You saw it when Barack Obama’s “bitter” comment was elevated to “Bitter-gate” status.
You saw it when Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “sniper fire” comment was dissected, clarified and parsed on the cable news channels, and revisited by Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous on ABC’s shameful debate.
Blame ABC’s questioners for running with the distractions, but blame the cable networks for driving the minutiae to center stage in the first place.
We see it every day, and there’s no end in sight: Cable TV news has ruined media political coverage.
The 24-hour cable channels have redefined election-year news, seeking a daily narrative that focuses on gaffes and goofs. Any possibly inflammatory charge becomes the talking point of the day. Hour after hour.
Because of the demand to fill endless time in an age when the broadcast networks have largely abandoned live coverage, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC are leading the way to more superficial political coverage. Those with track records in the business say cable reinforces the worst instincts of the political media.
And because the rest of the print and electronic beat reporters watch cable news, that influence is compounded.
Most notable is the emphasis on the horse race at the expense of the issues, the focus on mudslinging at the expense of ideas.
“Reporting” this political season means replaying the zingers. That’s why there is less attention to the national economy than there is to, say, flag lapel pins. Are you now or have you ever been a flag- pin refusenik?
During Tuesday’s coverage of the Pennsylvania primary, there was a brief halt in the zinger reportage to focus on map play and math play, as the live news channels figured the demographic percentages and delegate counts. Then it was on to the burning question of the campaign: How nasty will it get?
Can we expect nasty, really nasty or the nastiest ever?
The political process has been turned into smackdown entertainment. It’s not that they’re not devoting enough time to politics. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, fully two-thirds of cable airtime Jan. 1 to April 20 was devoted to the presidential race.
“Cable is to a large extent driving this,” said Mark Jurkowitz, associate director of PEJ. “You do get a sense that cable has really taken over the business of politics in a campaign season. Obviously because of the gaping news hole, whatever you think of the tone of coverage, it’s a cable franchise now.”
For years, we’ve seen the broadcast networks serving as bystanders at the nominating conventions, ceding the real work to cable. Now, on a regular basis, the high-energy cable coverage applies more touch-screen digital graphics and whiz-bang effects, plus more expertise, than the networks. To join the fray, NBC anchor Brian Williams takes his act to MSNBC.
News junkies automatically turn to cable. And we’re rewarded. Every single day, cable is looking for the new narrative: the gaffe, the dueling attack ads, the loose-cannon surrogate or explosive event.
The nasty narrative is the cable narrative.
It’s short-term, not the vision thing. Not, “What would this candidate do for America?” but, “What mud did they sling today?”
“It creates a prize-fight mentality,” Jurkowitz said.
All cable parties are on the record predicting the drama will get more intense if the campaign is prolonged.
And so the breathless story lines going forward are whether the Democrats will bloody themselves beyond repair, whether Obama needs to get tougher, is Clinton running too negative, what are the superdelegates saying?
And just how nasty will it get?
Joanne Ostrow’s column appears Tuesday, Friday and Sunday: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
