Weeks before Barack Obama takes on the mantle of the presidency, conservative critics are already in full cry about media coverage they feel is biased in his favor -- and headlines like the one stretched across the top of today's Denver Post bolster their argument. The article itself, by Washington Post staffers Michael D. Shear and Peter Slevin, is a rather straightforward account of Obama's public remarks yesterday in connection with his naming of Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers and Christina Romer to key positions on his economic team. However, the banner "Obama Steps Up on Crisis" implies a value judgment, as if the Post's editors believe that the act of choosing advisors, which all president-elects do, is somehow more heroic than usual in his case.
The Post has long battled the perception that it slants to the left. The paper's decision to endorse Marilyn Musgrave's recent re-election bid -- a move Westword contributor Joe Horton picked apart in the October blog "The Denver Post's Bizarre Juxtaposition of Jared Polis and Marilyn Musgrave" -- is a recent, and prime, example. But covers like today's make such efforts seem phony even as they provide ammunition to the press-prejudice crowd. -- Michael Roberts
