Posted by
Ed Lilly on Wednesday, June 04, 2008 10:22:59 PM
While the big news out of Chicago is still the Cubs and their performance to this point in the season, there has also been a verdict announced in the trial of political fundraiser Tony Rezko. Rezko sounds like a pretty typical political operative, in that he has been found guilty of fraud, money laundering and a host of other charges. What makes Rezko noteworthy for most people is his very close connection with Sen. Barack Obama, as well as current Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
This may be a big deal in early June, but my guess is that by Labor Day and the real start of the presidential campaign, this will all be forgotten by those who intend to drink deeply from the Kool-Aid and pull a lever for Sen. Obama.
Still, I was curious how the various media outlets would promote the story, if at all, in their online coverage of this breaking news. What peaked my curiosity was the link at Refdesk.com, which noted simply in its "In the News" headlines:
Political fundraiser convicted in corruption trial
- Jun 04 9:09 PM US/Eastern
Pretty bland stuff. Why in the world would anyone even have an interest in reading the story on some anonymous political fundraiser? Oh, you mean he has close personal and political ties to the now apparent Democrat presidential candidate? Huh. What a shock that somehow that angle didn't show up in the link to drive a little more traffic. That's what the tubes of the internets are all about, right? Driving traffic and getting clicks and eyeballs? I guess when you only have 10 "In the News" items listed, there's no need to make all of them attention grabbers.
So how did other news/media outlets do in providing headlines or links? Let's take a quick tour, moving alphabetically through the online news outlet sites linked at Refdesk. First, here's ABC News:
Fixer With Obama Ties Found Guilty
Ok, they at least noticed the connection to Obama. How about CBS News?
Bupkis. Nothing on their homepage, under the breaking news at the top of the page, or further down in their links to stories on politics. But of course, in true keeping with the traditions of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather in providing the world with all the (mis)information it can, CBS did manage to link to the breaking story that Chicago made the short list of possible hosts for the 2016 Olympics. Well done.
CNN?
Developer linked to Obama guilty in fraud case
Pretty similar to ABC. Good for them.
How about Fox News?
Rezko Convicted on 16 Counts in Corruption Trial
So no mention of Sen. Obama and his ties to the story from the famously biased, right wing zealots of Rupert Murdoch's empire. I suppose the counter to that would be that "everyone" who goes to Fox News' website or watches Fox News has been trained to know who Rezko is, so it's superfluous to mention Sen. Obama. Whatever.
NBC? Actually, this is from the MSNBC site, as that's apparently the online presence for NBC News:
And this was provided under a banner on Sen. Obama, so that gets some credit. Though detracting from full points is the fact that the Obama banner under which the tiny Rezko link is located makes sure to highlight the Obama campaign's latest talking point:
So the "big" news for MSNBC is the charge of upcoming nefarious tactics by the Republicans, while actual criminal wrongdoing involving Sen. Obama's close friend, financier, mentor and next door neighbor gets buried further down. But at least they reported the story, unlike CBS.
Moving to other media outlets, how about PBS?
Again, nothing. Plenty of stories on the groundbreaking historical achievement of Sen. Obama "claiming" the nomination. But no time to notice the unpleasantness from the Chicago courtrooms.
NPR? Also nothing.
Let's check out Reuters. Never been to their site before. Here we go:
One-time Obama fundraiser guilty in corruption trial
Clever. Makes it look a little like it's some fundraiser who, at one time, raised some money for Sen. Obama. That's a little like describing Rev. Wright as a minister who, one time, spoke at Sen. Obama's church.
So kind of a mixed bag overall, but something tells me that when news broke involving Jack Abramoff, who had ties to various Republican politicans, all these news outlets who have ignored the Rezko verdict were trumpeting the Abramoff story, and his ties to Republicans, every chance they got.