Media Bail Out

There is a severe disconnect between political journalism (if you could call it that,) and politics. Eric Boehlert writes in today's Media Matters,

"Blinded by its obsession with the presidential campaign (an obsession that has too often revolved around tactics and trivia), the press this summer all but ignored the unfolding financial story at a time when the public announced, week after week, that it was starved for more economic reporting and that the economy was, without question and perhaps without precedent, the single most pressing issue for the presidential campaign."

Sheldon Wolin once wrote a great essay, "Political Theory and Political Commentary," describing how "insiders" lack proper political perspective because they are simply "too close" to politics. Today we see how the medias do not so much provide a platform for elections but brandish (even if unknowingly) a particular kind of political culture addicted to gossip, pseudo-scientific polling data, and predictions de jour which ultimately are negatively averse to the interests of the demos. Prior to last week, if you had ever wanted to dissent from the mantra of economic deregulation you would have been ignored, just as if you had been screaming against the war before it actually began. Pundits and anchors are not even capable of asking the right questions because they lack the comprehensiveness, much less concern, that today's important political issues require.