Fascinating

This would truly be a great opportunity for a reporter

Newsweek was granted complete access to the Obama and McCain campaigns for a year leading up until the election - but they weren't allowed to print anything until the election was over.

Here's chapter one (of seven), focusing on how Obama started his campaign. They're long articles, so I'm taking my time reading through them. Highlights are available here.

As a journalist, a couple of things struck me from the first article. I always find it interesting to find out how newsrooms and other journalists work, especially in big markets and big organisations like those in the US.For starters, the journalists on tour with him didn't really get on with him. They found him chilly and aloof. However (and this is a very important 'however'), editors loved him. They considered him a "phenomenon". This says a lot about the power balance in a newsrooom and how it affects the coverage of an issue. For starters, the editors only knew Obama from the reports on TV, in newspapers and their own contacts. But they'd made their mind up.

For those who don't know, the editors (night editor, day editor, news editor/director, editor-in-chief etc) decide the prominence of stories in the newspapers. They decide which page a story goes on, whether it runs with a photo, in a prominent position or out of the way. Sub-editors write the headlines, which are often the most memorable part of a story. Journalists have very little control over anything that appears in the newspaper, except for the copy they provide. Editors can choose to splash a story across the front page, or bury it on page 26 down the side with no picture and a small headline.

In the article Hillary Clinton gets pissed off because she stumbled over an answer on immigration in a debate, got smashed by rival candidate John Edwards, and then got savaged in the press afterwards for "playing the victim". She gets even more pissed off when Barack Obama stuffs up the same question two weeks later and it doesn't rate a mention in the newspapers.

Now, that's not to say the journalists covering Obama didn't report it. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. It is to say that it wasn't given any space in the newspaper.

So as a journalist, and having covered election campaigns, I just found it interesting. This quote in the article is also interesting - from Bill Clinton.

Another politician with a superb sense of timing, Bill Clinton, perfectly understood why Obama saw a golden, possibly once-in-a-lifetime, opportunity. The former president believed that the mainstream press, whose liberal guilt Clinton understood and had exploited from time to time, would act as Obama's personal chauffeur on the long journey ahead. "If somebody pulled up a Rolls-Royce to me and said, 'Get in'," Clinton liked to say, with admiration and maybe a little envy, "I'd get in it, too."

I also know this from experience. Newsrooms are usually pretty anti-establishment. It comes with the job description, so that's fair enough. It means, however, that they attract a lot of left-wing people. Which is fine. Most journalists do a good job in hiding their bias and reporting accurately and fairly. But then, a good number don't. In the last Federal election here, I personally know journos who were working their hardest to angle stories to hurt the Liberal Party. Every day, every political story, the angle was aimed at bringing down the Government and electing Kevin Rudd.

I'm not alleging some vast conspiracy in the media. No. What I am saying is it's no surprise Obama got a lot of good press (despite his cold reputation among journalists). When newsrooms are filled with people who believe a certain way, and some are prepared to sacrifice impartiality to see their personal ideals fulfilled, then you are bound to see some bias. So it's no surprise that Hillary was pissed off when her mistakes were pointed out and Obama's weren't. It's no surprise that McCain was annoyed that he couldn't get the same reach on the front pages that Obama could. And it's certainly no surprise that Sarah Palin got stuck into the press because her mistakes were gleefully dissected, while Joe Biden's motormouth was apparently not newsworthy.

BUT! Here's the good news (for those who believe in an impartial media, anyway). Obama is now the establishment. And while he will still enjoy a lot of support among editors and media types, it won't last. It never does. Because newspapers and TV stations fulfill their role in Western liberal democracy by keeping watch on the establishment. And when the new president does something they don't like, they will happily report on it. And when the new president does a few more things they don't like, they will call him out publicly. And the tide will turn.

At the moment Obama is Jesus, JFK and Abroham Lincoln, all rolled into one. Eventually that will subside into a more balanced coverage that will hopefully give equal space to the relevant sides. And if there's one thing you can count on, it's Democrats turning on each other.

I really enjoyed the article, and I'm looking forward to reading the next chapter about McCain. Also, one of the future articles features Sarah Palin in a towel, so that should get the heart rates pumping around the red states.