Oh, Joe
Monday, October 20th, 2008 By Mike MaurerCould have called this Judgment Journalism, too, because it certainly is: “McCain ignores loss of Powell”
What’s a journalist or an editor to do? McCain spoke at an event in Westerville; McCain’s running for president. McCain believes all kinds of things, A, B and C. You’d think there’s lots of news to write about there, wouldn’t you?
But by golly, why write about what’s right in front of you, when you can write about what you just know, dammit, is the biggest news story since, well, since, gosh, ever? Even Republican Colin Powell supports Obama! Must take deep breath! Must take deep breath! (Boy, John McCain must really miss the days when it was “Even Republican John McCain thinks George Bush stinks.” Maybe he should call George Voinovich.)
Never mind that everybody and their brother is already writing about this, never mind that it’s not the thing in front of you, never mind that it might be worthwhile to think about why you’re so excited by that story and not excited about a story that says, say, Iraq is a great success, or, say, the government, not the market, played the biggest role in the economic whirly-girl.
No, just fix the problem at hand. “McCain ignores loss of Powell” will do nicely, and it fits your beliefs much better than “McCain ignores open source software” and “McCain ignores GASB Concept Statement No. 3″.
