Now that Hurricane Ivan missed Jacksonville, let’s take a deep breath while I share some observations about the news.
From Ralph Nader in his book on his previous presidential campaign, Crashing the Party: “No matter how long or extensively you campaign in every state of the Union, no matter how large your audiences become, you cannot reach in direct personal communication even 1 percent of the eligible voters. In essence, you don’t run for president directly; you ask the media to run you for president or, if you have the money, you also pay the media for exposure.”
My comments: Nader makes the good point that the major networks and media companies could conduct their own debates. Since the networks receive millions of dollars in political advertising, they have more than a public interest duty to do so. They don’t have to allow the major-party candidates to dictate the terms. Candidates with interesting messages should receive an opportunity to be heard. Journalists tend to discount candidates who have no chance of being elected. But in recent years, Third Party candidates have tipped the election.
Meanwhile, the major media serve as megaphones for special interest advertising that may be seen in only a few states. So when the Vietnam veterans criticize John Kerry in Texas or Moveon.org criticizes George W. Bush in Pennsylvania, those ads are shown and described in national news coverage.
Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center in Columbia Journalism Review: “What people often mean when they say the press is biased in its political reporting is that it is biased toward its own self-interest. The media are seen as exploitive, as needlessly stirring political controversy and offering too much contentious punditry.”
My comments: News companies make major decisions based on self-interest, especially budgetary ones. If a news organization does not have the resources to do investigations, then it falls back on the superficial, the trivial and the redundant.
Molly Ivins in the New York Observer: “Most reporters fall at least a little in love over time with the politician they’re covering. It’s an occupational hazard in our trade — and a good reason to rotate reporters.”
My comment: The way a candidate treats reporters covering the campaign can influence the tone of the reporting. Access is key. Deny access and reporters get grumpy.
Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker staff writer and author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make Big Difference, in the Chicago Tribune: “Journalism is about young women and old men. Why is 50 percent of the population ignored?”
My comment: Gladwell says he writes about middle-aged women because they were invisible in the press. I find that children and senior citizens often become marginalized in both society and the press.
Catholics are Christians
Here is a portion of a wire service story on the Religion page of Friday, Sept. 10: “Christians aren’t the only ones wearing their faiths; other religions are sporting theirs as well. Many faiths, from Jewish and Catholic to Buddhist and Muslim, are blending fashion and religion.” Two readers complained about the implicaton that Catholics aren’t Christians. (Disclosure: I’m both.)
Listing to readers
Several readers asked that High Definition broadcasts be identified in the TV listings. We delivered. An HD symbol now is included in the listings. For other inside information, see Page 4 of the TV magazine.
