The Problem with "The Horserace"
Being a gamer, I see the concept of "game theory" behind quite a lot of things (and even more that even Chris Mathews couldn't adequately explain). However, my problem especially in election time is the political reporters and pundits excessive use of "the horserace" rather than actually doing their jobs of fact-checking and policy analysis.
It's just strange, the reporters of today idolize Edward R. Murrow for being the guy who points out the obvious and takes on the government. Yet, these people don't do a darned thing to keep that spirit in political journalism.
Just look at how often they put up polls. Does it matter how far Obama is vs. McCain? No, because the actual result that they're trying to scry for is months out there.
It's mostly bad when a Web site like Factcheck, or even satire like The Daily Show, does a better job of asking serious, need to know questions. We don't need to know if a new policy will help out a candidate's chance of being elected, we need to know if that policy WILL ACTUALLY HELP PEOPLE.
This was one reason I want to go into journalism. I appreciate much of the work they do, but they're just blind to their own flaws.
It's just strange, the reporters of today idolize Edward R. Murrow for being the guy who points out the obvious and takes on the government. Yet, these people don't do a darned thing to keep that spirit in political journalism.
Just look at how often they put up polls. Does it matter how far Obama is vs. McCain? No, because the actual result that they're trying to scry for is months out there.
It's mostly bad when a Web site like Factcheck, or even satire like The Daily Show, does a better job of asking serious, need to know questions. We don't need to know if a new policy will help out a candidate's chance of being elected, we need to know if that policy WILL ACTUALLY HELP PEOPLE.
This was one reason I want to go into journalism. I appreciate much of the work they do, but they're just blind to their own flaws.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home