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WORD COUNT
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MAY 14, 2008
McCAIN’S “FREE RIDE”
IN THE MEDIA – by Jason Salzman
Democrats have been
whining for years that the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee,
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, gets favorable treatment from journalists.
They say McCain’s reputation for being an independent-minded politician
is a media construction, fueled by reporters who like McCain and are
therefore willing to overlook flaws, gaffes, and inconsistencies that
would sink the careers of other politicians.
Their evidence?
First, they point out that McCain’s breaks with the Republican Party
have been few and far between—in contrast to what his reputation would
have you believe. His critics say that journalists jump all over a
high-profile McCain defection from the Republican P, on an issue like
campaign finance reform. But when they report such a defection, they
rarely point out that he has also achieved high rankings throughout his
career by organizations like the American Conservative Union. The
Christian Coalition of America gave him an 83 percent ranking in 2007,
for example.
Critics also claim
that McCain’s scandals, most notably his support of corrupt businessmen
during the Savings and Loan Crisis, are mentioned far less frequently by
reporters than the high notes of his career, like his brave service in
Vietnam.
McCain’s flip-flops,
as evidenced for example in his 180-degree change of heart on President
Bush’s tax cuts, don’t get the same coverage that his “independent”
positions, critics say. Other examples of issues on which McCain’s
position has seriously changed as he’s campaigned for the Republican
nomination include gay marriage, ethanol subsidies, and abortion
rights.
None of these
arguments, and others like them, is new. And they certainly add up to a
persuasive case that McCain isn’t the “maverick” he presents himself as.
But are journalists really responsible for the widespread perception
that John McCain is a maverick?
A new book, Free
Ride: John McCain and the Media convinced me that journalistic failures
have indeed fueled serious misconceptions. The book reviews McCain’s
consistent conservative record, which won’t surprise anyone who’s
followed him over the years. Neither will the compilation of astonishing
quotes by journalists praising his authenticity.
But where the book
breaks new ground is illuminating in detail what reporters from McCain’s
home state of Arizona think about him.
Their experience,
chronicled in the Free Ride, provides convincing evidence that national
journalists have been too kind.
“The mutual affection
that characterizes [McCain’s] relationship with Washington-based
reporters could hardly be more different than the testy relationship he
has developed with journalists from his home state,” write Free Ride
authors David Brock and Paul Waldman.
The authors quote E.J.
Montini, an Arizona Republic columnist, who says Arizona journalists
like him were once as impressed with McCain as national reporters seem
to be today, but over many years of seeing him operate, that admiration
faded.
During the 2000
presidential primaries, about the same time when reporters were filing
glowing profiles of McCain’s frankness and conviviality aboard the
“Straight-Talk Express,” Montini says McCain’s campaign staff told an
Atlanta journalist “not to talk to reporters in Arizona, not if he
wanted to get to know the real McCain.”
Brock and Waldman
quote the former publisher and editor of the Arizona Republic, who says
McCain “cannot endure criticism,” “controls by fear,” and is “consumed
by self-importance.”
The book argues that
accounts of McCain detailing his short temper, foul mouth, and bullying
and unscrupulous behavior are more common in the Arizona press than in
national media outlets.
If this is true, and
Free Ride makes a good case for it, then you have to wonder why national
media outlets haven’t written more about the dark side of Sen. John
McCain and whether they are responsible for the myth that he’s a
maverick.
--
Jason Salzman is the
author of Making the News: A Guide for Nonprofits and Activists,
and board chair of Rocky Mountain Media Watch, a Denver-based media
watchdog organization. A photo of Jason Salzman is available
CLICK HERE
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