Well, alrighty then, don't know why my post keeps getting cut off, so I'll try it here:

Hi Everyone! Our hardworking TPM-EC host, Greg Sargent, kindly scanned the several of the biggest mainstream media outlets today to determine how they had covered the McCain’s political attack ad against Obama in regard to his cancelled visit to the U.S. Army bases in Germany.

Greg notes that CNN, NYT, WaPo, and AP all reported on McCain’s attack ad (and he provides links to their reports), and they all reported on the Obama campain’s response to McCain’s attack, but they all failed to point out that McCain’s assertion that Obama’s visit was cancelled because the Pentagon would not allow him to bring cameras to the base was false.

This sounds like a good opportunity for SCAMMD to step in and provide some targeted response to the mainstream media outlets. They are doing what they typically do here – providing “balanced” coverage to campaign events. McCain said this and Obama said this, without any evaluation as to whether what either party said has any basis. Let’s push these outlets to go just a little beneath the surface and give a little more depth to their coverage.

Nothing that they’ve said here is inaccurate. It’s simply incomplete and fails to adequately inform the public. McCain has said in his ad that Obama chose not to visit the bases, because the Pentagon would not allow him to bring cameras to film the visit. In fact, we have learned from Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) in an interview yesterday on CBS’ Face the Nation, that after they left Jordan the joint Senatorial trip ended and the remainder of Obama’s trip was just him and his campaign staff (http://thepage.time.com/transcript-excerpt-from-face-the-nation/). The concerns raised by the Pentagon in a call to Major Gen. Scott Gration, policy advisor to the Obama campaign, were that Obama’s planned visit to the U.S. Army visit would be inappropriate, specifically because he was arriving on his campaign plane accompanied by campaign staff members.

By excluding this information from their report, the MSM is giving credence to McCain’s attack ad. Again – is their reporting inaccurate? No, but it is incomplete and by not including all of the pertinent information, they are allowing the public to draw inaccurate conclusions. Let’s insist that they fully inform the public on this issue.

I'll come back later to provide contacts.

P.S. to all:

Join SCAAMD today to counter the MSM lies and distortion. It costs nothing to join. Contact us at the temporary email:

eddiestinkypants@att.net

WaPo

Click on the author’s name and a form will come up where you can send her feedback directly.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/27/AR2008072701445.html

To comment on the CNN article:

Choose the “Politics” link for this article and you’ll get a form you can fill out.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/07/28/bash.mccain.ad.cnn