Media: Spinning The Truth

This past week, I delved once again into the blogosphere in order to examine the Presidential election from a few outside perspectives, and more specifically the problems that have arisen involving the media and their portrayal of certain issues. Through this examination, I had the opportunity to inspect a few blogs that I had already identified as blogs that were educational, of the utmost caliber and match the IMSA criteria. The first post, comes from The Moderate Voice, which is a blog, that focuses on different political events happening all around the United States and paints it in a light that is right down the middle of the political spectrum. The editor in chief of The Moderate Voice, Joe Gandelman, does a magnificent job of examining the topics which are important in the American political sphere . The specific post that I focus on examines the political satire that the Democratic primary has produced and the way that the cartoonists in the United States shape that the way that the American public can view the Presidential election. The second post comes from the Politco.com and specifically the blog by Jonathan Martin. This post shows the spin that can be put on viral videos, YouTube videos in particular. These two posts show the bias that can result in secondary media sources, which are able to sometimes reach more than the mainstream media. The comments I left on both blogs can be found below.

Comment:
I greatly enjoyed your article on the effects that the Presidential Election is having on pop culture and the way that cartoonists specifically are taking advantage of it in order to show the election in a light that would normally not happen in a normal newspaper. The question that comes to my mind is what kind of effect that this would have on the election in general, and if this political satire does a great deal of harm. A specific example of the trouble that political satire can have is what happened in Denmark and their political cartoon mishap. The truth of the matter is that political comedy can have a positive and negative effect on the way that the American public views the Presidential election and politics in general. I believe there are positives when it comes to political satire because it helps for some of the public, who might not normally be exposed to politics, to have a chance to see what is going on in the world. The other positive to political comedy is that fact that it allows for some comedic relief from a process that can be very demanding and sometimes frustrating, in the way that things are run and handled. Conversely, portraying politics in a comedic light can show that there is no respect for politics and that politics are taken in a joking and light manner. Overall, I believe that your article gives an informative view on what is going on in the coverage of the Presidential election and the artistic manners which have been used to show some issues of the Democratic primary and the Presidential election that are sometimes shied away from.

Comment:
First of all, I greatly enjoyed this article and your insight on the spin that those with a motive can put on certain issues and how those in the limelight are more susceptible to this type of behavior. I believe that the work of Mr. Habeeb and others who decide to take actual news and apply their own spin have a detrimental effect on the part of the American public who is trying to reach out and learn about the issues at hand. The work of Mr. Habeeb especially, with his YouTube video, is very harmful. YouTube is a high volume site which attracts a diverse group of people and once a video begins to climb with the number of hits that it has, it grows and has even more exposure and people tend to believe that what is said or portrayed in that video is the gospel truth, as a result of the manner in which it was portrayed. This affects those who do not take the time to do their research on a candidate or the election in general, and are easily swayed by something that is as visual or persuasive as a YouTube video which has segments cut out to perfectly fit the agenda of a person who has a bias against a certain candidate or issue. Another pertinent issue, which arises with YouTube videos and their ability to promote one’s bias, is the fact that they are hard to trace. This allows for a large number of people to promote their bias and agenda without fear of being blamed, until they would like to claim credit in the case of Mr. Habeeb. Mr. Habeeb video is not the only one that has taken a stab at Senator Obama, a recent viral video also on YouTube, attacks Obama hard. In conclusion, these videos have the potential to be very dangerous in affecting the general American public in a negative manner. In a perfect world, each citizen would do avid research and find out if what they had seen was truly the truth, but since we live in an imperfect world something must be done to curtail the slander and libel occurring on the Internet.

The Clinton Campaign: An All-Star Cast Coming Up Short

Senator Hillary Clinton has been a woman that has continually placed herself in various situations that have helped to put her in very prominent positions. She has been the First Lady and is now a Senator in New York fighting to be the Democratic nominee for the 2008 Presidential Election. Senator Clinton’s campaign has been greatly fueled by the fact that her husband is President William Jefferson Clinton. Senator Clinton has had the privilege of having a great deal of talented members as a part of her campaign. Although her campaign has a star studded crew, in the past few months her campaign has been riddled with problems. As time goes on, Senator Clinton will have to decide how she wants her campaign to be remembered and the steps she wants to take regarding her campaign.

One of the greatest problems that the Clinton campaign has had to deal with has been the financial situation of the campaign. As the Clinton campaign goes on it has struggled to advertise, campaign, maintain good publicity and stay afloat with the small amount of funds that they have had available. In comparison to the McCain and Obama campaigns, the Clinton campaign had more overall support and funding coming into the nomination process. The steam of the Clinton campaign has been dying down as the race to the Democratic nomination and possible road to the White House continues. Senator Clinton continues to tell her supporters and those whose vote she is attempting to garner, that she is the only Democratic candidate that can "beat the Republican attack machine." Clinton assures her supporters that she will be able to run a successful campaign that will beat the Republican nominee, while she continues to have trouble with her staff and her campaign, in general.

A particular problem that the Clinton campaign has run into has been the resignation or forced resignation of a number of prominent people involved in the campaign. Some were forced to resign because of slander directed at Senator Obama and his campaign, Geraldine Ferraro resigned from a position she claimed not to have held, and a change occurred at the top of the campaign in February, when Patti Sollis Doyle, Clinton campaign manager, resigned from her position. The most recent blow to the Clinton campaign has been the resignation of Senator Clinton's strategist Mark Penn. Senator Clinton and her campaign are attempting to spin the resignation, by showing that Penn met with Colombia on his accord for his PR company, and Penn even admitted that his meeting with the Colombian government was an error in judgment, an admission which resulted in his company losing the Colombian contract. The Penn resignation might be of some help to Hillary, rather than a hindrance because of the amount of division Penn brought to the campaign , in contrast to his advice. This only speaks volumes to what has already been going on in the Clinton campaign and has been hindering forward progress, resulting in the Obama campaign gaining momentum. The Clinton campaign needs to work on coming together and , at least outwardly, show that the campaign can stand as one and does not have any holes.

There are a few questions that Senator Clinton must ponder in the coming weeks and possible months that may lay ahead. The biggest question is if she will stay in the Democratic nomination race and if she does, how will she and her campaign staff curtail some of the damage that has been done by Senator Clinton herself, and her campaign. A large number of people believe that it is time for Senator Clinton to drop out of the Democratic nomination race, although in the current polls (conducted by Rasmussen Reports), Senator Clinton is only losing by 8 percentage points. The call for Senator Clinton to step down and concede this race comes largely from a belief that Senator Obama has gained momentum. An issue that overshadows momentum in the Democratic nomination is trust. The American people have to believe that whomever the Democratic nominee is, they can trust that person and they way that they will run their campaign. Aside from the comments that Samantha Power made about Senator Clinton, the Obama campaign has run a fairly clean campaign thus far.

In the end, the final question is will the handicap that Senator Clinton began this Democratic nomination race with because of her husband and his success as the President of the United States hold up, or will the steady gait of the Obama campaign overtake the Clinton dynasty. The superdelegates and the American people have a say in whom the Democratic nominee will be, and they must keep in mind whom they are voting for. Those who are on the side of Senator Clinton need to remember that this will not be Bill's third term, if Senator Clinton is elected she will be the President not her husband.