| Win, Place or Show |
12 January 2004
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Media's Focus on Horse Race Misses Campaign News
The trouble with the American media's coverage of the campaign for the Democratic nomination for president is not its omnipresence, nor its ideological bias. The problem is the attention to who is "ahead," this before a single vote has been cast. This is not a horse race; it is a national debate about the policies the most powerful government in the history of mankind will pursue for the next for years.
In journalism, the first day's lecture covers the Ws: who, what, where, when and why. Throw in the word "how," and one has the entire key to decent reporting. Depending on one's interpretation of the words, either the "what" or the "why" or the "how" is missing. The world "knows" Governor Howard Dean is "ahead;" he's got money, and endorsements, and he's in Iowa and New Hampshire all the time. But why? What are his policies? How are they different from Senator John Kerry's?
The media's job in a free society is to inform the public, and they have done a pretty bad job in explaining the issues. Quite simply, which candidates would drop NAFTA and the WTO and replace them with bilateral trade deals and require country-of-origin labeling? Which support a single-payer national healthcare system and which oppose it? It is the responsibility of the electorate to know these things when they cast their ballot, and they rely upon the media for much of their information.
So why is the horse-race mentality so prevalent? Unfortunately, the talent pool in the American media reflects a shift from print to electronic reporting. This is not to say that TV and radio journalists are not as smart as print, but the very nature of their delivery requires immediacy rather than thought. In an "in-depth" two minute report, there is no point in digesting a lengthy platform and providing analysis. It's far easier to report on money raised and photo-op endorsements.
Unfortunately, what is lost is a mature reflection on what the world will look like in 2007 and how American power and influence is to be used. Even the long-shot campaigns have something to offer in a discussion of issues. Like the British Liberal Democrats, one needn't win election to have one's programs enacted so long as they are part of the public discourse. On this score, the American media have failed.
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