The Ever-failing American Press

The news media has an obligation to the American people, as it is the only industry specifically protected by the Bill of Rights. I wish there was some good, deliberate way of reminding those in charge of our press outlets of this fact. They seem to have forgotten; at least when looking at their coverage of the 2008 presidential race it appears to be true.

Our "news" outlets are fond of running polls under the headline, "If the race were held today . . . " and proceed to tell us which two candidates would be representing their respective parties. Of course the main problem with this is that the race isn't being held that day; we are still more than one year away from the election. So what possible service does this "news" provide? It does nothing to inform the public about these candidates and their policies.

In the current polls of Democrats it makes sense to me that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards are leading the pack in the Democratic race for the nomination this early - they've all received national news coverage for the last several years, and in Hillary's case the last 15 years. People know the names and are therefore more likely to jump on their bandwagons earlier. But how many of those same voters truly understand where these people stand on the issues? How many of these voters are given the chance to hear about other candidates, such as Bill Richardson or Mike Gravel.

But our Constitutionally-protected press chooses to ignore the psychology of those polled and instead immediately declares it a three-person race. Why? Are the talking heads simply lazy? Are they stupid? Do they have some hidden agenda? I really don't care. The fact is that they need to be reminded of their special position in our democracy. They need to spend less time talking about polls and which candidates have the most money and therefore the "best chance to win."

The news media needs to operate on an entirely different playing field than politicians who play the game of big money and name recognition. The media must remember that their obligation is to inform the public - who is running, what are their ideas, what have they done? Leave it to the politicians to claim they are the only ones who can win because they have the most money and throw the best parties.

It's our Constitution. We are the ones who have granted special status to the press. We need to be constantly reminding them of that fact.

The Road is Hard