Monday, March 17, 2008

Open thread: Hillary/Obama coverage

You asked for it, so here it is. How did NEPA newspapers and TV stations comport themselves over the weekend? Too much Hillary adulation? Not enough? Discuss.

22 comments:

Tom Carten said...

(1) Local girl, so to speak, makes good.
(2) Big-name candidate walks in our parade.

Good local television, regardless of your affiliation. The other two won't make it quite as big because of (1).

Anonymous said...

Maybe this is a little thing, but I was disappointed everyone was so quick to parrot crowd estimates, a "science" that is notoriously inaccurate. O'Boyle of the Times Leader wrote that "well over 100,000" people were there, "most of who came out to catch a glimpse, take a photograph or get an autograph from Clinton." What? Did he survey everyone along the way? Sure, people were excited to see Hillary. But to write that Hillary was the reason they drove downtown and fought crowds is arrant nonsense. About 2,000 people showed up at Scranton High School for Hillary last week. And we're supposed to believe 100,000 stood in the cold for hours to see her from 50 feet away? Please.

Anonymous said...

can't wait to hear some useless opinion on the subject from Rich Connor!

Anonymous said...

11:14, Have you ever BEEN? The parade attracts 100K in an average year.

Anonymous said...

Tom -
Local girl? how does the fact that her father lived here years and years ago and is now buried here make her local? Did she ever live here? no. carpetbagger - yes. local - no.

Big name candidate - ok... you have that one.

Anyone saying 100K came out 'just for Hillary' is like saying everyone in line at Tinks was there just for the restrooms.

Doherty made a fillin' fool out of himself running around the parade route like a male cheerleader with his panties on fire.

The Scranton Times articles were so far up Hillary's ass you would think Borys was a polyp.
The web headline of 'Parade-goers adore Hillary' is blantant crap.
No one seemed to care in the bar I was in when Hillary passed.

Kudos to WYOU for getting HIllary live and having CNN pick it up live though. They treated it like part of the entire day instead of making it seem like it was the only thing going on that day.

Tom Carten said...

2:26 --
Local girl, so to speak.

The family lived around here, so she has some connection. That's why I used "so to speak."

As far as the carpetbagger concept goes (and I assume you mean "Arkansas to New York"), which has been done successfully before --without regard to my feeling on the practice-- it *is* quite legal. The Constitution says you must be a resident of the state when elected. I think NY adds "for six months before."

Yes, she and other(s) moved to NY as a likely spot to get a Senate seat, but the New Yorkers liked them enough to elect them to office.

Again, I'm not saying I approve of the practice, but it's legal.

Anonymous said...

2:16 p.m.:

I believe 11:14 a.m.'s point was ... did 100,000 turn out for Hillary ... not so much ... did 100,000 turn out.

Get it?

Anonymous said...

I watched the TV coverage beginning to end. I wouldn't know how to begin to estimate the crowd, but I do know that after Hillary passed the reviewing stand/camera position it looked as if nine-tenths of the crowd disappeared, with an hour to go in the parade.

Again, I'm just judging from TV. But it seemed she was a HUGE draw in what is traditionally a BIG parade.

Anonymous said...

Hey, 11:14am: I have the same problem with Bill O'Boyle's piece in the T-L. His assumptions were incredible ("The day, the crowd, the color green all belonged to Hillary Rodham Clinton.").

It was a feel good story, but news writing is supposed to be about facts you can support, not what you think you know or what you want them to be.

Maybe it's a pro-Clinton thing fostered by management, although other T-L reporters writing on other subjects have the same problem. They assume a lot.

Anonymous said...

Did the TL even know she was in town or at the parade? I remember reading about it 24 hours later. "Live" is lost on the TL staff.

Anonymous said...

Does the T-L know where
Scranton is?

Anonymous said...

I'd rather watch Marissa Burke and Paola Giangiacomo do what comes naturally naked together rather than read a single piece of anti-reality, Moses-came-from-the-mountain bullshit spin O'Boyle conjures in the very first graf of every single one of his stories. Fire him!

Anonymous said...

Her Grandfather is from Scranton and her father was born and raised there. Her parents were laid to rest there. She also spent much of her childhood vacations at Lake Winola and Scranton. Even to this day her and Bill make an occasional trip home for a family occasion. Not too many other communities have a connection like that to a former and hopefully future president. GO HILLARY!

Anonymous said...

First off, as far as I know, her mother is still alive. As for her father, in addition to being a Scranton native, he was also a staunch Republican, and she was a Goldwater girl in 1964. Don't hear much about that now. Anyway, even if she spent her whole life in Scranton, that doesn't mean the local media should be fawning over her.

Anonymous said...

I remember comedian Steve Allen's definition of a jerk...

Paraphrased in the style of Jeff Foxworthy

"If you cheer when you hear your hometown mentioned on the TV, you might be a jerk...."

Anonymous said...

Bill O'Boyle he was a hack when he was at the CV and hes just as bad now!

Anonymous said...

If nothing else, O'Boyle is consistent. His story on Obama again offers opinion, similar to what he conjured up as fact in the Clinton piece.

Anonymous said...

Ted Kennedy got the same treatment when he came to Scranton in 1980. The media acted as if the pope was coming. It was like a revival meeting at the Masonic Temple. It didn't do him much good. He got beat by Carter, who got trounced by Reagan.

Anonymous said...

Reading O'Boyle's stuff is like reading the CV in the 80s.

Anonymous said...

Why is O'Boyle covering all this. Wasn't he hired to cover city hall?

Anonymous said...

Has anyone working in the NEPA media asked Hill and Chelsea a tough question? Where are the tax returns? What about illegal immigrants in Hazleton? How could you really think the vote on Iraq wasn't a vote to go to war? How does that trip with Sinbad and Sheryl Crow mean you have 3 a.m. foreign policy experience? The NEPA reporters covering this story look like start struck yocals.

Anonymous said...

Chelsea doesn't answer questions.