Months before voters go to the polls, powerful media outlets have shaped our opinions of the candidates – their haircuts and cleavage, their religious views and marital troubles.  Are media now obstacles to serious discussion of the issues?  Can Democrats get a fair shake at the hands of conservative media conglomerates?  Are Republicans undermined by liberal reporters and public broadcasting?  How is campaign coverage being changed by the Internet.  By YouTube?  By Comedy Central?

Two of our country’s top media critics – one on the left, one on the right – offer a lively, cutting-edge debate on the media’s crucial role in the 2008 campaign. 

Steve Rendall is FAIR's (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) senior analyst. He is co-host of CounterSpin, FAIR's national radio show. His work has received awards from Project Censored, and has won the praise of noted journalists including Les Payne, Molly Ivins and Garry Wills.

He is co-author of The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error.

Rendall has appeared on dozens of national television and radio shows, including appearances on NBC Nightly News, CNN, C-SPAN, CNBC, Fox News, MTV and more. He was the subject of a New York Times profile (5/19/96), and has been quoted on issues of media and politics in publications such as the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and New York Times.

Rendall contributed stories to the International Herald Tribune from France, Spain and North Africa; worked as a freelance writer in San Francisco; and worked as an archivist collecting historical material on the Spanish Civil War and the volunteers who fought in it.

Rendall studied philosophy and chemistry at San Francisco State University, the College of Notre Dame and UC Berkeley.

Peter Hart is the activism director at FAIR. He writes for FAIR's magazine Extra, and is also a co-host and producer of FAIR's syndicated radio show CounterSpin.

He is the author of The Oh Really? Factor: Unspinning Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly.

Hart has been interviewed by a number of media outlets, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and the Associated Press. He has also appeared on Showtime and in the movie Outfoxed.