Ken Berwitz
Here, from her report on this morning\’s Today Show – all 2:44 of it – is a list of what Kristen Welker got wrong (either unintentionally or intentionally: your call)…with each example being beneficial to Hillary Clinton:
-0:48 “Despite a nagging cough…”: As pointed out in the previous blog, this was not “a nagging cough”, it was an almost 3 minute coughing fit Ms. Clinton had no control over, which largely took out her voice.-1:43 “A new poll shows Clinton with a convincing lead in South Carolina” (accompanied by a graphic showing Clinton at 56% and Sanders at 38% – an 18% lead). Ms. Welker somehow forgot to mention that the Clinton lead was over 40% just a couple of months ago – two polls had it over 50%. (Public Policy Polling (PPP), a Democrat polling outfit, had Clinton ahead by 54% in November, down to 21% last week. ARG, another Democrat source, has Clinton dropping from a lead of 38% to 30% – a drop of 8% – in just the past three days. That is not simply a “convincing lead”, it is a still-strong, but rapidly diminishing lead.-2:22: Similarly, Ms. Welker describes the Nevada race, just three days from actual voting, as being a “virtual dead heat” – 48% for Ms. Clinton to 47% to Mr. Sanders. Technically, that is true. But it does not at all tell the real story, which is that, late last year, Hillary Clinton was ahead by as much as 46% and her entire lead has evaporated. To simply state there is a tie, the implication being that it is nothing more or less than a horserace, rather than that Clinton is dropping like a rock versus Sanders, is to misinform viewers.
Call me old-school, but this is not what I consider serious journalism. This is partisanship masquerading as journalism.
Sorry to say, it is all too common on The Today Show.
And Today is far from the only offender.
