Fox News- The Economic Crisis

I have been following the economic crisis on Foxnews.com. I have been reading article after article about McCain's campaign suspension, about Obama's phone calls to the Treasury Secretary, and still I am unclear on both of the candidates positions. The Fox News articles I have been reading are littered with one line zingers taking low blows at the other candidate for not participating enough in the negotiations, or not going to Washington DC soon enough. The headline for Monday morning's front page article was "Obama Hits McCain for 'Katrina Like' Response to Economic Crisis." Obama accused McCain of just sitting there and doing nothing when he heard about the crisis. It seems to me that the candidates are bickering over who did more and who did what rather then talking about the effect of this crisis on America and their position on the bill. Both candidates seem to have the same talking points about the effects on Main Street and protecting the tax payer.
After reading some of John McCain's speeches on the economy it is clear he is trying to drive home that he is not working for big business and the CEO's of American, but for the common people of the nation. He is trying to show his initiative in the crisis, that he is taking charge of the situation. In a Fox News article McCain stated that he is a "Teddy Rossevelt Republican" and the he will not "phone in" his advice, taking a jab at Obama saying he has spoke with the Treasury Secretary everyday on the phone.
I think FoxNews.com has been relatively fair with the coverage of both candidates. However, the articles harped on the jabs the candidates are taking at each other rather then the facts of the bill and the candidates stances.

The Fox Tone

It's not my usual routine but this morning I woke up, looked out the window to the beautiful day, had my cup of tea and turned on Fox News. My cheery demeanor faded quickly when I started getting yelled at by a news reporter. I watch a lot of news programing and I have never seen a news reporter get so blatantly upset over a story with not much merit. The story I was watching was about an ad that an advocacy group produced which attacked Sarah Palin's family and history. Throughout the cast the correspondent kept making references to ties between the advocacy group and the Obama campaign but never explained how they were connected and didn't give any proof of a connection. The correspondent stated that both parties denied one another's involvement but continued to speak as if the Obama campaign was behind the ad, with corresponding ticker and a running headline that stated "Obama campaign has ties to attack ad." I was quite amazed as I watched the story unfold, it had no merit and they offered no proof of a tie between the Obama campaign and the advocacy group. The whole story was speculation, but if you were flipping through the channels and saw the ticker or heard a few lines of the news cast you would think it was truthful. What really struck me was the way in which the correspondent was telling the story, she had so much anger in her voice and looked visibly upset. I do not watch Fox enough to know if this is the norm for reporters but I was shocked. She induced an emotional response in me even though I knew the story was just speculation and exaggeration. Whether the news report was accurate or not, I am sure many people were upset by the story simply by the way the reporter was speaking. I think it is unprofessional to obviously put your views into a story, not by saying, but by showing.

Fox/McCain Sept 21

All eyes have been on the unfolding crisis on Wall Street this week, so it was no surprise to hear both Presidential candidates focusing their messages on the economy. The Bush administration has proposed a $700 billion dollar bail out that would allow the government to buy troubled mortgage related assets. The McCain camp has been focusing their message on ending the corruption and greed in Wall Street. He wants to "change the way Washington does business," according to a speech in Arlington Virgina on September 19th. He places much of the blame for the ongoing financial crisis on the "do nothing Congress" and the corruption of Washington due to lobbyists and bureaucrats. McCain claims he called for a reform two years ago to help the corruption in Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, but Congress and Barack Obama did nothing. McCain accused Obama of taking advice and money from the CEO for Fanny Mae, he goes on to say "there will be no place for these people at the McCain Palin policy making table." Fox News has been reporting on the attacks Obama put on McCain saying he is a "free market gambler." Obama has been focusing on his laissez faire attitude towards the economic crisis and his lack of financial experience. Fox News also talked about McCain's proposal of the creation of a Mortgage and Financial trust that would identify troubled mortgage institutions before it became a crisis. McCain went to on say that that massive government that Obama will establish if elected would be an economic recipe for disaster. Fox also reported on McCains call for reform to prevent companies from hiding bad economic practises, and for the Federal Reserve to get out of the "business of bailouts." Fox News also reported that polls showed McCain down, which reporters said was due to the focus on the economy which has not been seen as one of McCain's strong points. Fox News quotes McCain as saying “The reason they call them bounces is because they do come back down, We’re going to talk about the economy — that’s a debate we’re going to win.”
The bulk of the news coming from Fox focused on the business aspect of the crisis rather then the political. The message from the McCain camp and the political news being reported by Fox are relativly parrallel. More focus was put of corruption of Washington by the McCain camp then Fox harped upon. Even though polls were down for McCain I think his message was relayed reasonably well by Fox News.

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