It’s buried in the middle of Howard Kurtz’s Washington Post article today, but it’s true. In a study by the nonpartisan Center for Media and Public Affairs, “the group says [John Kerry] has gotten the best network news coverage of any presidential nominee since it began tracking in 1988.” That’s right, CMPA says Kerry has received a more favorable press than Bill Clinton in 1992, which was a very syrupy year. And the study includes the Swift Vet month of August!
Kurtz’s main thesis today is the new liberal media chin-puller: what sad state of affairs is it when everyone retreats to the news that fits their own viewpoint? Left out of that analysis: oh, suddenly we’re admitting that liberals have news outlets that fit their own viewpoint? Or, wow, you’re sad now, because conservatives actually have a news outlet or two that isn’t bashing their skulls in? (Kurtz also recycles Time’s awful cover story blurring Rathergate into one big gooey void of relativism.)
While it is sadly true that many partisans play pretty safely in their own informational playgrounds, what really upsets the liberal media establishment in this complaint is that the liberal media no longer uniformly sets the agenda, calls the tune, creates all the perceptions for swing voters. That would be a nice piece for Kurtz: who are the swing voters watching?