Playing gotcha…
I gave a talk today at the Forum, a weekly presentation of issues of civic importance at All Souls UU Church in Kansas City. The title was “How to Watch a Presidential Campaign,” which consisted mostly of my recounting what I’ve written here about the structural biases of journalism and the Mayer predictive model of primary campaigns. I think my remarks were generally well received.
Forum audiences are different from random collections of individuals (but, then, when does a random collection ever show up for such an event?). These audiences tend to be highly engaged in civic affairs, politics, and governance. I took a few quick polls of the crowd as I spoke; most of them were well aware of the Democratic candidates and recent news regarding them.
For example, I asked how many were aware of the recent “shake-up” in the Kerry campaign. There were about 100 people in the audience. By far most of them raised their hands. Then I asked: How many can tell me the differences between Howard Dean’s health care proposals and those of Richard Gephardt?
Well, no hands went up. But I did hear a few knowing chuckles. That little gotcha simply pointed out the difference between what so many journalists find important (therefore determining what news consumers “see”) and what I would contend is really important.
Rhetorica Update: My busy week has passed. I hope to be on a regular blogging schedule by tomorrow.
