by Chula Harjo

Created on: August 08, 2008

The media is not bias in favor of Obama; the media is bias in favor of their paychecks.

Dirt sells. Controversy creates ratings. Conflict attracts an audience. The media needs an audience to give them better ratings so they can make money. In the youngest Presidential contender, who is also the first African-American nominee, the media has hit a gold mine. Barack Obama coverage, good or bad, is just what the media needs to compete with video games, reality TV, and blockbuster movies.

Since announcing his Presidential bid in February 2007, Obama has garnered media attention second only to the O.J. Simpson trial. But let us never forget for one second that this coverage has not all been positive. Unwanted endorsements, ill-worded statements, and even celebratory hand gestures have received hours of news time. The media reported numerous negative stories on Obama before even confirming they were correct.

The news media made numerous reports about Obama attending a madrasa as a child. The reports were based on an unconfirmed email and played on news channels over and over for days. After Obama's denial of the madrasa claim, the media THEN decided to investigate, ultimately travelling to Obama's childhood school in Indonesia. The media teams all issued retractions of their previous stories, and the email's original author, rougue politician Andy Martin, was ousted by the Washington Post in June of 2008. If the media was truly biased in favor of Obama, they would have either ignored the emails or verified the information before reporting on unconfirmed information and doing irreparable damage to Senator Barack Obama's public image. How much media attention was focused on the ousting of Andy Martin, the former presidential contender who wrote the false claims? It made the news one day. Never heard of Andy Martin? Its because resolving a controversy is not nearly as revenue-rich as starting one.

A mere hand gesture by Barack Obama is fodder for hours worth of media- and it is not praise being poured upon the Presidential hopeful. Once when he scratched the side of his nose with his middle finger, news "analysts" disussed at length whether or not he was "flipping off" Hillary Clinton. When Barack and wife Michelle gave each other a "fist bump," news reporters asked if this was a "terrorist fist jab." Three days of news coverage were devoted to the detangling of this foreign body language.

When something will attract viewers, the media will report on it- endlessly, if possible. Senator Barack Obama attracts viewers for multiple reasons: one group of society can't wait to see what he'll do next and the other group can't wait to see how that can be twisted into a mistake. The media will not let the gold-mine Obama go unreported, no matter which side they have to report to in order to keep the advertising dollars rolling in.

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