TV Puts an Odd Lens on Politics

TV PUTS AN OLD LENS ON POLITICS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
Last Tuesday, millions of viewers were riveted by the wrestling match in Ohio and gunfight in Texas between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, not to mention by the unlikely coronation of the conservative bugbear John McCain as the Republican nominee. But the viewers weren't tuned into broadcast TV. “Networks have pretty much left the field,” said Lawrence K. Grossman, a former president of NBC News. “And what did they skip the coverage for?” NBC aired "The Biggest Loser"; CBS "Big Brother"; ABC "Just for Laughs"; and Fox showed "American Idol." “I think that the people who are interested in the campaigns have lots of places to get good information. They are just not getting it from places that were considered mandatory 20 years ago,” said C. Robert Zelnick, an ABC News veteran and the chairman of the journalism department at Boston University. It is worth pointing out that since political coverage has migrated to the cable networks, the tenor and texture of campaign reporting are changing as well — there have been leaps in presentation and diversity, but it more closely resembles a political caucus than straight news coverage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/business/media/10carr.html?ref=todaysp...
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