Election 2008 Coverage in United States

Since the presidential campaign began for the 2008 United States election,mainstream media coverage of the campaign never stopped amazing me at all.Matter of fact is,this is my first ever election campaign i have literally seen in the United States.

And though i occasionally watched other U.S. presidential campaigns and elections while still in Africa via CNN,BBC and other international broadcasters, this one is special to me because it happens to involve a black male and the first ever female running for president in the United States.

Though my native Liberia has produced the first ever elected Female head of state in Africa, i am having a very difficult time deciding when and how race plays a part in reporting the election campaign.

Though many Americans(including the very democratic front-runners-Hillary and Obama)say race has nothing to do with the 2008 presidential election,i am subtling leaning toward thinking and believing that race does have a major part to play in the up-coming election as seen during these primaries and caucuses that seem not to end now for the democratic party.

And as a journalist who lived and worked in a third world country where it becomes difficult most of the time to be relatively objective and unbias during election times,many questions are on mind:

When is race not the story? But then how to cover the “white”, “black” or “yellow” hot issues of politics and race?How can a journalist deconstruct the forms of racial and ethnic identifications that most often appear in news stories? How best can a journalist describe the way people look during elcetions that involve race?

Then,is it wrong or right for a journalist to vote during primaries and caucuses and at the same time report the news fairly and accurately?

As we( i am flying in next week too) prepare to descend on Miami next week,i hope i could get a rather clear understanding of the above questions. We Media 2008,here we come.