It is rare when a national media outlet expresses its disdain for local journalists in such a forthright manner:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-onthemedia10-2008aug10,0,6358267.story/snip
After looking at a lot of local news reports this week, I found a fabulously mixed bag. Many small-town reporters allowed the candidates to deliver their message of the day without imposing their own priorities or horse-race histrionics. Imagine that.
Other locals got so caught up in their Moment Alongside Greatness that they embarrassed themselves, gushing all over McCain and Obama.
I'm glad the locals get their shot. They offer a less cynical view that the public might otherwise not receive and focus on issues closer to home.
And I'm relieved knowing that the time will come for the national media, which are best positioned to watch the candidates evolve, to demand they explain changes in position and to help set the agenda for the day.
"It's important to have this cynical, hard-nosed group of national reporters to put those who want to be president to the test," said Joe Lockhart, a onetime spokesman for President Clinton and a media advisor to other Democrats. "But in Peoria and Albuquerque, reporters have an obligation to report on what the candidate said and to do it that day. That's good too."Since the start of the campaign, Obama has had his share of battles with traveling reporters who felt they were granted too little time to get to know the Democrat.
McCain, on the other hand, helped build his reputation by offering himself to reporters almost without restriction, in 2000 and early in this campaign. So those same reporters seemed dismayed in recent days when the Arizona senator made himself scarce.
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