Political Bias on the Part of the Media?

The media is not infallible. They’re often accused of harboring their own agenda. Here are a couple of clips on YouTube that discuss alleged bias:
Here are allegations of Fox News bias:


And here’s Fox using ABC political news director Mark Halleprin to claim other network bias:

Public Opinion and Presidential Politics

George W. Bush has been a very consequential president in recent years, thanks largely to the War on Terror. Here’s Gallup Opinion Poll’s Frank Newport on public opinion in the Bush years:



Public opinion on candidates can be shaped permanently by how these candidates come across in TV appearances. If they look silly or unprepared even once, these images can haunt their entire careers.

Here are a couple of examples of how this happened in Vice Presidential politics:





Looking silly has been a bipartisan affair in Presidential politics. In 1988 Michael Dukakis, the Governor of Massachusetts and the Democratic nominee for President, faced attack ads by George Bush that highlights his appearance in tank:



Dukakis was also hit hard for his policies on crime. In this ad, that many considered racist, Dukakis is criticized by an outside political group with links to George Bush. The criticism highlights Dukakis’s furlough policy:

Lecture: Political Linkages

Link: www.scribd.com/doc/11979439/Gov141-Political-Linkages