"...once media have hung a label on you, anything that you do—or don’t do—can be depicted as confirming it, with the most unremarkable behavior..."

“we [the media] went totally haywire over a couple of gutter balls and we sort of traffic in this world of symbolism,”

These are quotes from a great compilation of bad reporting documented by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) in this article:

Extra! July/August 2008
Obama the Snob?

Hanging the ‘elitist’ label on another Democratic candidate

By Peter Hart

It’s safe to assume that Barack Obama knew he could expect certain lines of attack when he decided to run for president: whispers about his religious beliefs, for example, or questions regarding his patriotism. And sure enough, those issues came up almost as soon as the campaign started. But it’s difficult to imagine that Obama—whose one grandfather was a high-school dropout and the other a colonial servant—expected to fend off the accusation that he is “elitist.”

Corporate media coverage of political campaigns often rests on certain storylines, though, that don’t necessarily bear any relationship to reality...
[story continued here]

Does liking good food make you "not ready to lead"?...

The Politics of Brie: Time to Scrap a Label - NPR.org

Listen Now [3 min 23 sec]

All Things Considered, October 26, 2006 · In election years, there are Soccer Moms, NASCAR Dads, and the Silent M ajority. But writer David Kamp says it's time to ditch one popular political nickname: the Wine-and-Cheese Liberal. The difference, he says, is that it's not true. Kamp is the author of the United States of Arugula.

Bringing it back to the FAIR article...

Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier penned an outraged column (3/17/08) warning that Obama had “better watch his step,” since he was “bordering on arrogance” and “can be a bit too cocky for his own good.” (An example of his “self-importance and superiority”: citing his 2002 opposition to the Iraq invasion as a sign of courage.) Obama and his wife, for that matter, “ooze entitlement.”

I however think of another political figure when I hear the word, "arrogant," though I don't think there's any "bordering on" happening here:

one more article for good measure:

Bob Cesca: The Exotic Candidate Is The One With Eight Houses

Bob Cesca

August 13, 2008 ...The Exotic Candidate Is The One With Eight Houses

"It is possible," Gore Vidal once wrote, "for any citizen with time to spare, and a canny eye, to work out what is actually going on, but for the many there is not time, and the network news is the only news even though it may not be news at all but only a series of flashing fictions."

The barbecue media script for this election, a work of unabridged fiction and co-written by the modern Rove Republicans, has crow-barred Senator Obama into the incongruous frame of the exotic effete elitist, irrespective of the fact that, on all counts, he's absolutely none of those things. It's the same script that's been wheeled out during the last several presidential elections -- designed as a way of sculpting reality into a neatly packaged prime time dramatic narrative that both reinforces and exploits fear-based stereotypes.

Labels: Media, Obama, Pundits