LA Times - Big Media Complains About Local Independent Media Access

[Median Democrat]

It is rare when a national media outlet expresses its disdain for local journalists in such a forthright manner:

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-onthemedia10-2008aug10,0,6358267.story

/snip

After looking at a lot of local news reports this week, I found a fabulously mixed bag. Many small-town reporters allowed the candidates to deliver their message of the day without imposing their own priorities or horse-race histrionics. Imagine that.


Other locals got so caught up in their Moment Alongside Greatness that they embarrassed themselves, gushing all over McCain and Obama.

I'm glad the locals get their shot. They offer a less cynical view that the public might otherwise not receive and focus on issues closer to home. And I'm relieved knowing that the time will come for the national media, which are best positioned to watch the candidates evolve, to demand they explain changes in position and to help set the agenda for the day.

"It's important to have this cynical, hard-nosed group of national reporters to put those who want to be president to the test," said Joe Lockhart, a onetime spokesman for President Clinton and a media advisor to other Democrats. "But in Peoria and Albuquerque, reporters have an obligation to report on what the candidate said and to do it that day. That's good too."

Since the start of the campaign, Obama has had his share of battles with traveling reporters who felt they were granted too little time to get to know the Democrat.

McCain, on the other hand, helped build his reputation by offering himself to reporters almost without restriction, in 2000 and early in this campaign. So those same reporters seemed dismayed in recent days when the Arizona senator made himself scarce.

/snip

[BlooInBloo]

1. It's hard for The Village to control the narrative if all those pesky hick journalists....

have direct access to the candidates, dontchaknow.

[iconicgnom]

2. To spinners it should be all about spin.

[Median Democrat]

4. "national media . . .helps set the agenda for the day"

This sounds a bit arrogant. Get the local independent media out of the way, so the big boys can set the agenda for the day? Don't you love that? A rare bit of honesty from a national journalist discussing how he views the rights and perogative of the National Media. They get to send the agenda for the day. God forbid that a local independent journalist accurately report what was said by a candidate or stick to the facts regarding a campaign event. Tnstead, we the dumb public need the national journalist to set the agenda for us, and tell us what to think, rather than simply reporting.

[Jim Sagle]

3. When yer a horse apple, you tend to think it's all about the horse race..

[Phredicles]

5. The LA Times sucks so much ass they have no right to disdain anyone.