"All the news that's fit to...."
Once again, the once-great New York Times has shown its ideological bias as well as its ability to disguise editorial opinion as straight news reporting with yesterday's hit piece on Cindy McCain.
The article, written by Jodi Kantor and David Halbfinger, may be found at the below web site:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/us/politics/18cindy.html?bl&ex=1224475200&en=12299783805b8c72&ei=5087%0A
The general gist of the article is that Mrs McCain is a dishonest, politically ambitious woman, who would do anything to advance her husband's political aspirations.
For example,
"From the start, Mrs. McCain’s marriage has been defined by her husband’s ambitions, and despite her sometimes punishing ride in political life, she does whatever she must to help fulfill them."
Fact or opinion?
"Those close to Mrs. McCain say she aspires to be like another blonde, glamorous figure married to an older man: Diana, the Princess of Wales."
Who says that? Unnamed sources, that's who.
"Mrs. McCain expanded her childhood home, turning it into a 10,000-square-foot mansion that struck more than one visitor as a shrine to her husband."
And who are those visitors?
In addition, the article also contains implications that the McCain marriage is less than ideal citing their extended periods away from each other.
In researching the article, co-author, Jodi Kantor, even dug up a schoolmate of McCain's daughter through Facebook and wrote her this note:
Jodi Kantor
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September 29 at 7:21pm
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"I saw on facebook that you went to Xavier, and if you don't mind, I'd love to ask you some advice about a story. I'm a reporter at the New York Times, writing a profile of Cindy McCain, and we are trying to get a sense of what she is like as a mother. So I'm reaching out to fellow parents at her kids' schools. My understanding is that some of her older kids went to Brophy/Xavier, but I'm trying to figure out what school her 16 year old daughter Bridget attends-- and a few people said it was PCDS. Do you know if that's right? Again, we're not really reporting on the kids, just seeking some fellow parents who can talk about what Mrs. McCain is like.
Also, if you know anyone else who I should talk to-- basically anyone who has encountered Mrs. McCain and might be able to share impressions-- that would be great.
Thanks so much for any help you can give me."
Jodi Kantor
Political correspondent
New York Times
Nice, huh? If only the Times had shown that kind of investigative imagination in the John Edwards story-or the myriad of stories about Barack Obama's lifetime associations that the Times has poo-poohed.
Speaking of Obama, you might want to compare the Cindy McCain story with the Times' May 18, 2008 adoring profile of Michelle Obama, written by Ms Kantor and Jeff Zeleny:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/18/us/politics/18michelle.html
The article on Mrs McCain, compared to their previous piece on Michelle Obama, merely underlines the obvious bias of the New York Times and their mixing of opinion into the main news pages. It should be stated that the NYT is not the only paper guilty of this. You see it in newspaper, after newspaper, after newspaper. It is up to us, the readers, to read between the lines and ask ourselves this simple question:
"Is this fact or opinion?" If it is opinion, why isn't it in the editorial section?
It really makes one wonder if this is what is being taught in journalism schools.
I have my opinion.
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