A bit of Media News from the New York Observer by way of Huffington Post. Apparently David Gregory's show on MSNBC, "Celebrity White House Squares", er, wait, "Race to the White House" (which, according to the Observer's story, the New Republic  called, 'Intergalactic Nancy Grace') isn't doing so hot on MSNBC.

After months of trying to shame Obama into visiting Iraq, Obama is now on perhaps the most successful campaign week the entire campaign, and his trip was the hot media ticket. By contrast, the McCain press corps apparently numbers in the 20s.

Barack Obama has a newly chartered jumbo jet, loaded to the gills with reporters and network anchors accompanying him to the Middle East and Europe, while McCain's traveling press corps numbers only about 25, including camera crews. While CBS News anchor Katie Couric and ABC News anchor Charles Gibson are traveling with Obama, neither CBS News nor ABC News sent even a correspondent to cover McCain. (NBC News is covering both). And this is hardly unique to this week. Only the Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal among big newspapers are consistently covering McCain. NEWSWEEK almost always has a reporter on the plane, but Time and U.S. News do not.

Hmmm, who is missing from that list? It couldn't be Fox News, since we're told that Obama has been "reaching out" to them to appeal to "the middle" people pretend watch the RNC's official propaganda mouthpiece. Not that they didn't try to get a ticket on the hottest political act of the summer. Crooks and Liars has the admission via Stephen Colbert. (Really.)

video of FOX & Friends]
DOOCY: Why are you not on Barack Obama’s airplane heading to the Middle East right now?
WALLACE: Well, I called the Obama campaign several weeks ago and said that I’d like to go and my invitation has apparently been lost in the mail.
[end video]

Well played, Obama campaign.

Meanwhile, McCain left another rambling message about how none of his family will visit. No wonder Wallace is steering clear.

One thing has been driving me crazy about this drilling debate - everyone seems to assume that if we drill for oil in the US, that we will get the oil. And hence, we won't be dependent on foreign oil anymore. But we won't get anything, Exxon-Mobil will.

(Cross-posted from Burnt Orange Report)

This is an unofficial part of our "Shattering Blogger Stereotypes" series. The myth shattered -- that bloggers hate the traditional media. The following is a report on an extensive study I completed as part of my coursework at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University.

Texas’ newspapers are adapting to the new online medium in noticeably different ways, especially when it comes to political reporting. An examination of the nearly 1,000 blog posts featured on the respective political blogs of the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, and Austin American-Statesman during the month leading up to the Texas primary shows that formal conventions of journalism often do not make their way from the paper pages to the web pages of Texas’ leading newspapers.

Crossposted at New Mexico FBIHOP

McCain got an op-ed rejected by the New York Times. McCain's commentary was in response to one in the same paper by Barack Obama.

Here's what David Shipley, op-ed editor of the New York Times, instructed the McCain team to change via e-mail:

the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq. It would also have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory — with troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to describe the senator’s Afghanistan strategy, spelling out
how it meshes with his Iraq plan

News, No News and Not So News
By David Glenn Cox

I can’t stand to hear a grown Republican cry. McCain likes to spout his differences from George Bush, but he uses the same playbook: when you’re losing, go negative. Today he has become John of Arc, burned for his beliefs by the New York Times, excuse me, make that the Liberal New York Times. And I take offense at that term because I am a liberal and they are no friends of mine!

Washington is a cesspool of conventional wisdom. People in Washington do not want to contemplate change. People in Washington are disconnected from the hard realities of American life in the era of $4 a gallon gas. Unfortunately, Barack Obama's campaign for President has fallen into the beltway conventional wisdom trap this week.  

Senator John McCain is playing the, candidate Senator Hillary Clinton game with the media.

When Hillary’s campaign began complaining about the way the media ‘loved’ Senator Barack Obama and was picking on Hillary, most Obama supporters said, "it won’t work Hillary"; but it actually ‘did’ work.

It’s kind of a funny question to ask, but if America has a culture—does it deserve one?

The reason I’m asking this tonight is that I’m looking over the reviews for the new Batman movie, and they’re simultaneously so breathless and breathy that you’d think a new epoch in cinema had just begun. Look at this stuff:

Ok, so by now you've probably heard about the McCaign campaign's ad, "Love Is In The Air", which whines about the MSM's supposed ""love affair" with Obama.

As Jake Trapper from Political Punch puts it,

"This is like Britney Spears complaining that the hype around Miley Cyrus far exceeds her talent."

John McCain's campaign is floundering and desperate. He is bankrupt both financially and intellectually. And nothing illustrates this more than his pathetic attempts at self-promotion through media manipulation. Rather than present his policies and personal attributes to sway a skeptical electorate, McCain has opted to beg for attention from the press and hope they favor him with some attention.

* * * BREAKING * * *
SOUTH PORTLAND, MAINE - Somewhat calling into question the conventional wisdom of the 2008 campaign, it was discovered Monday that Arizona Senator John Sidney McCain III, 71, is also running for president.

I again call request MSNBC let her go vacation or recluse herself from covering the election. I specifically target her because her demeanor has crossed the line. It is clear she cannot be objective.

For the second day in a roll, she has displayed her obvious dislike for Obama's policy and stating the talking points for the Republican Party.

Today, she states Obama was "cocky" when he made the point that the Bush administration were following his lead in diplomatic negotiations with Iran, which Obama noted by saying he was scorn for his position. In addition, she stated that Obama should give McCain credit for "surge" and Obama stated that he would not listen to the General.
For the record, each candidate ought to bring their policy and argument to the forefront = Not the Media’s Job to Make Arguments and Rebuttals, especially when one pretends to be a "news journalist in the field."

Here's another roundup of Netroot Nation 2008 coverage in the media and on the blogs.  There will be a special Daily Kos edition soon along with a final roundup edition when I can get them pulled together.  

Check out the previous NN08 roundups:     #1      #2

Crossposted at Reality Window

You know the McCain campaign is in trouble when they have to start blaming the media for "being in love" with Obama.  Just up on the McCain website (it's overloaded right now, might take a while to load) are two video montages of the media "love fest" over Obama.  They've kindly provided the YouTube links as well.  More after the fold...

As Barack Obama's global travels - and good fortune - dominate the headlines in the U.S., the McCain campaign has launched two new ads in a petulant campaign against the media itself.  The spots, which prominently feature MSNBC's Chris Matthews (among others), blast a fawning media's seeming love affair with Barack Obama. Whether or not contempt works as a campaign strategy for McCain, it could be a case of biting the hand that feeds him.  After all, as Chris Matthews himself said, "The press loves McCain. We're his base."

This is a cross-post from DMIBlog

Last month I wrote about a Media Matters report that revealed that when it comes to immigration and undocumented immigrants, instead of news and/or facts, we are getting a bunch of lies and misinformation. Cable news anchors like CNN’s Lou Dobbs and Fox’s Bill O'Reilly use their "news shows" to promote a message of fear and anger, creating and encouraging hate and a strong sense of resentment against undocumented immigrants.

The result: (nothing positive of course) hate groups in the United States have increased by half since the year 2000 and the number of new anti-immigrant groups increased to 300.

John McCain is just a little jealous these days.  He now has a hit piece on the Media that he is about to launch.  Mr. Media McCain seems to be throwing a temper tantrum in order to get attention and this is NOT going to help him any.  He has learned nothing from Clinton’s run and now he’s attempting to attack the media as she did in hopes that Obama is knocked down a peg.

Some insight on the frustration coming from camp McCain is here

Is John McCain frustrated, or maybe a little of jealous, of Obama's headline grabbing trip? Looks like all signs point to yes as Iraq's Prime Minister gives new confidence to Obama's withdrawal plan, Bloomberg News says "Middle Eastern and European leaders are lining up to hear what Barack Obama has to say," and General Petraeus gave photographers fresh photo-ops with the Democratic leader.

crossposted on my site, www.ourhispanicvoices.com