Why Americans Hate the Media (II)

No, wait, one more point. It's Daniel Casse's, not mine:

Tim Russert and Brian Williams don’t have any deep observations on policy or the state of the country. So instead, they pose synthetic questions asking the candidates to respond to polls or primary election results. They think they are asking substantive questions because they ask for “specific” answers.

Exactly. It's what everybody hates about Russert's MTP shtick - the confusion of toughness with substance.

And now to bed.

Comments

the confusion of toughness with substance.

kinda reminds me of the Democratic primary race.

Posted by southpaw | January 25, 2008 4:56 AM

Minor point: I wish in the postings there could be less use of the word "hate". Pretty poisonous. I don't know if people "hate" the media, but they are annoying. Their use of polls instead of reporting has been widely discussed, and last night it was clear that the questioners spend their days online or in meetings reading and studying polls. It would be nice to have questioners who are real reporters. Talk Radio also thrives on polls. When these various formats all use the same tools, no wonder Hannity sounds like a newscaster - the newscasters all sound like Hannity.

Posted by fougasseu | January 25, 2008 9:11 AM