What do reporters do? Reporters ask questions. Who? What? When? And so on. But sometimes, there’s nothing to ask those five-W questions about, so they start asking more complicated questions, ones without Ws or answers.
1. Can the rift between Hillary and Obama supporters be healed?
This question is still getting serious play in print and on the airwaves. And there’s no answer despite all the speculation.
2. Should the Democrats be stronger in attacking McCain during the convention?
Yesterday, political strategist James Carville railed against the noble tone of the first day of the DNC, and today we can’t
stop talking about it.
The problem with questions like these is that there a) no answers and b) no way to report the story. Alas, if
Jack Shafer and the other naysayers are right and conventions are devoid of substance, perhaps the press feels compelled to goad the Obama campaign into taking action… and you know… making news that can be reported.
"But sometimes, there’s nothing to ask those five-W questions about, so they start asking more complicated questions, ones without Ws or answers."
That's a long way of saying, "Sometimes, reporters ask 'how'."
Posted by http://ronebofh.livejournal.com/ on Tue 26 Aug 2008 at 10:18 PM
The problem with questions like these is that they illustrate how utterly and completely the press is in the tank for Obama.
Since when should "the press feel compelled to goad the Obama campaign into taking action"? Whatever happened to objective journalism?
Posted by JLD on Wed 27 Aug 2008 at 09:50 AM
I believe the argument is that the press wants Obama to "take action" so that they have something juicier to report on. I don't see the saturation coverage of Obama as evidence of the media being "in the tank", most of the coverage is ambivalent and redundant, and only serves to confuse viewers as to what is actually happening. Compare this to the relative vacuum in the McCain coverage. Do you see every reporter and pundit falling over themselves to analyze and re-analyze how McCain can distance himself from Bush?
I tuned in to a little of NPR's coverage last night and heard them interview a handful of Hillary delegates, all of whom were asked about "healing the rift". Every response was the same: Clinton has done what she can, Obama has done what he can, the rest is up to voters being educated enough to realize the candidates are virtually the same. The press should report this basic sentiment and move on.
Posted by Evan Woodward on Wed 27 Aug 2008 at 11:12 AM