FAIR's analysis of the Democratic convention coverage

I think FAIR makes some excellent points (as usual). The only place I knew I would get adequate coverage of the convention was CSPAN. I basically flipped between CSPAN and PBS. Even the commentators on the PBS coverage bugged me at times, especially David Brooks. I missed the Al Sharpton speech, but FAIR brings up some interesting comments made after Sharpton's speech:

The MSNBC pundits were none too thrilled about Sharpton before he took to the podium, deriding his effect on the entire primary process: Chris Matthews asserted that Sharpton "probably hurt this campaign. He was a humorist. Everything was a joke." Newsweek's Howard Fineman agreed that Sharpton's campaign "was not to be taken seriously, frankly." Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin asked the panelists to "think of the contrast between Jesse Jackson in '88…. or you think of Obama the other night, last night, where he's a future candidate." Goodwin didn't make clear why Sharpton could only be compared to other African Americans. Nor did Fineman, noting derisively that Sharpton "stayed first class wherever he went," explain where he thought Sharpton ought to have been staying on the campaign trail.

The response from the convention delegates to Sharpton's address was very enthusiastic, but MSNBC actually cut away from the speech in order to resume its panel discussion, where the pundits were having a markedly different reaction. Matthews pondered: "I have got to wonder tonight, Howard and Doris, if this is doing any good for the Democratic Party. They're trying to reach those middle 20 percent." Fineman echoed his consternation, saying he was "very surprised, given the way the Kerry campaign has tried to control and modulate this message here. They didn't need to do this tonight. African-American voters are going turn out in droves for John Kerry and John Edwards regardless. They will walk through walls for them…. He is the only guy-- he could actually turn off the black vote, yes." Goodwin concurred: "In fact, the yelling in the rally right now is like chalk on a board, a blackboard. It's grating. You can't bear to listen to it." Instead, MSNBC viewers were treated to more analysis on the order of this from Fineman: "I think, frankly, it's an insult. It's an insult, I think, as an outsider, to African-American voters that they're giving this guy as much time as they are."

Matthews finally summed up MSNBC's vision of public service: "We're doing a favor to the Democratic party right now. This is a partisan act. We've taken him off the air." The pundits shared a laugh, before Fineman added: "It's completely counterproductive to what the aim of tonight was, to introduce John Edwards as the spokesman of and tribune of rural people, moderate voters, you know, not necessarily African-Americans, who are already in the camp, already in the camp of the Democratic Party."

Interviewing Sharpton after he spoke, even NBC anchor Brian Williams appeared clueless about Sharpton's speech, referring to the "teleprompter that just sat there for what seemed like a half-hour while you did a riff on whatever you did a riff on." Has it really come down to reporters taking politicians to task for *not* just reading off a teleprompter?

The bolded sentences are my emphasis, as always. Gosh, I just love our liberal media.

FAIR MEDIA ADVISORY: Covering the Convention