Initially I was conflicted a bit about the whole Gwen Ifill as "moderator" story. Revelations that Ifill is publishing a seemingly fawning book about Barack Obama might compel Ifill to strive for evenhandedness, I thought.
Well, Michelle Malkin article on the subject has changed my opinion. For example, learning that Ifill has responded to questions about her objectivity by bringing up race raises concerns. Ifill stated last week, “[N]o one’s ever assumed a white reporter can’t cover a white candidate.”
Malkin's response to this statement? "It’s not the color of your skin, sweetie. It’s the color of your politics." I'd say the "political color" of this particular media personality/journalist are unexceptional. I'm more concerned about the color of money--the financial interest that Ifill has in Obama's political fortunes.
Ifill made the decision to publish a book that fairly raises questions about her objectivity in covering politics and in covering this campaign in particular. I'd like to trust Ifill to play it fair in this high-stakes debate, but once the horse is out of the barn, it'll be too late. I think the professional thing to do would be to step down from moderating a debate this time around. Of course, that's easy for me to say, but I believe that as a journalist, the least that Ifill should do is begin this debate with an "in the interest of full disclosure" statement.
Back At It
4 hours ago
4 comments:
Ifill never hid this book from anybody, she discussed it last month with Howard Kurtz; are you telling me that nobody in a position of importance at the McCain campaign reads WaPo?
This isn't a book about Obama, its a book about up-and-coming black politicians in the United States and win or lose, Obama is the most prominent of these.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see how Ifill manages to show her bias during the debate, considering the format does not really allow for it. If she asks too many questions about Foreign Policy, and not enough about the Moose population of Alaska, will that be bias?
So what if she didn't hide the book?
Uh, Obama's name is in the title, and Obama's success certainly bears on the book's thesis (not to mention its poignancy).
And we'll see how much Ifill really gets into foreign policy. Biden's "experience" is laughable . . . he's no leader, nor an executive.
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