This is my first diary here and it's a bit of a challenge: I need your help in doing some research. Basically I suspect CNN is giving an ungodly amount of free air time to McCain attack ads, pushing them way beyond their target audience, and that they aren't reciprocating for Obama.
I watched over the last few days and noticed McCain's attack ads about the Biden veep choice ran like clockwork. In fact that's how I found out about the pick, tuning in CNN just in time to see one (I didn't get my text for some reason).
More after the fold.
The next day they ran around the clock, with yet another ad about Biden. Now I've seen the Hillary ads the last couple of days.
To be fair, they've run the Obama ads but not nearly as much.
So I want to issue a challenge, only the strong need apply (because you have to watch lots of CNN):
Document every single time you see a McCain ad run as a news story. Document whether it's used as cover video (and if it's run in a loop, count the times) or as a sound clip. And if it's a sound clip, document whether it's the entire ad or just a portion of it. Feel free to toss in an anchor's comments.
This morning (Tuesday, August 26) I saw the latest McCain ad exploiting Hillary's primary opposition to Obama. They ran the whole thing at 10:45 CST (with Soledad O'Brien commenting, "Wow, you can't unring that bell!" to Hillary's repeated comment about McCain's experience vs. Obama's speech). They ran it again at 11 a.m. CST, again at 11:15 and yet again at 11:30.
Not a sign of an Obama ad.
I want to compile the results to see if CNN is really fair and it's all my paranoid imagination, and if they're not fair I want to use the data to call them out on their BS. I would love to hit them over the head with a number.
But of course I can't watch CNN all the time. I have a job, children, a girlfriend (who complained about being "neglected" when I watched night 1 of the convention) and hobbies, so together I hope we can document all of this.
I haven't even cared enough to do this for Fox and since my cable provider doesn't carry MSNBC I can't chip in on that one, but feel free to document those too. I just want to know every time CNN runs a McCain or Obama ad as a news story (not in a commercial break), which ad, how often and how they compare with each other.
Update: 12:35 CST brief clip of ad with Debra what's-her-name, the former Hillary supporter, endorsing McCain, pops up in a story about Hillary unifying the party (followed by Hillary's brilliant "I do not endorse this ad" comment).