There's an interesting piece in the Baltimore Examiner today that reveals a lot of what is going wrong with media coverage. President Bush is actually racking up quite a few victories, but coverage of them is lacking.
SAN FRANCISCO – When President Bush nominated Gen. Michael Hayden to run the CIA, the press focused on disapproving Democrats and even some Republicans who were dubious about confirmation.
A month later, when the Senate confirmed Hayden by a 78-15 vote, the story was given much less emphasis in the media, which had moved on to other stories critical of the Bush administration.
Similarly, when Bush nominated one of his aides, Brett Kavanaugh, to the federal judiciary, the press was filled with reports about Democrats threatening a filibuster because Kavanaugh once worked for special prosecutor Kenneth Starr in the case against President Clinton.
Last week, there was much less media coverage of a Rose Garden ceremony in which Bush presided over the swearing-in of Kavanaugh, who had been confirmed by a 57-36 vote.
Bush has quietly been racking up small victories like these that seem at odds with the media’s conventional wisdom of a presidency on the skids.
This is quite true. There was massive coverage before Hayden was confirmed, only a little when he was confirmed. (I didn't blog about Kavanaugh). There is something very revealing here as to why this is:
“In today’s political climate, daily headlines and fast-moving events make it easy to lose the forest for the trees,” Bush counselor Dan Bartlett wrote in a memo this week. “But there is a clear tide of positive developments that reflect the president’s ability to get things done.”
Bartlett’s memo was dismissed as “happy talk” by Mark Halperin, political director of ABC News. And White House correspondent Ken Herman of Cox Newspapers noted that Bartlett “found reason for optimism in Iraq … on a day when gunmen rounded up 56 people at a Baghdad bus stop.”
This is probably a lot more revealing than Halperin realizes. There is such a strong bias against Bush that Halperin cannot see it. Even when presented with facts, Halperin cannot admit there is any truth to them. The media control of the narrative remains what it is.
Only bloggers don't allow complete control by the media establishment anymore. The control of the narrative is slipping through your fingers, Mr. Halperin.
