On the Sunday before the Democratic Convention, four men were arrested in Denver and held on suspicion of attempting to formulate a plot to assassinate Sen. Barack Obama on national television. The story practically slipped by the American media. Although brief accounts dotted blogs at a few outlets like the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and the Huffington Post, the story was generally buried.
Across the Atlantic, however, British news outlets made a different judgment call. Most of the mainstream daily newspapers chose to headline with the Obama “plot.” The Guardian, The Times and The Independent all pegged the story for a front-page feature, focusing on the prevalence of racism in America as a breeding ground for “rednecks with rifles.” British TV stations covered the story, too. National newscasts teased the story throughout the day, including the BBC, and the public were a-buzz with talk of the “Obama assassination plot.”
So, what happened here? Was it underplayed by America, or over-played everywhere else?