harmonicminer

The new film, Media Malpractice, has just been released.   It details conclusively the unprecedented level of media bias that existed in the last election cycle.  You’re guaranteed to see footage you never saw during the election season, because you don’t watch TV 24/7 on seven channels at once, but John Ziegler has done that for you, and put together a documentary of what may be the most amazingly one-sided coverage on the part of the major media in any election in American history.

I paid a lot of attention to the media during the election, and even so I was stunned at some of the things I’d missed…  much of it in daytime TV, of course (I do have a job), as well as evening.  In aggregate, I can’t think of another film quite like this one, simply because the situation in the last election was more extreme than any we’ve seen before.

Mr. Ziegler’s biggest problem in the film was in winnowing the number of clips down to a manageable length, but the film moves along quite snappily, and I think will keep you interested right up to the end.  It does a particularly good job of providing context for certain things that were stressed in the media, but for which the media itself provided little or no context, to their shame.

The music is especially good (!), and helps frame the various scenes and video montages.

And now, full disclosure:  I composed the music for the film.  But don’t let that stop you from ordering a copy!

Watch for John Ziegler to appear on TV and on radio in the next weeks, discussing his film with the very people it’s about.

Tags: election 2008, media

Below the asterisk line is some background I put up yesterday.  Go read it and watch the video, then come back to the top.

John Ziegler has released the results of his new poll.  The short story:  McCain voters appear to be about twice as well informed as Obama voters.  35% of McCain voters got 10 or more of 13 questions correct, while only 18% of Obama voters could do the same.  Full results of the poll and video of Ziegler on Hannity & Colmes are here.

Remember:  Ziegler isn’t saying there is something wrong with Obama voters.  He IS saying that there is something seriously wrong with the media reporting and coverage, the selection of topics to stress or even mention, the quality of the analysis provided, and so on.  In other words, Ziegler is indicting the media for abject failure to do right, because they were in the tank for Obama.

For internals on the poll, methodology, etc., go here.

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READ THIS FIRST, THEN BACK TO THE TOP TO CONTINUE:

I referred a few days back to a new film by John Ziegler, that features the results of polls taken of Obama voters regarding their knowledge of the candidates. Politico covered the controversy ignited by the poll and viral video (at the link above, 1.5 millions views and counting, and utterly fascinating) and discussed Ziegler’s plans for a more complete documentary on the topic.  Here’s a bit of the Politico article, which goes into more detail on Ziegler’s plans.

The controversial “How Obama Got Elected” video by John Ziegler is only part of a longer documentary that the conservative talk radio host hopes to release early next year.

Wouldn’t it be great if when they mentioned Oprah, or Larry King, or Chris Matthews, they said “the liberal talkshow host”? Sigh. Apparently in a “middle of the road” source like Politico, it’s still worth mentioning if someone is “conservative”, but not if they’re “liberal”. Par for the course, I suppose.

The viral video of interviews with Obama voters, one that Ziegler said shows the highly selective news consumption habits of Barack Obama supporters, has received more than 1.5 million views on YouTube. Thanks to an accompanying Zogby poll (later criticized by John Zogby himself), the video sparked high-profile stories on cable news shows, political blogs and other outlets, including Politico.

Ziegler, who recently branched out into filmmaking with the documentary “Blocking ‘The Path to 9/11, says the popular viral clip is only a small element of a longer video that may debut in February at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He’s been accumulating hours of newscasts, so much so he says he can put together a “Gone With the Wind”-length epic.

“I’m into actually showing bias,” says Ziegler, who hopes to show in his unfinished film how those who voted for Obama consumed information only from pro-Obama news sources, and, he believes, were therefore less informed.

Later in the article, we see this nugget:

“Redistributing the wealth” â€” While a radio interview with Obama dating back to 2001 got lots of play on Drudge for its alleged comment about wealth distribution, the mainstream media all but ignored it, Ziegler says. The radio interview with WBEZ-FM was, in fact, discussed on CNBC, MSNBC, and in The New York Times, among other outlets.

Does Politico think that mention on two lower rated cable channels and page H77 of the NY Times somehow contravenes Ziegler’s point?  Nothing from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, WaPo, etc., and probably only a single brief mention in the sources they cite.  Certainly nothing like sustained coverage and analysis anywhere in the “major media”.

Ziegler is certainly not alone in his assessment of the media’s performance. Near the end of the article, Politico reports:

Following a recent panel discussion at the University of Southern California that was co-hosted by Politico, Time Magazine editor-at-large and political analyst Mark Halperin came under fire for his remarks about media bias.

“It’s the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq War,” Halperin said. “It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage.” After his remarks, left-leaning blogs went ballistic, as did right-wing talk radio hosts – obviously for different reasons.

What’s funny here, of course, is that if you’re on the Left, you’re only “left-leaning”, but if you’re on the Right, you’re full-on “right-wing”. Notice the different shade of meaning if the sentence was this:

After his remarks, left-wing blogs went ballistic, as did right-leaning talk radio hosts – obviously for different reasons.

Obviously, the shades of meaning are different.  And the funniest part of all is that Politico can’t help but let its bias show, even while reporting on charges of media bias.

Ziegler has continued working on the new documentary, “How Obama Got Elected”, and now has poll results of both McCain and Obama voters, which he plans to reveal in just a couple of days.  Ziegler’s thesis is simple:  Obama got elected because disproportionate numbers of people who voted for him simply didn’t know much about him, and the fault for that lies mainly with the major media.

For a preview and some background on this important exposure of media bias, watch “Hannity & Colmes” on Tuesday, Dec 2.  (Check your local listings for the FOX NEWS CHANNEL, but probably 9 pm and midnight eastern time.)  It should be fascinating.  Make popcorn.

Tags: election 2008, media

‘Unbelievable’ sum of money in Ga. runoff – USATODAY.com

Republicans are pouring millions into Georgia’s Senate runoff contest in the final days of the race as they try to prevent Democrats from adding to their Election Day gains.

Georgia’s Senate race, one of two still undecided, is drawing national attention as it heads to a runoff Dec. 2. The outcome will determine whether Democrats have a chance to control the 60 seats they need to block Republican-led filibusters.

Both candidates are aggressively fundraising, but Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss is benefiting more from interest groups and large donors than Democratic challenger Jim Martin.

Funny how the corrupting influence of money on elections wasn’t much of a subject during the Obama campaign.

Look for newspaper articles on the homeless to dry up almost entirely after Obama is inaugurated, even though in the current economic times there must surely be more of them. The media is so predictable that it would be funny, if it wasn’t dangerous.

Tags: election 2008, media

In what appears to be a sort of penultimate post for the time being, the Bidinotto Blog has a post titled Belated mea culpas from the MSM.   There are links in the post, and some of them link to other links, so if you’re in doubt, there’s plenty of information there and linked there to make the point.

The gist is simple:  all over the media, print and broadcast, “journalists” and “ombudsmen” are finally admitting what any slightly intelligent person already knew, that the media essentially abdicated its responsibility to do honest reporting and full investigation of Obama and Biden, to follow up leads, to air information rebutting their claims, etc., while going overboard in attacking Palin and McCain.

It isn’t up for discussion:  they’ve basically admitted it.  And their admission has great credibility in itself, because it is an admission against interest.  So, now, what will they do?  I’ve already weighed in on that.

I suspect that over time, the nation may well develop a huge case of buyer’s remorse, and blame it on the used car salesmen masquerading as journalists who lied by what they said, lied by what they didn’t say, lied by what they claimed not to know, and lied by not looking for anything that might turn out to be damaging to the Obama campaign.

While it’s been a joke in the center-right blogosphere that the major media are another wing of the DNC public relations machine, or even just directly an arm of the Obama campaign, that appears to be the literal truth.

And in the final irony, the Democrat Congress seems poised to impose a “fairness doctrine” on talk radio, and to push Obama to sign it, or even just do it administratively via the FCC.  There will never, of course, be a “fairness doctrine” for broadcast television….  THAT would be prior restraint of free speech.

Tags: election 2008, media