Writer Says Media is Election's Big Loser: 21 Times

NYU gathers up some pundits thoughts on how the Presidential election was the downfall of main stream media (MSM).

One has to wonder just how much more Bush would have won the election by if MSM had not tried to defeat him and elect Kerry.

I don't think MSM have learned their lesson yet and that is a pity. Even though that will give bloggers plenty to write about, I don't think it is a good thing. MSM need to get back to the basics of just reporting the facts and let us make up our own minds.

Here is an example from The Corner

Note the differences between how AP introduces the nominee for Commerce vs. how the NYT does.

Here's the AP:

"WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Monday chose Carlos Gutierrez, a native of Cuba who rose from truck driver to chief executive officer of Kellogg Co., to be secretary of Commerce. "

Here's the Times, or at least what goes out to the Times News Service:

"BUSH FILLS FOURTH SLOT IN SECOND TERM CABINET
" (For use by New York Times News Service clients.)
" By STEWART M. POWELL û
" c. 2004 Hearst Newspapers û

" WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday named multimillionaire Carlos Gutierrez, the Cuba-born head of the $9 billion-a-year Kellogg cereal company, to join his 15-member Cabinet as secretary of commerce in a continued shake up for the second term.

Now I don't know what you got out of those two different headlines, but here is what I got.

The AP headline tells me Gutierrez lives the American dream, he rose from humble Cuban truck driver to a Cabinet position.

The Times headline tells me Bush appointed one of his rich corporate buddies to a Cabinet position.

That is the power of the blogsphere. Some might see the NYT headline and some might see the AP headline, in the blogsphere you can see them both side by side. MSM would do well to learn this lesson.

By the way, as I understand it, Kellog's profits rose 131% under Gutierrez, which might just have a bearing on why Bush chose him for Secretary of Commerce.
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