Now, here is a real opening for bipartisanship.
“One of the frustrations is that there is more attention on Britney Spears getting out of a car without underwear than there is about who is going to be the next president.”
— Mike Huckabee, quoted by CNN, complaining about the lack of media attention to his campaign.
I haven’t been watching much cable news lately, but I can understand the frustration. The cable news is totally ratings driven and, for some reason, the people actually reward diversionary programming. Color me idealistic, but I don’t think news should be based on ratings. The result is a kind of ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ attitude. Of course, in an effort to sustain public tolerance for the war in Iraq, the cable news, especially FOX, have all but created a news blackout of blood spilled in Iraq.
Philadelphia could probably improve tourism if it took the same attitude and convinced the local news channels to ignore any evidence of gun violence in the city. But that isn’t any way to cover the city.
