The Traditional Media: What is to be done?

The Indiana and North Carolina contests are almost upon us, and how can I express my excitement and anticipation, over the finding out of who will win. Will it be Sen. Clinton, and her 35 years of super-First Lady Experience? Or, could it possible turn out to be the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, with all his over-and-over again played clips, calling out certain issues that might face America?

Beyond all the excitement however, there seemed to be something missing. Something, that no matter how hard I looked at these two über candidates, I could not put my finger on. Then it hit me, that thing that seemed to be so elusive to me, and which had also turned out to be so elusive to the Traditional, was that it wasn’t Rev. Wright that was running against the Clinton/McCain machine. And to make me feel even more out of touch with what was more important to America, it turned out that it was this other guy.

It was actually some guy named Sen. Barack Obama. I vaguely remember this guy from the news media. There seemed to be some question about whether he was a Muslim, or was it a Muslim who converted to Christianity, so that he then could take over America.

Or, maybe it wasn’t that, but that it was that I should question this guy Obama’s intentions because his middle name was Hussein. Hell, even his last name rhymes with that guy that brought us into the war on terror, that guy Saddam. No, that wasn’t it; it was this cave dwelling guy with bad kidneys, Osama. Yea, that was the guy. I even think they said on Faux News that they are distant cousins. Or, was that a guy named Cheney?

The media, with whom the Clinton administration had complained and whined about, until the Traditional did away with any semblance of parity and went full tilt toward Reverend Wright and his former parishioner, has no complaint these days. They are quite happy to march lock step with the McCain camp, in both actions and silence while never standing up in defense of her fellow Democratic Party members, when the Johnny Mac and GOP attacks come a flyin’.

Now, with the never disappearing Rev. Wright, and his recent self-centered and egotistical publicity rounds, the Traditional feels even more emboldened to keep the focus on the non-issue banter going. In all honesty, why shouldn’t they? It really is our own fault. How long have we allowed, hell trusted, the media to keep us informed on what is going on? What are the important things to focus on, and even what the important things that the general public should focus on? How long have we sold our souls for the convenience of the easy thought?

What does the Traditional tell us currently is important? Listen to them, to them all. They tell us that Sen. Obama was a member of this guy Wright’s Church. That he was Sen. Obama’s pastor. That he spent 20 years sitting in the pews. Of course, we have all seen the 15 seconds or so contained in the 3 most played video clips, but what the hey, we all get the idea. Obama cannot be allowed to be the POTUS of the future, due to Rev. Wright, and those 15 seconds.

When the Traditional, (ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, Faux News) decides to look upon an associate of a political candidate that is one thing. But, when the same media comes to the end of whatever it was that made it a newsworthy story in the first place, and then continues to keep the subject of such an inquiry alive in the media when the only new aspect of the story is whatever it is that the Traditional themselves has introduced, then there is within the media a problem.

Did he ever lie about the length of time that Rev. Wright was his pastor? Did Obama ever lie to the American public about Bosnia, in an attempt to bolster his perception of toughness and world experience, only to remake such a history into a misstatement? To admit that he knew that he intentionally told what he knew was not true. No, of course it was not Sen. Obama that said such things; it was Sen. Clinton. How long did that story stay in the media? Maybe that would have made journalism something that it isn’t these days.

How can they justify the continuation of such a news inquiry? Sen. Obama has addressed the issue of Rev. Wright, yet due to the media attention that the Reverend has sought, and been given, the story is still front and center. “He sat in the pew for 20 years”, I can hear them say over and over. The simple answer is that they cannot justify such behavior, and they cannot continue to call what they pretend to do journalism; for it is better known as yellow journalism.

Matthew McGovern