We often think of horse-race style coverage as it applies to Presidential elections. During the "heat of the battle," the media often get caught up in a style of coverage that focuses on who is ahead. First Obama is ahead in the polls, then McCain gains some ground. McCain's supporters run an attack ad, then Obama runs a counter-attack ad, then McCain makes a counter-counter speech, then Obama... you get the idea. This kind of coverage continually focuses on the back and forth conflict between candidates, and important issues are sometimes lost in the shuffle.
It seems to me that this same style of coverage is now filtering into other topics, specifically the current health care debate. The New York Times released an article today with the headline "Democrats Raise Alarms Over Costs of Health Bills." The entire article is about Democrats who are saying that the current bills in Congress don't go far enough to address out-of-control health care costs. The article is well written and well reported, but taken in context with other stories, it casts light on a particular aspect of the health care coverage.
Horse-Race Health Care Coverage
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 11:23 AM Posted by Tyler
Fact-checking Web sites
Monday, November 9, 2009 at 7:34 PM Posted by Tyler
The world has a lot of noise. There are now an uncountable number of Web sites across the internet. Millions of bloggers around the world, just like me, are writing about everything under the sun. And this is added to the traditional media - newspapers, radio and television. Everyone has something to say about everything, and, thanks to modern technology, everyone now has a means to express their opinions.
So how do we, as ordinary readers, sort through the barrage of information? How do we separate fact from fiction? Enter fact-checking Web sites.
Does Congress really do anything?
Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 8:35 PM Posted by Tyler
An Associated Press article appeared on the New York Times website today with the headline "Citizenship for Polish Hero of American Revolution." According to the article, Obama signed a joint resolution of Congress on Friday that made Gen. Casimir Pulaski, a polish soldier who died 230 years ago in the American Resolution, an honorary citizen of the United States.
A quick search of THOMAS, a bill database created by the Library of Congress, reveals more frivolous resolutions in Congress. For example, House Resolution 397, introduced in May 2009: "Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as `America's Spiritual Heritage Week' for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith." But wait, there's more! Senate Resolution 72, introduced in March: "Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding drug trafficking in Mexico." At this one involves a somewhat relevant topic. More recently, in October there were no less than two resolutions "supporting the goals and ideals of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month," etc.
Cable news fight heats up, begins to resemble the wild west
Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 9:21 PM Posted by Tyler
MSNBC, CNN, Fox News. The Big three of the cable broadcasting business. Left, middle, right. Perfect harmony, right? Well, from the way things are shaping up, it's anything but perfect harmony. The battle between the cable news networks is beginning to resemble a gunfight between Fox News and MSNBC - and CNN is stuck right in the middle of it.
First of all, CNN recently fell to fourth place among cable news prime time broadcasts. Wait, fourth place? "I thought there were only three," you say. Well, CNN's sister network, HLN (which until recently was known as CNN Headline News) beat out CNN itself. What would cause the creator of the 24/7 cable news genre to be beaten out by all of its competitors? Simply this: its competitors (speaking only of MSNBC and Fox at this point) appeal to niche markets, while CNN is trying to take the high road - and seems to be getting lost along the way.
Are off-year elections a good indicator of the President's popularity?
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 9:10 AM Posted by Tyler
CNN ran an interesting segment today which seemed to imply that today's off-year election results could be an indicator of Obama's popularity, and an indicator of gain or loss in Republican popularity. Even the New York Times website offered this headline for a breaking news article about the elections: "Republicans Sweep Top Races in Setback for Obama," although the story beneath the headline didn't offer any commentary on the significance of the Republicans' wins. But are they right? Are today's off-year elections indicative of changes in national public opinion?
I don't think so.
Health care reform: Scarier than terrorism?
Monday, November 2, 2009 at 4:02 PM Posted by Tyler
"We have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country," said Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican congresswoman from North Carolina, in a speech on the House floor today (article here).
It seems that the Republicans are getting crazier and crazier. I don't think Rep. Foxx fully understands the situation. Has she forgotten that on September 11, 2001, almost 3,000 people were killed by terrorists? After all, it was her own party (via the Bush administration) that installed the "terror threat level" meter.
But, perhaps her sentiments are just an extension of the fear mongering that her party has been involved in for years. The "terror threat level" meter mentioned above is one example under the Bush administration. Now, our Republican representatives in Congress are trying to scare us in to rejecting health care reform that everyone agrees is needed.
Things I Want to do Before I Die: Career Edition
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 7:23 PM Posted by Tyler
1.) Be on the New York Times Bestseller list, even if only for one week.
2.) Write at least one full-length novel and at least one full-length non-fiction book.
3.) Earn a Ph.D., Ed.D., or another terminal degree.
4.) Teach or do research abroad for at least six months.
5.) Be knighted by the Queen (or King) of England.
Author's Note: No ranking of importance is implied in the numbering system.