Bias at CKNW?
Letter sent to CKNW News this evening:
To Whom It May Concern:
On your 5:00pm newscast this afternoon, your news reader said the following:
Looking at politics south of the border, Sarah Palin played it safe today on her first trip as John McCain's running mate to the battleground state of Florida. She went to perhaps the easiest place in Florida to get a large Republican turnout, stuck mostly to the themes that she's hit since the Republican convention and then took no questions from reporters or the crowd. But she was welcomed like a star with tens of thousands cramming into a plaza and nearby streets in this enormous retirement community about an hour north of Orlando. Some waited more than 5 hours to see her speak for 23 minutes.
I am an absolute believer that news should be "news" and editorial comment completely left out of it. Yet what is one to infer from the way your station presented this piece? In just the first two sentences there are 4 occurrences where an editorial spin was added that would be most fitting if it came directly out of the mouth of a Democrat Party pundit. Would it be too bold to ask if your news writer has come from the CBC?
Please know that many listeners such as myself take very seriously the work that your station does. If this lack of professionalism is now going to become standard practice at CKNW then I will most likely take my listening habits to another location on the dial.
For comparison purposes, here are some other stories of the event:
- http://news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080921/NEWS0107/80921022
- http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/21/palins-florida-debut-draws-thousands
Update: I did receive a very nice e-mail back from Brett Mineer of CKNW. I don't have his permission to reprint it but suffice to say, he defended himself admirably. I will now pay close attention to his coverage of Democrat rallies.
Speaking of which, here's a photo of a Michelle Obama rally this past weekend:
While it's true that she's not running for anything, it still provides an interesting contrast, doesn't it?
Labels:
CKNW,
Florida,
media bias,
Sarah Palin
3 comments:
"If this lack of professionalism is now going to become standard practice at CKNW ..."
It already has. For one example, Christy Clarke's Burrard Communications is a registered lobbyist for Translink, a little matter she neglects to mention to listeners when she hosts a show on the topic.
Bill Bland announced on his show Monday morning that he doesn't like it that Sarah Palin seems to "think G-d is a Republican" (hardly an original joke, but from Bill, what does one expect?).
The churchgoing Obama however is free to depict the Divinity as a Democrat without any such reaction from MSM members like Bland Bill.
Double standard, anyone?
I cannot listen to Christy Clarke's show without feeling the constant urge to throw myself out the window. Now, it's not a big distance but you get the point.
Didn't you know that Bill Good (and all the rest of the media that he knows) are completely unbiased? How do I know this? He says it at least twice a week, every week!
I love it when Bill announces he's never been told what he can or can't say. They've never had to tell you, Bill.
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