Writing from the Center: The New York Times and the Florida Election Dispute :: Essays Papers

Writing from the Center The young York Times and the Florida Election DisputeThe result of the 2000 Presidential election was whizz of the most closely contested elections in our nations history. briefly after the polls closed, it became apparent that the final tally between the republican candidate Al venire and the Republican candidate George W. Bush would be extremely close. Network news programs broadcast on election shadow well into the undermentioned morning as angiotensin converting enzyme candidate, then the other, seemed to put one over the advantage. As the election results became more distinct, however, attention turned to Florida, where less than one thousand votes separated the candidates, with Bush enjoying a tenuous lead. Over the next few weeks the Florida election dispute went through several Byzantine twists and turns, with the control board team pushing forand in some cases gettingrecounts of Gore tender counties, and the Bush forces feverishly workin g to declare the whole takings settled and Bush the new President of the United States. Finally, in early December, the matter went to the United States Supreme Court. The Court decided in Bush v. Gore that there were insufficient grounds for continuing the recount process and in effect declared Bush the next President. The mainstream mediaincluding The New York Timeswere fixated with the faultless electoral drama, with the story usually given the lead slot on the evening news or the front page of the newspaper. Yet after the Court handed down its termination, this coverage virtually ceased except for a cursory analysis of the Courts decision. There was little onslaught to question the basis of the Courts ruling, or whether Gore would need had sufficient votes to achieve victory had a recount been allowed to proceed. Why? The answer, it seems, lies in the moderate bias of The New York Times. Jeff Cohen, the executive director of Fairness and verity in Reporting has a rgued that mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times try frame supporting news that focuses on how well the system flora in resolving difficult situations, rather than questioning the wisdom of the system itself.1 By comparing how the Times portrayed the aftermath of the Court decision with the coverage given by media outlets on the left (The Nation, Extra) and outlets on the right (The National Review) we will be able to see the centrist bias of the Times and its editorial mandate to preserve the authority and shape of the system.