Even by Krugman standards, this is a "must read". It is a great, concise summary of TV media bias.... with lots of examples. Including:
Repeated labeling of Kerry (but not Bush) as a "millionaire".
Refusing to report specifics of Kerry's proposals... while at the same time criticizing Kerry for not providing specifics.
The details about the reporter who Teresa told to "shove it" (a vicious right-wing goon).
And the PS"s at the end!
Bush officials telling Pakistan to stage an al-Qaeda capture during the Democratic convention.
Jeb Bush telling Florida Republicans to vote by absentee because voting machines are unreliable.
Quotes:
There are two issues here, trivialization and bias, but they're related.
Somewhere along the line, TV news stopped reporting on candidates' policies, and turned instead to trivia that supposedly reveal their personalities. We hear about Mr. Kerry's haircuts, not his health care proposals. We hear about George Bush's brush-cutting, not his environmental policies.
Even on its own terms, such reporting often gets it wrong, because journalists aren't especially good at judging character.... And since campaign coverage as celebrity profiling has no rules, it offers ample scope for biased reporting.
The failure of TV news to inform the public about the policy proposals of this year's presidential candidates is, in its own way, as serious a journalistic betrayal as the failure to raise questions about the rush to invade Iraq.
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/30/opinion/30krugman.html?hp