Does The Media Go Easy On Republican Politicians and Republican States?

[erpowers]

I understand some will say that the question is one that does not need to be asked. However, I decided to ask the question because earlier this morning I read a story at the CNN website about South Carolina. The story is entitled "2012: South Carolina's Rebound Year". The first three sentences of the story are as follows: "At first glance, South Carolina would seem to be in pretty bad shape. The state, home of Saturday's Republican primary, has a 9.9% unemployment rate and 18% of its population lives in poverty. But the numbers don't tell the whole story."

I doubt the story would have started the same if the governor of South Carolina was a Democrat. Has there ever been a time when a state with a Democratic governor had a fairly high unemployment rate and a sizable portion of its population living in poverty and the media said the numbers did not tell the whole story, with a positive spin? I understand being president and governor are two different jobs, but if you compare the way the United States has been discussed as a whole compared to South Carolina I do not think the unemployment numbers have ever been given a positive spin. I do not recall anyone ever discussing the national unemployment numbers and saying the numbers may look bad, but things have a chance to get better.

Even if one goes beyond the first few sentences it seems that the author of the story tried to do everything to downplay the problems within South Carolina and everything to promote the positive aspects of the economics of the state. When the author discussed South Carolina's unemployment rate she tried to make the point out that it was mainly a rural issue and that the unemployment rate had been high for years. Economist John Silvia is quoted as saying, "The state's high unemployment rate is more a reflection of long-term weakness in rural communities". The author then went on to say, "Marion County, which recently had a whopping 17.3% unemployment rate has struggled with joblessness long before the recession began. It's unemployment rate has been in the double digits since 2002."

It seems that if South Carolina had been lead by a series of Democratic governors this article would have used the economic state of South Carolina and the fact that the state had been in its current position for years as a reason to ask if it was proof that Democrats did a poor job of governing. There is a chance that instead of the article starting by stating the numbers do not tell the whole story it would have started by stating that it is often claimed that Democrats are good a dealing with government economies, but the results in South Carolina, after years of Democratic governors, might bring that claim into question.

So, what do others think? Does the media go easy on Republican politicians and Republican states?


http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/20/news/economy/south_carolina_unemployment/index.htm?iid=HP_Highlight

[russspeakeasy]

1. Yes, the media goes easy on the rethugs, because "the media" knows

that those cretins will attack. The dems on the other hand will retreat, and drop out of what ever the conflict is.
Hence you get the likes of hermy, newt, paul, etc.
The media in this country sucks for it's investigative prowess
and lack of guts in general.

[emulatorloo]

4. Fascinating, thanks for the link.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. The media goes easy on anyone, anywhere, if the sales of the products they flog are endangered.

[emulatorloo]

5. Steely eyed cynicism about Democrats, wide-eyed wonder over all things Republican.

Republicans are allowed to spew talking points with no fact checking at all.