Rather’s Blather and Other Post-Convention Thoughts
Watching the convention, I was exhilarated and optimistic, depressed and angry. Excluding all other possible reasons for the extreme mood swings, the explanation was that for four days, I beamed wildy from universe to another. One was “scripted,” but inhabited by a few interesting people and some important ideas. The other was unscripted but even more predictable and certainly harder to live in.
When I was in alternate universe #1, I watched Barack Obama deliver an eloquent argument for liberalism. I got pumped up. Then I was swept into alternate universe #2, populated by shouting head Chris Matthews and other shouters, spinners and spewers, and I was brought down. Yes, they liked Obama. They all said he was a “rising star.” I waited for discussion of Obama’s ideas. No chance, it’s not going to happen. Oh that’s not quite fair - there was some talk of how Obama’s “one America” was inconsistent with Edwards’ “two Americas.” A few Republicans pointed that out. Again I waited - this time for the journalists to quickly dispose of such a silly argument: obviously Obama was describing his vision for what America should be, and, Edwards, by saying there were currently “two Americas,” was suggesting exactly the same thing. So, c’mon you reporters and pundits, let’s hear about the content of Obama’s speech. After all, though we all can agree on the quality of Obama’s rhetoric and his endorsement of unity and self-reliance, he did make clear and pointed references to the Democratic-Republican divide on war, taxes, health care, civil liberties and faith. He also implicitly criticized the media. Oh forget it.
Earlier that Tuesday, which was the second day of the convention, Dan Rather said in his Convention Journal, “This convention really is duller than those the parties held four years ago.” Boy, Dan is a tough journalist. He’s seasoned. He can’t stand BS. Dan went on to discuss the photo of Kerry in the NASA clean suit. “[I]t made Kerry look silly, bordering on weird.” Useful perspective from Danny boy. At the very end of his journal entry, Rather did acknowledge that Obama would be speaking later and that the speech might be “instructive.” Too bad CBS didn’t show it.
You may have heard that the bloggers were at the convention in full force. Well, a funny thing happened at the Democratic forum. The bloggers, those of unconventional attitudes and methods, kinda liked the whole convention thing. Yes, many of them would describe themselves as political activists rather than reporters. But they see themselves as filling a void left by mainstream journalists like Dan Rather, and boy, did the bloggers see a vacuum in coverage of this convention. Jesse Taylor, a smart 21 year-old blogger out of Swarthmore, is right about Rather (Jesse’s so mad he can’t help but use some colorful language):
This Dan Rather piece reveals every single stupid thing wrong with convention coverage… it’s the laziest, soppiest sack of shit I’ve ever read. Nothing’s dropped into the media’s lap, so instead of trying to find a story about something, anything, he just bitches. Bitches and bitches and bitches. Oh, and bitches like a bitch. Yes, this thing is scripted. It’s political theater. Take it apart. Do something with it. Why is it so scripted? Who was in charge of the scripting? What is the impression left by the scripting? Is it a good idea or a bad idea? How are people influenced by the fact that the media told them they were going to be watching the worst thing ever produced, and then showed it to them? Right now, Rather and many of his compatriots sound like teenagers at an art film - it sucks because there’s nothing really blowing up and the naked chick had small tits.
Many of the bloggers certainly would have agreed with Jesse’s charming admission:
Oddly enough, I’m not that bored at the convention. But that’s also because I’m not waiting around for KISS to parachute in from the ceiling. If nothing interesting’s happening on the floor, I go look for something else.
What a concept. And Jesse didn’t even major in journalism (he got his degree in Religion). Well, while Jesse was wandering around looking for stories, Chris Matthews and Brian Williams were going nuts about Al Sharpton’s speech. After all, it was the closest thing to something “blowing up.” A giddy Brian Williams just couldn’t believe that Sharpton didn’t stick to the script and went way over the time limit. When he had the opportunity to interview Sharpton, that’s what Williams focused on. In a sort of chuckly and patronizing way, Williams told Sharpton he noticed the teleprompter just stopped as Al launched into his extended comments, which Williams called “a riff.” Ha ha. Meanwhile, Chris Matthews went into super-hyperventilation mode. Apparently he thought Al stepped over the line. Meanwhile, I was hoping for some substantive discussion of Sharpton’s sharp and smart rebuke to Bush over the president’s recent plea to black voters. Forget it, not going to happen. Uh-oh, I’m angry again. Better go back to CSpan.
I thought maybe on the night of Kerry’s speech, someone would get serious. I switched to CNN. What? They’re talking about balloons? That’s right, in a real scoop, CNN got a microphone placed so we could listen in as the convention producer Don Mischer used the “F” word because the balloons were coming down too slowly. Not that CNN distinguished itself on previoius nights. The Columbia Journalism Review’s Campaign Desk monitored CNN’s coverage one night and said,
CNN is so desperate for conflict that it’s willing to repeat every possible Republican-generated criticism, without making any attempt to sort through which are valid and which aren’t. This often entails allowing Republicans to recycle charges which have been shown to be untrue or misleading, without correcting them…
Awhile back, I worked at CNN for seven years, and I was proud to be there. God knows we weren’t perfect, but generally the goal was good journalism. These days, it seems that the real goal is something else, as CJR suggests:
Defenders of Fox News, CNN’s arch rival, argue that Fox takes a conservative slant to offset CNN’s liberal stance. Critics of both think, by contrast, that CNN, badly bruised in the ratings war, has stooped to slavish imitation of Fox’s most dubious ploys and policies.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to Fox and CNN, but with the exception of PBS, they are not television options. It’s not that I’m worried about getting the news and information I need - it’s all over the Internet, on NPR, in some newspapers. But the convention coverage reminded me that sometimes we are hostage to TV (and of course, most Americans still get their news from the tube). You had to see the convention on television. Watching CSpan isn’t really a viable alternative. It’s like watching a football game with the volume turned down. You need some intelligent commentary and someone to act as editor and reporter. What if, instead of “bitching,” Rather actually did a sidebar piece that analyzed the differences between Kerry and Bush’s health care proposals? Kerry has a detailed plan readily available for Rather’s inspection, as Paul Krugman has pointed out. It would have been nice to have seen a story like that after we heard a speaker mention health care. To the network execs, I would say, ‘don’t worry your little heads, the audience will be interested - just about everyone is interested in health care.’
I realize these folks have other important stories to cover “in depth” (I love NBC Nightly News’ oxymoronic feature “NBC News in Depth”). As Bill Maher said in the LA Times,
The media treat these conventions as if they’re pointless interruptions of their real job, which is covering the Scott Peterson trial. No drama, no excitement. Hey, you know what’s exciting? It’s exciting when politicians get drunk with power because people aren’t keeping an eye on them. That’s when the high jinks really begin: Who expected we’d invade Iraq because of 9/11? Unpredictable, whoo!… I’m not asking you to pore over issues and read everything that’s out there; we can’t even get our president to do that. But the conventions are one of the only times when the election isn’t reduced to a war of sound bites and attack ads, one of your last chances to form an opinion that means something… So instead of downgrading the conventions, let’s elevate them…
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Today’s Worth Checking Out
Michael Kinsley has an op-ed piece in the Washington Post and the LA Times (where he is now editorial page editor) proving the thesis that the economy historically has done better under Democrats than Republicans.
The LA Times did a good article on Kerry’s alleged “flip flop” on Iraq.