Media mea culpa on Dean

Now that his presidential run seems to be teetering at the edge of extinction, the major news networks are belatedly admitting that they may have overplayed the so-called Iowa yell. First there was Diane Sawyer, who investigated the microphones and crowd noise involved and concluded that Dean, in fact, was not yelling or out of control. The latest mea culpa comes from CNN who now admits to "overdoing it." But the news execs continue to insist that it merely "confirmed" existing doubts in voters' minds. This is Dean's former campaign manager Joe Trippi's response to that lame excuse:

"It was like the footage of a heat-seeking missile hitting its target. Once the press gets that, it just gets played over and over again for a week, and people say, 'How cool.' That's what I think happened here. It was entertainment masquerading as news."

According to the Associated Press, "Only 39 percent of Dean's coverage on the network evening news was positive during the week after Iowa, according to an analysis by the Center for Media and Public Affairs. By contrast, rival John Edwards' coverage was 86 percent positive during the same period, and new front-runner John Kerry's was 71 percent positive, the center said."

from: http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/log/