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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (77086)	1/27/2010 1:54:10 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Gallup: 64% say media did fair or poor job as watchdog on Obama’s 1st year By Ed Morrissey on The Blog Anyone shocked, shocked to find that most Americans think the media gave Barack Obama a pass during his first year in office? Please put your hand down, Mr. President: <<< Most Americans appear unimpressed by the media’s performance as government watchdog in the first year of the Obama administration. A third say the media have done an “excellent” or “good” job of filling this important role of a free press, 37% say their performance has been “fair,” and 27% rate it “poor.” … The plurality of Americans (43%) say the news media’s performance as watchdog under Obama is on par with how it did during previous administrations; however, by 31% to 21% the remainder tilt toward believing the media has done a worse, rather than better, job under Obama. >>> That may have been helped by somewhat more skeptical coverage following the EunuchBomber and the backroom dealings on ObamaCare. Press coverage of these events tended to be tougher and more objective than earlier reporting on failures and mistakes in the Obama administration. The continued economic bad news on jobs and the housing market, while still too often described as “unexpected,” has also created more bite in reporting as the administration’s failures have become more apparent. We know what Republicans will say about the media’s performance — a majority will claim that it’s been an utter failure. Actually, that’s not quite true. A plurality of 39% say it’s been poor, while another 30% say “fair” (which in this survey is a weak score). That 69% exactly matches the reading from independents, which split 40% to “fair” and 29% to “poor.” The biggest surprise may be Democrats: <<< According to the new poll, nearly half of Democrats (45%) say the media have done an excellent or good job as a watchdog of the Democratic Obama administration, compared with 29% of independents and 30% of Republicans. Republican dissatisfaction with the media as watchdog in Obama’s first year is particularly great, evident in the relatively high percentage (39%) calling the media’s performance poor. >>> A majority of Democrats (54%) rank the media’s performance as fair or poor in the watchdog role, although 75% give the media credit for doing better or at least the same than under Bush. Over two-thirds of independents (68%) say the same, and so do 49% of Republicans. Gallup does offer this interesting bit of analysis at the end (emphasis mine): <<< Still, both Republicans and Democrats are likely to be sensitive about the treatment President Obama gets from the press; given this, the best the media can probably achieve on the watchdog question is equal levels of criticism from both sides. A high proportion of Democrats saying they think the coverage of Obama’s administration has been excellent or good probably means it has been too lenient. A high proportion of Republicans saying the same probably means it has been too tough. With these figures currently registering 45% among Democrats and 30% among Republicans, the press may want to reflect on whether it did, in fact, fulfill its important role as government watchdog in 2009. And going forward, it may want to bear in mind Democrats’ concern about appropriate coverage of Obama’s healthcare plans, and Republicans’ and independents’ interest in better media oversight of his economic policies. >>> Perhaps that reflection will result in better and less obsequious coverage. Such a development would certainly be, er, unexpected. hotair.com