Thursday, March 13, 2008
Horserace
Since the start of the 24-hour news era, many critics have bashed TV networks for their "horserace" coverage of politics -- the trivialization of politics by focusing on polls, squabbles, and strategy rather than the candidates' positions on substantive issues.
Without getting into a whole big debate about it, I was both amused and a little depressed to see a network completely drop the pretense of tackling the candidates' actual positions. This is CBS' logo for its campaign blog:
There's also CNN branding its election coverage as "Ballot Bowl." They debuted this during the college football bowl season, making the obvious comparison to a sporting event. Which, I admit, isn't that far off. But that doesn't mean it should be the way politics is covered -- at least not exclusively.
0 comments. Leave one!
Without getting into a whole big debate about it, I was both amused and a little depressed to see a network completely drop the pretense of tackling the candidates' actual positions. This is CBS' logo for its campaign blog:
There's also CNN branding its election coverage as "Ballot Bowl." They debuted this during the college football bowl season, making the obvious comparison to a sporting event. Which, I admit, isn't that far off. But that doesn't mean it should be the way politics is covered -- at least not exclusively.
0 comments. Leave one!
