The mainstream media’s double standard is well illustrated by comparing its coverage of Democratic Vice President Joe Biden’s “chains” blunder to its coverage of Republican Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” gaffe.
As Scott Whitlock at Newsbusters reported:
A week after giving relatively light coverage to Joe Biden’s “chains” smear, the broadcast networks eagerly dove into the Todd Akin controversy, giving over four times more coverage to an uproar involving a statewide (conservative) politician than a controversy involving a national (liberal) politician. NBC, CBS and ABC’s evening and morning shows have devoted an astonishing 88 minutes (or 40 segments) of coverage to Congressman Akin’s “legitimate rape” remark. Over a similar three day period, the networks allowed a scant 19 minutes (or ten segments) to a racially charged gaffe by the Vice President of the United States.
The untold story of the 2012 Presidential campaign, however, may well be the increasing evidence that a growing number of voters are discounting the obvious bias of the mainstream media. Fortunately, the rise of conservative new media has given voters a viable alternative source of information. Judging by the precipitous drop in ratings for the traditional broadcast networks and the increased audience for conservative new media outlets, the outcome of this election cycle may be more than just a new occupant in the White House. It may also signal the death knell of the biased mainstream media as we’ve known it for decades.
Michael Patrick Leahy is a Breitbart News contributor, Editor of Broadside Books’ Voices of the Tea Party e-book series, and author of Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement.
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