Amusing ourselves to political death
Bridget raises a valid point about how we tend to focus too much on the wrong things. But I disagree with her diagnosis and prescription.
Most journalists are indeed liberal, as surveys indicate. But the media's tilt in its coverage is not toward liberal orthodoxy, it is toward trivia and titillation. Fixations on Rev. Wright and flag pins hardly signify an unfair tilt to Obama. Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business has proven, 23 years after its publication, to still be the best analysis yet of how politics, religion and education all now worship at the altar of entertainment.
I also doubt that Americans want constant policy comparisons and endless debates. They claim to care rather about testing a candidate's general character and vision -- while actually paying attention only to scandal and gossip. This, not an ideological unfairness, is what fuels the media engine in our day.
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