RTÉ start US election coverage as they mean to go on?

DMC

Headline on www.rte.ie/news today...

RTE News wrote:

Obama wins Democrat caucus in Iowa

Senator Barack Obama has won the backing of Democrats in Iowa to be the party's candidate for this year's US presidential election.

Alongside a pic of Obama.
No mention on the front page of who won on the Republican caucus, then, until the third paragraph on this page (copied for truth, in case it changes later)

Obama wins Democrat caucus in Iowa
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0104/uselection.html
Friday, 4 January 2008 10:48

Senator Barack Obama has won the backing of Democrats in Iowa to be the party's candidate for this year's US presidential election.

Senator John Edwards was second, marginally ahead of Senator Hillary Clinton.

On the Republican side, the former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, won by a wide margin, with Mitt Romney coming in second place.
Advertisement

In a stirring speech last night in Des Moines, Senator Obama, told his supporters they had done 'what the cynics said you couldn't do'.

Invoking the civil rights struggle and his own life story and buoyed by chants of 'Obama', the senator from Illinois told the crowd that 'change is coming to America'.

Turnout was up over 80% on the Democratic side compared to 2004, with the number of Republican caucus goers up too.

On the Republican side, Mr Huckabee's win is being attributed to strong support from Christian conservatives.

All eyes will now focus on New Hampshire, which holds its primary next Tuesday.

IMHO, very Democratic leaning article.

mike65

We all know that RTE new room is a Democrat stronghold - Morning Ireland esp so, when John Kerry crashed, it was like a death in the family.

Mike.

flogen

mike65 wrote: »

We all know that RTE new room is a Democrat stronghold - Morning Ireland esp so, when John Kerry crashed, it was like a death in the family.

Mike.

Well the RTÉ.ie newsroom is a completely separate entity to the RTÉ radio and RTÉ tv newsrooms, so I doubt there's any agreed policy outlook going on, certainly not between the website and the rest of the organisation.

That said it's a very one-sided article alright - would have been easy to mention both winners in the opening sentence and expand each from there.

constitutionus

no surprise really .i doubt theres a mainstream media type in the country that'd favour a republican win so theres certainly a bias.

that said it doesnt help that pretty much no one in the country could name the republican candidates up untill a week ago. like it or not we do actually know the democratic candidates as theyve all made headlines here before. particularly as on a very basic level some people are intrigued by what the american people would go for. a black man or a white woman. crude and un PC i know but that angle is there and the US correspondants did make a big deal about a black guy getting the nomination from a state thats 94% white, particularly considering clintons such a big hitter and was well pegged to take it untill recent polls

personally i never heard of huckabee before the caucus so its understandable that they wouldnt think its a big deal to us.

DMC

Look at BBC News online right now.
They even have it in alphabetical order!

I have e-mailed the RTÉ Newsroom asking them not to be "Fox News for the Democrats"

FlutterinBantam

I see they have Carole Coleman "Author & Commentator " working for them probably on a contract basis.it will be interesting to see who they will send over when things hot up a bit around Super-Duper Tuesday.


Ps a bit off topic.. read her book hoping to get a bit of insight into the job she was doing, and all I got was a load of guff about alternate religions in the States which read like "copy & paste" from a website.

Flutther 81;)

Zombrex

DMC wrote: »

IMHO, very Democratic leaning article.

It seems to be just one headline. Every other piece they have mentions both Huckabee and Obama in the same sentence. And the piece itself mentions Huckabee's win 2 times.

Clearly RTE has been infiltrated by Communists ...

DMC

Wicknight wrote: »

It seems to be just one headline. Every other piece they have mentions both Huckabee and Obama in the same sentence. And the piece itself mentions Huckabee's win 2 times.

flogen spotted it. The opening shouldv'e included Huckabee. It mentioned him twice, but it didn't include a piece of his speech, and we don't know from the articles author how "stirring" it was either. I feel it plays out how charismatic Obama might be, and yet, Huckabee is just from the religious right.

silverharp

I was listening the the rte radio news at 1 and they barely mentioned the republicans, they had some one on from democrats abroad so it was all about them

moe_sizlak

lets not over demonise rte too much here , it would be easier for rte to find a democrats abroad spokesperson as irish american people have always overwhelmingly voted democrat

it may have been somewhat biassed but its hardly fox news bias where they trash the democtats on a daily basis

i know i know , one is a newsroom , the other is a propoganda machine

DMC

On the whole, RTÉ News are spot on. I only post criticism when I see something amiss, and this was once such item. It makes no odds if Irish Americans have voted Democrat, RTÉ are a neutral broadcaster. If I was in America, I would without hesitation vote Democrat, but as I'm not, out of balance, I want to hear how the other side are doing.

RTÉ have a mixed history of covering all things Americana. On one hand, you have Carol Coleman's interview with Dubya, where she was spot on with her interview and line of questioning, but yet also have Ryan Tubridy with his fawning for all things Clinton and Camelot.

I dunno if its down to the reporting that the US reporters of European media do, that makes them more in tune to the Democrats, considering that on the whole European Media is neutral to or turns off religion and politics, that they feel the need to report what suits the ear of the European public.

Thoughts?

FlutterinBantam

I don't know what station I was tuned into this morning but I'm sure I heard
an argument between Democrats person who hosted Clinton's visit here and a Republican person on some show.

Would have no complaints about RTE's news coverage.

As Tubridy has "connection" with the Kennedy's and is more a magazine programme rather than a news reportage show,I would not be too critical there.

Yet!!!

DMC

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

As Tubridy has "connection" with the Kennedy's and is more a magazine programme rather than a news reportage show,I would not be too critical there.

Yet!!!

Indeed. But his brand of Americana is close to what the Democrats hold dear. Tubridy can veer in Current Affairs and tread on Pat's toes, which is not where his show should be.

jdivision

Obama is definitely worth the lead. Defeating Hilary Clinton is a bigger deal than Huckabee winning. Have absolutely no problem with way it was done.

Milktrolley

Frank Luntz was a contributor on Prime Time but later appeared on Fox News's caucus coverage... he wasn't the kindest to Obama after his speech last night despite it being quite good. Having a contributor like that would suggest balance on RTÉ's part but looking at Six-One today, it did seem to have a democratic slant to it. On the other hand, the likes of Obama and Clinton are much better known over here than Huckabee and Romney.

mike65

Thats true but why are they better known? Proberbly cos RTE swoons over Democrat candidates and regards the GOP as evil.

Mike.

kippy

I had a think about this today but can anyone clarify....
Has RTE ever given so much coverage to the US Presidential selection at this stage EVER?
I mean, in my memory all we've gotten the major coverage of is the actual elections and around that time.
RTE are really scrapping the bottom of the barrel here. The whole thing feels to me like abit of a political "X-Factor" - Absolute tosh. I dont think theres any reason to be giving so much coverage at this stage of matters.
I understand the seriousness of the job and the implications for Ireland and indeed the world but it really doesnt deserve the coverage it is getting at the moment.
Perhaps RTE realise that elections/votes (no matter what is involved) is a good one to get the ratings up.

mike65

Every US election season seems to start earlier than the previous one. While its an important event (eventually) it seems to be a type of political filler for the electronic media.

Got 10 mins that needs filling on Prime Time? Run a 'report' from some windswept caucus state which consists of vox-pop with angry/bored/bemused locals, a local media hack, a representative of one or both parties all summarised with no great insight by Robert Shortt.

Mike.

DMC

Milktrolley wrote: »

Frank Luntz was a contributor on Prime Time but later appeared on Fox News's caucus coverage... he wasn't the kindest to Obama after his speech last night despite it being quite good.

Or Frank Luntz just panders to the audience thats listening. He's shrewd!

I would agree with Mike that they are well known because for some reason, western media, not only RTÉ, picked up on Obama early. Hillary is well known.

In answer to Kippy, I wouldn't say that elections are ratings winners. Osama and Huckabee winning in Iowa was the first votes in this tediously long drawn out campaign. It is also worth remembering that there is double the fun this time, as for the first time in 70 years, there is no outgoing President or Vice President running this time, so I'm not totally surprised that we've seen the coverage we have in the last few days after the first vote, but yet, I'd hope that RTÉ just keep an eye on what they show.

lostexpectation

question is which one was more of surprise? which result was confirmed first?
I was listening to bbc radio5 simulcast with an america radio station the other night and they were all talking about obama too, even the repub guests.

hate rte coverage of american they report what bush says as if its true!!! again I have to say you can't judge rte news coverage just from the short bit of text on the website, not that shouldn't improve it.

Offalycool

Perhaps the fact it is the first time a black candidate has won in the mostly white Iowa State that warrents the bias in the RTE report. Racist reporting.. would RTE ever admit it?

jdivision

Where's the bias. They led on the fact that one candidate one, then went to the other one. Obama's victory is far more significant because of who he beat.

moe_sizlak

Milktrolley wrote: »

Frank Luntz was a contributor on Prime Time but later appeared on Fox News's caucus coverage... he wasn't the kindest to Obama after his speech last night despite it being quite good. Having a contributor like that would suggest balance on RTÉ's part but looking at Six-One today, it did seem to have a democratic slant to it. On the other hand, the likes of Obama and Clinton are much better known over here than Huckabee and Romney.

it is well known that frank luntz is a republican pollster

DMC

jdivision wrote: »

Where's the bias. They led on the fact that one candidate one, then went to the other one. Obama's victory is far more significant because of who he beat.

Its a drip drip thing, and as mentioned, other news organisations had both winners in the main headline.

Today Marian Finucane was reviewing the front pages of the Sunday papers, and she commented that there was a "terrific" picture of Barack Omaba on the front of the Sunday Times.

What was so terrific about it?

mike65

You should have heard Newstalk DMC, the Wide Angle was rah-rah for the Democrats, with the presenter on first name terms with "Hillary" it seems. The fact the Republicans held a causus which ended with a surprise result only got a mention thanks to one of the studio guests.

Mike.

lostexpectation

a christian beating a mormon, is that really much of a surprise, no matter how much money the other guy had, and mcain and guiliani didn't challenge that caucus so...

moe_sizlak

mike65 wrote: »

You should have heard Newstalk DMC, the Wide Angle was rah-rah for the Democrats, with the presenter on first name terms with "Hillary" it seems. The fact the Republicans held a causus which ended with a surprise result only got a mention thanks to one of the studio guests.

Mike.

carol coleman is very left wing

mike65

Thats the woman "No more Bush - thank God" she said. Hardly fair and balanced even if she is'nt wrong.

Mike.

flogen

moe_sizlak wrote: »

carol coleman is very left wing

Just a correction - Karen Coleman presents The Wide Angle; Carole Coleman is RTÉ's former Washington Correspondent.

mike65

Whoops. Carol Coleman is a bit of RTE lefty I suspect.

Mike.

moe_sizlak

flogen wrote: »

Just a correction - Karen Coleman presents The Wide Angle; Carole Coleman is RTÉ's former Washington Correspondent.

thanks for that , i meant karren from newstalk

carol coleman is ok , think she got unfair stick with that bush interview

DMC

moe_sizlak wrote: »

carol coleman is ok , think she got unfair stick with that bush interview

She was praised this side of the water, but vilified by the US press.

DMC

And so to this mornings events in New Hampshire.

Everyone, including myself, I think was caught on the hop by this one. I didn't expect Hillary Clinton to win in NH, so in that way, I'm not surprised that media outlets have focused on her win, as the momentum seemed to be against her.

SPECIAL MENTION for the Irish Examiner. Its almost as good as "Dewey Defeats Truman"

mike65

Whatever they said its been updated/removed.

Mike.

DMC

/me has the printed version.

When I heard Caroline Murphy on "It says in the papers", I had to buy it

mike65

Get scanning!

Mike.

DMC

mike65 wrote: »

Get scanning!

Hmmmm, IMG tags dont work here...

but your wish is attached.....

1st file is the front page, ....

DMC

then from page 15, a doozy.

lostexpectation

that examiner article is ridiculous it so presumptive!, you have to watch about which is actually an Irish reporter who may hopefully gives us a Irish perspective and who's a wire reporter BETH FOUHY seems to be just an ap wire reporter, not sure about john carroll

group think ftw

the UK papers were even worse eg the independent having obama on the from page...

mike65

Classic! The front page stuff is okay and they were'nt alone thats for sure, the second piece should be a sacking offence.

More from the same hack staffer

Its like it never happened.

Mike.

brianthebard

DMC wrote: »

And so to this mornings events in New Hampshire.

Everyone, including myself, I think was caught on the hop by this one. I didn't expect Hillary Clinton to win in NH, so in that way, I'm not surprised that media outlets have focused on her win, as the momentum seemed to be against her.

SPECIAL MENTION for the Irish Examiner. Its almost as good as "Dewey Defeats Truman"

Not to be smart, but knowing that she hadn't campaigned as much as she could've in Iowa, coupled with her Bertie like welling tears in the aftermath, gave me the impression that she had more than a chance.

lostexpectation

it seems that although obama seemed very popular with women, clinton had the long time support of the womens groups like 'womans vote' their endorsement and feet on the street allowed her to win, aswell as lots of coldcalling.

segadreamcast

brianthebard wrote: »

Not to be smart, but knowing that she hadn't campaigned as much as she could've in Iowa, coupled with her Bertie like welling tears in the aftermath, gave me the impression that she had more than a chance.

Er, she toured plenty in Iowa. She did stops at all 99 counties in the final week. It was just that the kind of campaigning she did often didn't take any questions and had limited interaction beyond stump speeches that hurt her there.