What do you think -- will they be fair to McCain?
CBS' "60 Minutes" will devote its full broadcast Sunday to profiles of John McCain and Barack Obama with fresh interviews, hoping to set the stage for the general election campaign's first presidential debate on Sept. 26.
Scott Pelley plans to interview McCain in Wisconsin on Thursday, the same day Steve Kroft is talking to Obama in Nevada. Both candidates also talked with the CBS newsmen earlier for pieces that will be unusually long by "60 Minutes" standards.
Current media habits in general and the treatment of Sarah Palin in particular suggest not. But I suspect CBS will be on its best let's-try-to-look-objective behavior. I'll be watching in any case. When the circus is over in a couple of months, we'll miss it, no matter how much we complain now.
Comments
The real question is which CBS will choose if "balance" and "accuracy" are at odds. Let's say, just as a hypothetical, that McCain has flip-flopped on the need to regulate the markets and Obama has not. Would they accurately report such a thing, ignore it to create balance, or puff up a flip-flop of Obama's that doesn't impact our lives very much to create a false equivalency?
My guess is they'll follow the same tack we are accustomed too.
Senator McCain will be asked about abortion, economics, gay marriage, Iraq, etc.
Senator Obama will be asked "how it feels" to be part of history, "how it feels" to be derided by Repubs, "how it feels" to have Sarah Palin make light of him etc..
You know, the hard hitting journalism we've come to know and love.
Since Obama has tacked to the middle and McCain to the right since getting their nominations, the question is will they pointy out both side's flip-flops or jusst one? Will they highlight extremely negative ads by both or just by one? And on and on.
...Or will the COMMERCIALS be more enlightening?
We''ll have to watch to see.
;)
B.G.
Leo "Will they highlight extremely negative ads by both or just by one? And on and on."
As John McEnroe sez...."ARE YOU SERIOUS??"