Strobe light journalism
From the NYTs, on April 27th-Elizabeth Edwards speaks out on the social commentary that passes for press coverage this campaign season:
I am saying that every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture.
[snip]
The problem today unfortunately is that voters who take their responsibility to be informed seriously enough to search out information about the candidates are finding it harder and harder to do so, particularly if they do not have access to the Internet.
Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know Barack Obama’s bowling score. We are choosing a president, the next leader of the free world. We are not buying soap, and we are not choosing a court clerk with primarily administrative duties.
Stlo7 wrote of the same thing in his “More on the ABC Debate” post.
I wrote on this in “Tim Robbins and Journalistic Responsibility” .
The public is hungry for this knowledge. We must hold reporters’ feet to the flames and insist on issue based reporting. This country, whose foundation is based upon the freedom of the printed word, cannot dismiss the importance of substance when deciding on the new leader of the free world. Let’s make this choice, not on bowling scores, lapel pins and embellishment of diplomacy under fire, but on the candidate’s stance on the economy, health-care, Global Warming, and torture. We are at a dire crossroads in this nation’s history. A frivolous choice will cost us our future and any hope for future generations.
So what do you all think. Was the video of Mickey Kantor, here doctored or did he really call Hoosiers a “Bunch of worthless white n***ers” ?
[...] let’s piggy back on my last post about the media’s fascination with trivial crap (lapel pins and crazy preachers) when it [...]