Empty Reporting

July 30, 2004

I tend not to watch political coverage any of the 24 hour cable news networks. Apparently, I'm not missing much.

CJR Campaign Desk is paying close attention to the media coverage of the campaign season and finds that CNN's coverage borders on jounralistic malfeasance: A Day in the Life of CNN's Political Coverage

Campaign Desk decided to watch an evening of CNN's convention coverage, and identify where it went astray. It wasn't hard. The excerpts below are all quotes from CNN reporters or their guests from last night's coverage, divided into broad themes. Many are not necessarily, in themselves, instances of journalistic mealfeasance. But taken together, they give a sense of the way CNN has been covering the proceedings in Boston.

Paul Krugman wonders where reporting on policy disappeared to: Triumph of the Trivial

Mr. Kerry proposes spending $650 billion extending health insurance to lower- and middle-income families. Whether you approve or not, you can't say he hasn't addressed the issue. Why hasn't this voter heard about it?

Well, I've been reading 60 days' worth of transcripts from the places four out of five Americans cite as where they usually get their news: the major cable and broadcast TV networks. Never mind the details - I couldn't even find a clear statement that Mr. Kerry wants to roll back recent high-income tax cuts and use the money to cover most of the uninsured. When reports mentioned the Kerry plan at all, it was usually horse race analysis - how it's playing, not what's in it.

Adam Felber notes the outrage: Media Outraged by Interesting Convention

tonight I heard pundit after pundit lashing out at the Democrats for letting their hair down. Heinz was indiscreet and went on too long. Sharpton shouldn't have been there, was too negative, and went on too long. The cable news networks were very quick to let us know that the woman and the black guy were getting too mouthy, and that America might not like that. Commentator after commentator talked about missed schedules, divergent messages, and unruly passions.

In short, they told us, the Democrats were failing to be completely choreographed and phony. They weren't living up to the tradition of the objectionably staid conventions of the past three decades, and that, apparently, was objectionable.