Krugman: I don’t know if this country can survive another four years of Bush-quality leadership.

[kpete]

Krugman is a voice crying in the wilderness about the state of political reporting by the MSM.


Back to the debate coverage: as far as I can tell, no major news organization did any fact-checking of either debate. And post-debate analyses tended to be horse-race stuff mingled with theater criticism: assessments not of what the candidates said, but of how they “came across.”

...............

Look, debates involving 10 people are, inevitably, short on extended discussion. But news organizations should fight the shallowness of the format by providing the facts — not embrace it by reporting on a presidential race as if it were a high-school popularity contest.

For if there’s one thing I hope we’ve learned from the calamity of the last six and a half years, it’s that it matters who becomes president — and that listening to what candidates say about substantive issues offers a much better way to judge potential presidents than superficial character judgments. Mr. Bush’s tax lies, not his surface amiability, were the true guide to how he would govern.

And I don’t know if this country can survive another four years of Bush-quality leadership.

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/2007/06/08/brooks-and-krugman-3/

[NewJeffCT]

1. Thanks for posting

Krugman is preaching to the choir here, but I hope at least a few people in the MSM are listening.

They did do somet fact-checking in the 2004 presidential debates at least - not a great job, but they did do more than in 2000.

[malaise]

2. Gore has been speaking about this

for ages as well.

[KharmaTrain]

3. The Big Lie Live On

Mike Malloy refers to this as the dumbing down of the country. Just the concept of how these debates are run is insulting...like some cross between Survivor and American Idol. But then this whole primary season is contived by both full-time campaign critters who like getting big checks in non-election years and the corporate media that see these "debates" as cheap, easy programming and far easier to manage than going out and doing any serious journalism. It's made for soundbites and "anal-isis" where any substance is obliterated by a scream or sigh or how one's pearls look.

While none of this junior high school election crap will mean much for Democrats in the months ahead, the Repugnicans march to the bottom is surely providing a ton of great bits I'll love to parade around with former "Repugnican" voters next year. :grin:

Cheers...

:hi:

[Jim__]

4. We need more voices like Krugman.

If enough people point out the blatant incompetence of the media, something may be done about it. If we just accept the garbage they publish, that's what we're going to get.

What's the big news this morning while America is involve in 2 shooting wars? Paris Hilton! This is absolute garbage.