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Calling a Lie a Lie? Not Yet

Talking Points Memo: Big News Orgs Fail To Label McCain Attack Ad What It Is: False. (Y)ou’d think the fact that the McCain ad contains a blatant falsehood would merit a mention in the coverage.

They must be talking about the big news organizations that occupy a parallel universe.

0 Comments on “Calling a Lie a Lie? Not Yet”

  1. #1 Jon Garfunkel
    on Jul 30th, 2008 at 9:21 pm

    Weren’t we just talking about the perils of advocacy journalism?

    TPM has a right to raise hackles about this as a partisan media outlet. But at some point, shouldn’t a fair media critic (say, one aligned with a university media program) do a open assessment of all of the major media outlets and their coverage beyond what TPM could cover?

    My chance I came across more information tonight. The NYT editorialized on this today, and called the McCain ad false. The NewsHour ran an in-depth segment into the issue, and the assessment was that McCain’s attack was unfair. They also pointed out that George Stephanopolous had grilled McCain about it on Sunday.

    My sense is that you perceive the objectivity of newspapers to be stridently neutral and weak-willed. I see them being coy. They don’t call things false, at least not right away, in order to keep readers on their toes.