MSNBC.com: Economic Plans and Picture Perfect Lives

Jaime Baker
jb220705@ohio.edu


The last two days have produced big announcements of economic plans for the presidential candidates. Monday, Barack Obama proposed putting house foreclosures on hold and giving tax breaks to businesses to help creat jobs. These new proposals included a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures by some banks, a $3,000 tax credit for each new job created, and a plan to let voters withdraw without tax penalties up to a maximum of $10,000, from their retirement savings plans through the end of next year.



John McCain fired back on Tuesday with his own plan. McCain set out a $52.5 billion plan to help the economy. He called for the elimination of taxes on unemployment benefits, lowering what the government takes from seniors as they draw on retirement accounts and accelerating tax deductions for people forced to sell assets at a loss in the troubled market. McCain also said that if he is elected president, he would make sure the Treasury Department guarantees 100 percent of all savings over the next 6 months.



Candidates Lives in Pictures
One of my favorite new parts of MSNBC's website in their section that includes pictures of the candidates throughout their lives. Barack Obama's photos were more focused around his childhood and his family life. John McCain's photos had very few family pictures, but a lot of pictures from his time in the military.





I found this very interesting, because Obama has made a very big point of putting his family in the limelight to show how family-oriented he is. But McCain has used a lot of his military past as an argument as to why he should be elected. These pictures match almost perfectly to some of the campaigning tactics they've been using.

ABC - TV: Too Much Negativity, What Happened to Campaigning?

Monique Ozanne
meozanne@gmail.com


Post debate results showed Presidential nominee Barack Obama pulling head of Republican nominee John McCain. Despite these results, and the McCain Campaign knowing they needed to change up their tactics, Obama still prevailed in last week's debate.

Over the weekend however, a different story surfaced. Both campaigns have spent most of the past week campaigning all over Ohio, but the McCain campaign has shown a change in direction in their campaign. Outside of rallies in the past week there have been several reports about opposition for Obama displayed in a more racist style. In response to these and the other negative campaign ads, polls are showing that this approach may be backfiring against the campaign. Traditional Republican states such as North Carolina, where ABC was last night, are showing that Obama is pulling ahead in the race.


ABC news highlighted that the McCain campaign has gone off track and McCain seems more concerned with attacking Obama then campaigning.

Here is an example of the type of advertisements McCain's campaign has been putting out.


In contrast, Obama's advertisements have been covering his campaigning and how he plans on dealing with major issues.


Continuing 50 States in 50 Days
Among the coverage last night in North Carolina, ABC seems to be getting a little obsessed with polls. I have found that news outlets find polls a safe way to be able to make predictions and keep the topics and debates lively and entertaining. Not that the polls may not be true, but a lot of the election packages that ABC is producing are packied with full screen graphics displaying polling results. Their polls show a 26%-59% ratio of campaign ads that are attack ads between Obama and McCain. They also show a 2:1 ratio that the economy is a winning issue for Obama compared to McCain.

What will be most interesting in these final weeks is what the outcome of the final debate will be, and which states the candidates will focus on other than Ohio. We have discussed, and I have read and heard a lot about the anticipation of an October surprise.

CNN-TV: "Race in this Race"

by Christina London
christinalondon1@gmail.com

It’s the elephant in the room: the issue of race in the presidential election. Personally, I thought race would be a bigger issue in the media than it has been, especially for the 24-hour cable channels. However, I’ve been following CNN’s election coverage for more than a month now and haven’t seen much of a focus on race...until last weekend.

Last Sunday, CNN devoted several prime time slots to the issue of race. However, it was the race of the voters- not the candidates- that was the topic of discussion. Anchor Don Lemon did a live phone interview with radio host James Harris: an African-American man who supports John McCain. After Harris was made famous for a comment at a McCain rally, he said the hate mail started pouring in.


WWatch as Harris addresses McCain at a rally in Wisconsin.

I need to applaud Don Lemon, who is also
African-American, for how he handled the interview. He asked Harris the question, “What do you say to people who say, ‘What have Republicans done for black people?’” This caused Harris to erupt in an angry outburst, yelling, “Well, what have Democrats done for black people?!” Lemon kept his cool and simply responded that he would have to refer Harris’s question to a CNN political analyst. I was impressed by Lemon’s ability to keep his cool during a tense situation on live television (even if he had wanted to add his two cents.)

So how big of a role will race actually play in the election? A CNN poll from last month suggests that it could be pretty substantial. Here are the findings:

Barack Obama would receive six more percentage points of support if prejudice were not an issue.

A small group of Democrats polled (2.5%) say they may turn away from Obama because of his race.

Of the 8% of Democrats surveyed who are voting for McCain, half say race was a factor in making their decision.

The poll was conducted partly online in hopes people would be most honest about their attitudes about race. Still, the article points out that it’s difficult to quantify and trust these numbers. As we discussed in class, we’ll have to wait and see if those people who “just can’t vote for a black man” vote for McCain...or just stay home on Election Day.

NBC-TV: Equal Treatment for All?

by Samantha Pompeo
sp306305@ohio.edu


As the election inches closer and closer and polls are more frequent than ever, I began to wonder if NBC was giving equal amounts of airtime to both candidates. So, once again, I watched an array of news clips on the network to see if that was the case.

In the following clip from Nightly News, there are essentially two packages in one. The first minute and a half talks about John McCain's rally in Virginia, and the second half describes Barack Obama's trip to Toledo, Ohio. But even though the candidates receive the same amount of airtime, are they getting the same treatment?



The package about John McCain is about his strategy of instilling words like fight into his campaign to appear stronger. He is only seen as a talking head behind a podium. The reporter even mentions that McCain was supposed to take questions at the end, but perhaps due to fear, decided not to. In contrast, Barack Obama is seen walking the streets of Toledo and talking to people suffering because of the economy. He is also shown as a talking head, but not to the extent of John McCain. Although it could seem that Obama is getting better treatment by the story, that may not be true. As a viewer, one has to think about the fact that a reporter can only create a story out of what is there. Digging deep will only go so far if the story is just a talking head at a rally.



Last week, I suggested the youth vote was nowhere to be found in the news. But this week, the Today Show proved me wrong.



As a child, it I read The Scholastic News every month. Now that I'm older, it's refreshing to see that Scholastic News is still taking every step to help educate the youth of America. Although the discussion between the Scholastic reporters and Today Show anchors is silly to say the least, it's a good reflection that people, even ones who can't vote for many years, have a great interest in this election. And looking at the statistics, that the students have only inaccurately predicted two of the last 13 elections, perhaps this is the only poll we should be focusing on.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love entertainment news. And it appears I'm not the only one. It seems the more salacious a story, the more interest it gets from viewers. That could be why The Today Show had a story on Bristol Palin's future husband.



Although the story was interesting, is it newsworthy? Some would say yes, but what was learned.. that Levi Johnston has a Bristol Palin tattoo? Cute, but what does that have to do with the politics of the campaign? In a time when this election is so monumental, so historic, does a 17-year-old's tattoo need to be discussed? Regardless of your feelings about the Palin family, I have to wonder if this story really matters. Typically, I would be the first to say yes, bring on the gossip. But, that doesn't help me learn about the McCain/Palin ticket's stance on social security. It doesn't give me any new information about the campaign itself, just about a 17-year-old Alaskan boy who is marrying a girl he impregnated. And it's not as if it was an exclusive interview with Levi Johnston. It was only a slideshow of pictures while the AP reporter who interviewed him described what happened. Newsworthy? I have my doubts. As teen pregnancy becomes less taboo than ever before, does this really matter? If Bristol Palin wasn't pregnant, if it was any Jane Smith from the midwest, there would not be a story about it on the Today Show. And maybe, at least until this election is decided, it should stay that way.

CBSNews.com: Things are getting interesting...

by Cristina Mutchler
cm306704@ohio.edu


Palin Protestors?
At a Richmond, Virginia rally, a confused Sarah Palin mistakenly scolded her own supporters. Apparently it was hard to hear the Alaska governor speak at the outdoor event, so some of her fans shouted in unison, “We can’t hear you!” When that didn’t elicit a response, they came up with a new chant: “Louder!”

Palin then proceeded to stop reading the teleprompter cues, and directed these comments at what she thought were protestors,

“I would hope at least that these protestors have the courage and the honor of thanking our veterans for giving them the right to protest.”

The crowd was startled, and Palin’s husband Todd tried to stop confusion by telling his wife that they can’t hear her. Palin’s response? “OK. I’m doing that.” Then she continued with the rest of her speech. Who knew that fans could make things so confusing?

Race Matters


Another link of interest this week was the article "Time to Move Beyond the Bradley Effect?” It focused on race, although most Americans claimed that we have moved beyond race as a country…really?

There’s been some hush-hush (and not so hush-hush) discussion about race in this election particularly because Presidential candidate Barack Obama is half African-American. A recent CBS News Poll asked registered viewers if they knew anyone who supports Barack Obama because he is black? and also if they knew anyone who did not support him mainly because he is black? Apparently, 24 percent say that they know someone who supports Obama because of his race, and 22 percent say they know someone who will not be voting for Obama again because of his race.

The poll then compared the mostly white McCain voters, and 19 percent know someone voting against Obama because of race, while 32 percent know someone voting for him for that same reason.

Obviously, regardless of what some may say, race does has an impact on how Americans are voting. But only time will tell if, or how much, race will affect who will be running our country for the next four years.

More Presidential Questions

To me, this section is one of the most interesting because CBS News anchor Katie Couric is really able to get inside the candidates’ minds and find out what they’re thinking on “non-traditional” issues topics. This week, Couric asked both candidates to describe a situation they think it’s appropriate to lie to the American people.

Obama answered that he does not think it is appropriate to lie to the American people. He said instead of lying, one can simply say, “we’re not answering questions.” He talked about this being one of the things he wants to change about the culture of Washington, referring to the fudging and manipulation as the “soft lie.”

McCain answered that he “can’t imagine it” because as a president one must maintain his credibility. Couric prompted him to answer the question more thoroughly in a national security situation. McCain answered that if you deceive the American people and then want their support, they become disillusioned. Basically, his answer started to go all over the place and I couldn’t really tell what he was trying to say, and I’m not sure that he knew what he was trying to say himself. As he put it, “I’m thinking out loud here.” You can watch for yourself and decipher the candidates’ messages in the videos below.


Watch CBS Videos Online

FoxNews.com: Fighting words spark the most interest

by Alex Mazer
am158905@ohio.edu

After poking around the site this past week I have noticed that the Fox News election webpage is very interested in covering the stories about the candidates and their attacks on one another. I also found that these articles showed no bias because there is equal coverage of the "fighting words" from both parties.

The verbal attacks are getting even worse and I believe are getting out of hand. The Democratic Party and it's members are focusing their attacks mainly on Sarah Palin. The article "With Election Day Nearing, Distasteful Rhetoric a Two-Party Problem" reports the company Cafe Press is selling political T-Shirts that have sayings on them such as "Sarah Palin Is a C--T" and "Barack Obama is a CAN'T"

Both campaigns say they are unable to prevent or control what their supporters are doing, but I disagree. I think they hold the most power to motivate their supporters to cease these distasteful comments. They can encourage their supporters to concentrate on their campaign and forget about the other party and candidates. It is embarrassing to me that the people of this country go so far as to throw disrespectful words and phrases around.

The Sincerest Form of Flattery?
People of this country, and not just voters, are becoming obsessed with the candidates. They are even dressing their children like the candidates or going as far as having them immitate the candidates.





There is even a new adult film that depicts a Sarah Palin look-a-like. Fox correspondents speak about this film in a video clip online.

I think everyone should just stick to the issues at hand, vote for whomever they want, and let the rest of the country do the same.

MSNBC-TV: Covering Campaign Mistakes and Mishaps

by Brooks Jarosz
bj186905@ohio.edu

Why go negative?
I’ve really been getting tired of the negative political ads. Whenever I try to watch anything, news or entertainment, there is an advertisement telling me how bad a person is for the job. I’m talking about slogans like “not our values,” “not what we need,” or “not someone you can trust". Between the presidential candidates and the Columbus-funded commercials, I have had enough!

This past week, MSNBC-TV did a great job covering the McCain campaign, whose negative ads ended up backfiring during a series of events. In Countdown with Keith Olbermann, the smearing of Barack Obama’s campaign was well explained. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin lead the pack associating Obama with a terrorist. Multiple people stood up at rallies and commented on McCain’s campaign and Barack Obama. One women called Obama an “Arab” and McCain was forced to back-pedal. McCain then responded saying Obama was a good man, to which the crowd responded with multiple boos. Another younger man expressed fear in Obama, associating with terrorists and his future daughter being born into that kind of world. Again, McCain responded saying you should not fear him, that Barack is a “good family man” and “would make a good president”.


My opinion in all of this is that McCain deserved it. People were picking up on his false, negative messaging and it bit him in the butt. Good! It’s about time candidates are held responsible for the content their campaign produces. The race isn’t all about winning; it should be about representing the people and working to make things better.

MSNBC should have dialed down the graphics a bit. Having “breaking news” and “McCain: Obama a good family man” among others was a little over the top. Regardless, hearing some of the American people talk negatively about the Obama campaign only reinforced the power of the political commercials.



October Surprise?
Governor Palin hasn’t gotten off to easy lately. The report in the Troopergate case came out this past week. The question was whether or not Palin broke state law having her former brother-in-law kicked off the police squad. Palin’s response, according to MSNBC-TV, was she fired Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan because he refused to fire her brother-in-law. Palen says she fired Monegan because she wanted to take state law enforcement in a different direction. Monegan says he was fired for Palin’s personal interests, which would violate state law. So, is this an October surprise that the report came out less than a month before the election? Maybe.

The War Views
Finally, NBC Nightly News did some coverage on where the candidates stand on the issues. One of the major ones, the War in Iraq. Despite what you may think is best for the country, it is nice to see plans outlined in a balanced report. For this week, I'll leave you with that...