Let me get this straight.
Presidential candidate A is accused of having a risky homosexual dalliance with someone he picks up in a bar, scoring powdered cocaine for his partner and crack cocaine for himself in an incident that allegedly occurred about nine years ago. The named alleged partner makes his charges public, agrees to a polygraph and files a lawsuit reiterating the charges and accusing the candidate of harassment and intimidation. The candidate refuses to deny the allegations.
Presidential candidate B is accused by unnamed sources of having a romantic interest in a female lobbyist in the same year. There are no specific allegations of sexual or drug-related incidents. Both the candidate and the lobbyist adamantly deny any untoward activity took place between them.
Yet, for the Big Media, there is no story involving presidential candidate A, but there is a raging mega-story involving candidate B.
I’ve been a newsman for 30 years. This is what we call a double standard as big, wide and deep as the Grand Canyon, which happens to be in candidate B’s home state.
Candidate A is Barack Obama. You may not have heard anything about the incident described above. It has been reported in only one news venue – WND.
Candidate B is John McCain. I’m sure you’ve heard about his relationship with Vicki Iseman. It has been reported in every major news venue, including WND, and was broken in the New York Times.
What’s the difference – besides the severity of the charges? I suspect, for the Big Media, the only difference is the candidate.
The Big Media are swooning over Barack Obama. And now that John McCain has all but wrapped up the Republican nomination for the presidency, the Big Media are, predictably, turning on the candidate they wanted all along to oppose the Democrats’ anointed one.
If I hadn’t watched this kind of thing happen over and over again for the last 30 years in the news business, I would be shocked.
But I have watched it. In fact, it is this kind of duplicity, partisanship and bias that led me to launch WND more than 10 years ago.
I believed it was time for a real media alternative – one that not only had professional journalism standards, but applied them evenly without fear or favoritism.
It is also why I wrote my most recent book, “Stop the Presses! The Inside Story of the New Media Revolution.”
It was time, I believed, for Americans to understand the truth about the way they are spoon-fed lies and deception in a shameless effort to manipulate their behavior.
What am I missing about these two stories?
Is there more than meets the eye?
I can ask these questions as an independent journalist who supports neither Obama nor McCain. In fact, I can promise you WND would report both stories regardless of whether I supported either candidate.
That’s independent journalism.
That’s the American tradition of reporting.
The Big Media may be losing their hammerlock, monopolistic grip on the eyes and ears of the American public, but its bias and double standards are still a threat to the republic.
The American people have a choice – not just about candidate A and candidate B. You also have a choice about media.
I urge you to exercise that choice – while you still have a chance. Because, if the Big Media have their way, they would happily take you back to the days of media monopoly – the days of no choice at all.
Order Farah’s latest book, “Stop the Presses: The Inside Story of the New Media Revolution”
