Crunch time at the Washington Post

You can tell that the Maryland Senate race has tightened because the Washington Post is shifting resources from the Webb campaign to the campaign of Benjamin Cardin. Today’s lead headline in the paper edition is “Debate Puts Steele On Defense.” The story’s purpose is not to provide a fair report on the latest Steele-Cardin debate, but to remind area voters, especially those in the key county of Prince Georges, that Steele is a Republican who has supported key Bush administration policies. By contrast, the Post’s reporting of the Allen-Webb race has focused not on Allen’s voting record but on his Jewish heritage and whether he made certain racial comments when he was in college.
Don’t be surprised if the Post begins putting out two papers so it can use its headline story to shill simultaneously for Cardin and Webb.
UPDATE: Matthew Sheffield reminds me that, at least with respect to its local reporting in the “Metro” section, the Post puts out a Maryland edition, a Virginia edition, and a third edition for D.C. And different versions of the Sports section report different high school results, depending on which side of the river you live on. I don’t know whether the Post has multiple versions of the front page depending on where the reader lives. My suggestion that the Post would begin doing so for purposes of the last days of this campaign was obviously (I hope) made in jest.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses