Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/medias-role-in-volatile-08-race-draws-fresh-scrutiny Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The media's breakneck coverage of the 2008 primaries has drawn reactions from critics and campaigns on a number of issues: from unreliable poll numbers to the debate over whether the press has been too kind to Barack Obama or too hard on Hillary Clinton. Four media analysts discuss the coverage of the primaries. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Now, reporting and covering the campaign. Jeffrey Brown has our Media Unit report. JEFFREY BROWN: Has the press been too kind to Barack Obama, too hard on Hillary Clinton? ANDREA MITCHELL, MSNBC Correspondent: Hillary Clinton had only been speaking for six minute when Obama took the stage, knocking her off all the cable networks. BRIT HUME, Fox News Anchor: The Barack Obama tide continues to roll among the Democrats. Hillary Clinton was near tears today. We'll show you that. And wait until you hear what a New Hampshire poll that's never been wrong is saying. JEFFREY BROWN: Have journalists relied too much on polls, particularly in New Hampshire? TV ANCHOR: After his win in Iowa, Barack Obama is widens his lead against Hillary Clinton. In fact, the latest Gallup poll gives him a 13-point edge. JEFFREY BROWN: Did early candidates get short shrift?FORMER SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), Presidential Candidate: What I want to say first is, are there three people in this debate, not two?SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), Delaware: I wish I'd get to talk about something I know about, like foreign policy. You ought to count me in, in this debate, a little bit. JEFFREY BROWN: Has the coverage, beginning with John McCain's supposed demise last summer, been too focused on horse race and not enough on issues?The role of the media is always debated in presidential politics, but perhaps never more so than in this very volatile campaign so far. Popular culture has taken notice and gotten into the act itself, most famously in a recent "Saturday Night Live" skit that spoofed journalists supposedly overly enamored of Barack Obama. ACTRESS: Like nearly everyone in the news media, the three of us are totally in the tank for Senator Obama. JEFFREY BROWN: After that skit aired, the question was whether it had an impact on press coverage in the following days.