Broadcast news divisions have justified their severe reduction in coverage of political conventions in recent years with the observation that they are no longer news events, but infomercials for the parties. I have never been convinced by this - I don't see anything wrong with all three (or four) networks turning over at least 3 hours of primetime for 4 days every 4 years to the parties so they can present themselves however they want to the American people. Of course the news divisions do not have to simply transcribe that - they should be there to see what stories they can find on the floor, analyze the speeches and the strategies, fact check the claims and arguments.
Last night, for example, there was some actual news at the Republican Convention. Ron Paul delegates "shouted and booed when rules were adopted as part of the Republican Party's official platform that would hinder the kind of grassroots campaign that carried Paul to the national convention." Paul supporters were also disgruntled when the Romney people who run the convention prevented states from announcing the Paul votes during the roll call of the states (oh yeah, Romney was actually voted the Republican nominee last night, though you did not see that if all you did was watch the coverage on the broadcast networks. "At one point, delegates from Maine walked off the convention floor in protest of a Republican National Committee decision to replace 10 of the 20 delegates Paul had secured in the state" - this was one maneuver used to prevent Paul's votes from the state being announced. ( all quotes from: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/28/ron-paul-supporters-put-dent-in-unity-at-gop-convention/ ). I watched CNN's coverage of most of the convention, and saw some (though even there not nearly as much as you might think) of this covered. I then watched the one hour of primetime coverage at 7:00 on NBC, where I did not see it covered at all. Now this is not quite a "Julian Bond" moment, and certainly Romney's nomination was never in doubt - but then as anyone who really follows politics has known for more than a year, Romney's nomination has never been in doubt, but that did not stop the networks from pimping the primary contest when they thought it was in their ratings interest to do so. And there is a real and important story to be told here - Paul's supporters may or may not actually vote for Romney in November (two young Paul delegates on CNN were very much undecided), and the Paul movement could potentially form the nucleus of some kind of third party renaissance - particularly if Romney loses. And the way Romey and his people run the convention, and handle dissent, may have some bearing on how he might try to run the country if he is elected. My point is that there was a perfectly good story that NBC and the other networks could have reported, as it was unfolding, had they been on the air and committed the resources to digging it up. There will no doubt be similar opportunities to find stories in Charlotte. I think we can do without episodes of "America's Got Talent" for two weeks every four years on the off chance that there is actually news to be reported at the presidential nominating conventions - even if the news to be reported is simply what the two candidates are presenting to the American electorate. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
