After the dust has settled from what seems to be overwhelming joy at the victory of the Senator from Illinois, The United States, and probably other countries too, will sit down to take a long hard look at what exactly made Senator Barack Obama into President-elect Barack Obama. While experts argue numbers and policies, the American press can take comfort in the knowledge that it did not merely play the role of an objective bystander, playing witness to history, and then recording it, without bias, for the purpose of examination by the average citizen, and also for posterity. Instead, the media became as engaged as the political players themselves, fervently relaying opinions, and adamantly displaying their partisan bias, and in an unprecedented move, becoming the very story that they report.

The Bush presidency is widely perceived to be the worst in recent American history, especially the by the mainstream media. President Bush has had to battle an unfriendly press for most of his presidency. His unfavourable numbers, reported with glee almost daily by the press, are at an all time high. While there many well respected newspapers that are considered conservative, like the Wall Street Journal, a majority of the well respected mainstream print media is considered to be liberal. Similarly, mainstream news channels are more likely to be liberal, with the exception of certain channels, and certain conservative pundits.

However, it is important to accurately describe media, for in this particular election, almost nothing would have happened, were it not for the internet, and this is true of the media as well. Apart from the websites of the popular newspapers, like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, and the websites of popular news channels, like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, the election was followed with almost rabid fervour by blogs and bloggers across the country. Apart from reporters from every major newspaper in America, and from other countries, and reporters from all news channels, again, from America and other countries, the entire election cycle was covered by bloggers, both major and minor, who followed the move of each candidate, from the primaries, to the nomination, to the conventions, and finally through the entire election battle, up until the 4th of November. Sensing the hunger from the public across the globe for minute by minute coverage, bloggers took advantage of the 24 hour news cycle that the internet was best suited to serve. They had updates almost hourly from the campaign trail, and every mistake, however minute and every triumph, however inconsequential was pored over in great detail. The bloggers helped average citizens feel the pulse of the race, each up and down, with the candidates themselves. Without a doubt, they, along with the mainstream press, print, radio and television, whose interest in this election rose to a fever pitch, influenced the public greatly.

However, the questions at hand are if the largely liberal media�s bias for Barack Obama influenced this election, and if their bias was appropriate, considering the power that the media wields. That the press helps the public stay up to date and informs their opinion of the candidate is no particular secret, however to what extent does this influence reach, is something worth analysis and further enquiry. If we restrict ourselves to the second question, if the partisan bias of the media was ethical, and appropriate, then we ask ourselves an important question for all future electoral processes across the globe, whether in America, or anywhere else.

The real turning point in this election came when after many weeks of rampant speculation on the part of the press; Senator John McCain picked Sarah Palin, the little known Governor of Alaska as his vice-presidential running mate. While the conservative press hailed the move as historic and praised her conservative Republican credentials, the liberal media was slow to judge her in the initial days. When information on her voting records and her opinions on abortion rights, gun control and details of her personal life started to leak out, the liberal media went all out in criticizing her. So much so, that for most of the election, after a truly disastrous interview with Katie Couric, Governor Palin was kept out of the way of the mainstream media. Governor Palin also complained frequently about the media�s portrayal of her as a hick from a small town, with no real intelligence and with rabid conservative views.

In the aftermath of the election, when the fear of Sarah Palin being elected to a post where she is a mere heartbeat away from the highest office in the country, has cleared, the media must ask themselves if their character assassinations of her and her running mate, and the wall to wall coverage of every misstep they made, allowed them to stay true to the spirit of journalism, and they must start to wonder, if they have set a dangerous precedent for the future, for the entire world. Average citizens who do not have access to their leaders on a day to day basis rely on the media to bring them accurate and unbiased news, so that they may make up their mind for themselves. However good their intentions were, and however real their fears for their country were, the American press seems to have strayed from the real purpose of the fourth estate, and the true impact of that action can not be measured for some time to come.