Just talkin’

In the early days of the economic crisis, McCain seemed uncertain how to react. His first response was to say the fundamentals of the economy were strong. Then he backtracked, saying the workers form the foundation of the economy and they are strong. Then he called for a blue-ribbon commission to study the root causes of the debacle on Wall Street. Then he called for the ouster of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, with each shift drawing ridicule from Obama.

This paragraph sounds like a commercial for Barak Obama.  It comes from an Associated Press article.  Let’s break down the elements of commentary that are not supposed to appear in “unbiased” journalism.  This is 101 class kids.

…McCain seemed uncertain how to react…

Seemed?  Really?  The “journalist” is inserting his opinion on how a person “seemed” to behave?  This is op ed material, not journalism.

His first response was to say the fundamentals of the economy were strong.

Is this any sort of complete story, or would we call it a soundbite?  Barak Obama said something quite similar.  Specifically, Barak Obama said:

“After this immediate problem, we’ve got the long-term fundamentals that will really make sure this economy grows.”

Anyways…

…Then he backtracked…

Backtracked is not a journalistic word.  How about something like “McCain’s campaign issued a press release stating that …”

…with each shift drawing ridicule from Obama…

Shift?  Shifting from “fundamentals are strong” to “workers who form the foundation are strong” to studying causes of the debacle to calling for firing of SEC Chairman.  Trying to make McCain look like a waffler takes a tremendous streach of the imagination.

Here’s a call for journalistic integrity.  Words have meanings.  I’m not picking on Obama.  I’m not supporting McCain.  The issue here is the 1st Ammendment to the Constitution and the peoples’ ultimate responsibility to that God given right.  Demand that the AP and any other organization, be it Fox or NBC, that purports to spread the news, cease interjecting opinion unless it is clearly labeled as such.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 1:07 am and is filed under Economics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.