U.S. Media Fails to Act as Truth-Detector in Covering Presidential Election Campaign

Interview with David Brock, media critic and former conservative activist, conducted by Scott Harris

Since the first of three presidential debates which many say resulted in a decisive victory for Sen. John Kerry, the election campaign has tightened, as indicated by a virtual tie in a number of post-debate public opinion polls. But even as the nation prepared to watch the remaining presidential debates and one match-up between the vice presidential candidates, the media's initial coverage and post debate spin are critical in consolidating the public's perception of winners and losers.

But what role has the corporate media played in covering this year's election campaign? Many critics point to the endless media focus on the president's and Sen. Kerry's Vietnam era military service record, with less attention paid to the more immediate issues of the ongoing war in Iraq and a troubled economy here at home. Although conservative activists have long charged that the nation's major media reported the news with a liberal bias, the public at large in recent years has come to feel that big media companies have a decided conservative slant.

David Brock is a former conservative activist who broke with the right in the late 1990s and went on to write an insider's account of his work targeting the Clinton presidency in the book, "Blinded by the Right, the Conscience of an Ex-Conservative." Brock recently established the mediamatters.org website, which monitors the media for conservative misinformation. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Brock about the problems he sees in how the media has covered this year's election campaign, much of which is discussed in his group's new book, "Misstating the State of The Union: Right Wing Media Distortions about the Clinton and Bush Presidencies."

Visit his website at mediamatters.org.

Related links:



Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting website at www.fair.org "Transcript: Vice Presidential Debate,""Text From FDCH E-Media, Inc., The Washington Post, Oct. 5, 2004

"Transcript: First Presidential Debate," Text From FDCH E-Media, The Washington Post, Oct. 1, 2004

"Cheney's Avalanche of Lies," By William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Perspective, Oct. 5, 2004

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