Five Minutes With Matt Lauer:

The popular “Today” show host broadcast from Tampa Tuesday. After the program, we sat down for a few minutes to talk about the visit and election coverage:

Question: One of the things that troubles me as a journalist is the accusation by some conservatives that most of the media is “in the tank” with Obama.” Does that charge concern you?

Lauer: I think it is intended to get to us. We are very proud of the fact that we are not biased.We have been fair. We have been as tough on Sen. Obama as we have on Sen. McCain and on all the Democratic and Republican candidates during the primary.  But what you are talking about is a tactic.

It’s done to make the media the enemy and to make us second guess ourselves so maybe the next time we’re interviewing a Republican we’re easier than if we were interviewing a Democrat.

I’m confident that when I look at the e-mails over the years in response to what stories we’ve done on a wide range of things that it’s split right down the middle. So when I do a story about something like abortion, I get an equal number of people screaming at me from both sides of the issue. I take great pride in the fact that I try to walk that center line. I don’t think anyone knows just what my politics are.”

(Personal observation here) I think Lauer has a point.  “In the tank” seemed to be a phrase that was coined and spread as part of an organized effort. 

Also, viewers tend to react to news coverage through their own bias. I have seen different reactions from readers to the same story depending on the reader’s own political views. 

People will read things that just aren’t there in headlines, story placement, questions and so on.  Some stories are favorable just by the nature of the facts.  Obama’s rise in the Democratic race, for example, is historic and gets prominent play early because he is the first black man to succeed in this quest. But as the race went on, he got his share of negative news such as his connections to the controversial Rev. Wright.