Why Did The Conservative Press Ignore Scott Walker's Campaign Last Year?
Written by Eric Boehlert
Published
Before conservatives launch their regular attacks against the so-called liberal media, it might be helpful to see if openly conservative media outlets are guilty of the same supposed crime against journalism. And if they are, then it's probably best to shelve the liberal media attack.
Nonetheless, we see this same pratfall over and over. The latest to take the tumble is NRO's Greg Pollowitz, who's indignant that news outlets all be ignored Republican Scott Walker's campaign for Wisconsin governor last fall.
Here's the entire angry item from NRO [emphasis added]:
A quick search of the New York Times website for "Scott Walker" from August 1, 2010, until Nov. 1, 2010, yields nine hits.
Christine O'Donnell, the witch running in Delaware? She scores 162 during the same period.
Sharron Angle in Nevada? 131.
Sarah Palin? 280.
And back to those nine hits for “Scott Walker” — not one is a piece from the Times' op-ed section. In other words, nobody of any notoriety at the Times cared about the Wisconsin governor's race, because these geniuses were too concerned with saving America from the likes of Christine O'Donnell. How's that working out for you?
Elections matter, as does the coverage of said elections.
Those dopes at the New York Times didn't care about Walker's campaign last year, Pollowitz complains.
Right, and you know who else didn't care about Walker's campaign last year? The staunchly conservative Washington Times as well as the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post, both of which published even fewer Walker references between last Aug. 1 and Nov. 1, than did the New York Times, according to a Nexis search.
Like I said, before partisans make nasty attacks against the Times and ascribe motivation to its coverage, they might want to first see if conservative media outlets covered (or didn't cover) the same story in the exact same way. Could save some time in the future.