Journalism...bad for democracy?

What? I've been expelled? But I haven't even written anyth...

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*Disclaimer: I was a big supporter of Joe Biden who, in today's media climate, never had a real chance. Currently, I'm strongly in favor of an Obama/McCain election, and am leaning slightly toward the latter.
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Post-super Tuesday, the Democratic candidates for president are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and the Republicans are...well it's basically just John McCain.

Or is it? And did it have to be this way? And what role did journalists play in creating it?


Let me start off by saying that there are few bigger defenders of journalism than me...my roomates constantly complain about the news and bias and this and that, I try to set them straight, and they mostly just ignore me. When I was confronted yesterday about the idea that the news media basically decides who the candidates are going to be, though, I could only hang my head. In my opinion, we do...and that certainly isn't good for this nation.

Think about who those that are still in it are, and think about those that are gone. Who were the best stories? Who got the most play? Who was most interesting? These are the people that get all the attention. Who has the best policies...well...that's nice too, but if they used to be the First Lady, or if they just so happen to be black, well...it's the stories about them that bring in the readers/viewers.

Now, don't get me wrong here...the current front-runners are all very worthy candidates...but I just wonder how much their ability to lead our nation had to do with anything. If there were no TV, papers only printed the facts rather than speculation, and all we had were debates to help us decide whom to vote for, would these still be our choices? Or would it be Joe Biden? Or John Edwards? Or Sam Brownback? The media proclaiming front-runners and saying who is in and who is out and who doesn't have a chance does a serious disservice to the public we serve.


My point: The media has a bias towards that which is interesting. I don't know any journalists that purposely slant in favor of one party or another...but there sure were a lot more stories/information about the candidates that happened to be really different than your average white male presidential candidate. Is this our fault? Probably not. It's a business, too.

Would Americans be better off if they only knew the issues and experience levels of the candidates? You bet.
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Progress Report: I finally got my beat yesterday: MU baseball. Pretty excited about it, considering that I want to be a baseball writer when I grow up. I haven't done any stories yet, but I will be attending a dinner for the team on Saturday, and have been absorbing everything I can about the team.

The shells thing is making more sense to me now after missing the first class with illness, and our last class was actually kind of exciting. My favorite thing about the j-school is just how smart/thought provoking everyone is. Solid work.