Robert W. McChesney has cropped up for me several times over the last few months as a media critic. I find his views on media to be much more resonant with my experience. The following is from the Mother Jones website story The Problem of the Media:

"MJ.com: Can you give some examples of how the candidates are treated differently?

RM: One need only look at the case of George W. Bush. Look at his business record prior to becoming president. Compare how Bill Clinton's business record is treated in the news media. Bill Clinton's Whitewater episode, which was a minor, small-time deal, generated countless articles and a special prosecutor that almost led to his impeachment. And they couldn't find a thing.

George W. Bush's business career, on the other hand, was almost exceptionally dubious. It was a succession of failures, basically, where he gets bankrolled and supported by people who want access to his father, and then later to him. It barely raised any notice in our media, whereas Bill Clinton almost got impeached.

One need only look at the Vietnam War coverage. George W. Bush compared to Al Gore or Bill Clinton, in terms of how they got out of the draft, there's like a 100 to 1 difference in the number of stories. Clinton was raked over the coals. Even now, here's this absurd situation where Kerry's getting raked over the coals by this Swift Boat stuff. It is utter nonsense, there's no factual basis for it, but it gets constant attention. And Bush's own military record, far more dubious, still gets far less attention. "