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Oprah may have an air of gravitas, but what about the campaign coverage itself? National Journal columnist William Powers argues that – for a variety of reasons – the soft feature has become the entrée of political reporting and the hard policy story, the side dish.
This piece glosses over the most critical problem that harms the ability of citizens to make reasoned choices in elections -- important policy positions are considered by those covering campaigns to be "gone through" with very little actual coverage. They talk about the "same old war issues," issues "gone over a # of times," about needing to "break a new story." Yet for most citizens, relying on general press coverage, there is usually very LITTLE coverage of the SUBSTANCE of candidates' positions. We can only come to really know positions if we read full transcripts of debates. Coverage is extremely poor on substantive positions presented in debates or on the campaign trail.
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