Blogs

Holes in the Gatekeepers' Fence?

By Matthew Felling

May 14, 2007 / 5:47 PM EDT / CBS News

(AP Photo/Adam Bird)

At this point it's news to nobody that sites like YouTube are political players. (Though to what extent, and to whose benefit, remains up for argument.)

But Salon today dissects the anatomy of John McCain's recent gaffe where – in response to an audience member's suggestion that America "send an airmail message to Tehran" – he half-sang "Bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boy's song "Barbara Ann" in front of a South Carolina crowd.

Was it news? None of the big boys in the mainstream media outlets considered it worth mentioning. Only the Georgetown Times – and even then 450 words into a 750-word story – decided the musical attempt at humor was newsworthy.

Despite this almost-unanimous omission, McCain's song ended up becoming a national story. How?

An anonymous/guerilla opposition researcher uploaded the video to YouTube and then made sure to pass it along to the Drudge Report, where it became the lead item and entered the political mainstream.

Opposition researchers – people retained by different politicians or political groups to dig up inconvenient information about politicians on the other side – are doing a lot of the legwork for mainstream journalists nowadays, finding inconsistencies in candidates' records and dirty little secrets in their past. And the public's dissatisfaction with the mainstream media seems to ratchet up by the month, giving alternative media outlets increasing momentum and influence.

Which leads us to the most troubling passage in the Salon piece:

The mainstream media prides itself on being objective, yet they often run like lemmings to whatever is up on Drudge," said a senior Republican campaign aide, who asked to remain anonymous.

So the mainstream correspondent files a story and then runs to Drudge to get the scuttlebutt that they may have missed. Just as some Americans aren't content with media doing the bidding of the Powers That Be, doesn't it also give us pause that political reporters may be relying too heavily on those who dish the dirt on their political rivals?

But before you sit on that question, think about this: do you, as a news consumer, believe the story in that McCain speech was (a) his pledge to hold a press conference on Iraq every other week if elected president; (b) his stance on gun rights, when the country was raw from the Virginia Tech shootings, or (c) singing "Bomb Iran?" (I'd have ranked them in just that order, for newsworthiness.)

There are stances and beliefs that are newsworthy. And then there are video clips that grab attention. It's important as we gear up for Campaign 2008 that we think about the difference.