted Kennedy endorsement, writing about how wonderful Obama's voice is, have the media tilted toward Obama's side, or, if so, is that starting to change?

MARK HALPERIN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: He does have a great voice, Howie. I concede that.

I think the most important thing now is the press not be defensive. I think what you see in a lot of the debate going on now is people saying, well, you know, Obama sometimes gets tough coverage, or Clinton got some good coverage and points along the way.

I think our business is filled with too many people who are thin- skinned. It's not about being an advocate for one candidate or another. It's about, is the coverage fair? And I know plenty of smart people in politics who are neutral in this race, plenty of smart people in journalism who would tell you that the coverage hasn't been fair. It's great that this analysis is taking place now; it's a little too late."

3) Jessica Yellin of CNN tried to blame Hillary's negative media coverage on her bad relationship with the press to which Mark Halperin in my opinion very correctly answered about that "And it's not enough to say we don't get our calls returned or the Clintons weren't nice to the press when President Clinton was in the White House. We're supposed to be given voters the tools they need to make the right decision on an equal basis, and, again, I don't think there's any standard by which that's been the case:"

KURTZ: Jessica Yellin, you are in Texas. Hillary Clinton jetted off to New York last night to make a cameo appearance on "Saturday Night Live." Did you know about that?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we had an early heads-up, but not because the Clinton campaign told us. They don't really like to tell us much of anything.

I'm going to be the odd man out here, Howie, and say that I do think the press has been tougher on Senator Clinton, and I think there are a lot of reasons for it. And most of them -- or many, I should say, lie with the face that she has had this adversarial relationship with the press for so many years, she is a well-known quantity. So, telling her story isn't as interesting and fresh and new as telling the brand-new story of Barack Obama.

So, naturally, he's going to get that nicer coverage to begin with, while, you know, critiquing her will is going to be the more interesting, informative story at the beginning. Over time it's evened out a bit, and I think to the extent she's still getting negative coverage, it has to do with the fact that she has these abysmal relations with the press. It's a combative, aggressive relationship. You compare it to the way the Obama people relate to the press, much more engaged, pleasant, even easier to deal with, and you're going to end up with, frankly, different kinds of coverage.

KURTZ: Although, Mark Halperin, Obama himself isn't all that available to reporters.

Pick up on that point. You know, the average viewer or reader sitting at home I think says, so what if there's difficult relations between the campaign aides and you reporters? It's your job to rise above that and not to let it influence the tenor of your coverage.

HALPERIN: If that's what the average person thinks, Howie, then call me average. Because that's what I think is the case.

I find there are pleasant people to deal with in both campaigns. I find both candidates not particularly accessible.

I think one of the real failings of this cycle in our business overall is we have not demanded as institutions and individuals the kind of access and accountability out on the campaign trail of the candidates as has existed in years past. But we have to rise above that.

You know, those public opinion polls suggest that the public overwhelmingly thinks President Clinton -- Senator Clinton has not been treated equally. And I think again we have to just ask ourselves, not in a defensive way, not cherry picking examples that run counter the argument, but watch the coverage, read the coverage, listen to the coverage, and say, has it been fair?

And it's not enough to say we don't get our calls returned or the Clintons weren't nice to the press when President Clinton was in the White House. We're supposed to be given voters the tools they need to make the right decision on an equal basis, and, again, I don't think there's any standard by which that's been the case."

Here was Jessica Yellin's "natural and cause and effect" response to Mark Halperin which I would not agree with:

YELLIN: "... in response to what Mark Halperin said. I'm not justifying that the press is being biased against Clinton because of our different -- because the campaigns treat us differently. I'm saying it's a natural and cause and effect, and it's partly the Clinton campaign's fault for treating the press so poorly that they're getting different kind of coverage."

4) I agree with Mark Halperin that Obama should "have gotten more of the tough questioning" in the last debate:

HALPERIN: "I was surprised that their questions focused at least as much, and I would say more, on Senator Clinton than they did on Senator Obama, given that in a one-on-one debate with a clear front-runner who's not faced very tough questioning in a lot of the debates, you might have thought that he would have gotten more of the tough questioning, particularly at the beginning of the debate."

5) I agree with Kate Snow on how "They sort of gave Barack Obama a pass:"

KATE SNOW, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": "Just one note on the debate. The question that I found the most interesting, you know, just as far as the questions that they were asking, why did they ask Hillary Clinton about the future leader of Russia and sort of give her a pop quiz about that man, and then -- and not ask Barack Obama about him?

KURTZ: Right.

SNOW: They sort of gave Barack Obama a pass. You know what I'm referring to?

KURTZ: And the truth is -- I know exactly what you're referring to..."

Please forward this information on so that many more Democratic primary voters (especially in Texas and Ohio) will be aware of this blatant anti-Hillary/pro-Obama media bias that is going on and will hopefully think twice before believing any of it when they see it. I will definitely continue to keep on exposing this unprofessional media bias nonsense as I continue to see it!

Mitch Dworkin

http://www.securingamerica.com/

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10756
StopIranWar.com: "War is not the answer"
Submitted by Wes Clark on February 21, 2007 - 11:40am.

http://www.securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program: An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight back against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda!