So close and yet so far
I slept! Nine hours, I think. The world is a beautiful place again. Or it was until I got to my computer and started on the news.
Two items this morning caught my eye with their promise to tell the truth, to actually say what the hell is going on in this godforsaken crack-brained world of ours. But on perusal both proved disappointingly flawed.
First up, from ABC: Madams Fall While Their Johns Prosper: D.C. Madam’s Suicide Shows Great Discrepancy Between Men and Women When It Comes to How Prostitution Is Punished. Yes! Great headline and some good points in the article. But Christomatic, couldn’t they have interviewed a feminist for the piece? Instead they went to Concerned Women of America, the ultra-rightwing anti-feminist industrial-strength Christian group. The lay-dees at CWA think the answer to everything is for women to get married and stay home, cooking and cleaning and slavishly obeying their husbands. Thank jeebus none of that fundie shit made it into the article, but why in bog’s name did the reporter even go to them? Might as well interview somebody from FLDS.
Next up, from U.S. News & World Report: Obama Wins The Media While Clinton Moves Up In The Polls. The first paragraph is promising (emphasis mine):
There is an odd dichotomy emerging in the media coverage of the Democratic presidential race emerging this morning. On one hand, the media is seeing former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew’s defection to Barack Obama’s camp as a sign that superdelegates are beginning to move towards his candidacy, and give the move extensive coverage. On the other, there are a number of items of good news for Hillary Clinton polls showing her in a dead heat in Indiana and one showing her competitive in North Carolina, which was expected to be an Obama stronghold. In addition, she picked up the endorsement of the Indianapolis Star, and a group of swing state polls show her far stronger in the general election in key states than Obama.
This is a perfect setup to explore why the media is paying so much attention to the Andrew business, overinterpreting its import while downplaying Hillary’s rapidly rising poll numbers. (Gosh, could it be that they’re biased?) A really intrepid reporter — say, somebody with the intellectual curiosity and electronic resources of a blogger — might even go so far as to note that the Obama campaign has a pattern of revealing existing superdelegate endorsements when they’re needed, as a PR maneuver to shift the news cycle away from whatever bad thing is happening to Obama. And if the reporter were really up for some kind of media critique, he/she might note that the breathless stories about the Andrew business are largely regurgitated press kibble from the Obama campaign. Funny, that.
But the reporter doesn’t do any of those things. The ripe fruit is left hanging there, unplucked. As ever.
One Response to “So close and yet so far”
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Level Best says:
You see, the sad truth is that most of the minds of those in the MSM are far, far less keen at their best than yours even when you claim to zombified and confused. And then add in their generally bad intentions, and there you go. I am glad you got sleep! There are few things worse than the City of Endless Night.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm EST
