On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 4:34 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Romney being the nominee is the textbook example of something that is > not newsworthy, just as Obama running is also not newsworthy. These > things are widely known and understood, they have been for some time, > and judgements have long ago been made about both men. The media might > as well dedicate several days reporting that the sun rises in the east > and sets in the west. The job of a journalist is to tell us what we > need to know. We do not, by any definition, need to be told that which > we already know. > > I know these conventions are a profound statement of democracy, and > the roughly 30 nations on the planet without such freedoms must look > upon them with envy. But while they might have served a function > decades ago, the days are gone when people stood at a podium while > others cheered qualified as news. If politicians were pressed to > comment on substantive issues, if those in attendance spoke with the > authority of the districts they claim to represent, if the media held > everyone accountable, if the decisions that needed to be made occurred > amidst the speechifying, if the words were followed up by actions, if > the promises made were actually kept, and if our votes mattered, then > the conventions might have some significance. But the repetitive > bloviations of a failed two party system just don't matter. They are > not news. They just aren't. > Well, we do disagree there. What happened tonight certainly is news, and should be reported, and reported in some depth. I also think you are wrong about the conventions not being representative of their constituency. The convention delegates represent the members of their party, not Americans in general. They tend to be more ideologically extreme than the country at large - Republican convention goers are more conservative, Democrats more liberal. They are allowed to go about their business the way they see fit, and try to persuade as many Americans as they can to join them. And wow, how surprising was it that Mr. Burns spoke at the Convention tonight - that has got to be news. At least it looked and sounded like Mr. Burns, but I guess it really was Clint Eastwood. I thought he was going to be a real ace in the hole for them, but he was actually something of an embarrassment (Clint, Mitt is a lawyer, and there are a lot of middle class people who need loans to go to college). -- 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
