Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Why are TV hosts interested in what Sanders has to say? [View all]The Magistrate
(96,043 posts)And in that contest, likes to display how 'balanced' its coverage is.
Thus a losing contender will be propped up and trotted out for interviews and talk shows, even though the contest is actually concluded. This keeps up the pretense there is an ongoing race, and shows coverage is 'balanced' between the contenders.
Covering political campaigns solely as races, in terms of who is ahead and who is behind, and not in terms of what a candidate's policies are, and whether he or she shows promise of getting same enacted is one of several besetting sins of our political reporters as a class. It is not wholly due to perversity on the part of the commentariat, but flows naturally from the wide disinterest the general public displays towards the political life of the country. The people who engage in commentary for a living understand that without some 'hook' of conflict, even in an election year they would have a hard time drawing much of a crowd. As for the question of 'balance' in coverage, that is covered quite well by the old saying that 'A journalist's job, when someone says it's raining and someone else says it isn't, is not to report that opinions differ, but to step outside and see if he gets wet."
"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden