Why has the press taken to consistently slanting coverage against Howard Dean?

I would normally dismiss claims that the so-called establishment has mounted a campaign to stop Dr. Dean, but the continued unfair and unbalanced coverage makes me wonder. What is going on?

Papers and broadcasts across this nation carried reports that the Dean campaign now had “only,” according to unnamed campaign sources, five million dollars.

No comparable report on the state of the Kerry, Clark, or Edwards “war chests” was provided.

Nor was any other information, such as cash on hand at the end of the fourth quarter for each campaign, given to provide context.

Loaded words such as “dwindled” were applied to the Dean campaign treasury, but no such negative characterizations were applied to Sen. Kerry’s undoubtedly shrunken treasury.

Loaded words like “flood” were used to characterize Sen. Kerry’s recent fund-raising rate, but no such positive terms are applied to Dr. Dean’s, which has in fact out paced Sen. Kerry’s since Iowa.

By exhibiting such terrible bias, the press is doing this nation and its voters a terrible disservice. It’s shameful. It’s time to put a stop to it.

Joel Taylor

Senior

Political Science