Shocking Revelation: MSM Politics Coverage Sucks

Note: Most of this post comes from a ranting email I sent last week. After the primaries, one or two insightful articles were written about the CO-02 race, but the point stands. In the month leading up to the primary, to the best of my knowledge, no article quoted the race’s winning candidate on any policy.

I work at a voter-education nonprofit and, as part of my job, I sift through thousands of news articles, press releases, and transcripts each day to find direct, substantive quotes from candidates for public office. It’s always amazing how little I come up with-most of the media coverage in any election will be about manufactured scandals (”Obama says Palin’s a pig!”), spurious attacks or hype from various proxies (”Democrats will steal your guns” vs. “Republicans will shoot your children”), and meaningless drivel from the candidates themselves (”I believe that education is important”).

Today, however, is the first time that I’ve been able to quantify the problem, thanks to Colorado’s second district.

A primary debate where the CO-02 Democrats expressed actual plans and policy views, apparently unbenownst to the media

Millionaire businessman Jared Polis just earned a hard-won Democratic primary victory there against state Senate president Joan Fitz-Gerald and environmental activist Will Shafroth. It was a fascinating race, as the candidates represented three dramatically different views of the Democratic Party. Polis is a business-minded candidate, generally liberal on social issues but with a strong libertarian streak on economics. Fitz-Gerald is a liberal Democrat, a firm defender of social justice and the working poor. Progressive Will Shafroth focuses on the environment, and has the strongest green credentials of the three.

Thus, the media devoted itself to comparing the records and positions of each in a thoughtful, yet accessible, manner. Heh, heh, heh. Just kidding: nobody’s naïve enough to expect intelligent analysis from the media nowadays. But you might expect some nod to what a particular candidate stands for, even if just a caricature.

Instead, I scanned August’s 147 news articles about Jared Polis without finding a single direct quote from the candidate on his specific plans for office. The stories talked about debates without discussing what was debated. They talked about fundraising scandals and PACs without discussing campaign finance law. There were even dozens of interviews about Polis’ sexuality (he’s gay), in which reporters apparently never asked the candidate what he hoped to do about hate crimes and discrimination once in office.

Astounding. Just what are Colorado voters supposed to base their votes on?

-Travis-