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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDear media: Stop playing along with fake controversies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/dear-media-stop-playing-along-with-fake-controversies/2012/04/13/gIQA3IiCFT_blog.htmlDear media: Stop playing along with fake controversies
By Jonathan Bernstein
Greg already flagged a brutally bad New York Times story about the Hilary Rosen flap earlier this morning, pointing out that the Times totally butchered Rosens (non-) involvement in Barack Obamas campaign. Hes right but that only scrapes the surface of what a bad job this story does with the phony controversy that broke out when Rosen said something stupid on CNN on Wednesday.
Lets start with the headline: Collision Over Roles of Women Sets Off Combative Debate Along the Trail. Huh? That never happened. There was no collision over roles of women, and especially not along the trail, which is to say, in the context of the campaign. What actually happened is that one TV talking head, to be sure someone there to represent the Democrats, said something foolish which was immediately pounced on by Mitt Romneys campaign and by the Obama campaign as well. No collision. No debate.
The article took the entire controversy (as framed by Republicans) at face value:
The campaign for the White House spilled into the politics of motherhood on Thursday as a combative back-and-forth involving a Democratic strategist and Mitt Romneys wife quickly revived a deeper, decades-old cultural debate about the roles of women in and out of the workplace.
Again: that never happened, at least not within the campaigns context. Did some people use Rosens words as an excuse to wallow in a decades-old cultural debate? Sure. But no one who speaks for the Obama campaign or the Democratic Party in any meaningful capacity took the objectionable side of that debate. No officials from the Obama campaign or the Democratic Party said anything about stay-at-home moms that attracted criticism. And when one lone Democrat did say something, the Obama campaign and the larger Democratic Party network condemned it and said exactly the same things that the Romney campaign said. There was no campaign disagreement. Anyone who only read the Times story would have come away believing that there was an actual presidential campaign dispute over stay-at-home moms.
Heres the bottom line. Were going to have these manufactured controversies throughout the campaign. Both sides know how to take an awkward remark and turn it into a huge flap, regardless of whether theres anything real behind it. Hey, editors and reporters: dont fall for it! No one is really offended; theres no there there, and you shouldnt be afraid to say so. Its fine to report what the campaigns are up to, but whether its Etch-a-Sketch or this one or the next dozen that are going to follow, theres absolutely no excuse for taking this stuff at face value.
By Jonathan Bernstein | 11:49 AM ET, 04/13/2012
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Dear media: Stop playing along with fake controversies (Original Post)
babylonsister
Apr 2012
OP
FrenchieCat
(68,867 posts)1. EXACTLY!
The media is playing the stupids.....
and hope there are enough of them
that Romney's numbers will inch up...
after all, they have been announcing that it
would be a "close" race, and by golly, they
will work to make it happen!
gateley
(62,683 posts)2. Yeah, right. Like that's going to happen. :-) nt
Uncle Joe
(58,366 posts)3. Kicked and recommended.
Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.