Our useless media

I'm the last person to tune out campaign news.

If the networks can rely on anyone to watch the convention, read the newspapers and generally follow every peak and trough of the campaign, it's me -- I've been doing it since 2002.

But it's getting hard.

Last night, Bill Clinton gave a concise 25-minute speech comparing, point by point, the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Serious charges were leveled, amazing speechwriting skills were displayed.

What was on Fox 5 this morning? The local reporter at the convention asking Rep. Moran what he thinks of the photos of John Kerry wearing a silly-looking blue suit in a place they won't let you in to if you don't have a a silly-looking blue suit. I flip the channels, and what is CNN talking about? How the candidate's wife, who is not running for any elective office and holds no formal power, used a mild insult to indicate to a right-wing blowhard editorial page gnome that she didn't want to talk to him.

I know it's hard to find topics to fill 24-hour news schedules between major events, so until now, I've found it hard to complain when newspapers and cable networks go into detail about the candidates' choice of bicycles or food or whatever else.

But this is the bigtime, and the news bigshots are still playing Queer Eye with a clean room suit.

If it wasn't for Jon Stewart, I wouldn't be sure if TV matters any more.

Posted by rj3 at July 27, 2004 3:28 PM

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Posted by: Amanda at July 27, 2004 4:26 PM

Posted by: Smith at July 28, 2004 11:28 AM

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