Re: Parsley
Writing by abuhatem on Thursday, 22 of May , 2008 at 10:06 pm
Parsley’s story was the top story on Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight which usually gets ratings of about one million people (350,000 or so in the 25-54 demographic). It was also the top story on Campbell Brown’s Election Headquarters on CNN which usually gets about a net rating of 600,000 (250,000 in the 25-54 demo), and on Anderson Cooper who gets about 700,000 (250,000 in the 25-54 demo).
Thus the networks did a good job covering it after Brian Ross broke it this morning on Good Morning America. The GMA break probably had the highest net viewers overall. It was also big news on the ABC News on network news tonight.
Kudos to the media for covering the story.
UPDATE (05/25/08 3:10 AM): The Columbia Journalism Review has a piece on the media covering Parsley which is available here. The CJR writes:
Good for ABC News and Brian Ross, who are finally giving Pastor Rod Parsley, an important Christian conservative ally of John McCain, the kind of scrutiny he deserves.
On the one hand, Wright was Obama’s long-time pastor and spiritual mentor who officiated at the candidate’s wedding and helped bring him to God. Parsley, by contrast, is not personally close with McCain. Aside from appearing with McCain at an event in February to announce his endorsement, Parsley has had little direct contact with the candidate before or since. It’s true that McCain referred to Parsley as a “spiritual guide,” but there’s no reason to think that McCain’s religious or spiritual views have been meaningfully shaped by Parsley.
We can understand the press concluding that Wright deserves more attention than Parsley, thanks to his closer relationship to the candidate. But given the weeks of coverage that the cable news outlets, which do so much to shape perceptions, lavished on that story, a few skeptical reports about McCain and Parsley don’t seem like too much to ask. But so far, those same outlets have been remarkably uninterested. We hope the ABC News report starts a trend.
Category: The media
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Meneame -
- Digg
No comments yet.
