I love it when Bob gets confessional, and this week, he opens the episode with the admission that though last week’s political story was lacking a sufficient angle, it was the Iowa Caucus – it had to be covered out of sheer excitement (because come on – caucuses are BAD ASS).
This week is different. The New Hampshire primary has the sort of angle that keeps our heroes awake at night. Because when journalists are wrong, “On the Media” is there to gleefully point it out.
New Hampshire, it seems, was the scene of a “pundit implosion…the creamy remnants of which…” Wait. Hold up. Bob just said “creamy remnants”. Gross!
Here’s what happened: the pundits were wrong. Everyone from Lou Dobbs to the “unsinkable Chris Matthews”, the “towering monument to certainty” called Barack Obama as the winner of the Democratic primary. The problem? Like confused, hung over frat boys waking up naked next to another dude, on the morning after, the media realized that they had made some bad choices the night before. Clinton beat Obama at the primary with 39 percent of the vote to his 37 percent.
After playing several clips of apologizing journalists, Bob notes that being wrong is one of the dangers of being a political reporter. But that doesn’t mean that the journalists get a pass, because though they can apologize all they want when they’re wrong, the electorate doesn’t always get it. They don’t, in Bob’s words, “eat the soup.” I think Bob is drinking the Kool-Aid , because that made absolutely no sense.
Brooke points out, a vote for Clinton is a vote against Chris Matthews. Knowing that, I’m almost willing to put aside my fear of Hilary Clinton, because the terror inspired Chris Matthews is so much bigger than any petty dislike of voting records.
Brooke also takes a moment here to psychologically evaluate her guest, Christopher Hayes, after he notes that covering the New Hampshire primary is terrifying. She’s all “so, does this fear stem from insecurity? Did you get enough love in your childhood? Tell me about your mother.”
The point is – political journalism is dangerous. Reporters inject their own feelings, they report on projections instead of solid results, and things are often called too early in an effort to deliver the sort of up to the minute coverage that will bring in viewers and ratings. Also, when reporters are held to stringent filing deadlines, they don’t have time to process information.
Also, being on the campaign trail can create a closeness that doesn’t lend itself to unbiased reporting. Reporters can develop Stockholm syndrome with McCain, or become sociopaths with Clinton. I imagine that those covering Obama run around yelling “Progress!” constantly.
Despite the hope inherent in an election year, the rest of the show seems to focus on some pretty scary things. In rapid succession, the following stories are covered:
1. A story on a homicide reporter in Los Angeles who has written about every homicide in L.A. for the past year (and I thought a lot of people got shot in Memphis.)
2. A segment on ICANN, (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) that brings me to the stark realization that holy shit, all of the internet is on ONE COMPUTER somewhere in Virginia. Matthew is quick to point out that the entire internet isn’t on one computer – just all of the domain names – but I don’t care. The thought that only one computer is controlling all of the domain names is just as scary – what if it crashes? Is there back up? Is no one else concerned about this?
3. A segment on the media’s use of the word “recession.” Recessions are scary. And it’s also scary that looking back at my notes, the only thing really written about this section is “I’M SO CONFUSED!!!”
But I know that everything is going to be alright as soon as I hear Bob say “Edward R. Murrow.” I tend to believe that Murrow is a lot like Superman. He swoops in whenever he’s needed to save news broadcasts. And in this segment on The Daily Worker, he rides in on a catchy communist theme song.
Alas, this is the 50th anniversary of the death of The Daily Worker, the official communist daily paper. The paper had a sports writer – which strikes me as odd, because sports distract from the revolution! – as well as a comic called “Little Lefty.” Most importantly, though, they have a stupid catchy theme song that suggests that if you go to a dance to meet girls, you can catch their eye by hanging out and reading the Daily Worker. I guess dancing is also a distraction from the revolution, but I can totally picture Brooke leaning against the wall in Bob’s office, skimming a copy, just to make Bob crazy with longing. Not that I want to think that Brooke is a tease. I just think she would take the opportunity to fuck with Bob.
And that’s why I like her.
This post was written by Kerry, and edited by Matthew, who has been staring at her lecherously the entire time.
Filed under: Uncategorized
