AP photo Oprah's blast against Bush went beyond her reaction to this kiss.

We’ve all been told that the media has a significant impact on who we are, what we think about, how we view things, and so on. I had never thought much about the impact of the media on my life until just recently. I found that when I was least expecting it, the media was feeding me a biased and unfair representation of the political campaign.

As my roommate and I were flipping through the channels one day after classes, we came across our usual afternoon favorite Oprah Winfrey, interviewing Al Gore. Oprah called Gore out onto the stage and embraced him as cheers and shouts rang out from the audience. The delightful pair sat down and began to reminisce about “old times.” Gore proceeded to spend the rest of the hour telling Oprah how he is an All-American guy who wants to reach out to mothers, housewives and the working class, who not so coincidentally make up the majority of Oprah’s viewers. Oprah all the while was grabbing onto Gore’s arm and smiling at him, not once mentioning the hardships or controversies of his campaign.

The next week rolled around, and I turned on Oprah. Ironically, Governor Bush was walking onto her stage. I looked forward to seeing Bush on a personal level. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out quite as I had expected.

Oprah half-heartedly greeted Bush, the cheers quickly subsided, and it was then down to business. Oprah immediately took a question from the streets, where in turn Bush was asked to describe his stance on the death penalty. Oprah shook her head unapprovingly and continually rolled her eyes at the candidate. She never once laid a hand on his arm or laughed excessively at his jokes. It was embarrassing to see Bush belittled on what one may call a “gossip” television show. Oprah degraded him and treated him quite poorly in comparison to Gore.

This drastically different portrayal of Governor Bush and Vice President Gore angered me to no end. Every human being has biases, but to blatantly throw them in the faces of the American public is offensive and distasteful. It is frightening to think that Oprah might have swayed one of her viewers to the side of Al Gore simply because of her enjoyable portrayal of him. We must make sure that this doesn’t happen to us. To all television viewers: Watch with your eyes wide open! Be on the prowl for biases on every channel.