Crappy And Inane Media Coverage Of Politics Is Not Inevitable
October 1, 2007 -- 1:24 PM EST // //
One of the things that gets this blog's blood-pressure soaring on a regular basis is this bizarre idea that crappy and inane personality-driven political coverage -- what John Harris and Mark Halperin call the "freak show" -- is inevitable, as natural and irresistible as the changing seasons.
Case in point: Joe Klein and Karen Tumulty on Time.com's Swampland blog. Both have weighed in with posts about the new assault that's being waged on Hillary by the media right now.
To their credit, they both edge gingerly towards articulating the problem. Klein, for instance, predicts that a "major" media assault on Hillary is coming, opining that the focus on theatrics to the exclusion of issues "can lead to the sort of trivial hen-pecking that so many people rightfully hate about political coverage." Tumulty, meanwhile, opines on the idiotic media obsession with Hillary's laugh, observing that in the New York Times, "it seems that laugh is being dissected everywhere I look." Fine, good. Klein and Tumulty suggest accurately that the media nitwits are out in force and up to their usual tomfoolery on Hillary. True.
But then Klein writes this:
What works against her -- and Dowd is astute on this -- is the sense that she comes not only with Bill attached, but also with a permanent carnival: All the screeching and screaming from the right and from those in the media obsessed with the Clinton family follies.Meanwhile, Tumulty closes her post basically without comment on the absurdity of the media's Laugh Obsession, instead noting that Hillary's laugh strategy is a nonstarter: "It does seem like a no-win for a candidate who has so often been accused of coming off as a scold."
But look, this "permanent carnival" that Klein is talking about doesn't have to be happening. It's the result of editorial decisions that are made by human beings -- human beings who would be a little more reluctant to make the decision to lavish attention on the inane if the likes of Klein and Tumulty nailed them for it more often.
This blog doesn't mean to be faulting the Time.com duo. After all, it's probably expecting too much to ask Klein and Tumulty to skewer their colleagues in the press. The rules of the guild frown on that very explicitly. And to their credit, both did edge a bit in that direction on Hillary and The Laugh.
But we need more. Lots more. As Klein himself says, this election is kind of important: "We really better get this decision right." Yes, we really better. And both Klein and Tumulty know full well that the sort of political coverage that's again rearing its head with the Laugh Obsession is just deeply inane, even antithetical to our ability to get it right this time, as they gently hint here. It would be nice to hear them come out and say so -- a little more often, and a little more forcefully. Maybe even name names from time to time.
Sure, an ego or two might get bruised. But again, we really better get this decision right.
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