With One Hand on McCain's Junk, Media Wonders Why It's Being Nice to Obama

It is amazing how high of an opinion the media has of itself. I mean, I was a journalist in college and have worked at several newspapers and magazines. I know what being a journalist is all about, Being a journalist means you were too lazy or stupid to attempt to get a degree in something more difficult. As I was told early in my college career, "Make journalism your major. Journalism degrees grow on trees and you won't need to study any math more difficult than fractions."

Usually, however, when big-maned journalists are caught being insipidly one-sided, they tend to react with shock and horror. Just read a few exchanges between Glenn Greenwald and any big-name media stars when they deign to respond to him. Mostly, their responses can be simply be summarized as "How Dare You Question Me?!?!"

Now, however, the media has found a new meme to follow, all due to the show "Saturday Night Live." A skit on SNL portrayed the media as being brutal on Hillary Clinton, while being mesmerized by Barack Obama and kowtowing to him. This, and a study by Project for Excellence in Journalism appears to have shown the media that they are being far too easy on Obama:

A harder look at Obama, post-`SNL'?

NEW YORK - Life imitating art or just a coincidence? A study of campaign coverage found the media took a sharper look at Barack Obama the week after "Saturday Night Live" spoofed journalists enthralled by his candidacy.

The NBC comedy show on Feb. 23 opened with a mock debate where journalists were rough on Hillary Clinton while being starry-eyed about Obama. It matched complaints the Clinton campaign had made -- and she even referenced the comedy skit during a real debate last week.

During the week, Obama was the dominant person in 69 percent of presidential campaign stories, according to a study by Project for Excellence in Journalism. That's the biggest percentage one candidate had received in any week this year.

Many of the stories took a tough look at Obama, such as a Feb. 25 ABC "World News" study on his Illinois legislative record and a "CBS Evening News" report on his career three nights later.

It's hard to say whether "SNL" acted as a de-facto assignment editor, since some of the stories were probably being prepared before the NBC show aired, but it did seem to crystallize a thought that had been percolating, said Mark Jurkowitz, the project's associate director.

"There were a lot of factors at play," Jurkowitz said. "But there's no question the skit, if nothing else, was perfectly timed."