An article on Huffington Post today discusses a letter sent from the Washington Bureau Press Chiefs to the Obama campaign complaining about lack of access. The article was written by Jason Linkins and has lots of reader comments.
A couple of sentences from the letter:
Our joint mission is to cover the candidate on behalf of our millions of worldwide viewers and readers. Those individuals expect truthful and fair coverage from us. Your campaign expects nothing short of that from us as well. Surely we should expect the same from you. We sincerely hope we can expect a relationship based on mutual trust in the coming months of coverage.
Link to the Huffington Post article here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
I found it hard to get beyond the "truthful and fair" type of language used in the Press Chiefs' letter. It was so off the wall as compared to what the media actually produces for the "viewers and readers." There has been so much untruth presented by the media that I find it hard to even think about the quantity of the poor and biased material produced. There are exceptions, of course, but they seem to be getting fewer and farther between.
One of the items the letter specifically mentioned is the press not being involved in the meeting with Obama and Clinton. Personally, I had the impression it was a private meeting and there was obviously no desire or even any need to have the press be there in any way. Don't candidates get to do anything in private during the campaign?
Linkins feels that the primary against Clinton as opposed to the General against McCain need to be treated differently, for example:
But McCain is a different story altogether - having famously courted the media as "his base," his cordial relationship with the travelling press corps threatens to redound to Obama's detriment by comparison.
Linkins' conclusion:
Going forward, Obama's ability to find a happy medium with the press might be a make-or-break concern.
Since the press has treated Obama so poorly, maybe there should be some adjustment, but it could well be similar to the situation with Republicans. When you negotiate to accommodate or them, there is no accommodation in return. It very often appears that there is no bilateral compromising with Republicans, would the media be any different?
This is my first diary, so any suggestions will be welcomed. I looked for this subject here on Kos, but found nothing and thought it would be of interest.