Bias And The Media

All of us know the effect of the media in politics and in political campaigns.  We believe that it is true to say that media coverage can make or break a candidate, depending on their feelings towards the person.  The most blatant example of media bias was seen during the candidacy of Barack Obama.  All three of the major networks clearly favored him as the candidate and did little to support the GOP. 

The election of 2012 is probably the most important election of our (the Two Sisters) lifetime.  The Democratic candidate will be unchallenged and announced his bid for reelection earlier than most.  The GOP field is having a much more difficult time shaping up, and the media have already begun to choose their favorites.

We began to think about this subject when we noticed that  our particular favorite, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is seldom mentioned in the media, particularly in the conservative media.  Governor Pawlenty is described as a "milquetoast," lacking "charisma." Have we as a nation lost our moral fiber and character to such an extent that we choose our candidates according to the sort of "dog and pony show" they can put on during the campaign?

Would Barack Obama have been elected had he not had the amounts of money, the celebrity backing, and the "Hollywood movie sets" with free concerts and free food to lure in the star struck crowds?  Every event his campaign team put on received full media coverage and adulation, while the Republican candidates were shown at slim crowds shaking hands and kissing babies.  It was coverage not intended to send a "thrill up the leg" of Republican supporters!

While reading up on the subject of media bias, we came across an essay written by a student named Tatum Wilcox.  It was written in 2007 but the facts presented in the article, and the role of the media in politics is just as true today as it was nearly four years ago.  The media hasn't changed its ways, and the American public have not changed theirs.

Isn't it time that we as Americans become independent thinkers?  We often think about how former presidents campaigned before the age of electronics, and media domination.  There was certainly another criteria used to choose our presidents and "charisma" did not enter into it.  We were a young nation then, and Americans voted for the man they felt would be the best leader for our nation.  Two hundred years ago we were an emerging nation trying to get a foothold in the world.  Today, unfortunately, we are a nation hoping to re-emerge unto the world stage.  We appear to some as a bankrupt country, we dare say, a morally and financially bankrupt one. 

Our next president, regardless of media coverage should be one with experience, integrity, Honesty, (with a capital H) a respect for the Law of the Land, and a love of country that is unsurpassed by any other allegiance.  We truly believe that a leader who possesses those qualities can begin to restore our nation to its former greatness.
Two Sisters


Media influence on politics and government

by Tatum Wilcox
December 14, 2007

The media plays a substantial role in the development of government. The media gives people access to be able to choose a political party, devise attitudes on government parties and government decisions, and manage their own interests. From newspapers to television to radio to the Internet, the media is the leading factor in political communication and fund-raising.

The mass media performs six main functions, almost all with political insinuations: 1) entertainment, 2) reporting the news, 3) identifying public problems, 4) socializing new generations, 5) providing a political forum, and 6) making profits. Its influence is more prominent during political campaigns because news coverage of a single event could turn out to be the most significant factor in putting a candidate ahead. In fact, countless national political figures, including the president, plan public appearances and statements to expand their influence through the media.

Candidates and their consultants consume much of their time devising strategies to get the most impact on television viewers. Types of coverage used by candidates for any office include advertising, management of news coverage, and campaign debates. The appearance of candidates in presidential debates is as important as the news coverage itself.

In general people already have their own ideas when they view television, read newspapers, or log on to websites. This leads to "selective attentiveness" and acts as a type of filter that allows the viewer to pay attention to the details that agree with his or her own opinion. The media are more effective with those who have not formed a stable political opinion, whether it is on issues or candidates. Studies show that commercials and debates aired right before election day have the most effect on undecided viewers. Voters who have already formed their opinions are hardly influenced by the media to the point of changing their minds.

Not only does the mass media have extensive authority in political campaigns, but they can even exercise power over government officials and affairs. The media and the president both need each other; "The media need news to report, and the president may need coverage." Therefore, both the president and the media work hard to utilize one another. Public problems that receive the most media coverage are considered to be the most important ones by the public, giving the media an important role in the public agenda. The media provides the government with a better understanding of the need and desires of the society.

Several studies have taken place to decide which way media bias sways. Some say they lean more towards the liberal side, while others say they go more towards the conservative side. Even so, some say there is no notable bias. Yet others agree that the media has a bias toward the "status quo" or towards candidates labeled as losers- making it difficult for candidates labeled as such to regain their ground. Calvin F. Exoo "concluded that journalists are constrained by both the pro-America bias of the media's owners and the journalists' own code of objectivity."

Overall, the media are always present with new stories on political activities. Political discussions cannot be avoided in the print media, political stories are aired on television everyday, commercial radio airs political news every hour, and paid political announcements are encountered in all media during campaigns. The media remains important since they are the means by which people obtain current affairs both inside and outside of the United States- however biased it may be.


Copyright 2007 - Tatum Wilcox

 Two Sisters are delighted to have found this gem of an essay by a young student.  We often do not give our young people enough credit for being able to think and express themselves in such an honest, objective fashion.  Reading Tatum Wilcox's essay reinforced our belief that we are often manipulated by politicians, campaign managers, and above all a media that has lost its direction and its objectivity.

MEET TIM PAWLENTY

Chatting with friends recently, we were banding about names for possible GOP candidates for 2012.  Most hoped that the field wouldn't be listed until January of next year, so as not to give the liberal media a heads up to begin bashing the candidates.  Names like Huckabee, Romney, Palin, Daniels, Jindal, Christie, and other notable Republicans were thrown into the mix. 

When I suggested that I like Tim Pawlenty for President I was met with resistance.  "He lacks charisma" some said, "He has no personality" said another.  One person even suggested he get a coach to teach him how to speak animatedly.  I was somewhat perturbed by the tone of the conversation because I have always believed that we voted for the man we felt to be best suited to govern our country and to lead it in the right direction. 

Barack Obama is said to have "charisma."  "Look where voting for charisma has gotten us," I said. "Well how about Marco Rubio, he's eye candy!"  And the chat went on and on.  Granted it was all being said in fun and jokes, but with a bit of seriousness tossed in now and then. Then, it started me thinking what is it that I want in a president? 




Just a regular guy

Later in the evening my brother called and asked me if I'd gotten a Kindle, to which I replied that I wasn't interested in one.  I spend a lot of time looking at an electronic screen as it is, when it comes to reading a book, I like to turn pages.  "That's because, like me, you're Old School!" he said.  I guess he's right and I'm old school about my politics too.  When it comes to choosing a presidential candidate, I want someone wholesome, wise, patriotic, experienced, honest,

conservative, fiscally responsible, intelligent, and the list of qualities goes on.  Most of all I want a president who loves the United States of America, who is proud of his country and doesn't need to apologize for it.

I believe that right now, Tim Pawlenty is the man who better suits that "old school" criteria of mine.  He might not have that "Wow factor," but I do believe he will be a great leader when and IF he decides to run for president. 


Here is an introduction to the real Tim Pawlenty by someone who has had the time to observe him and get to know him.




NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE    
The Quiet Contender
by Robert Costa

Governor Tim Pawlenty

Tim Pawlenty isn’t in the spotlight, yet. But he could charm voters in 2012.


As others kept their distance, Tim Pawlenty took a knee.


It was late, and most undergraduates had long since left the auditorium at George Washington University, but a lone young man in a wheelchair remained. He waited patiently near the door, his shoulders twitching. Flocks of coeds fluttered by. Minutes passed. Then, as Pawlenty finished his last handshake with a clean-cut College Republican, he noticed the fellow at the exit and approached him.


The student struggled to ask a question. Pawlenty, an athletic 50 year-old, dropped to his side. Behind him were empty pizza boxes and trash cans; his aides were watching the clock. But the former Minnesota governor’s eyes stayed fixed upon the face of the young man, who haltingly asked him about the tragedy in Tucson.


“Our hearts and prayers go out to the people who had loved ones who were lost or injured,” Pawlenty replied softly. “We are still heartbroken over that.” Their conversation continued for a couple of minutes, touching on the personal and the political. Pawlenty remained perched on the carpet, his tie and jacket rumpled.


For Pawlenty, it was a quiet moment — one of many I witnessed as I followed him around Washington last week. Out of office after serving two terms in Saint Paul, he has been making the rounds this month, talking up Courage to Stand, his new memoir, and winking at a potential 2012 presidential bid.


Pawlenty’s promotional tour, of course, has coincided with days of half-staff flags — a publicist’s nightmare. Copies of the tome aren’t exactly flying off the shelves. Yet the timing has strangely been a boon for Pawlenty. His low-key Midwestern persona — often scorned by Beltway politicos as flat and tepid — has garnered attention, even accolades, for being just that.

Gov. Pawlenty and Jon Stewart

The day before his Foggy Bottom stop, Pawlenty appeared on Comedy Central’s Daily Show, where he calmly sparred with comedian Jon Stewart for 20 minutes. At the top of the program, Stewart challenged Pawlenty about GOP rhetoric, asking whether leading Republicans “believe we are as close to tyranny and socialism as the tone of their rhetoric would signal.”

Pawlenty did not take the bait. Rather than paint himself as a Tea Party spokesman, or as a chin-pulling critic of the movement, he noted that behind such heavy words lay real political differences, not just ammunition for partisan battle. He pushed back on Stewart’s premise, turning the interview away from a discourse on discourse toward a back-and-forth on policy.

Addressing CPAC

“I think there are a lot of us in the conservative movement who view government — whether it is personalized to Barack Obama or anyone else — as government that crowds into more space that used to be for individuals, that used to be for private markets, that used to be for charity, that used to be for entrepreneurial activity, that used to be for faith organizations,” Pawlenty said. “There are a lot of us who say, ‘you know, that feels like government stepping on us, pushing us to the side.’ There is a continuum between liberty and tyranny, and sometimes it happens very incrementally.”


For the next few minutes, Stewart kept digging for newsy red meat, but Pawlenty never dished it. By mid-interview, the comic recognized that across from him sat a debate partner, a Republican willing to wrangle on tax rates, the size of government, and the federal deficit — not a polarizing bomb-thrower. So he kept Pawlenty on-set for an extended confab, far beyond what he could air.

As the chat closed, Stewart leaned across the table. “You know what’s crazy? I don’t think you and I disagree that much.#…#Do we?” he asked. To which Pawlenty deadpanned, “Yeah.” Both chuckled.

At GW, Pawlenty recounted the exchange. “We had a great discussion. It uncharacteristically went serious — away from the normal comedy routine,” he recalled, as students munched on greasy slices. “I respect [Stewart], he’s smart — he does his homework.”

The audience, mostly collegiate conservatives, nodded and perked up. They may not have known much about Pawlenty, but this early impression was, if anything, different: soft-spoken, earnest, and extemporaneous — the opposite of a glad-handing salesman.

Tim Pawlenty and daughter Anna

By approaching political action with strong principles and an open hand, Pawlenty predicted that the GOP could make major gains in coming years. “Our party needs to understand that we need to connect with people who have not yet joined our team,” he said. “That does not mean that we run around and pretend we are Democrats or liberals.” Instead, he said, the GOP’s future success rests in making a “hopeful and optimistic” case, with a “can-do and constructive spirit.”

With progressives still roosting in Washington, holding onto the Senate and White House, Republicans, Pawlenty argued, need to do more than criticize — they have to be strategic and civil. “I got a lot of experience doing that in Minnesota,” he mused. “It’s a pretty liberal place; it’s a place where Al Franken is a U.S. senator. I mean, think about that.” Still, creating villains out of political opponents, he cautioned, will keep Republican ranks thin.

Pawlenty turned to a theme that has propelled his political career — that the GOP should be the party of Sam’s Club, not the country club. “We don’t want to go to people who are hurting or in doubt, maybe challenged in ways that we don’t directly understand, to condemn and to judge and to scare them,” he said. “We’ve got to identify the problem, but we’ve also got to identify the solution — to say there is a way forward, there is a way out, there is a better way.”

Pawlenty’s recommendation got polite applause. Some, of course, resisted his neighborly charm. At the Q-and-A following the speech, one cheeky student flicked at the governor’s at-ease, Minnesota-nice politics. “Some pundits don’t think that you could be president, and see you more as a vice president,” he said. “Would you be the vice-presidential nominee for the GOP?”

It was a direct citation of the central rap on Pawlenty — that he’s too milquetoast to lead a ticket. The College Republican organizer looked horrified. Yet the governor grinned and ate it up. “If I decided to run, it would be for president, not for vice president.” At that, the students gave him the biggest cheer of the night — one worthy of a contender.

Winning over skeptics will be the crucial challenge for Pawlenty as he eyes a presidential run. Unlike many of his potential rivals, Pawlenty has little baggage. Some could quibble with certain gubernatorial decisions — such as the time he raised cigarette fees to reach a budget deal — but his overall governing record is strong: He resolved a $4.5 billion deficit in his first term, instituted performance pay for public-school teachers, cut billions from public-employee pensions, and issued 299 vetoes. For his efforts, the libertarian Cato Institute gave him an “A” rating on its biennial fiscal report card.

In recent weeks, Pawlenty has brandished his reputation as a fiscal hawk and social conservative. On Sunday he called on Republicans to not raise the federal-debt ceiling, which now stands at $14.3 trillion. “You’ve got to draw some lines in the sand,” he said on Fox News Sunday. And on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the just-repealed military policy on homosexuality, Pawlenty said last week that he would fight to reinstate the policy should he become president.

Beyond his record, Pawlenty’s hardscrabble upbringing is what resonates most. Pawlenty grew up near the stockyards of South Saint Paul. Hockey, and all of its bruising glory, was his passion. His father worked in trucking. Then, at age 16, his mother was taken by cancer. Before she passed, she pushed him to be the first in the family to attend college.

After working his way through college and law school at the University of Minnesota, Pawlenty ran for the state legislature, where he soon rose to become majority leader. He was elected governor in 2002 and reelected in 2006, a tough year for Republicans, especially those in blue states. In 2008, John McCain put Pawlenty on his veep shortlist, giving him a brief flicker in the national spotlight.

But he has not managed to catch fire since. In the early states, Pawlenty has languished in the single digits: One Public Policy Polling survey shows him at 4 percent among Iowa Republicans; a Magellan poll has him at 4 percent in New Hampshire. Gallup also shows that he is hardly a known figure to most Republicans nationwide.

Vin Weber, a former GOP congressman and Pawlenty’s senior adviser, tells me that the early enthusiasm gap can be overcome. Pawlenty, he says, offers something different than the rest — Upper Midwestern values, eight years as a successful, conservative state executive, and a background that resonates with voters who are frustrated with Washington.

“I’ve known Tim Pawlenty since he was in college; I know his family — they’re blue-collar people,” Weber says. “What he is saying is that the Republican party had those voters when Ronald Reagan was president, and when George W. Bush was president, early on, only to lose them. Now we’ve got to get them back in 2012 and he’s the guy to do it. If Republicans can’t explain why conservative policies are right for average, working-class people, then we’ll be consigned to being a permanent minority.”

Governor and Mrs. Pawlenty

For now, as he trudges across the country peddling his book, Pawlenty is keeping his ambitions on low simmer. Retail politics at the local Barnes & Noble, not Iowa, is on the agenda. But as he showed at GW and elsewhere, he’s more than a Minnesota stiff — he has heart, know-how, and a fresh outlook on his party’s future. Voters, like that young man at the door, may not know much about the even-tempered guv, but they’re curious. In what is shaping up to be a raucous and bloody-fisted field, the mild have room to rise.

— Robert Costa is a political reporter for National Review.