More on the Register’s Liberal Bias

Conservatives and Republicans always moan and groan about the liberal bias in the media. What the Des Moines Register has done in this election cycle is a clear example of the bias that we all complain about, and it’s also probably why they continue to lose subscribers and have to give their product away if you fill up at Kum & Go.

Yesterday I touched on the Register’s endorsement of liberal hack Becky Greenwald, and the fact that they ran a story about Becky returning to the airwaves after a three week hiatus due to a lack of funds. Today I have learned from trusted sources that there is much more in to this story.

The media buy that the Greenwald campaign unveiled and the Register crowed about was for one ad that ran just one time. The Greenwald campaign reached into the bottom of the cookie jar and gathered their change and bought one ad. There isn’t much of a story here besides that her campaign is desperate and her campaign is relying on the Des Moines Register to do the work their campaign should be doing. What really should be discusses is how the 12K Greenwald blew on airing a single ad just once could have been better spent or more effective on radio in marketing terms.

Yet the Register felt the need to do a story. It’s important to note they have never done a story on Latham’s ads. Heck they have been on the air with ads for the last three months so these was ample time for them to do so. On the other hand, Greenwald did three weeks of TV that ended over 25 days ago. The thought that last night’s one time ad buy has somehow rescued their campaign is a complete joke.

There is a measurement in any advertising campaign that deals with exposure frequency. An average consumer has to see an ad something like 3.5 times before they consciously remember what the product is that is being advertised. And then it is a 7 exposure frequency before the average consumer can remember what the message point of the ad is.

Again - Greenwald bought one ad - that ran once. And - they were dumb enough to make it a 60 second ad - meaning that even if she gets last minute money somehow here at the end - she will have an even harder time finding available ad space to run it in.

This was much ado about nothing - yet the Register who is more like a Liberal Political Machine felt it required a story. I’m told they even asked the latham campaign for a comment, but refused to include it in their story because it didn’t fit their agenda of writing a sunshine – happy –happy story about Greenwald. Isn’t this how the Chinese media works? Only allow comments - pictures and film that is always positive for them. I have been amazed at their lack of shame in promoting her. So much so that she should legally be reporting their stories as contributions on her FEC reports.

So I did a little digging to see what the Latham quote was that they couldn’t use in their story. Through the power of the internet I was able to get the full quote which is as follows:

“This buy of a single spot running only one single time will give Becky Greenwald the perfect opportunity to explain to taxpayers why she supports bailing out the mess created by a crooked Wall Street CEOs with $850 billion of Iowans’ hard earned money.”

Now the Register went out of their way to ask for a comment, and the Latham campaign were happy to provide them one, but then they went discarded it when it didn’t fit their want they wanted to say. The Des Moines Register has tossed all journalistic integrity aside to push their views - not only on the editorial page but into the news section with tainted stories.

It comes as no surprise that the four major newspapers in the 4th District have endorsed Latham. The Fort Dodge Messenger, Mason City Globe Gazette, Iowa State Daily, and The Ames Tribune.