As the Scotsman noted in the wake of Ra^thergate:

"Bloggers cannot replace newspapers and the television networks since they rely on the established media to do most of a story’s original reporting. But they can answer the question "who watches the watchers?" The answer is that the pyjama-wearers do."

Today is election day in the USA. Here's a look that steps beyond the candidates to take a hard look at the media - in the USA, and beyond.

TOP TOPICS

• Guess who CBS News picks to handle its election night 2004 coverage, in the wake of Rathergate? Why, Dan Rather, of course.

• The Center for Media and Public Affairs did a survey of press coverage this campaign - here's the full report in PDF. It says that [1] Kerry received the most positive press coverage of ANY candidate since 1980; [2] Bush's coverage was much more negative, but not the worst during this period (Reagan's was, in 1984, when Mondale has the previous top press rating); [3] The major network praised Kerry, while FOX News buried him. (Hat Tip: Instapundit)

• Alan of the Command Post has a corker of a speech to the Associated Press about the blogosphere. You should familiarize yourself with the Law of the Flow, the Law of the Fast, the Law of the Few, and the Law of the Many.

Other Topics Include: Media partisanship stats; Empty headed journalism; Poll shennanigans; Opening the records; LA Times dishonesty; Election contributions; Slant-O-Meter; Fager & cBS; BBC on blogs; BBC cries for Arafat; CBC exposed; Euro press bias; Osama's tape; Covering hate in Germany; Duelfer report; al Qaqaa.

Continue Reading "Media Watch 2004-11-02"