No, I don't mean Fox. Nor ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, or MSNBC. If you want to read about issues, you have to go to the internet- and I don't mean Drudge or Huffington, either. The only source for real election news is foreign newspapers.
The BBC 's election coverage includes an issues guide, a finance tracker, an election glossary, a region-by-region breakdown of foreign policy (something I haven't seen in any American media), a Q&A on campaign finance rules-and all the headlines.
Another British paper, The Telegraph , has fewer resources but more headline stories.
France 24 is also lighter on resources, but better on human interest aspects.
Even Al Jazeera has been doing a better, more balanced job than many US media. They have a good explanation of our electoral system, fair bios of the candidates (although, understandably, they pay more attention to how it impacts Arabs than other papers), and even an in-depth (more than seven minutes) interview with the Green Party candidate, Cynthia McKinney. (try and find that on our networks)
If you like your election coverage in a reality-TV show format, by all means watch TV news... but if you want issues and analysis, read world newspapers- those listed above, and as many others as you can.
4 comments:
I have to agree with you. I was amazed last night while going through the Voter Guide from our local newspaper, and how they promoted the misconception that there were only two candidates in practically every race. "Fair and Balanced"? Not hardly.
With our news its always sensationalist BS. I don't watch any networks at all - the BBC news feed covers it the best.
I'm pretty much uninterested in anything but the numbers at this point. I mostly use fivethirtyeight.com.
That said, I certainly don't watch TV news and if I did, it wouldn't be because I was looking for in-depth coverage. That's not what TV news is for.
I really don't think I could stand watching Cynthia McKinney talk for seven minutes, but hats off to you that you did.
CC
Well, personally, I think she and at least six others of the thirteen candidates Indiana gets to vote for are proof that our healthcare system doesn't provide enough psychological counseling, I nonetheless try to understand where they are all coming from.
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