Media's Coverage of the 2004 Election
             Overall, I believe that the media's coverage of the 2004 presidential election was pretty fair. The biases on both sides ended up balancing each other out. If one candidate received more bashing than the other, it was the incumbent, George W. Bush. The most influential of the bashing being the film, Fahrenheit 9/11, written and produced by Michael Moore, who has become a big figure of the liberal media. There were also numerous books, such as Toby Roger's "Ambushed" and others of similar such titles, that criticized the Bush administration for "misleading the nation into war" and falsely assuming that there was a connection existing between Iraq and Al Qaeda, when it turns out there wasn't one. There was also an attempt by Dan Rather to deceive the American people into believing that bush not only dodged Vietnam but also lied on his resume. The presidential candidate John Kerry also received heavy criticism. A comical website ("Jibjab.com") portrayed Kerry continuously flaunting his three purple hearts won during his service in Vietnam in attempt to show that his campaign and the media has only focused on his military background and avoided discussion about his stances on issues, which a lot of citizens, regardless of their party, had questions about. Fox news and other right wing sources ripped Kerry for at first voting for the war, then deciding not to support the troops and not fund them the $287 Billion they needed. A lot of networks then portrayed Kerry as a "flip-flopper" who was indecisive and also on both sides of every issue.
             Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" was a deliberate attempt to sway peoples' votes away from George W. Bush. In his movie, he portrays Bush as a dim-witted leader whose only concern is the well being of the businesses of his family and friends. The opening scene of Moore's film s
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