One week since a huge landslide in Presidential politics for the historic figure Mr. Obama.
I imagine, although I've been busy, like most people, cobbling together the means to afford the predicament of this economic situation, the MSM has been focusing on several other items not related to presidential politics, or at least that is what I would hope will be happening.
Not to say that I dont appreciate a good honeymoon... thats all fine, for christsake the "O" Administration doesnt get into power for another 70 days, and it would be too bad if after his first month the desperately unimaginative and incurious Media are already "looking back to the 'first' 100 days."
That said, the fourth estate has been an overwhelming disappointment during the "W" administration. I think when some anchors got the Katrina "scoop," in other words it wasnt being covered or handled properly (a) some of the real news hounds smelled a story, but alas, I am growing cynical, I also think that some of the corporate execs felt there may have been liability in under reporting (or to be accurate in my guess, 'that the disinformation of the government around events and items related to the catastrophe in LA and secondarily in MS could subject that reporting organization to liability.' But of course that didnt or wouldnt bother Fox as a quasi-offical bully pulpit for the W admin.), therefore they put boots on the ground to investigate-- and began to WAKE UP.
If every MSM vendor is serving up the exact same pile of tripe in varying portions and from minutely differing vantages to form slightly different piles of the same garbage, then we have truly learned nothing in the past eight years.
How cool would it be (a la Woodward and Berstein) to actually scoop the Congressional Investigations? Go ahead reporters in waiting, cub reporters, and various CSI/Inspector Clouseau/Mrs. Marple wannabes... I would estimate there are literally dozens (if not thousands) of reports to be filed that discover real evidence of how foul the government and its administration has been and how we have been led astray. All of them potentially original, a potential scoop, and vitally important to the restoration of communication, democracy, and law and order in our society.
That is the duty of the Fourth Estate. Not to burnish the non-sequitur utterances of incompetents, nor to buy into the lies without introspection or vigorous discussion and examination. Sure there will be mistakes, but rather an honest mistake done for duty and country, than as a tool of the state, say I.
Lets explore the issues... Going into the meta of number of mortgages in default is fascinating for economists, chartists, and financial students like me... But how many reports of hardship, heartache, and wrongdoing can be found within these types of numbers? Countless.
The "horse race" type reporting was cheap, easy, and allowed the execs, reporters, and much of their field staff to drive small distances (with apologies to those who actually rode tirelessly with the campaigns) and appear to be offering comprehensive coverage of "what is happening in America."
Thank Gawd the two year Presidential Campaign is now finally over, and not to diminish from (oh theres another ten thousand stories) all the personal emblematic meaning Americans have from this historic result, but lets start ACTUALLY reporting on the Actual events from actual places on this earth in order to more clearly see how far we have been led astray-- and how much ground our society and the world need to make up for the unmitigated disaster of these last eight years!
