Several major media figures have already complained about the tone of the 2012 presidential race, with much of the criticism directed at President Obama's re-election campaign. For example, Karl Rove, without acknowledging the irony, has frequently condemned Team Obama for relying on "fear"-based attack ads.
Among more mainstream media figures, CBS News' Bob Schieffer has been especially critical, complaining to Robert Gibbs last week, and doing so again with David Axelrod yesterday.
Perhaps now would be a good time for a quick reality check. Josh Green cited research from Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group, which found that 63,793 presidential campaign ads have been broadcast since the start of the general election campaign on April 10. As Green noted, the data uncovered a noteworthy trend: "Democrats are running a largely positive campaign, while Republicans are running a mostly negative one."
As is my wont, I put together a chart on the available data:
Maddow Blog chart based on data from Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group
Which side of the aisle is running more attack ads? At this point in the process, there doesn't appear to be much of a contest.
Green added, "So why, if Obama is running overwhelmingly positive ads, does the media coverage leave the impression that the campaign has been overwhelmingly negative? Axelrod provided a clue. He said that the positive ads have been running mostly in the battleground states -- where national media bigwigs like Bob Schieffer don't see them."
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Because, when you disagree with the GOP (and its empty suit), you're being Negative. On the other hand, if you don't like that black guy (well, because he's black and Keyan, Muslim, Socialist, Terror-Madrassa-schooled), you're being nothing but fair and balanced like the Fox News channel! Bob Schieffer doesn't see statistics because he is a "reporter" for a Corporation.
Schieffer, at this point in his career, isn't a reporter - he's a TV announcer.
It's already been explained on Maddow's show. The GOP has a history of doing this exact thing. They will do something, in this instance run negative ads, then blame the Dems of doing it before they can get blamed. It's a trick they've been using forever, and for some reason the media has fallen for it every time.
The fact that multi-millionaire corporate spokesman Bob Schieffer's personal ties to Republican big wigs are deep, of long standing and well known probably doesn't have much to do with his position.
Ron; you can lather and repeat for any of those Multimillionaire news readers on teevee. They are employed by large corporations who are interested only in ratings so they can sell pharmaceuticals and corn chips at a premium ad rates. They know to which side of the bread the butter is applied and thus it is easy to predict whose team they are on.
Plus they need a horse race to keep it going . Seriously , after the primary campaign he ran Willard is EVEN with Obama? The fix is in.
I find this discussion both amusing and amazing. The same media that was accused of being in the tank ffor Obama in 2008 is now being acccused of criticising him. I guess most here can't accept he is not perfect.
Tony, the media falls for it because everytime because they are paid to fall for it. Hell if they didn't they would be fired. Imagine media figures having to look for work. It is too sad to contemplate.
Do'nt most American's name their kid's Carl with a C and not Karl with a K? Karl with a K was the name of many Nazi's that worked for the Hitler campaign in the 30's. Not a pretty thing to say but if Rove were on the other side,that's what Foxnot News and people like Glen Beck would be saying.
Please send your chart to Mr. Schieffer and ask for a response. Just as Newt has been on Meet the Press more than any other person, hasn't John McCain been on Face the Nation more? His proclivity for Republican guests is known, as well as Gregory's, really ought to belie their claim of liberal bias in MSM. Reporting that Dems put out more negative ads is not the same as showing, proving, not just saying a talking point that is clearly a projection. A 20-second ad showing this would be a public service announcement for the nation to increase critical thinking skills for sure. We'll wait to see of Schieffer responds and the nature of it.
I just heard part of the new Romney ad where Bob Schieffer's voice is denouncing the negative ads by Democrats. What will his response be to their use of his words when he "learns" of the lack of truth in his words?
Republicans and the MSM don't need to point out negative ads by Democrats. They just need to listen to PBO's surrogates denouncing his ads.
The media has a vested interest in the perception of a close election and that they are relevant both to boost viewership and advertising. If the election is deemed close by them more needs to be spent running the ads they will later critique. Keep uppermost in mind that the "news" is a profit center. It then makes much more sense.
IOKIYAR
Lazy reporting and a lack of research by the folks on the mainstream networks and the Sunday "news" (read, "spin") shows. Wow! Color me surprised.
How DO these people make so much money for doing so little actual thinking? There are kids on high school newspapers who do better investigative journalism than these bubbleheads.
Trump was on Hannity's show last week (I don't usually listen to the radio, and if I have a short trip where I don't listen to music I scan sports talk, NPR or conservative stations to see what's going on) I only heard a few seconds, but they were talking about Obama going after Romney.
Trump said he's been running "savage, SAVAGE ads" and that it's only going to get worse!"
Maybe I don't see negative Romney ads, I'm in a very red state... but I scrunched my face at the radio, as I usually do when conservatives talk and said out loud: "what? retelling his Bain history is savage? What are you talking about?!"
Has there been any actual attack ads, or just telling us about Romney sucking? I haven't seen any ad that predicts Romney will be bad or do bad things, like the GOP ran against itself in the primaries...
You've got to love both the GOP and the lame-stream corporate owned media for continually perpetrating those false equivalences on the American public as "objective"! Ha!
Romney Omni (all things to all Republicans) thinks that all he has to do is (a la Trump) bark at Obama's people and they'll cower for their life or livelihood.
Doesn't work like that in a democracy.
And all this nonsense about getting Obama's campaign to stop being 'negative' is, as I have said, entirely self-serving and completely baseless.
From your excellent chart it looks like GOP negative presidential campaign ads are about 3 times as prevalent as so-called Democrat 'negative ads' -- which in the case of the Democrats seem to be 'attack' ads to the GOP simply because they tell the narrative of the truth, whereas the GOP ads have been caught lying more times than I can count.
Like the famous anecdote oft told by President Truman - they told him to "give 'em Hell". He just told the truth, and the Reps thought it was Hell!
I must agree with Schieffer in the sense that Obama's ads are unnecessarily negative for Democrats. Rove would never be caught attacking "private capital" as Obama has. Any intelligent politician would be attacking "predatory capitalism". After all in attacking private capital you attack venture capitalists and what's wrong with them? But attack predatory capitalist Romney and everyone can agree. If Democrats have been in such an attacking mode why have I never seen adds about Massachusetts debt growth (+30%) or job growth (1.53%) under 4 years of R? On face the nation it was trumpeted that R exited with a 4.7% unemployment rate when from 1999 to 2008 Mass has averaged 4.5%.
Schieffer is an embarrassment and ought to retire. Rather than discuss 'tone' or style which can mean anything, he ought to have looked if the competing claims had any merit.
the positive ads have been running mostly in the battleground states -- where national media bigwigs like Bob Schieffer don't see them."
Aren't they supposed to be reporters? As part of their job, aren't they supposed to go out and find out what's going on, rather than just relying on what they've personally seen or experienced?
Oh, that's right: I'm talking about a Villager. Never mind, then.
As many have astutely pointed out, the Republican's are extremely good at the bait and switch routine that has worked surprisingly well over the years. And one is right to say that the mainstream media is used to perfection by the Republican's in this regard. For proof, look at how poor the investigative coverage on the, legal but still suspect, dealings of Bain Capital. However, Current TV has not had any such problems telling the Bain story. Even Paul Begala got into the mix in the latest Time magazine, in which he speaks to the sweetheart tax benefits given to so called free market businesses like Bain who get outrageous tax benefits( 44$ million in the GST Steel takeover by Bain Capital ). To date, not one mainstream media outlet has done a story on how and why taxpayers are helping to make people like Romney and others in the financial industries become richer, at the taxpayers expense.This is the story Wall Street doesn't want investigated and mainstream media is all too happy to oblige.
The other issue the media has mangled ( purposely) is the unemployment narrative. I recently spent Sunday cruising my neighborhood, the Oakland Trestle Glen area about a week after a shooting.This area is rich with shops and restaurants and is located by the lantern of the city The Lake, which draws people to it like they were moths. As many may know, California has been amongst the hardest hit by the economic downturn and suffers from an unemployment rate of over 12%. The weather was glorious as the temp was about 75 degrees with a cooling breeze from the ocean providing just the right amount of relief. Everywhere I looked the restaurants were full, most had lines,Traders Joe's was full, Peet's Coffee was full and the new Cuban restaurant on Mac Arthur continues to impress and draw crowds. Throngs of people, mostly families of every configuration, were all over the city, packages in hand, eating ice cream cones, drinking iced coffee, dressed for spring visiting The Open Art Studio's wonderful annual event and generally having a good time. There are 33 states with under 7.9 unemployment; the unemployment rate for whites is 7.8;the unemployment rate for Asians is 5.2 and many states have no unemployment problem at all. This is not being reported. The truth is when one looks at the unemployment issue differently, based on the numbers and not some vague, ambivalent poll numbers, it is clear that overall the unemployment rate doesn't reflect what is truly happening in the country. The facts are that unemployment rates for African Americans and Hispanics are where the real unemployment problem exists; but one would never get this from the "lame stream media" reports. I'd bet money that when the unemployment rate for white people drops below 7.0 there will be no more unemployment problem as perceived and told by the media. The gloom and doom scenario painted by the media is pretty pathetic and is connected to how meek they have been in rightfully and consistently criticizing Wall Street excesses; a group to whom they are beholding to and frightened of.
Has anyone noticed that Bob Schieffer is senile?
I would imagine BOB lives in NYC ? So where is he witnessing all the dem attack ads? On trumps tevo? I live in iowa and I have yet to see the dems go negative here and it is a 50/50 state
As people pointed out , the gop can lie all day and never be held accountable , claiming people are attacking capitalism , by doing nothing more than pointing out romney and wall st shipped jobs over seas , I am not a doom days guy , but when I see these things go down , I wonder if we are not already a fascist state? The media and the gop are getting away with turning reality on its head folks
Fear is morphing your opponent into Osama bin Laden in television ads. Fear is traveling the country and telling voters that another 9/11 attack will happen if your opponent is elected. Fear is politically convenient terror warnings. Fear is using the tragic images of 9/11 in campaign commercials.
Fear is telling voters that your opponent pals around with terrorists. Fear is portraying your opponent as a Muslim terrorist. Fear is portraying your opponent's wife as an angry, militant Black woman. Fear is questioning the birthplace, citizenship, and patriotism of your opponent. Fear is death panels. Fear is racism. Fear is bigotry.
Fear is having the GOP delve into all of the above, and then the media portraying President Obama and his campaign as resorting to a campaign of fear because they have the audacity to point out the record and policy positions of Mitt Romney.