That’s entertainment?…
“Meanwhile, we continue to entertain the notion that there are subjects more important in this presidential campaign than even Swift boats or the Alabama National Guard.” editorial in today’s Washington Post
This is the final statement from an editorial chastising CBS for its transgressions regarding the fake memos about President Bush’s service in the National Guard. How about we do more than “entertain the notion” that more important issues must be covered; how about we make a concerted effort to cover them and give them space and placement that reflects importance. Here’s an editorial plan.
As of this morning, the politics page of the Post’s web site (confining my remarks to what readers may find here–not the print edition) lists many political articles. Besides a hard news story (3 DeLay Workers Indicted in Texas), I see very little here that fits my list of seven article types that I think promise high political utility and focus on citizens’ needs rather than politicians’s needs. Other articles:
This article’s headline appears to promise policy analysis but turns out to be a glorified he-said, she-said horse race article.
Glenn Kessler’s analysis of Bush’s UN speech is adequate–a ‘C’ effort (i.e. average, not bad). Ditto Dana Milbank’s and Colum Lynch’s news coverage of the speech. In a gentleman’s ‘C’ sort of way, the Post can claim to have covered this important event.
Waaaaaay down at the bottom of the web page (A29 in the print edition), we find this: EPA Wording Found to Mirror Industry’s. Hmmmmm…could that be an issue of the kind journalist’s should be “entertaining”?
