The top ten media blunders of 2008

The media took its share of lumps this year, with persistent claims of bias and complaints about often wrong-headed speculation from a seemingly endless parade of talking heads. Of course, there was great reporting, with journalists breaking news and penning terrific profiles of the candidates and the campaigns. TV ratings and Web traffic were through the roof, evidence of huge voter interest. But there were plenty of missteps on the way, and Politico's compiled a list of 2008's greatest blunders (along with a look at how the media responded to each). See #2 -- The New York Times' McCain-Iseman story: There was so much hype leading up to The Times front-page investigation of John McCain's relationship with lobbyists—dating back at least to a Drudge leak two months earlier—that without something concrete, the story was doomed to fail. Executive editor Bill Keller said there's more to the piece than the strongly suggested, never outright stated, romantic relationship between the senator with lobbyist Vikki Iseman, but that's what the public seized upon. The Times put it out there, but couldn't prove it, leading both the right and left to slam the piece. Response: The campaign sparred publicly with the Gray Lady throughout the campaign, using the liberal media as a whipping boy when needing to rally the base, and the paper often appeared to return the favor, most notably in an hostile October profile of wife Cindy McCain.