The mainstream media (MSM) has been criticized (from the right) for hushing the Edward’s story during his run for the Dem presidential nomination.
The MSM dismisses charges of political bias and answers that the Enquirer (which broke the story) has low journalistic standards, that newsroom cutbacks have left the MSM understaffed, and — my favorite — that Mrs. Edward’s serious health situation evoked story-burying sympathy.
According to the Washington Post:
- Numerous journalists said privately that their appetite for the story was dulled by sympathy for Elizabeth Edwards. Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter said Elizabeth Edwards’s health is an obvious factor, adding: “To say the journalists should not consider that is reprehensible. Journalists can be human beings.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080802371_2.html?sid=ST2008080901306&pos=
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The Lesson from the Edward’s Affair:
If you’re a high profile politico with a healthy wife, don’t cheat on her or the press will rat you out.
If you’re a high profile politico with an unhealthy wife, not to worry, the press won’t rat you out — out of sympathy for your ailing wife.
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Side note: The public editor of the NY Times assured readers that liberal bias had nothing to with his paper’s refusal to run the story … and asserted that the Times front page story reporting a factless rumor of a McCain affair is not a moral equivalent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10pubed.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mccain%20affair&st=cse&oref=slogin
I guess because Cindy McCain is healthy …
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