Here is a question worth asking at one of these big presidential debates: What the hell are 3000 journalists doing here?
Yes, 3000 journalists trooped out to Colorado for the first of the debates. No doubt a similar number have booked in for the others.
Why? How on earth can so many news outfits justify sending this army of journalists? To report on a debate that will be on television.
It is not as if there will be additional news to cover. The candidates don’t hold press conferences afterward. They don’t give stump speeches or interviews. Nobody sees them until they step onto the stage. In other words, 3000 news sleuths are not going to sniff up anything of value.
If you come up with a good answer for that question, you won’t have trouble answering this one: Why were 18,000 journalists at each of the political conventions? Three times as many journalists as there were delegates. Do you suppose any of them unearthed secrets that none of the other 17,999 did?
Here is my guess at the answer to the why-the-hell question: These media guys go to these events because they like to drink and eat and party. And chase after each other. Well, that makes it all right then. And they like to brag that they went to the events. For years, they can slip stuff into their cocktail conversations. “Yes, this is an excellent wine. Almost as good as the one I discovered in Colorado. During the presidential debate. I covered it, you know.”
Here is another question: Why in hell do we need celebrities to moderate the debates? Do suppose there are many viewers who tune in only because Jim Lehrer is moderating? “I never bother to vote in these stupid elections. But, hey, give me a chance to see Jim Lehrer…”
If you can answer that question you maybe can answer this one: Why in hell do we need celebrities to deliver network nightly news? It is obvious that they feel they are more important than the news they read. (And read is about all they do. You can’t really call them reporters.)
Celebrities are so important to these network news programs that their contracts require that their faces be featured so many minutes per newscast. Does not matter how compelling the footage is from tonight’s news events. The contract calls for the celebrity’s mug to be on your screen for 12 minutes, or whatever.
