[Posted by Karl]
The WaPo’s Eric Wemple, addressing the Politico story that Vice-President Joe Biden siad Tea Party Republicans had “acted like terrorists” in the debt ceiling negotiations, noticed it was downplayed by some big media players:
The combo of anonymous sourcing behind the Politico story plus a quasi-denial on part of the vice president appears to have steered other prominent media outlets away from the mention of “terrorists.” A Nexis search of the New York Times turns up no mention of the incident in its news pages. The Washington Post’s news operation largely stayed away, though its opinion side gave it much rotation. MSNBC doesn’t appear to have given it prominence, either.
Why? Dick Stevenson, an editor at the New York Times, writes:
Obviously we were aware of the reports that Biden had likened the Republicans to terrorists. But we had no first-hand (or even second-hand) confirmation, and the vice president’s office was disputing that he had said any such thing. We debated whether we needed at least to take account of the controversy, but decided against doing so since we could not establish that Biden had said what was being attributed to him. Maybe there is more to this than we know. But on the face of it, it is a classic example of how what were once pretty clear-cut decisions based on well-established standards are now complicated by the reality that stories increasingly get injected into the public dialogue quickly and often with minimal journalistic vetting — leaving news organizations at risk of being perceived as deliberately ignoring them if they make a judgment against publishing. (Emphases added.)
The New York Times has standards, you know. (more…)
[Posted by Karl]
This morning’s Quinnipiac University poll is no birthday present for the president:
The national debt ceiling deal does not rescue President Barack Obama’s crashing job approval rating in Florida as he gets a negative 44 – 51 percent score among voters surveyed August 1 – 2, after the deal was announced, compared to a negative 44 – 50 percent score among voters surveyed July 27 – 31, before the deal ***.
This compares to a positive 51 – 43 percent approval rating for President Obama in a May 26 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll.
Florida voters surveyed after the deal say 50 – 42 percent that Obama does not deserve to be reelected, compared to a 47 – 46 percent split before the deal and 50 – 44 percent support for his reelection May 26.
Indeed, the Q-Poll shows Mitt Romney and Rick Perry both gained on Obama in the post-deal polling. Other internals are similarly bad. NRO’s Jim Geraghty notes Florida women shifted from 53%/40% approval/disapproval of Obama in May to a 46/49 split today. The Hotline’s Josh Kraushaar thinks the most scary number for Obama in the poll is the 61% job disapproval among independents, with just 33% approving, noting: “That’s Bush post-Katrina territory.” Kraushaar also gives the broader context: “All told, we now have Obama behind/in deep trouble in FL, IA, PA, MI, OH, NH, and NC in the last month.” He adds that those are “Dukakis ’88 numbers.”
Maybe Obama’s seventh pivot to jobs will turn things around. Our Orator-in-Chief is taking a thinly-veiled, taxpayer-funded campaign tour through Midwestern swing states later this month. As the odds of a double-dip recession rise, it may take more than words to slow the ocean of bad news for the unemployed and the Lightworker who desperately does not want to join their ranks next year.
–Karl
