June 4, 2005

Kennedy–Nixon

By Andrew Sumereau
Even with all the discussion of media bias since the dawn of the cable revolution and the intense media scrutiny offered by the explosive growth of the blogosphere, the essential story of media bias is still best revealed by a trenchant example from forty years ago. The media treatment then (and now) of our two flawed political icons of the sixties, Kennedy and Nixon, tells you all you need to know. It all began in 1960 as the Kennedy election machine revved up to take on Nixon. As Gary Wills, no great fan of Nixon, wrote in 1980, '...at some point they (press) all agreed, to hate Nixon, and to love Prince Charming.' The die was cast, and during the formative years of many of today's liberal pundits, the pro—Kennedy media helped fuel a puppy—love infatuation with government and liberalism that no amount of Vietnam, exploding CIA cigars, Bay of Pigs fiascoes or Dr. King wire—tapings could extinguish. For many, the glow of Camelot has never faded. But then neither...(Read Full Article)